“Brutal, Unclean, and a Savage Nation:”
Anglo-American Perceptions of Cholera in Russia, 1892-93
Researcher: John Biersack
John Biersack
Elizabeth
Hachten, Ph. D.
Mentor: Elizabeth Hachten, Ph.D.
Findings
Thesis:
The framing of cholera in the Anglo-American
press in the late nineteenth century contributed
to the construction of the image of Russia in the
public mind in two ways.
British and American newspapers and medical
journals’ depiction of cholera epidemics in late 19th
century Russia reinforced an image of Russia as an
inferior civilization.
What is Cholera?
Cholera now known to caused by a bacteria (Vibrio
cholerae) that can live in water and fecal matter for up
to weeks. Symptoms are ghastly and include severe
headaches and diarrhea followed by dehydration and
The Russian Epidemic,1892-93
an eventual painful death for nearly half of those
infected. The disease’s sudden onset and
Culturally
and
geographically,
Russia
was
horrifying symptoms made cholera a terrifying
considered
between
East
and
West.
Each
time
disease all over the world.
cholera spread from Asia, it struck Russia on its
way to Europe along trade routes by train or ship.
First, that Russia was an autocratic state
whose government responded to cholera in
a draconian fashion antithetical to Western
liberty.
Secondly, that the Russian people were
backward, uncivilized, fatalistic, and
ignorant.
This dual message underlined to Western
readers that “Asiatic cholera” was a threat
primarily in uncivilized countries such as
Russia – or if spread to the West by Russian
immigrants.
Western physicians and correspondents reporting
in publications such as The New York Times and
The British Medical Journal painted a grim and
terrifying picture of the progress of cholera in
Russia.
Conclusion
The Stigma of Cholera
Endemic to India, cholera began spreading
westward in the 1820’s in five successive
pandemic waves during the 19th century. This
origin in Asia gave the disease an
association with backwardness, filth,
ignorance, and a general lack of civilization
compared to the West.
This examination of Anglo-American medical
and popular reactions to the Russian cholera
epidemic of 1892-3 reveals an important
historical continuity in the construction of the
Western image of Russia as backward,
despotic, and uncivilized -- a continuity that goes
back at least as far as the 16th century. Both
the disease of cholera and the country of
Russia were framed in the late nineteenth
century as distinctly “other” -- alien from the
West, more Asian than European in nature.
Acknowledgements:
Thanks to the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater’s Undergraduate Research
Program for funding my research. The staff of the Ebling Health Sciences Library,
particularly Micaela Sullivan-Fowler, for support and access to fragile and rare
materials. Most importantly, my mentor Elizabeth Hachten, Ph. D. has been a
most influential, resourceful, and all-around helpful enlightener.
All Images from Bourdelais and Dodin, Visages Du Cholera (Paris: Editions Belin, 1987), except, “The Cholera in Russia: The Last Journey,: from Hays, The
Burdens of Disease (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1998), “It is Cholera to Blame” from abcgallery.com and “cholera victim” from eee.uci.edu and
cartoon welcoming cholera from Asia from scienceclarified.com