ABSTRACT
The purpose of this chapter is to examine the development of Russian military medical care and the evolvement of the Russian Red Cross and Red Crescent as a semi-voluntary service with strong Christian sentiments but under powerful State influence, as indeed the Church itself was under the old regime. This semi-voluntary service was a complement to the Military Medical Service proper. It is suggested that the over-organization of the Red Cross and the poor medical legacy of the Czarist regime were not conducive to a proper treatment of the wounded and ill in the many tests of fire that faced the Soviet Union. The purpose of the chapter is also to examine the development of the Military Medical Service, to analyse its learning process and to draw conclusions about the attitude of the Soviet authorities to human lives in warfare.
