"An evil guest arrived in the autumn." Cholera in the war year 1866 in sources of a personal nature

Abstract

Most of the contemporary texts dealing with the war year 1866 contain mentions of the course and consequences of the cholera epidemic brought to Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia by the Prussian army of occupation. In the sources we examined, certain thematic frameworks or figures were repeated, which can be summarized as follows: 1) Metaphorical names for cholera or its symptoms; 2) Speculation about the causes; 3) The causal connection between the epidemic and the Prussian army's lack of moderation as regards diet; 4) Relationship with the social status of the infected (deceased); 5) Metaphorical designations for the spread of the epidemic in the given localities; 6) Previous "epidemics" of panic fear and anxiety; 7) Methods of prevention and treatment; 8) Lay notions of symptoms; 9) High mortality and its impact on church activities.