Florence Nightingale attained an almost saintly status among her British countrymen while she labored as a nurse during the Crimeon War from 1854 to 1856. The truth about Florence reveals that she was an often difficult and always demanding woman. She was opinionated and fought fiercely to win the battles set before her. Florence's privileged childhood was often unhappy for the young woman who questioned everything about herself and her environment. Only after many miserable years as a young adult was she able to convince her parents to let her be a nurse. Florence worked with intense energy to improve the hospital conditions in the Crimean Peninsula. She supervised her nurses as they gave the patients basic care. She did this successfully even though the military doctors did not want a "society lady" telling them how to run their hospitals.