GLOBAL CAPTIVITY IN THE FIRST WORLD WAR: PRISONERS OF WAR IN TURKESTAN, 1914 – 1916

Abstract

This articleexamines the health of prisoners of war in Turkestan during the First World Warthrough the lens of internationalrelief. Using the example of typhus, it considers the spread of epidemic disease seen through the reports of Red Cross delegates who inspected the conditions in POW camps in theRussian Empire. Alongside this, the article contributes to the growing literature that considers wartime captivity from a global perspective; bycomparing imperial managementsof wartime captivity in the Russian, British and German Empires, this article reframes experiences of captivity in Turkestan and places them in the wider global context of captivity in the early twentieth century.