DOI: 10.17720/2409-5834.v5.1.2018.04d
Georgy Shingarov1,
Irina G. Tatarovskaya2
1Modern University for the Humanities
32 Nizhegorodskaya str., bilding 4, Moscow 109029, Russia
2Institute for African Studies of Russian Academy of Sciences
30/1 Spiridonovka str., Moscow 123001, Russia
In 1877, V.M. Bekhterev was in Bulgaria and in 1909 he was a student of the St. Petersburg Military Surgical Academy. In April 1877, as part of a voluntary medical unit, he went to the Balkans, where at that time military operations were being conducted. As a medical worker, he carried out his duties on the Danube crossing and in Pleven, where bloody battles were fought. The dressing station, at which he helped the wounded, was part of the 67th hospital, in which S.P. Botkin and N.V. Sklifosovsky were working at that time. N.I. Priogov inspected and provided assistance to the wounded in this hospital. During his time at the battle grounds, V.M. Bekhterev made a series of observations that point to his future as an outstanding psychologist and one of the first Russian ethno-psychologists. V.M. Bekhterev left the combat theater in late September 1877. The second time he was in Bulgaria was in July 1909 as the organizer of the Sofia Congress of the New Slavonic Movement for the Rapprochement of the Slavic Peoples on the Basis of Science and Culture. At the congress, on his initiative, decisions were made on the role of Russian books in the study of the Russian language in Slavic countries, and on the Russian language as a common Slavic language in the conduct of scientific and cultural events. V.M. Bechterev proposed some ideas on the development of higher education in Slavic countries.
Keywords: V.M. Bekhterev, history of medicine, medical aid, military doctor, the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878, the Sofia congress, ethno-psychology, the New Slavonic Movement
