England, France and Turkey were allied against Russia in what came to be known as the Crimean War. In a manner of seemingly unassociated events, this war and Ms. Nightingale's involvement in it would forever change the course of nursing education.
Something also happened during the Crimean that would change people's attitude about war. There were War Correspondents at the battle sites and using a new technological advance called the telegraph, they sent home day by day reports on the process of the battles and the numbers of wounded. The news of conditions at Scutari, where the ill and wounded soldiers were barracked, was considered scandalous back home in London.
Sir Sidney Herbert, Secretary of War, wrote to his friend Florence Nightingale asking her to lead a group of nurses to Scutari to care for the soldiers. At precisely the same Ms. Nightingale wrote to Sir Herbert suggesting the same thing. Their letters crossed in the mail! In October 1854, at 34 years of age, Ms. Nightingale with 38 nurses that her high standards, set out to care for the wounded and ill at Scutari.
What the nurses found at Scutari was appealing! The soldiers lay on the bare and dirty floor of an abandoned barracks, some were on the bare ground. There were no supplies of kind. With no forks or knives, the men ate their one meal a day with their hands. And there were times when they had no meal! There were no latrines and sanitation was impossible.
The medical staff did not welcome the nurses and Ms. Nightingale would not allow the nurses to care for the soldiers until they were asked to do so by the doctor. In the week that followed she and the nurses set up a kitchen and fed the men from her own supplies. Finally when the situation was so bad that the doctors had to ask for help, Ms. Nightingale and her nurses took the task for which they were trained.
Ms. Nightingale enlisted the help able bodied, including the wounded, camp followers and wives of the men. Soon, latrines were dug, the barracks were cleaned, laundry was done, soldiers were fed and the nurses, at last, were able to give nursing care. Ms. Nightingale was a powerful advocate for the soldiers.