БОРЬБА С ЭПИДЕМИЯМИ КАК ФАКТОР ОСВОЕНИЯ РОССИЙСКОЙ ИМПЕРИЕЙ ПРОСТРАНСТВА КАВКАЗА В ПЕРВОЙ ПОЛОВИНЕ XIX ВЕКА

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to consider the pro-cess of fighting against epidemics as one of the strategies for extending the power of the Russian Empire to the territory of the Caucasus. Epidemic diseases played an important role in the complex of factors that prevented the development of the Caucasus by the Russian Empire. During the de-velopment of the territory of the Black Sea coast of the Caucasus, Russian troops had to resist not only the unfriendly local population, but also ma-laria (“fever”), due to which the mortality rate in the garrisons of Russian fortifications on the Black Sea was very high. The author determined that the degree of in-cidence of epidemics in the troops was directly related to how seriously the epidemic factor was taken by the military leaders who commanded these troops and how the command was able to organize the implementation of a set of measures to counter the epidemic. The fight against epidem-ics is considered in the context of a complex of factors that contributed to their spread - ongoing hostilities and redeployment of troops, hot cli-mate, lack of water, lengthy communications, lack of qualified medical personnel, non-compliance with sanitation and hygiene measures in units and subunits of Russian troops in the Caucasus. The factors that contributed to reducing the severity of the epidemic situation in the region are shown - the use of new drugs, quarantine cordon service, increased requirements for sanitation and hygiene in the troops, the involvement of qualified military doctors, and the practical use of the results of their research.