Crimean War: A History from Beginning to End (History of Russia), by Hourly History.

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CRIMEA WAR: A HISTORY 

FROM BEGINNING TO END 

(HISTORY OF RUSSIA), 

by 

HOURLY HISTORY. 

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Well written except for the repeated insistence that this war is forgotten, somethingfar ftom corrector true. 

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"“‘Forward, the Light Brigade! 

"Charge for the guns!’ he said. 

"Into the valley of Death 

"Rode the six hundred.” 

"—Alfred, Lord Tennyson"

Wasn't the event spoofed and ridiculed by George Bernard Shaw, not an admirer of either British racism nor the foolhardy unthinking warrior, much less likely to glorify it as glamourous, in his Arms And The Man? 

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"In 1860, Nightingale founded the Nightingale Training School at St. Thomas’ Hospital in London. She also wrote an influential book, Notes on Nursing, which became a core part of the curriculum at the new training school and defined, virtually for the first time, the importance of hygiene and cleanliness in the treatment of the sick and injured."

For the first time? 

What about the Austrian - Hungarian doctor, Ignaz Semmelweis, responsible for reducing death rate of new mothers in childbirth? 

"The year was 1846, and our would-be hero was a Hungarian doctor named Ignaz Semmelweis."

Surely that precedes Crimean War and report by Florence Nightingale in 1860?

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"The Baltic Sea is far distant from the Crimea, but this war also featured naval combat in this location. The Baltic was extremely important to Russia—the city of St. Petersburg lies at the far end of the Gulf of Finland which itself is part of the eastern Baltic. The main base for the Russian fleet in the Baltic was at Kronstadt, on an island in the Gulf of Finland around 15 kilometers west of St. Petersburg. In April 1854, soon after the declaration of war, a large Anglo-French fleet entered the Gulf of Finland and attacked the base at Kronstadt. The outcome was not decisive, and in August 1854, an even larger allied fleet (the biggest naval fleet assembled since the Napoleonic wars) returned to the Baltic. The Russian Baltic fleet, heavily outnumbered, stayed in its base, protected by powerful shore batteries while the allies attacked a number of smaller Russian ports and defenses in the Gulf of Finland.

"The naval action in the Baltic did not produce a decisive naval engagement, but it proved very damaging to the Russian war effort. The Russian balance of payments depended heavily on exports through the Gulf of Finland. The presence of an allied fleet there essentially stopped all sea-borne exports and imports to and from Russia. All exports and imports then had to be made via the overland route through Prussia—a much more expensive and time-consuming journey. The presence of allied naval units threatening St. Petersburg also forced the Russians to keep large armies in the area in case of an allied landing. This prevented the transfer of troops from this area to the Crimea. In these ways the allied naval action in the Baltic was very important—while it achieved little in the way of tactical success, strategically it helped to undermine the Russian economy and kept large numbers of troops pinned down who might otherwise have been sent to reinforce the Russian armies in the Crimea."

Do they realise the chain of events leading to Russian Revolution, and Thence to the treaty between Germany and Russia that eased the path of Hitler occupying Europe until he turned on Russia in 1941, began here, in Anglo-French coordinated attack against Russia damaging Russian economy? 

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"There was also naval action in the White Sea (an inlet of the Barents Sea). In November 1854, a squadron of British warships shelled and virtually destroyed the town of Kola, though an attempt to storm the important port of Arkhangelsk failed. In the Far East, an Anglo-French naval force attacked the important city of Petropavlovsk on the Kamchatka Peninsula. The attempt to take the city in September 1854 was beaten back, one of the few successful actions undertaken by the Russians against the Anglo-French naval operations. In the same theater, allied landings at Sakhalin and on the Kuril Islands were successful but had little effect on the progress of the war."

Couldn't possibly have helped the trust between future allies of WWI and WWII, could it? 

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"Although most of the fighting on land during this conflict took place on the Crimean Peninsula, there was also a protracted series of battles in the Caucasus Mountains. These mountains formed a natural barrier between the southern extent of the Russian Empire and the northern edge of the Ottoman Empire. In the early stages of the war in 1853, Russian naval victories in the Black Sea helped to assure Russian victories in the mountains including the defeat of the Ottoman Empire at the Battle of Başgedikler.

"After the allied fleet arrived in the Black Sea, the Russian navy in the area was no longer able to support its troops on land and the fighting reduced in scale and intensity. Just as in other theaters, the bulk of casualties in this area were caused not by combat but by disease. In the period January to May 1855, the Ottoman army in the Caucasus was reduced from 120,000 to less than 75,000, mainly due to cholera and dysentery. It is believed that Russian casualties were on a similar level."

Was it this, that Turkey sought to revenge - by massacring a million Armenians around WWI era? 

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"The bombardment of the city continued throughout the summer until, in early September, the British and French agreed to undertake a large-scale combined assault on Sevastopol. The French would attack the Malakhov and the British would focus on the Redan, another large defensive position. A massive bombardment began on September 5 and continued for three days. Then, at around mid-day on September 8, the combined assault began.

"The French were successful in their attempt to storm the Malakhov. The British assault on the Redan proved more difficult, in part due to rocky terrain, but the eventual outcome was the taking of both these important positions. Russian forces counter-attacked, and savage fighting continued until evening, but the Redan and the Malakhov remained in allied hands. In the evening, allied troops in these positions watched as Russian troops streamed out of the area, crossing bridges to the north side of the harbor and abandoning the ruined city. On September 11, Russian forces burned the last remaining Russian warships in Sevastopol harbor. After 11 months, the siege was finally over.

"The final French attack on the Malakhov cost the French more than 7,000 casualties, including five generals killed. The British lost over 2,000 and the Russian more than 12,000 including two generals. It has been estimated that the Russians lost in total more than 100,000 men during the siege of Sevastopol. Allied forces suffered over 70,000 casualties, but that does not include deaths due to disease.

"This siege was the central part of the Crimean War, and the loss of the city of Sevastopol was a major blow to Russian prestige and to confidence in the abilities of its military forces."

Which resulted in the implacable demand for control of East Europe post WWII, not helped by lack of alacrity by allies in making a treaty with Soviet Union before, with desperate courting, Germany did. 

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"“Whatever our fate is or may be, we have made it and do not complain of it.” 

"—Leo Tolstoy, who served as an artillery officer during the siege of Sevastopol"

Hence his War And Peace. 

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"“O wasted bravery of our mighty dead!” 

"—Gerald Massey"

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"Each of the four empires directly involved in the Crimean War was affected by it, and even the Austrian Empire, which was only peripherally involved, was also impacted.

"For the most part, Russia simply ignored those provisions of the Treaty of Paris which prevented it from creating naval bases in the Black Sea. Russia assumed, correctly, that neither Britain nor France was willing to risk another unpopular war over Russian power in the Black Sea. Russia continued to be regarded as one of the great powers, despite the military and organizational failings exposed by the Crimean War. These failings came to the surface again in the Russo-Japanese War of 1905 and the First World War. Revolts and insurrection which grew in strength during the Crimean War finally swept away Imperial Russia completely in the revolution of 1917.

"The Ottoman Empire, the so-called “sick man of Europe,” continued its slow and seemingly inexorable decline before its final collapse in 1923 which saw the establishment in its place of the modern, secular nation-state of Turkey with Kemal Atatürk as its president. The Crimean War had little effect on the Ottoman Empire beyond, perhaps, accelerating its final collapse."

Surely T.E. Lawrence helped, even if only a little, or at any rate possibly a tad less than proclaimed in the larger-than-life portrayal by David Lean in the epic Lawrence of Arabia?

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"The Crimean War can be seen as the first truly modern war. It introduced the horrors of trench warfare, and it showed for the first time how vulnerable cavalry was to modern breech-loading rifles. It saw combat involving steam-powered, ironclad warships, and it used railways for logistical support. This was also the first war to involve regular battlefield reporting by newspaper reporters and the use of photographs to convey images of conflict. All these things would become relatively commonplace later, first in the American Civil War and then in the First World War, but they were first seen together here.

"The Crimean War can also be seen as the last of the great imperial wars. This war directly involved four of the great empires of the world and a fifth (the Austrian Empire) was involved on the periphery. By the end of the First World War, only one of these empires, the British, would still exist.

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"Yet the enduring images of the Crimean War are of confusion and waste. Few people in Britain and France really understood why their troops were involved in fighting Russians in the distant Crimea, a place in which neither country had any interest. The blunders which characterized this war in events such as the Charge of the Light Brigade, the near-starvation of troops besieging Sevastopol, and the massive death toll on all sides due to disease and inadequate medical treatment combined with confusion about war aims led to widespread dissatisfaction at home in all the countries involved."

Which resulted in shaping future attitudes and consequences thereof. 

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"Perhaps this dissent is why the Crimean War is one of the least remembered major wars of the nineteenth century. There were few glorious victories here, making the huge death toll difficult to understand or justify. The Crimean War remains a truly forgotten war.""

No, that's blindness of the author, perhaps due to a schooling in US. 

Not only this war was key to the further developments in Europe including WWI and WWII, but far more; and even by itself, it's still remembered for Florence Nightingale as much as for the event that formed title of the poem by Tennyson, taught through most of Twentieth Century in British school curriculum. 

As for lasting effects, look at the pointless unrelenting war waged by West that began with this, and constantly used Islamic jihadists to "contain" Soviet Union or Russia( - including now the Ukraine black comedy centred on the same neighbourhood - Crimea, Black Sea and Sea of Azov - ), even to inviting great danger, to not only West but to all human civilisation. 

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"The Crimean War was the largest war between the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815 and the outbreak of World War I in 1914. It accounted directly for the deaths of more than half a million combatants, far more than were killed in, for example, the American Civil War which took place in the same general period. Yet the Crimean War has been largely forgotten."

Except for such small bits as English poetry and professional nursing. Unforgettable, those. 

"Partly that is because its causes were complex and difficult to understand, and partly it is because this war did not produce a great victory or a huge defeat for any of the countries involved. The Crimean War was fought to decide which of the five empires that dominated Europe in the nineteenth century would become the most powerful. Two of the empires involved, Britain and France, fought to maintain the status quo. They succeeded. The Russian Empire fought for the right to expand its territory in eastern Europe and elsewhere. It failed, and internal dissent and revolt were encouraged by this failure. The Austrian Empire remained neutral throughout this war while the Ottoman Empire, once the most powerful in the world, survived a Russian attack but was revealed to be weak and destined for eventual collapse. The Crimean War did not directly change the world, but it led indirectly to changes which were to completely re-shape Europe.

"Despite its lack of a clearly defined outcome, this is one of the most important wars of the nineteenth century and one whose legacy would help to shape the twentieth. ... "

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"“The sick man of Europe.” 

"—Tsar Nicholas I, on the Ottoman Empire"

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"By the mid-nineteenth century, Europe was in a state of flux. Old alliances were being reconsidered as conflict, unrest, and the aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars caused realignments and fundamental changes. Europe was controlled for the most part by five empires, all in very different stages of their development and all with their own ambitions and desires.

"France, for many years the most powerful nation in Europe, had been convulsed first by the French Revolution from 1789-1799 and then by a series of wars against other European nations from 1800-1815 under the leadership of Napoleon Bonaparte which led to the creation of the French Empire. By 1852, France had seen the restoration of the monarchy deposed by the revolution, then the creation of a short-lived republic before Napoleon Bonaparte’s nephew, Napoleon III, became the leader of the Second French Empire. France was keen to restore its place amongst the leading European nations, and in 1830, it had annexed the North African territory of Algeria and declared this to be part of the French Empire.

"In Great Britain, the Napoleonic Wars had led to the development of a competent professional army to supplement the British fleet, still the most powerful naval force in the world. The empire controlled by Victorian Britain was nearing its zenith, and the United Kingdom took relatively little interest in European affairs other than when they directly affected their interests. In the nineteenth century, Britain generally did not enter into alliances with other European states, a situation that later became known as “splendid isolation.” However, the need to protect the sea-routes that were essential to the British dominions and colonies meant that the British Empire could not afford to ignore developments in Europe completely.

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"In Russia, Britain’s former ally in the wars against Napoleon, Tsar Nicholas I came to the throne in 1825. Nicholas was a no-nonsense soldier who gave no consideration to the liberal reforms started by his predecessor, Tsar Alexander I. Nicholas centralized power in his own hands and for the most part was as concerned with suppressing potential revolts within his own country as with expanding the area controlled by Russia.

"Nicholas undertook reforms within the Russian army intended to make it a more effective fighting force and concluded an alliance with the Austrian Empire to form a barrier against the rising power of Prussia. On paper, the Russian Empire, stretching from Siberia to present-day Poland, was the largest and most powerful in Europe. Many Russians wanted to see the empire extended, but the Napoleonic Wars seemed to have shown that this was difficult. Expansion to the west would bring Russia into conflict with the Austrian Empire, the French Empire, and perhaps even the British Empire. If Russia were going to expand the territory it controlled, this would have to be in some other direction.

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"The Austrian Empire was ruled by the Hapsburgs and was the third most powerful in Europe (behind Russia and France). This empire stretched over almost a quarter of a million square miles and included present-day Austria and Hungary. The Austrian Empire had arisen out of the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in the early 1800s, but by the middle of the nineteenth century, the empire was beset by a number of internal separatist movements originating in the several different ethnic groups that made up the realm.

"In one empire on the periphery of Europe, the nineteenth century seemed to bring nothing but problems. The Ottoman Empire was at one time one of the most powerful in the world. The Muslim Ottoman people, who had originated as a semi-nomadic tribe from Anatolia, had conquered lands in present-day Turkey, Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Serbia, Montenegro, and Croatia and even in the mid-1800s occupied territory stretching from the Danube River in the west to the city of Constantinople, formerly the capital of the Christian Byzantine Empire, in the east. For extended periods, the Ottoman navy had controlled most of the Mediterranean, the Red Sea, and the Persian Gulf, and even parts of the Indian Ocean. For more than 400 years, the Ottoman Empire represented the most direct and immediate threat to European security, being the subject of several unsuccessful crusades and taking fighting as far west as the city of Venice.

"However, by the middle of the nineteenth century, the Ottoman Empire was in serious decline. Internal revolts and assassinations had weakened the control of the sultan, and a series of unsuccessful wars against Russia in the eighteenth century had seen the Ottoman Empire lose a great deal of land it had formerly occupied, including the Crimean Khanate which had been an Ottoman possession for over 250 years. Its control over remaining lands was also weakened by continuing pressure as the Russians sought to control the Slavic people of Eastern Europe by usurping Ottoman power east of the Danube.

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"Many of the ethnic minorities who comprised the people ruled by the Ottoman Empire needed little encouragement to revolt. The Serbian Revolution began in 1804. Greek people in the Peloponnese began a revolt against their Ottoman rulers in the 1820s and by 1829 had established independence from the empire. Continuing insurrections in Serbia, Wallachia, and Montenegro further weakened the Ottoman Empire. It was clear to most outsiders that this empire was nearing the point of total collapse from pressures from within and without.

"During the 1840s, the tottering Ottoman Empire was referred to by the tsar of Russia as “the sick man of Europe.” If the Ottoman Empire was to collapse, it was clear that Russia stood to gain the most. Although the Ottoman Empire had been the traditional enemy of many European countries for hundreds of years, the French, British, and Austrian Empires now regarded the continuance of the Ottoman Empire as an essential check to the growing power of Russia and in particular as a block to Russian naval ambitions in the Mediterranean."

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"“The Crimean war was fought for the sake of Europe rather than for the Eastern question; it was fought against Russia, not in favor of Turkey.” 

"—A. J. P. Taylor"

And therein the foundations of encouragement of jihadists by West, letting loose the jinn that threatens West more than anything else now. 

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"The Ottoman Empire was principally Muslim, but it also included a sizeable Orthodox Christian population. Russia had traditionally positioned itself as the sponsor and protector of Eastern Orthodoxy, and it claimed an interest in the welfare of the Christians within the Ottoman Empire. However, Napoleon III, leader of the French Empire, sought to increase the influence of France by declaring that France had sovereign authority over some Christian minorities. In particular, France claimed the right to protect the large Christian minority in Palestine, at that time a protectorate of the Ottoman Empire. This position had previously been occupied by Russia, and the tsar saw this as the beginning of a challenge which would eventually seek to undermine the position of Russia as protector of the Christian minority across the whole of the Ottoman Empire.

"This dispute over the right to be regarded as the protector of the Ottoman Empire Christians led to a direct confrontation between France and Russia. Being able to claim to be acting on behalf of Christians in a Muslim empire was a role which conferred a great deal of power and gave a valid excuse for interference in the internal affairs of the failing Ottoman Empire. Britain had no particular love for France but feared a situation where Russia controlled the Ottoman Empire which would give its powerful navy in the Black Sea access to the Mediterranean via the Strait of Bosphorus. This would potentially challenge British naval supremacy in the Mediterranean and even its vital sea routes to India.

"In the early 1850s, the Austrian Empire was still recovering from the effects of the Hungarian Revolution of 1848. Hungary had attempted to break free from the Austrian Empire in a bloody and destructive series of conflicts. Austria had managed to suppress the revolution only with the help of large numbers of troops loaned by the Russians. The Austrian Empire had survived but was badly weakened and beholden to the Russians. Thus, Russia assumed that the Austrian Empire would not be drawn into any potential conflict over the Ottoman Empire.

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"The weakness and vacillation of the Ottoman Empire contributed to uncertainty and confusion. In 1851, the sultan agreed on a treaty with France which seemed to give the French increased responsibility for the Ottoman Christian minority. Immediate Russian pressure forced the sultan to reverse this decision. Later the same year, the treaty with France was renounced and Russia was confirmed as the protector of Orthodox Christians in the Ottoman Empire. Emperor Napoleon III of France responded by sending a powerful French warship, the Charlemagne, through the Bosphorus into the Black Sea in 1852. This was a clear violation of the London Straits Convention of 1841, which banned all warships from using the Bosphorus. Sultan Abdülmecid I of the Ottoman Empire seemed to get the point; he quickly placated the French by signing a treaty which confirmed France as the formal protector of all Christian holy places in lands controlled by the Ottoman Empire.

"Outraged, Tsar Nicholas responded by moving large numbers of troops to the north side of the River Danube in Wallachia where they faced a small and less well-equipped Ottoman force on the south side of the river. The Russians claimed that French interference in the Ottoman Empire was endangering the Christian minority which Russia had a right and obligation to protect. In February of 1853, Tsar Nicholas sent a new ambassador to Constantinople—Prince Menshikov, an aggressive, abrasive, and no-nonsense soldier. Menshikov’s role was to persuade the sultan to accept yet another treaty with Russia even more sweeping than those that had gone before. This treaty would have given Russia rights as the protector of all 12 million Christians within the Ottoman Empire and even control of the Christian Orthodox Church itself.

"With Russian armies poised on the Danube and seemingly prepared to attack relatively weak Ottoman positions south of the river, the sultan was in a very difficult position. He sought advice from the British ambassador to Constantinople, George Hamilton Seymour, who suggested that the sultan attempt to appease the Russians by accepting parts of their proposal while rejecting others. The Russians were infuriated and sent even more Russian troops to the Danubian provinces. The British and French responded by sending warships to the Dardanelles. It was clear that Russia, France, and Britain were on the verge of war over the dismembering of the collapsing Ottoman Empire.

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"In June of 1853, Tsar Nicholas ordered his armies to attack the Ottoman Danubian principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia (in present-day Romania). The following month, another Russian army attacked over the River Danube and began to drive Ottoman forces back. Sultan Abdülmecid I responded by declaring war on Russia.

"Initially, Britain and France, supported by the Austrian Empire and Prussia, looked for a diplomatic solution to the conflict. A conference in Vienna produced proposed peace terms which were submitted to both the tsar and the sultan in December 1853. Tsar Nicholas seemed willing to accept but Sultan Abdülmecid, fearing that the proposed terms would weaken the Ottoman Empire even further, refused.

"Even while the proposed peace terms were being considered, the Russians had defeated a large part of the Ottoman navy at the Battle of Sinop in November 1853. It seemed that the Ottoman Empire was powerless to oppose Russian aggression. In early 1854, Britain and France delivered a joint ultimatum to Russia: withdraw from the Danubian provinces or face war. The Austrian Empire, although still grateful for Russian intervention in the revolution of 1848, was alarmed by the increasing numbers of Russian troops in the Balkans and supported Britain and France. Russia ignored the ultimatum, and in March 1854, Britain and France formally declared war on Russia while the Austrian Empire announced that it would remain neutral."

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"“[The Crimean War] was not the result of a calculated plan, nor even of hasty last-minute decisions made under stress. It was the consequence of more than two years of fatal blundering.” 

"—Shepard Clough"

Well, WWII certainly was executed from September 1,1939 onwards upto June 22, 1941 as per plans already in place as early as winter of 1938-39, but that doesn't mean squat as far as it's merit in relation with the planned bit goes. The merit was entirely on the originally unplanned but eventually winning side.

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"Although this war has become known as the Crimean War, fighting took place in several different theaters of operation. There was long-term, bloody fighting in the Black Sea and on the Crimean Peninsula and especially around the vital port city of Sevastopol, but there was also conflict in the Danubian States, the Sea of Azov, the Baltic and the Pacific Seas, and in the Caucasus Mountains. The character and progress of the fighting in each theater was quite different. 

"The war began with the advance of over 80,000 Russian troops into the Danubian principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia in July of 1853. After a period of negotiation which failed to resolve the situation, the Ottoman Empire formally declared war on Russia in October 1853 and launched a counteroffensive against the Russian forces in the Danubian principalities later the same month.

"This early fighting to the south of the River Danube highlighted something that was to characterize much of this war. On paper, the Russian army was one of the most powerful fighting forces in the world in the 1850s. In the period leading up to the outbreak of war, the Imperial Russian Army consisted of around one million regular soldiers and up to a quarter of a million irregulars, mainly Cossacks. In comparison, the army in Britain nominally comprised 70,000 men, but in actuality, the British Empire found it very difficult to scrape together a force of 25,000 troops to fight the Russians.

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"The sheer size of the Russian army blinded many people (including senior Russian soldiers) to its many problems. The bulk of the Russian Army comprised serfs who were involuntarily conscripted for military service. Many were understandably unhappy about being sent to serve in the army for 25 years. The supply of the massive Russian army was also a grave problem. While most other countries in Europe had well-developed rail systems by 1850, Russia had just 400 miles of track, all close to the cities of Moscow and St. Petersburg. Transporting, feeding, and supplying large numbers of troops was a major problem for Russia. Most supplies were moved by horse or ox-carts, and in muddy conditions these could move at no more than one half mile per hour. The port city of Sevastopol in the Crimea was 1,300 miles from the military headquarters in St. Petersburg, so the logistics of supply meant that many Russian soldiers went hungry and were short of ammunition.

"The equipment used by Russian armies was also poor. The muskets used by Russian troops in the Crimean War had a range of around two hundred yards and could fire one or two rounds per minute. The Minié rifles used by British and French troops had a range of around eight hundred yards and could fire up to four rounds per minute. These problems were compounded by appalling sanitary conditions that affected Russian soldiers and non-existent medical treatment which meant that even relatively minor wounds were all too often fatal. As a direct consequence, Russian armies (and the armies of other combatant nations in this conflict) were often afflicted by outbreaks of disease. Of the 80,000 Russian troops who moved into the Danubian principalities in 1853, it is estimated that fewer than half survived to return to Russia. The main causes of death were not injury in combat but disease and starvation and exposure due to lack of supplies and equipment.

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"The first fighting of the Crimean War took place in the Danubian principalities following the declaration of war against Russia by the Ottoman sultan in October 1853. The first major engagement was the Battle of Oltenița on November 4, 1853, when an Ottoman army under Omar Pasha fought a large Russian army under General Peter Dannenberg. The outcome was indecisive though the fact that the Ottoman forces were not defeated was reported as a great victory in Britain and France. In late 1853 and early 1854, fighting continued, and the Russian army found it difficult to achieve any decisive victory against the Ottoman forces. In January 1854, Russian forces began a siege of a fortified Ottoman position on the north bank of the Danube near the village of Calafat in Wallachia. The siege continued for more than four months before the Russian forces were forced to withdraw in April 1854. By that time, Britain and France had also declared war on Russia, and Russian troops were urgently needed elsewhere.

"In June 1854, British and French fleets comprising warships and transports landed an Allied expeditionary force at the Ottoman port of Varna in present-day Bulgaria. British and French military camps were established at Alladyn, eight miles north of the port in preparation for action against Russian forces in the area. However, by mid-July, both camps were struck by epidemics of cholera. By the end of July, up to 100 men per day were dying of the disease. The Russians meanwhile had withdrawn all their forces from the Danubian principalities rather than face the Allied expeditionary force. As the Russian move into Moldavia and Wallachia had been the reason for the Ottoman Empire, Britain, and France declaring war on Russia, this withdrawal could have meant the end of the war. Yet public opinion in Britain and France was by this time so overwhelmingly behind a war against Russia that this was no longer politically expedient.

"After the Russian withdrawal, there was no further fighting in the Danubian principalities. The Austrian Empire, which remained neutral throughout the Crimean War, sent troops into the area to act as a peacekeeping force. In early September, British and French troops finally embarked from their fever-ridden camps at Alladyn in a fleet of over 300 ships. On September 14, the naval force landed the troops on the beaches of Calamita Bay on the southwest coast of the Crimean Peninsula. The landing was unopposed, and within four days all troops, horses, stores, and artillery were in place. The main focus of the war immediately shifted to this new location."

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"“‘Forward, the Light Brigade! 

"Charge for the guns!’ he said. 

"Into the valley of Death 

"Rode the six hundred.” 

"—Alfred, Lord Tennyson"

Wasn't the event spoofed and ridiculed by George Bernard Shaw, not an admirer of either British racism nor the foolhardy unthinking warrior, much less likely to glorify it as glamourous, in his Arms And The Man? 

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"The Allied expeditionary force which landed in the Crimea in September 1854 was not a particularly coherent force. The British and French had a long history of conflict, and this was virtually the first time that the two nations had fought on the same side. The British commander-in-chief, 64-year-old Lord Raglan, had lost an arm at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815 and frequently referred to his French allies as “the enemy.” The French, under the command of Jacques Leroy de Saint-Arnaud, also held their British allies in low esteem, distrusting the elderly and hesitant Raglan, and there were frequent clashes about strategy and tactics.

"The one thing that both the French and the British agreed upon was that their Ottoman allies were not reliable. Racial prejudice ensured that both European nations regarded Ottoman troops as inferior and not to be trusted in battle. In some cases, British and French troops used their Ottoman allies in the same way that they used colonial troops—they were principally used a source of manual labor rather than as combat troops, and there were instances where European troops forced Ottoman soldiers to carry them across streams or muddy areas. As far as the French and British were concerned, this was principally a war between France and Britain and their Russian adversaries.

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"One of the most important strategic locations on the Crimean Peninsula was the port city of Sevastopol. This was an important hub for Russian naval units in the Black Sea and a significant source of supplies for Russian troops on the peninsula. The capture of Sevastopol was the first and most important goal for the Anglo-French force. Almost as soon as the British and French troops had landed at Calamita Bay, they began to march east, towards Sevastopol, 30 miles away. The commander of Russian forces on the Crimean Peninsula, Prince Alexander Sergeyevich Menshikov, rushed his forces west towards the allies, and he occupied the only viable defensive position between the expeditionary force and the city—the Alma Heights, south of the Alma River.

"On September 20, the combined British-French force reached the Alma River and immediately attacked the Russian positions. As was to prove the case on many occasions during this war, the attacks by British and French were not well-coordinated. The French attacked first and turned the Russian left flank by climbing cliffs that the Russian commander had considered unscalable. Had the British been ready to attack at that point, the Russians might have been routed. Instead, Lord Raglan insisted that any British attack should wait until the French move was complete. When the British did attack, the Russian defenders had time to reorganize and prepare.

"In the event, the Russians were finally forced to retreat from the Alma Heights, back towards the city of Sevastopol. The lack of available cavalry meant that the allies were unable to pursue the retreating Russians; senior Russian commanders later noted that if the allies had been able to pursue the retreating Russian army, Sevastopol might have fallen that day. Total casualties on the allied side were around 3,500 compared to approximately 5,000 for the Russians. It took more than two days to recover all the British and French casualties from the battlefield and to evacuate them to the main military hospital at Scutari, across the Black Sea.

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"Over the next month, British and French troops took up positions completely surrounding Sevastopol with the intention of besieging the city. The British established a supply port at Balaclava and the French at Kamiesch. On October 25, a large Russian force attacked British positions outside the city in an attempt to cut troops off from supplies coming from Balaclava. This day of confused and scattered fighting would become immortalized in British military history.

"One of the notable features about the Crimean War was that it was the first major war during which newspaper correspondents and photographers were present on the battlefields. First-hand reports of battles were regularly printed in newspapers and often supported by photographs. This fascinated the general public, especially in France and Britain, but often infuriated military commanders who found their mistakes, real or perceived, being widely discussed in the press.

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"On the morning of October 25, an example of the power of press reporting occurred when a large detachment of Russian cavalry heading for the British supply base at Balaclava encountered the 93rd Highlanders commanded by Sir Colin Campbell. During the Napoleonic Wars, the usual response on the part of an infantry unit faced with a cavalry attack was to form a square—this formation limited the offensive firepower of a unit but prevented cavalry from flanking or getting behind. Campbell, an astute military leader, realized that the Minié rifles with which his men had been issued were much more powerful and more accurate than the muskets they had previously used. Campbell believed that this meant that his men, if assembled in line formation, would be able to bring sufficiently devastating fire on approaching cavalry that they would be able to stop them in their tracks.

"Accordingly, as the Russian cavalry approached, Campbell had his men assume a line formation only two men deep. Observers on the heights above were horrified and assumed that the British troops would be annihilated by the advancing cavalry. Instead, the new rifles cut the Russian cavalry to pieces. One observer was William Howard Russell, a correspondent for the London Times newspaper. In his report, he described the red-coated Highlanders as a “thin red streak topped with steel.” From this, the phrase “thin red line” became almost universally used to describe any British military unit facing a larger enemy. During this action, it also became clear that cavalry, the most powerful type of unit on the battlefield for hundreds of years, was now vulnerable to the new infantry weapons.

................................................................................................

"British cavalry at the Battle of Balaclava was divided into two separate brigades: the Heavy Brigade comprising around 800 mounted troopers and the Light Brigade comprising around 650. The Heavy Brigade consisted of heavily armed and armored troops on large horses and was designed to be used as a shock force or to counter enemy cavalry. The men of the Light Brigade were mounted on lighter, faster horses, more lightly armored, armed only with sabers and lances, and were intended for use in reconnaissance or pursuing a routing enemy.

"On the morning of October 25, the Heavy Brigade encountered a much larger force of around 3,000 Russian cavalry. Despite being at a disadvantage because they were downhill from the Russians, the Heavy Brigade attacked at once and routed the Russian cavalry. Later the same day, it was the turn of the Light Brigade.

................................................................................................

"During scattered fighting early that morning, several Russian gun positions on the heights above the main battlefield had been taken. Lord Raglan could see from his vantage point above the main valley that Russian troops were moving to retake the guns which had been captured that morning. The Heavy Brigade was still recovering from its encounter with the Russian cavalry, so Raglan sent a message to the Earl of Cardigan, the commander of the Light Brigade, saying, “Lord Raglan wishes the cavalry to advance rapidly to the front, follow the enemy, and try to prevent the enemy carrying away the guns.” Cardigan in the valley below could not see the guns to which the order referred. The only artillery visible to him was at the far end of the valley. Assuming that this was their intended target, the Light Brigade charged.

"They were fired upon by more than 50 Russian artillery pieces and 20 battalions of infantry. Although the British cavalry reached the Russian guns at the end of the valley and destroyed many, less than 200 were still on their horses when the brief action was over. The French Marshal Pierre Bosquet, who was observing noted, “C’est magnifique, mais ce n’est pas la guerre” (“It is magnificent, but it is not war”). British newspaper reports extolled the courage of the men who rode towards the Russian guns but questioned the ability of commanders who sent them on this pointless and costly mission. Lord Raglan blamed the Earl of Lucan, overall commander of British cavalry. Lucan blamed his brother-in-law, the Earl of Cardigan (who survived the charge). Cardigan blamed both Lucan and Raglan. Eventually, everyone agreed that the real blame lay with Captain Nolan, the man who had carried the message from Raglan to Cardigan and who died in the charge.

................................................................................................

"Although in terms of casualties what became known as the Charge of the Light Brigade was a relatively minor action during this war, its reporting in the British press and the publication of the poem “The Charge of the Light Brigade” by Alfred, Lord Tennyson a few months later has turned this into one of the best-known actions by a British unit in any war. It became a symbol not just for the unquestioning courage of British troops but also for the muddled confusion of their commanders.

"The Battle of Balaclava ended much as it had begun, with the Russians confined to the besieged city of Sevastopol and British supply lines between their field positions and the supply port of Balaclava safe. Both sides began to reinforce—the British and French with the intention of ensuring the siege of Sevastopol was secure, and the Russian with the intention of mounting an even larger attack on the surrounding armies."

................................................................................................

................................................................................................

"“When all the medical officers have retired for the night and silence and darkness have settled down upon those miles of prostrate sick, she may be observed alone, with a little lamp in her hand, making her solitary rounds.” 

"—Extract from the Times newspaper"

That image hasn't been forgotten. 

................................................................................................

"Disease was a constant factor during the Crimean War. Typhus, typhoid, cholera, and dysentery ravaged the armies of all combatant nations. The prevention of infection was not well understood, and field hospitals were often filthy; those who were wounded in battle often died later of infection. The loss of troops due to disease and infection became such a serious problem that, almost for the first time, the armies of all nations began to consider how to improve sanitary conditions for their soldiers and how to more effectively treat the wounded. This process gave rise to one of the people most associated with the Crimean War in the public imagination: Florence Nightingale.

"Nightingale was a social reformer and writer who, by 1850, had become interested in the prevention of disease and the treatment of the sick. In 1853, she was working as superintendent at the Institute for the Care of Sick Gentlewomen on Harley Street in London. When the first British troops were landed in the Danubian principalities in June 1854, it wasn’t long before newspapers were carrying lurid stories of the deaths there due to disease. There was a public outcry and demands that more must be done to look after British troops. One of the people given responsibility for carrying out these improvements was the British secretary for war, Sidney Herbert. Herbert was a life-long friend of Florence Nightingale, and he authorized the creation of a new medical unit under her supervision which was to be sent to treat the ill and wounded in the Crimea.

"In October 1854, Nightingale, 38 volunteer nurses, and 15 Catholic nuns set off from England. In early November, Nightingale and her small team established a field hospital at Selimiye Barracks in Scutari (present-day Üsküdar in Istanbul). This was located around 300 miles from the main British military headquarters at Balaclava in the Crimea.

................................................................................................

"Conditions at the improvised field hospital were grim during the first winter. The facility was overcrowded, ventilation was poor, and the sewage system was inefficient and blocked. More than 4,000 patients from the British, French, and Ottoman armies who were sent there died, the vast majority killed not by their wounds but by typhus and cholera. Nightingale wrote a scathing report which resulted in a sanitary commission being sent out from Britain. Ventilation at the hospital as Scutari was improved, the sanitation system was brought back to full operation, and Nightingale instituted handwashing procedures for all staff working on the wards. Before Nightingale and her team arrived, the average death rate amongst those arriving at the hospital was over 40%. With the improvements in place, it dropped to 2%.

"Using the information from Scutari, British engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel designed a pre-fabricated hospital which was built in Britain and shipped to the Dardanelles. The new facility was run by Dr. Edmund Parkes and proved to have an even lower death rate than Scutari. However, it was the facility at Scutari and in particular the character of Florence Nightingale which became a subject of fascination in Victorian Britain.

"The idea that a gentlewoman (Nightingale was born to a powerful and wealthy English family) might become a nurse was seen as faintly scandalous. Nursing was traditionally a poorly paid profession carried out by the lower classes. It was not something that a woman from a well-to-do family would usually consider—Nightingale’s father was horrified and disgusted when he first learned that his daughter planned to involve herself in nursing. Yet it soon became clear that Florence Nightingale was not content simply to nurse the sick and injured; she was determined to improve conditions in the hospitals in which she worked and she wrote prolifically about her work.

................................................................................................

"Some recent historians have suggested that the actual contribution made by Nightingale in the Crimean War were exaggerated by the British press. There may be some truth in that—stories about “the lady with the lamp,” the name by which Nightingale became known in the press, were sentimentalized and romanticized. This report from the Times newspaper is fairly typical of the tone of many: “She is a ‘ministering angel’ without any exaggeration in these hospitals, and as her slender form glides quietly along each corridor, every poor fellow’s face softens with gratitude at the sight of her.”"

Which may have been observed actually by the reporter who wrote that, and it'd be true of general situation involving a kind nurse and patients. 

"Still, there is no doubt that Nightingale made a very real and important contribution to the improvement of medical care in field hospitals. The notion of nurses as a significant part of the medical care team originates with Nightingale as did many ideas about the importance of cleanliness and hygiene in hospitals. When she returned to Britain after her service in Scutari, Nightingale produced an 800-page report for the Royal Commission on the Health of the Army. This became the basis of reforms that transformed sanitation and the treatment of the sick and wounded in the British army.

................................................................................................

"In 1860, Nightingale founded the Nightingale Training School at St. Thomas’ Hospital in London. She also wrote an influential book, Notes on Nursing, which became a core part of the curriculum at the new training school and defined, virtually for the first time, the importance of hygiene and cleanliness in the treatment of the sick and injured."

For the first time? 

What about the Austrian - Hungarian doctor, Ignaz Semmelweis, responsible for reducing death rate of new mothers in childbirth? 

From internet:- 

"The year was 1846, and our would-be hero was a Hungarian doctor named Ignaz Semmelweis."

Surely that precedes Crimean War and report by Florence Nightingale in 1860?

................................................................................................

................................................................................................

"“Sevastopol is probably the worst battered town in Russia or anywhere else.” 

"—Mark Twain"

................................................................................................

"After the failed Russian attempt to disrupt British supply lines during the Battle of Balaclava, the siege of Sevastopol settled down into a period of stalemate. The French and British forces had around 120 artillery pieces set up to fire on Sevastopol from a series of redoubts, lines of trenches, and fortified gun positions. Inside the city, the Russian defenders had more than 300 guns, many taken from naval vessels which had been deliberately scuttled in the harbor. Most of the defenders were Russian naval personnel and marines from these ships.

"An artillery duel between the French and British guns outside and the Russian weapons inside began. For the most part, this produced few decisive results though in early October a Russian shell fell on a French magazine, causing it to explode and destroying a number of guns and killing many of their operators. A short time later, a British shell hit the magazine in a Russian redoubt, killing an admiral and destroying several guns.

"The guns in the siege lines around the city were supplemented by Allied naval forces which also bombarded Sevastopol, though to little effect. The well-prepared Russian defensive positions proved to be extremely resilient—in early October, a flotilla of more than 25 allied warships bombarded Russian defenses and shore batteries. Little damage was caused and this was repaired during the night. The allied warships meanwhile lost more than 300 men to intense Russian return fire.

................................................................................................

"Both defenders and attackers dug trench systems and rifle pits from which they could snipe at enemy lines, an early foretaste of the trench warfare of World War I. For the allies, one of the main problems was that they simply did not have sufficient troops to man the long siege line which ran all the way around the city. Instead, allied troops were concentrated in small fortified positions, generally redoubts on top of low hills.

"Although the Battle of Balaclava had been a failure, it had made the Russians aware of how thinly stretched the allied forces were. Prince Menshikov, the Russian commander with overall responsibility for the defense of Sevastopol, had withdrawn the bulk of his field army from the city before the allied siege lines were complete, leaving the defense to a garrison of mainly naval troops. In early morning fog on November 5, Menshikov unleashed more than 40,000 Russian troops from outside the siege lines supported by more than 100 field guns to attack allied lines.

"The main thrust of the Russian attack was to fall on a British position, Home Hill, where the Second Division had prepared defensive positions for around 2,500 hundred men supported by just 12 field guns. On paper, the Russian attack looked unstoppable. However, the sheer number of attackers proved to be an issue, and only around 15,000 Russian troops were able to attack Home Hill. The acting commander of the Second Division, Major-General John Pennefather, was uncertain how many attacking Russians he faced due to lingering fog, and as soon as he became aware that an attack was in progress, he ordered the Second Division to advance.

"The two sides encountered one another as both advanced through the fog. As soon as they came within range, both opened fire, and it then became apparent just how much better the British rifles were compared to the smoothbore muskets used by most of the Russian troops. The British rifles were more accurate at much longer range and had a higher rate of fire than the Russian muskets. Despite their superiority in numbers, the Russian attackers were driven back with heavy casualties. Lieutenant General Soymonov, commander of the Russian 10th Division, was one of those killed by British rifle fire. In other areas, the situation was repeated. A column of 15,000 Russian troops attempted to take Sandbag Battery, occupied by just 300 British soldiers. Seeing the Russians approaching, the British attacked, driving back the Russian attack.

................................................................................................

"Throughout the day, the fog continued to hamper attempts by the Russians to coordinate their attacks, and they proved unable to take advantage of superior numbers. British reinforcements were moved up to support the defenders on Home Hill and Sandbag Battery and continued Russian assaults on both positions proved costly. By the evening of November 5, the Russian troops were forced to withdraw and the allies were able to resume their original siege positions.

"This series of small-scale actions, often undertaken by isolated battalion-sized groups or smaller due to the continuing fog, became known as the Battle of Inkerman. British casualties were around 2,500; Russian casualties were almost 12,000. Many British regiments added Inkerman to their battle honors, and to the Victorians, the name came to represent the ability of British troops to take on enemy units many times larger.

"After the disaster of Inkerman, the Russians would never again try to break the siege of Sevastopol by a direct attack on the besieging allied forces. Still, those forces were not strong enough to assault the city and the siege became one of the longest-lasting features of this war. Conditions on both sides became very difficult during the winter of 1854/55. Allied troops were simply not equipped for a winter war—they were forced to live in trenches in dreadful conditions, especially after a great storm on November 14 destroyed many allied supply ships and most of the army’s tents. By the end of the winter, many allied troops were on the brink of starvation, cholera and dysentery had taken their toll, and virtually all the army’s horses and mules were dead. In Britain, the public was outraged by newspaper reports of the appalling conditions being endured by troops in the siege lines.

................................................................................................

"Conditions for the Russian defenders were little better. Supplies were scarce, and sporadic fighting and continuing artillery bombardment achieved little but inflicted large numbers of casualties for whom there was little prospect of effective medical treatment. Then, in early 1855, came an even more bitter blow for the Russians. Disheartened by Russian military and naval failures and exhausted by the strain of directing the war, Tsar Nicholas I caught a chill and refused medical treatment. The chill turned into pneumonia. On March 2, 1855, the tsar died in the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg. He was succeeded by his 37-year-old eldest son, Alexander. 

"Alexander II would prove to be a very different tsar, instigating many internal reforms and pursuing a largely peaceful foreign policy. However, before he could consider this new way forward, the new tsar first had to deal with the Crimean War."

................................................................................................

................................................................................................

"“The moonlight was still floating on the waters, when men, looking from numberless decks towards the east, were able to hail the dawn.” 

"—Orlando Figes"

................................................................................................

"Although the Crimean War is now chiefly remembered for the land conflict in the Crimean Peninsula, this war also involved naval conflicts in several other theaters.

"The Sea of Azov is to the north of the Black Sea and accessible only via a narrow strait at Kerch. This body of water was an important part of the supply route for the besieged garrison at Sevastopol—supplies came from Taganrog, the port for the city of Rostov-on-Don in the far north of the Sea of Azov. In order to interdict these supplies, an Anglo-French naval force of gunboats and armed steamers passed through the Kerch Strait in May 1855 and proceeded to attack all Russian installations in the Sea of Azov. Russian naval forces in the area were virtually wiped out and coastal batteries and defenses were bombarded. There was an attempt to besiege the city of Taganrog, though this was unsuccessful. There was also an attempt to reach the city of Rostov by sailing up the Don River, but this too failed.

"Just as in conflicts between forces on land it quickly became apparent that Russian naval units were inferior to their French and British counterparts; although the Russian navy was large, most Russian warships were wooden-hulled sailing ships while many French and British vessels were steam-powered and provided with the latest type of naval guns and steel armor. Russian sailors and gunners were also less well trained. The Anglo-French fleet remained in the Sea of Azov, virtually unchallenged, until late 1855. This severely restricted the flow of supplies to the garrison at Sevastopol.

................................................................................................

"The Baltic Sea is far distant from the Crimea, but this war also featured naval combat in this location. The Baltic was extremely important to Russia—the city of St. Petersburg lies at the far end of the Gulf of Finland which itself is part of the eastern Baltic. The main base for the Russian fleet in the Baltic was at Kronstadt, on an island in the Gulf of Finland around 15 kilometers west of St. Petersburg. In April 1854, soon after the declaration of war, a large Anglo-French fleet entered the Gulf of Finland and attacked the base at Kronstadt. The outcome was not decisive, and in August 1854, an even larger allied fleet (the biggest naval fleet assembled since the Napoleonic wars) returned to the Baltic. The Russian Baltic fleet, heavily outnumbered, stayed in its base, protected by powerful shore batteries while the allies attacked a number of smaller Russian ports and defenses in the Gulf of Finland.

"The naval action in the Baltic did not produce a decisive naval engagement, but it proved very damaging to the Russian war effort. The Russian balance of payments depended heavily on exports through the Gulf of Finland. The presence of an allied fleet there essentially stopped all sea-borne exports and imports to and from Russia. All exports and imports then had to be made via the overland route through Prussia—a much more expensive and time-consuming journey. The presence of allied naval units threatening St. Petersburg also forced the Russians to keep large armies in the area in case of an allied landing. This prevented the transfer of troops from this area to the Crimea. In these ways the allied naval action in the Baltic was very important—while it achieved little in the way of tactical success, strategically it helped to undermine the Russian economy and kept large numbers of troops pinned down who might otherwise have been sent to reinforce the Russian armies in the Crimea."

Do they realise the chain of events leading to Russian Revolution, and Thence to the treaty between Germany and Russia that eased the path of Hitler occupying Europe until he turned on Russia in 1941, began here, in Anglo-French coordinated attack against Russia damaging Russian economy? 

...............................................................................................

"There was also naval action in the White Sea (an inlet of the Barents Sea). In November 1854, a squadron of British warships shelled and virtually destroyed the town of Kola, though an attempt to storm the important port of Arkhangelsk failed. In the Far East, an Anglo-French naval force attacked the important city of Petropavlovsk on the Kamchatka Peninsula. The attempt to take the city in September 1854 was beaten back, one of the few successful actions undertaken by the Russians against the Anglo-French naval operations. In the same theater, allied landings at Sakhalin and on the Kuril Islands were successful but had little effect on the progress of the war."

Couldn't possibly have helped the trust between future allies of WWI and WWII, could it? 

................................................................................................

"Perhaps surprisingly, there was relatively little naval action in the Black Sea during this war. Before France and Britain joined the war, the Russian Black Sea fleet inflicted a number of defeats on the naval forces of the Ottoman Empire, but when the large Anglo-French fleet arrived in the area in September 1854, they were not challenged by Russian warships. Instead, the Russian Black Sea fleet remained in harbor in Sevastopol. During the siege of that city, these warships were sunk to block the harbor and their guns taken to be used in the defenses.

"Prior to the outbreak of the Crimean War, it was believed that the Russian navy might be capable of fighting on equal terms against the warships of Britain and France. This proved to be an illusion; the poorly trained Russian sailors and gunners proved to be no match for the most modern naval technology with well-trained crews. Although the naval campaign in the Baltic was an important strategic element of the war, it was clear that this conflict would be decided not at sea but on land."

................................................................................................

................................................................................................

"“Beggars in the streets of London were at that time leading the lives of princes, compared to the life of our soldiers in the Crimea.” 

"—Florence Nightingale"

................................................................................................

"Although most of the fighting on land during this conflict took place on the Crimean Peninsula, there was also a protracted series of battles in the Caucasus Mountains. These mountains formed a natural barrier between the southern extent of the Russian Empire and the northern edge of the Ottoman Empire. In the early stages of the war in 1853, Russian naval victories in the Black Sea helped to assure Russian victories in the mountains including the defeat of the Ottoman Empire at the Battle of Başgedikler.

"After the allied fleet arrived in the Black Sea, the Russian navy in the area was no longer able to support its troops on land and the fighting reduced in scale and intensity. Just as in other theaters, the bulk of casualties in this area were caused not by combat but by disease. In the period January to May 1855, the Ottoman army in the Caucasus was reduced from 120,000 to less than 75,000, mainly due to cholera and dysentery. It is believed that Russian casualties were on a similar level."

Was it this, that Turkey sought to revenge - by massacring a million Armenians around WWI era? 

................................................................................................

"The fighting in the Caucasus continued throughout the rest of the war, but with few major gains for either side and no large-scale pitched battles to compare with those fought on the Crimean Peninsula. It was only late in the war that the Russians would mount one final major attack against the Ottoman stronghold of Kars, the most important fortress of Eastern Anatolia. The purpose of this attack was to relieve pressure on the siege of Sevastopol. The assault failed, though the city finally fell to Russian forces in November 1855.

"The siege of Sevastopol continued into the spring of 1855. Public disquiet at conditions endured by British troops during the siege of Sevastopol combined with horror at blunders such as the Charge of the Light Brigade led directly to the resignation of the British prime minister, Lord Aberdeen. In February 1855, a new government was formed under the control of Lord Palmerstone, who promised to take a much harder line on the war and ensure that it was prosecuted with professionalism and vigor.

................................................................................................

"By April 1855, a tramway was completed between the main British supply base at Balaclava and British positions around Sevastopol. Throughout the winter, the supply situation had improved for British troops. They were finally provided with adequate warm clothing and food as well as replacement horses. Additional guns and ammunition were also brought up until, by early April, there were more than 500 French and British artillery pieces in position around the city. On Easter Sunday, April 8, 1855, these guns began a fierce bombardment of the defensive position in Sevastopol. During the next couple of weeks, around 6,000 Russian defenders were killed by artillery fire alone.

"In May and early June, there were a number of relatively small-scale attacks by British and French troops who were joined in May by 15,000 troops from the Kingdom of Sardinia which had joined the war against Russia. Then, on June 7, the French launched a massive attack against the Mamelon and the Malakhov, two of the largest Russian defensive positions. The French took the Mamelon but were driven back from the Malakhov. They lost more than 5,000 men during this attack. In another attack on June 18, the French gained little ground but suffered another 3,500 casualties.

"Continuous bombardment by British and French artillery continued to take its toll on the defenders of Sevastopol; during June, Russian casualties averaged more than 1,000 men every day. In late June, the British commander-in-chief, Lord Raglan, suffered what seemed to be a bout of Cholera, leading to his death on June 28.

................................................................................................

"The bombardment of the city continued throughout the summer until, in early September, the British and French agreed to undertake a large-scale combined assault on Sevastopol. The French would attack the Malakhov and the British would focus on the Redan, another large defensive position. A massive bombardment began on September 5 and continued for three days. Then, at around mid-day on September 8, the combined assault began.

"The French were successful in their attempt to storm the Malakhov. The British assault on the Redan proved more difficult, in part due to rocky terrain, but the eventual outcome was the taking of both these important positions. Russian forces counter-attacked, and savage fighting continued until evening, but the Redan and the Malakhov remained in allied hands. In the evening, allied troops in these positions watched as Russian troops streamed out of the area, crossing bridges to the north side of the harbor and abandoning the ruined city. On September 11, Russian forces burned the last remaining Russian warships in Sevastopol harbor. After 11 months, the siege was finally over.

"The final French attack on the Malakhov cost the French more than 7,000 casualties, including five generals killed. The British lost over 2,000 and the Russian more than 12,000 including two generals. It has been estimated that the Russians lost in total more than 100,000 men during the siege of Sevastopol. Allied forces suffered over 70,000 casualties, but that does not include deaths due to disease.

"This siege was the central part of the Crimean War, and the loss of the city of Sevastopol was a major blow to Russian prestige and to confidence in the abilities of its military forces."

Which resulted in the implacable demand for control of East Europe post WWII, not helped by lack of alacrity by allies in making a treaty with Soviet Union before, with desperate courting, Germany did. 

................................................................................................

................................................................................................

"“Whatever our fate is or may be, we have made it and do not complain of it.” 

"—Leo Tolstoy, who served as an artillery officer during the siege of Sevastopol"

Hence his War And Peace. 

................................................................................................

"Dissatisfaction caused by the Crimean War affected many of the participants. The Ottoman Empire, already weakened by internal strife, was further undermined by the war. In Britain, dissatisfaction caused by high casualties and a perception of incompetent leadership led to a number of demonstrations against the war, something virtually unheard of in Britain. In Russia, failures during the war also led to dissent and dissatisfaction; in February 1855, a peasant revolt which began in Vasylkiv county spread across the whole of Kiev with peasants refusing to participate in government labor. They were supported by Cossacks who also attacked priests who were thought to be secretly supporting the government. In France, there was widespread dissatisfaction at the very high level of casualties in return for what was seen as vague objectives.

"With the fall of Sevastopol, there was little point in continuing the war. The Anglo-French forces were not strong enough to mount any large-scale invasion of Russia, and it was clear that there was no public support for such an action. The Ottoman Empire had been fought to a standstill in the Caucasus and the loss of the fortress of Kers was a major blow. The Russian economy was suffering due to the blockade in the Gulf of Finland and the very fabric of Russian society seemed to be threatened by internal revolt. By the end of 1855, all sides were very willing to consider how best to bring the Crimean War to an end. In February 1856, the Congress of Paris was held to end the war. This was achieved in March with the signing of the Treaty of Paris.

................................................................................................

"This treaty caused almost as much dissatisfaction as the war. The British and French agreed to return Sevastopol and the whole of the Crimean Peninsula to Russia, making people in both countries question why so many soldiers had died there to protect it. Russia was forced to return Kers and the Danubian principalities to the Ottoman Empire. The Russians also agreed to demilitarize the Black Sea and not to build naval bases or defensive positions there. All the great powers agreed to respect the independence and territorial integrity of the Ottoman Empire. 

"The Treaty of Paris lasted for just 15 years. In 1871, France was defeated by Prussia in the Franco-Prussian War and as a direct result the French Empire was ended when Emperor Napoleon III was deposed and the Third French Republic was proclaimed."

................................................................................................

................................................................................................

"“O wasted bravery of our mighty dead!” 

"—Gerald Massey"

................................................................................................

"Each of the four empires directly involved in the Crimean War was affected by it, and even the Austrian Empire, which was only peripherally involved, was also impacted.

"For the most part, Russia simply ignored those provisions of the Treaty of Paris which prevented it from creating naval bases in the Black Sea. Russia assumed, correctly, that neither Britain nor France was willing to risk another unpopular war over Russian power in the Black Sea. Russia continued to be regarded as one of the great powers, despite the military and organizational failings exposed by the Crimean War. These failings came to the surface again in the Russo-Japanese War of 1905 and the First World War. Revolts and insurrection which grew in strength during the Crimean War finally swept away Imperial Russia completely in the revolution of 1917.

"The Ottoman Empire, the so-called “sick man of Europe,” continued its slow and seemingly inexorable decline before its final collapse in 1923 which saw the establishment in its place of the modern, secular nation-state of Turkey with Kemal Atatürk as its president. The Crimean War had little effect on the Ottoman Empire beyond, perhaps, accelerating its final collapse."

Surely T.E. Lawrence helped, even if only a little, or at any rate possibly a tad less than proclaimed in the larger-than-life portrayal by David Lean in the epic Lawrence of Arabia?

................................................................................................

"The Second French Empire lasted only another 15 years until defeat by Prussia in 1871 led to the creation of a new republic. France had no real interest in the Black Sea, and without Napoleon III, there was never any real danger that France would once again find itself fighting against Russia in the Crimea.

"The British Empire continued much as before, with the policy of splendid isolation becoming even more pronounced as the nineteenth century progressed. In part, this increasing isolation was due to the reaction to the Crimean War—this war was seen as pointless and wasteful, and most people did not understand why British troops should have died not to protect British interests but to prop up the tottering Ottoman Empire. For the next 50 years, Britain did all that it could to separate itself from European affairs.

................................................................................................

"The Austrian Empire, though not directly involved in the Crimean War, was nevertheless affected by it. The military failures of the Russian Empire, a former ally of the Austrian Empire, helped to convince the Austrians that they needed to look elsewhere in Europe for a strong ally. Instead of Russia, they moved closer to Prussia, growing stronger all the time and soon to challenge and defeat France. The Austrian Empire became Austria-Hungary in 1867 and remained in alliance with Prussia which evolved into a Germany with imperial ambitions. When the First World War began in 1914, Austria-Hungary found itself fighting alongside Germany and against its former ally, the Russian Empire. The end of that war brought defeat and dissolution for the once-mighty Austrian Empire. 

"The Crimean War helped to change Europe, not directly by conquest or occupation but by influencing public opinion and politics in all the countries involved. It also represented a transition in warfare itself from the stately maneuvering of the Napoleonic era to the destructive power of rapid-fire weapons in World War I.

................................................................................................

................................................................................................

"The Crimean War can be seen as the first truly modern war. It introduced the horrors of trench warfare, and it showed for the first time how vulnerable cavalry was to modern breech-loading rifles. It saw combat involving steam-powered, ironclad warships, and it used railways for logistical support. This was also the first war to involve regular battlefield reporting by newspaper reporters and the use of photographs to convey images of conflict. All these things would become relatively commonplace later, first in the American Civil War and then in the First World War, but they were first seen together here.

"The Crimean War can also be seen as the last of the great imperial wars. This war directly involved four of the great empires of the world and a fifth (the Austrian Empire) was involved on the periphery. By the end of the First World War, only one of these empires, the British, would still exist.

................................................................................................

"Yet the enduring images of the Crimean War are of confusion and waste. Few people in Britain and France really understood why their troops were involved in fighting Russians in the distant Crimea, a place in which neither country had any interest. The blunders which characterized this war in events such as the Charge of the Light Brigade, the near-starvation of troops besieging Sevastopol, and the massive death toll on all sides due to disease and inadequate medical treatment combined with confusion about war aims led to widespread dissatisfaction at home in all the countries involved."

Which resulted in shaping future attitudes and consequences thereof. 

................................................................................................

"Perhaps this dissent is why the Crimean War is one of the least remembered major wars of the nineteenth century. There were few glorious victories here, making the huge death toll difficult to understand or justify. The Crimean War remains a truly forgotten war.""

No, that's blindness of the author, perhaps due to a schooling in US. 

Not only this war was key to the further developments in Europe including WWI and WWII, but far more; and even by itself, it's still remembered for Florence Nightingale as much as for the event that formed title of the poem by Tennyson, taught through most of Twentieth Century in British school curriculum. 

As for lasting effects, look at the pointless unrelenting war waged by West that began with this, and constantly used Islamic jihadists to "contain" Soviet Union or Russia( - including now the Ukraine black comedy centred on the same neighbourhood - Crimea, Black Sea and Sea of Azov - ), even to inviting great danger, to not only West but to all human civilisation. 

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Table of Contents 

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Introduction 

Five Empires 

The March to War 

Early Fighting 

The Charge of the Light Brigade 

Death, Disease, and the Lady with the Lamp 

Inkerman and the Death of the Tsar 

The Naval War 

The Fall of Sevastopol 

The End of the War 

Aftermath 

Conclusion 

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REVIEW 

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Introduction 

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"The Crimean War was the largest war between the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815 and the outbreak of World War I in 1914. It accounted directly for the deaths of more than half a million combatants, far more than were killed in, for example, the American Civil War which took place in the same general period. Yet the Crimean War has been largely forgotten."

Except for such small bits as English poetry and professional nursing. Unforgettable, those. 

"Partly that is because its causes were complex and difficult to understand, and partly it is because this war did not produce a great victory or a huge defeat for any of the countries involved. The Crimean War was fought to decide which of the five empires that dominated Europe in the nineteenth century would become the most powerful. Two of the empires involved, Britain and France, fought to maintain the status quo. They succeeded. The Russian Empire fought for the right to expand its territory in eastern Europe and elsewhere. It failed, and internal dissent and revolt were encouraged by this failure. The Austrian Empire remained neutral throughout this war while the Ottoman Empire, once the most powerful in the world, survived a Russian attack but was revealed to be weak and destined for eventual collapse. The Crimean War did not directly change the world, but it led indirectly to changes which were to completely re-shape Europe.

"Despite its lack of a clearly defined outcome, this is one of the most important wars of the nineteenth century and one whose legacy would help to shape the twentieth. ... "

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December 21, 2022 - December 21, 2022. 

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Chapter 1. Five Empires 

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"“The sick man of Europe.” 

"—Tsar Nicholas I, on the Ottoman Empire"

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"By the mid-nineteenth century, Europe was in a state of flux. Old alliances were being reconsidered as conflict, unrest, and the aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars caused realignments and fundamental changes. Europe was controlled for the most part by five empires, all in very different stages of their development and all with their own ambitions and desires.

"France, for many years the most powerful nation in Europe, had been convulsed first by the French Revolution from 1789-1799 and then by a series of wars against other European nations from 1800-1815 under the leadership of Napoleon Bonaparte which led to the creation of the French Empire. By 1852, France had seen the restoration of the monarchy deposed by the revolution, then the creation of a short-lived republic before Napoleon Bonaparte’s nephew, Napoleon III, became the leader of the Second French Empire. France was keen to restore its place amongst the leading European nations, and in 1830, it had annexed the North African territory of Algeria and declared this to be part of the French Empire.

"In Great Britain, the Napoleonic Wars had led to the development of a competent professional army to supplement the British fleet, still the most powerful naval force in the world. The empire controlled by Victorian Britain was nearing its zenith, and the United Kingdom took relatively little interest in European affairs other than when they directly affected their interests. In the nineteenth century, Britain generally did not enter into alliances with other European states, a situation that later became known as “splendid isolation.” However, the need to protect the sea-routes that were essential to the British dominions and colonies meant that the British Empire could not afford to ignore developments in Europe completely.

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"In Russia, Britain’s former ally in the wars against Napoleon, Tsar Nicholas I came to the throne in 1825. Nicholas was a no-nonsense soldier who gave no consideration to the liberal reforms started by his predecessor, Tsar Alexander I. Nicholas centralized power in his own hands and for the most part was as concerned with suppressing potential revolts within his own country as with expanding the area controlled by Russia.

"Nicholas undertook reforms within the Russian army intended to make it a more effective fighting force and concluded an alliance with the Austrian Empire to form a barrier against the rising power of Prussia. On paper, the Russian Empire, stretching from Siberia to present-day Poland, was the largest and most powerful in Europe. Many Russians wanted to see the empire extended, but the Napoleonic Wars seemed to have shown that this was difficult. Expansion to the west would bring Russia into conflict with the Austrian Empire, the French Empire, and perhaps even the British Empire. If Russia were going to expand the territory it controlled, this would have to be in some other direction.

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"The Austrian Empire was ruled by the Hapsburgs and was the third most powerful in Europe (behind Russia and France). This empire stretched over almost a quarter of a million square miles and included present-day Austria and Hungary. The Austrian Empire had arisen out of the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in the early 1800s, but by the middle of the nineteenth century, the empire was beset by a number of internal separatist movements originating in the several different ethnic groups that made up the realm.

"In one empire on the periphery of Europe, the nineteenth century seemed to bring nothing but problems. The Ottoman Empire was at one time one of the most powerful in the world. The Muslim Ottoman people, who had originated as a semi-nomadic tribe from Anatolia, had conquered lands in present-day Turkey, Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Serbia, Montenegro, and Croatia and even in the mid-1800s occupied territory stretching from the Danube River in the west to the city of Constantinople, formerly the capital of the Christian Byzantine Empire, in the east. For extended periods, the Ottoman navy had controlled most of the Mediterranean, the Red Sea, and the Persian Gulf, and even parts of the Indian Ocean. For more than 400 years, the Ottoman Empire represented the most direct and immediate threat to European security, being the subject of several unsuccessful crusades and taking fighting as far west as the city of Venice.

"However, by the middle of the nineteenth century, the Ottoman Empire was in serious decline. Internal revolts and assassinations had weakened the control of the sultan, and a series of unsuccessful wars against Russia in the eighteenth century had seen the Ottoman Empire lose a great deal of land it had formerly occupied, including the Crimean Khanate which had been an Ottoman possession for over 250 years. Its control over remaining lands was also weakened by continuing pressure as the Russians sought to control the Slavic people of Eastern Europe by usurping Ottoman power east of the Danube.

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"Many of the ethnic minorities who comprised the people ruled by the Ottoman Empire needed little encouragement to revolt. The Serbian Revolution began in 1804. Greek people in the Peloponnese began a revolt against their Ottoman rulers in the 1820s and by 1829 had established independence from the empire. Continuing insurrections in Serbia, Wallachia, and Montenegro further weakened the Ottoman Empire. It was clear to most outsiders that this empire was nearing the point of total collapse from pressures from within and without.

"During the 1840s, the tottering Ottoman Empire was referred to by the tsar of Russia as “the sick man of Europe.” If the Ottoman Empire was to collapse, it was clear that Russia stood to gain the most. Although the Ottoman Empire had been the traditional enemy of many European countries for hundreds of years, the French, British, and Austrian Empires now regarded the continuance of the Ottoman Empire as an essential check to the growing power of Russia and in particular as a block to Russian naval ambitions in the Mediterranean."

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December 21, 2022 - December 21, 2022. 

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Chapter 2. The March to War 

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"“The Crimean war was fought for the sake of Europe rather than for the Eastern question; it was fought against Russia, not in favor of Turkey.” 

"—A. J. P. Taylor"

And therein the foundations of encouragement of jihadists by West, letting loose the jinn that threatens West more than anything else now. 

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"The Ottoman Empire was principally Muslim, but it also included a sizeable Orthodox Christian population. Russia had traditionally positioned itself as the sponsor and protector of Eastern Orthodoxy, and it claimed an interest in the welfare of the Christians within the Ottoman Empire. However, Napoleon III, leader of the French Empire, sought to increase the influence of France by declaring that France had sovereign authority over some Christian minorities. In particular, France claimed the right to protect the large Christian minority in Palestine, at that time a protectorate of the Ottoman Empire. This position had previously been occupied by Russia, and the tsar saw this as the beginning of a challenge which would eventually seek to undermine the position of Russia as protector of the Christian minority across the whole of the Ottoman Empire.

"This dispute over the right to be regarded as the protector of the Ottoman Empire Christians led to a direct confrontation between France and Russia. Being able to claim to be acting on behalf of Christians in a Muslim empire was a role which conferred a great deal of power and gave a valid excuse for interference in the internal affairs of the failing Ottoman Empire. Britain had no particular love for France but feared a situation where Russia controlled the Ottoman Empire which would give its powerful navy in the Black Sea access to the Mediterranean via the Strait of Bosphorus. This would potentially challenge British naval supremacy in the Mediterranean and even its vital sea routes to India.

"In the early 1850s, the Austrian Empire was still recovering from the effects of the Hungarian Revolution of 1848. Hungary had attempted to break free from the Austrian Empire in a bloody and destructive series of conflicts. Austria had managed to suppress the revolution only with the help of large numbers of troops loaned by the Russians. The Austrian Empire had survived but was badly weakened and beholden to the Russians. Thus, Russia assumed that the Austrian Empire would not be drawn into any potential conflict over the Ottoman Empire.

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"The weakness and vacillation of the Ottoman Empire contributed to uncertainty and confusion. In 1851, the sultan agreed on a treaty with France which seemed to give the French increased responsibility for the Ottoman Christian minority. Immediate Russian pressure forced the sultan to reverse this decision. Later the same year, the treaty with France was renounced and Russia was confirmed as the protector of Orthodox Christians in the Ottoman Empire. Emperor Napoleon III of France responded by sending a powerful French warship, the Charlemagne, through the Bosphorus into the Black Sea in 1852. This was a clear violation of the London Straits Convention of 1841, which banned all warships from using the Bosphorus. Sultan Abdülmecid I of the Ottoman Empire seemed to get the point; he quickly placated the French by signing a treaty which confirmed France as the formal protector of all Christian holy places in lands controlled by the Ottoman Empire.

"Outraged, Tsar Nicholas responded by moving large numbers of troops to the north side of the River Danube in Wallachia where they faced a small and less well-equipped Ottoman force on the south side of the river. The Russians claimed that French interference in the Ottoman Empire was endangering the Christian minority which Russia had a right and obligation to protect. In February of 1853, Tsar Nicholas sent a new ambassador to Constantinople—Prince Menshikov, an aggressive, abrasive, and no-nonsense soldier. Menshikov’s role was to persuade the sultan to accept yet another treaty with Russia even more sweeping than those that had gone before. This treaty would have given Russia rights as the protector of all 12 million Christians within the Ottoman Empire and even control of the Christian Orthodox Church itself.

"With Russian armies poised on the Danube and seemingly prepared to attack relatively weak Ottoman positions south of the river, the sultan was in a very difficult position. He sought advice from the British ambassador to Constantinople, George Hamilton Seymour, who suggested that the sultan attempt to appease the Russians by accepting parts of their proposal while rejecting others. The Russians were infuriated and sent even more Russian troops to the Danubian provinces. The British and French responded by sending warships to the Dardanelles. It was clear that Russia, France, and Britain were on the verge of war over the dismembering of the collapsing Ottoman Empire.

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"In June of 1853, Tsar Nicholas ordered his armies to attack the Ottoman Danubian principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia (in present-day Romania). The following month, another Russian army attacked over the River Danube and began to drive Ottoman forces back. Sultan Abdülmecid I responded by declaring war on Russia.

"Initially, Britain and France, supported by the Austrian Empire and Prussia, looked for a diplomatic solution to the conflict. A conference in Vienna produced proposed peace terms which were submitted to both the tsar and the sultan in December 1853. Tsar Nicholas seemed willing to accept but Sultan Abdülmecid, fearing that the proposed terms would weaken the Ottoman Empire even further, refused.

"Even while the proposed peace terms were being considered, the Russians had defeated a large part of the Ottoman navy at the Battle of Sinop in November 1853. It seemed that the Ottoman Empire was powerless to oppose Russian aggression. In early 1854, Britain and France delivered a joint ultimatum to Russia: withdraw from the Danubian provinces or face war. The Austrian Empire, although still grateful for Russian intervention in the revolution of 1848, was alarmed by the increasing numbers of Russian troops in the Balkans and supported Britain and France. Russia ignored the ultimatum, and in March 1854, Britain and France formally declared war on Russia while the Austrian Empire announced that it would remain neutral."

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December 21, 2022 - December 21, 2022. 

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Chapter 3. Early Fighting 

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"“[The Crimean War] was not the result of a calculated plan, nor even of hasty last-minute decisions made under stress. It was the consequence of more than two years of fatal blundering.” 

"—Shepard Clough"

Well, WWII certainly was executed from September 1,1939 onwards upto June 22, 1941 as per plans already in place as early as winter of 1938-39, but that doesn't mean squat as far as it's merit in relation with the planned bit goes. The merit was entirely on the originally unplanned but eventually winning side.

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"Although this war has become known as the Crimean War, fighting took place in several different theaters of operation. There was long-term, bloody fighting in the Black Sea and on the Crimean Peninsula and especially around the vital port city of Sevastopol, but there was also conflict in the Danubian States, the Sea of Azov, the Baltic and the Pacific Seas, and in the Caucasus Mountains. The character and progress of the fighting in each theater was quite different. 

"The war began with the advance of over 80,000 Russian troops into the Danubian principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia in July of 1853. After a period of negotiation which failed to resolve the situation, the Ottoman Empire formally declared war on Russia in October 1853 and launched a counteroffensive against the Russian forces in the Danubian principalities later the same month.

"This early fighting to the south of the River Danube highlighted something that was to characterize much of this war. On paper, the Russian army was one of the most powerful fighting forces in the world in the 1850s. In the period leading up to the outbreak of war, the Imperial Russian Army consisted of around one million regular soldiers and up to a quarter of a million irregulars, mainly Cossacks. In comparison, the army in Britain nominally comprised 70,000 men, but in actuality, the British Empire found it very difficult to scrape together a force of 25,000 troops to fight the Russians.

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"The sheer size of the Russian army blinded many people (including senior Russian soldiers) to its many problems. The bulk of the Russian Army comprised serfs who were involuntarily conscripted for military service. Many were understandably unhappy about being sent to serve in the army for 25 years. The supply of the massive Russian army was also a grave problem. While most other countries in Europe had well-developed rail systems by 1850, Russia had just 400 miles of track, all close to the cities of Moscow and St. Petersburg. Transporting, feeding, and supplying large numbers of troops was a major problem for Russia. Most supplies were moved by horse or ox-carts, and in muddy conditions these could move at no more than one half mile per hour. The port city of Sevastopol in the Crimea was 1,300 miles from the military headquarters in St. Petersburg, so the logistics of supply meant that many Russian soldiers went hungry and were short of ammunition.

"The equipment used by Russian armies was also poor. The muskets used by Russian troops in the Crimean War had a range of around two hundred yards and could fire one or two rounds per minute. The Minié rifles used by British and French troops had a range of around eight hundred yards and could fire up to four rounds per minute. These problems were compounded by appalling sanitary conditions that affected Russian soldiers and non-existent medical treatment which meant that even relatively minor wounds were all too often fatal. As a direct consequence, Russian armies (and the armies of other combatant nations in this conflict) were often afflicted by outbreaks of disease. Of the 80,000 Russian troops who moved into the Danubian principalities in 1853, it is estimated that fewer than half survived to return to Russia. The main causes of death were not injury in combat but disease and starvation and exposure due to lack of supplies and equipment.

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"The first fighting of the Crimean War took place in the Danubian principalities following the declaration of war against Russia by the Ottoman sultan in October 1853. The first major engagement was the Battle of Oltenița on November 4, 1853, when an Ottoman army under Omar Pasha fought a large Russian army under General Peter Dannenberg. The outcome was indecisive though the fact that the Ottoman forces were not defeated was reported as a great victory in Britain and France. In late 1853 and early 1854, fighting continued, and the Russian army found it difficult to achieve any decisive victory against the Ottoman forces. In January 1854, Russian forces began a siege of a fortified Ottoman position on the north bank of the Danube near the village of Calafat in Wallachia. The siege continued for more than four months before the Russian forces were forced to withdraw in April 1854. By that time, Britain and France had also declared war on Russia, and Russian troops were urgently needed elsewhere.

"In June 1854, British and French fleets comprising warships and transports landed an Allied expeditionary force at the Ottoman port of Varna in present-day Bulgaria. British and French military camps were established at Alladyn, eight miles north of the port in preparation for action against Russian forces in the area. However, by mid-July, both camps were struck by epidemics of cholera. By the end of July, up to 100 men per day were dying of the disease. The Russians meanwhile had withdrawn all their forces from the Danubian principalities rather than face the Allied expeditionary force. As the Russian move into Moldavia and Wallachia had been the reason for the Ottoman Empire, Britain, and France declaring war on Russia, this withdrawal could have meant the end of the war. Yet public opinion in Britain and France was by this time so overwhelmingly behind a war against Russia that this was no longer politically expedient.

"After the Russian withdrawal, there was no further fighting in the Danubian principalities. The Austrian Empire, which remained neutral throughout the Crimean War, sent troops into the area to act as a peacekeeping force. In early September, British and French troops finally embarked from their fever-ridden camps at Alladyn in a fleet of over 300 ships. On September 14, the naval force landed the troops on the beaches of Calamita Bay on the southwest coast of the Crimean Peninsula. The landing was unopposed, and within four days all troops, horses, stores, and artillery were in place. The main focus of the war immediately shifted to this new location."

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December 21, 2022 - December 21, 2022. 

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Chapter 4. The Charge of the Light Brigade 

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"“‘Forward, the Light Brigade! 

"Charge for the guns!’ he said. 

"Into the valley of Death 

"Rode the six hundred.” 

"—Alfred, Lord Tennyson"

Wasn't the event spoofed and ridiculed by George Bernard Shaw, not an admirer of either British racism nor the foolhardy unthinking warrior, much less likely to glorify it as glamourous, in his Arms And The Man? 

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"The Allied expeditionary force which landed in the Crimea in September 1854 was not a particularly coherent force. The British and French had a long history of conflict, and this was virtually the first time that the two nations had fought on the same side. The British commander-in-chief, 64-year-old Lord Raglan, had lost an arm at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815 and frequently referred to his French allies as “the enemy.” The French, under the command of Jacques Leroy de Saint-Arnaud, also held their British allies in low esteem, distrusting the elderly and hesitant Raglan, and there were frequent clashes about strategy and tactics.

"The one thing that both the French and the British agreed upon was that their Ottoman allies were not reliable. Racial prejudice ensured that both European nations regarded Ottoman troops as inferior and not to be trusted in battle. In some cases, British and French troops used their Ottoman allies in the same way that they used colonial troops—they were principally used a source of manual labor rather than as combat troops, and there were instances where European troops forced Ottoman soldiers to carry them across streams or muddy areas. As far as the French and British were concerned, this was principally a war between France and Britain and their Russian adversaries.

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"One of the most important strategic locations on the Crimean Peninsula was the port city of Sevastopol. This was an important hub for Russian naval units in the Black Sea and a significant source of supplies for Russian troops on the peninsula. The capture of Sevastopol was the first and most important goal for the Anglo-French force. Almost as soon as the British and French troops had landed at Calamita Bay, they began to march east, towards Sevastopol, 30 miles away. The commander of Russian forces on the Crimean Peninsula, Prince Alexander Sergeyevich Menshikov, rushed his forces west towards the allies, and he occupied the only viable defensive position between the expeditionary force and the city—the Alma Heights, south of the Alma River.

"On September 20, the combined British-French force reached the Alma River and immediately attacked the Russian positions. As was to prove the case on many occasions during this war, the attacks by British and French were not well-coordinated. The French attacked first and turned the Russian left flank by climbing cliffs that the Russian commander had considered unscalable. Had the British been ready to attack at that point, the Russians might have been routed. Instead, Lord Raglan insisted that any British attack should wait until the French move was complete. When the British did attack, the Russian defenders had time to reorganize and prepare.

"In the event, the Russians were finally forced to retreat from the Alma Heights, back towards the city of Sevastopol. The lack of available cavalry meant that the allies were unable to pursue the retreating Russians; senior Russian commanders later noted that if the allies had been able to pursue the retreating Russian army, Sevastopol might have fallen that day. Total casualties on the allied side were around 3,500 compared to approximately 5,000 for the Russians. It took more than two days to recover all the British and French casualties from the battlefield and to evacuate them to the main military hospital at Scutari, across the Black Sea.

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"Over the next month, British and French troops took up positions completely surrounding Sevastopol with the intention of besieging the city. The British established a supply port at Balaclava and the French at Kamiesch. On October 25, a large Russian force attacked British positions outside the city in an attempt to cut troops off from supplies coming from Balaclava. This day of confused and scattered fighting would become immortalized in British military history.

"One of the notable features about the Crimean War was that it was the first major war during which newspaper correspondents and photographers were present on the battlefields. First-hand reports of battles were regularly printed in newspapers and often supported by photographs. This fascinated the general public, especially in France and Britain, but often infuriated military commanders who found their mistakes, real or perceived, being widely discussed in the press.

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"On the morning of October 25, an example of the power of press reporting occurred when a large detachment of Russian cavalry heading for the British supply base at Balaclava encountered the 93rd Highlanders commanded by Sir Colin Campbell. During the Napoleonic Wars, the usual response on the part of an infantry unit faced with a cavalry attack was to form a square—this formation limited the offensive firepower of a unit but prevented cavalry from flanking or getting behind. Campbell, an astute military leader, realized that the Minié rifles with which his men had been issued were much more powerful and more accurate than the muskets they had previously used. Campbell believed that this meant that his men, if assembled in line formation, would be able to bring sufficiently devastating fire on approaching cavalry that they would be able to stop them in their tracks.

"Accordingly, as the Russian cavalry approached, Campbell had his men assume a line formation only two men deep. Observers on the heights above were horrified and assumed that the British troops would be annihilated by the advancing cavalry. Instead, the new rifles cut the Russian cavalry to pieces. One observer was William Howard Russell, a correspondent for the London Times newspaper. In his report, he described the red-coated Highlanders as a “thin red streak topped with steel.” From this, the phrase “thin red line” became almost universally used to describe any British military unit facing a larger enemy. During this action, it also became clear that cavalry, the most powerful type of unit on the battlefield for hundreds of years, was now vulnerable to the new infantry weapons.

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"British cavalry at the Battle of Balaclava was divided into two separate brigades: the Heavy Brigade comprising around 800 mounted troopers and the Light Brigade comprising around 650. The Heavy Brigade consisted of heavily armed and armored troops on large horses and was designed to be used as a shock force or to counter enemy cavalry. The men of the Light Brigade were mounted on lighter, faster horses, more lightly armored, armed only with sabers and lances, and were intended for use in reconnaissance or pursuing a routing enemy.

"On the morning of October 25, the Heavy Brigade encountered a much larger force of around 3,000 Russian cavalry. Despite being at a disadvantage because they were downhill from the Russians, the Heavy Brigade attacked at once and routed the Russian cavalry. Later the same day, it was the turn of the Light Brigade.

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"During scattered fighting early that morning, several Russian gun positions on the heights above the main battlefield had been taken. Lord Raglan could see from his vantage point above the main valley that Russian troops were moving to retake the guns which had been captured that morning. The Heavy Brigade was still recovering from its encounter with the Russian cavalry, so Raglan sent a message to the Earl of Cardigan, the commander of the Light Brigade, saying, “Lord Raglan wishes the cavalry to advance rapidly to the front, follow the enemy, and try to prevent the enemy carrying away the guns.” Cardigan in the valley below could not see the guns to which the order referred. The only artillery visible to him was at the far end of the valley. Assuming that this was their intended target, the Light Brigade charged.

"They were fired upon by more than 50 Russian artillery pieces and 20 battalions of infantry. Although the British cavalry reached the Russian guns at the end of the valley and destroyed many, less than 200 were still on their horses when the brief action was over. The French Marshal Pierre Bosquet, who was observing noted, “C’est magnifique, mais ce n’est pas la guerre” (“It is magnificent, but it is not war”). British newspaper reports extolled the courage of the men who rode towards the Russian guns but questioned the ability of commanders who sent them on this pointless and costly mission. Lord Raglan blamed the Earl of Lucan, overall commander of British cavalry. Lucan blamed his brother-in-law, the Earl of Cardigan (who survived the charge). Cardigan blamed both Lucan and Raglan. Eventually, everyone agreed that the real blame lay with Captain Nolan, the man who had carried the message from Raglan to Cardigan and who died in the charge.

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"Although in terms of casualties what became known as the Charge of the Light Brigade was a relatively minor action during this war, its reporting in the British press and the publication of the poem “The Charge of the Light Brigade” by Alfred, Lord Tennyson a few months later has turned this into one of the best-known actions by a British unit in any war. It became a symbol not just for the unquestioning courage of British troops but also for the muddled confusion of their commanders.

"The Battle of Balaclava ended much as it had begun, with the Russians confined to the besieged city of Sevastopol and British supply lines between their field positions and the supply port of Balaclava safe. Both sides began to reinforce—the British and French with the intention of ensuring the siege of Sevastopol was secure, and the Russian with the intention of mounting an even larger attack on the surrounding armies."

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December 21, 2022 - December 22, 2022. 

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Chapter 5. Death, Disease, and the Lady with the Lamp 

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"“When all the medical officers have retired for the night and silence and darkness have settled down upon those miles of prostrate sick, she may be observed alone, with a little lamp in her hand, making her solitary rounds.” 

"—Extract from the Times newspaper"

That image hasn't been forgotten. 

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"Disease was a constant factor during the Crimean War. Typhus, typhoid, cholera, and dysentery ravaged the armies of all combatant nations. The prevention of infection was not well understood, and field hospitals were often filthy; those who were wounded in battle often died later of infection. The loss of troops due to disease and infection became such a serious problem that, almost for the first time, the armies of all nations began to consider how to improve sanitary conditions for their soldiers and how to more effectively treat the wounded. This process gave rise to one of the people most associated with the Crimean War in the public imagination: Florence Nightingale.

"Nightingale was a social reformer and writer who, by 1850, had become interested in the prevention of disease and the treatment of the sick. In 1853, she was working as superintendent at the Institute for the Care of Sick Gentlewomen on Harley Street in London. When the first British troops were landed in the Danubian principalities in June 1854, it wasn’t long before newspapers were carrying lurid stories of the deaths there due to disease. There was a public outcry and demands that more must be done to look after British troops. One of the people given responsibility for carrying out these improvements was the British secretary for war, Sidney Herbert. Herbert was a life-long friend of Florence Nightingale, and he authorized the creation of a new medical unit under her supervision which was to be sent to treat the ill and wounded in the Crimea.

"In October 1854, Nightingale, 38 volunteer nurses, and 15 Catholic nuns set off from England. In early November, Nightingale and her small team established a field hospital at Selimiye Barracks in Scutari (present-day Üsküdar in Istanbul). This was located around 300 miles from the main British military headquarters at Balaclava in the Crimea.

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"Conditions at the improvised field hospital were grim during the first winter. The facility was overcrowded, ventilation was poor, and the sewage system was inefficient and blocked. More than 4,000 patients from the British, French, and Ottoman armies who were sent there died, the vast majority killed not by their wounds but by typhus and cholera. Nightingale wrote a scathing report which resulted in a sanitary commission being sent out from Britain. Ventilation at the hospital as Scutari was improved, the sanitation system was brought back to full operation, and Nightingale instituted handwashing procedures for all staff working on the wards. Before Nightingale and her team arrived, the average death rate amongst those arriving at the hospital was over 40%. With the improvements in place, it dropped to 2%.

"Using the information from Scutari, British engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel designed a pre-fabricated hospital which was built in Britain and shipped to the Dardanelles. The new facility was run by Dr. Edmund Parkes and proved to have an even lower death rate than Scutari. However, it was the facility at Scutari and in particular the character of Florence Nightingale which became a subject of fascination in Victorian Britain.

"The idea that a gentlewoman (Nightingale was born to a powerful and wealthy English family) might become a nurse was seen as faintly scandalous. Nursing was traditionally a poorly paid profession carried out by the lower classes. It was not something that a woman from a well-to-do family would usually consider—Nightingale’s father was horrified and disgusted when he first learned that his daughter planned to involve herself in nursing. Yet it soon became clear that Florence Nightingale was not content simply to nurse the sick and injured; she was determined to improve conditions in the hospitals in which she worked and she wrote prolifically about her work.

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"Some recent historians have suggested that the actual contribution made by Nightingale in the Crimean War were exaggerated by the British press. There may be some truth in that—stories about “the lady with the lamp,” the name by which Nightingale became known in the press, were sentimentalized and romanticized. This report from the Times newspaper is fairly typical of the tone of many: “She is a ‘ministering angel’ without any exaggeration in these hospitals, and as her slender form glides quietly along each corridor, every poor fellow’s face softens with gratitude at the sight of her.”"

Which may have been observed actually by the reporter who wrote that, and it'd be true of general situation involving a kind nurse and patients. 

"Still, there is no doubt that Nightingale made a very real and important contribution to the improvement of medical care in field hospitals. The notion of nurses as a significant part of the medical care team originates with Nightingale as did many ideas about the importance of cleanliness and hygiene in hospitals. When she returned to Britain after her service in Scutari, Nightingale produced an 800-page report for the Royal Commission on the Health of the Army. This became the basis of reforms that transformed sanitation and the treatment of the sick and wounded in the British army.

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"In 1860, Nightingale founded the Nightingale Training School at St. Thomas’ Hospital in London. She also wrote an influential book, Notes on Nursing, which became a core part of the curriculum at the new training school and defined, virtually for the first time, the importance of hygiene and cleanliness in the treatment of the sick and injured."

For the first time? 

What about the Austrian - Hungarian doctor, Ignaz Semmelweis, responsible for reducing death rate of new mothers in childbirth? 

From internet:- 

"The year was 1846, and our would-be hero was a Hungarian doctor named Ignaz Semmelweis."

Surely that precedes Crimean War and report by Florence Nightingale in 1860?

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December 22, 2022 - December 22, 2022. 

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Chapter 6. Inkerman and the Death of the Tsar 

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"“Sevastopol is probably the worst battered town in Russia or anywhere else.” 

"—Mark Twain"

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"After the failed Russian attempt to disrupt British supply lines during the Battle of Balaclava, the siege of Sevastopol settled down into a period of stalemate. The French and British forces had around 120 artillery pieces set up to fire on Sevastopol from a series of redoubts, lines of trenches, and fortified gun positions. Inside the city, the Russian defenders had more than 300 guns, many taken from naval vessels which had been deliberately scuttled in the harbor. Most of the defenders were Russian naval personnel and marines from these ships.

"An artillery duel between the French and British guns outside and the Russian weapons inside began. For the most part, this produced few decisive results though in early October a Russian shell fell on a French magazine, causing it to explode and destroying a number of guns and killing many of their operators. A short time later, a British shell hit the magazine in a Russian redoubt, killing an admiral and destroying several guns.

"The guns in the siege lines around the city were supplemented by Allied naval forces which also bombarded Sevastopol, though to little effect. The well-prepared Russian defensive positions proved to be extremely resilient—in early October, a flotilla of more than 25 allied warships bombarded Russian defenses and shore batteries. Little damage was caused and this was repaired during the night. The allied warships meanwhile lost more than 300 men to intense Russian return fire.

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"Both defenders and attackers dug trench systems and rifle pits from which they could snipe at enemy lines, an early foretaste of the trench warfare of World War I. For the allies, one of the main problems was that they simply did not have sufficient troops to man the long siege line which ran all the way around the city. Instead, allied troops were concentrated in small fortified positions, generally redoubts on top of low hills.

"Although the Battle of Balaclava had been a failure, it had made the Russians aware of how thinly stretched the allied forces were. Prince Menshikov, the Russian commander with overall responsibility for the defense of Sevastopol, had withdrawn the bulk of his field army from the city before the allied siege lines were complete, leaving the defense to a garrison of mainly naval troops. In early morning fog on November 5, Menshikov unleashed more than 40,000 Russian troops from outside the siege lines supported by more than 100 field guns to attack allied lines.

"The main thrust of the Russian attack was to fall on a British position, Home Hill, where the Second Division had prepared defensive positions for around 2,500 hundred men supported by just 12 field guns. On paper, the Russian attack looked unstoppable. However, the sheer number of attackers proved to be an issue, and only around 15,000 Russian troops were able to attack Home Hill. The acting commander of the Second Division, Major-General John Pennefather, was uncertain how many attacking Russians he faced due to lingering fog, and as soon as he became aware that an attack was in progress, he ordered the Second Division to advance.

"The two sides encountered one another as both advanced through the fog. As soon as they came within range, both opened fire, and it then became apparent just how much better the British rifles were compared to the smoothbore muskets used by most of the Russian troops. The British rifles were more accurate at much longer range and had a higher rate of fire than the Russian muskets. Despite their superiority in numbers, the Russian attackers were driven back with heavy casualties. Lieutenant General Soymonov, commander of the Russian 10th Division, was one of those killed by British rifle fire. In other areas, the situation was repeated. A column of 15,000 Russian troops attempted to take Sandbag Battery, occupied by just 300 British soldiers. Seeing the Russians approaching, the British attacked, driving back the Russian attack.

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"Throughout the day, the fog continued to hamper attempts by the Russians to coordinate their attacks, and they proved unable to take advantage of superior numbers. British reinforcements were moved up to support the defenders on Home Hill and Sandbag Battery and continued Russian assaults on both positions proved costly. By the evening of November 5, the Russian troops were forced to withdraw and the allies were able to resume their original siege positions.

"This series of small-scale actions, often undertaken by isolated battalion-sized groups or smaller due to the continuing fog, became known as the Battle of Inkerman. British casualties were around 2,500; Russian casualties were almost 12,000. Many British regiments added Inkerman to their battle honors, and to the Victorians, the name came to represent the ability of British troops to take on enemy units many times larger.

"After the disaster of Inkerman, the Russians would never again try to break the siege of Sevastopol by a direct attack on the besieging allied forces. Still, those forces were not strong enough to assault the city and the siege became one of the longest-lasting features of this war. Conditions on both sides became very difficult during the winter of 1854/55. Allied troops were simply not equipped for a winter war—they were forced to live in trenches in dreadful conditions, especially after a great storm on November 14 destroyed many allied supply ships and most of the army’s tents. By the end of the winter, many allied troops were on the brink of starvation, cholera and dysentery had taken their toll, and virtually all the army’s horses and mules were dead. In Britain, the public was outraged by newspaper reports of the appalling conditions being endured by troops in the siege lines.

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"Conditions for the Russian defenders were little better. Supplies were scarce, and sporadic fighting and continuing artillery bombardment achieved little but inflicted large numbers of casualties for whom there was little prospect of effective medical treatment. Then, in early 1855, came an even more bitter blow for the Russians. Disheartened by Russian military and naval failures and exhausted by the strain of directing the war, Tsar Nicholas I caught a chill and refused medical treatment. The chill turned into pneumonia. On March 2, 1855, the tsar died in the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg. He was succeeded by his 37-year-old eldest son, Alexander. 

"Alexander II would prove to be a very different tsar, instigating many internal reforms and pursuing a largely peaceful foreign policy. However, before he could consider this new way forward, the new tsar first had to deal with the Crimean War."

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December 22, 2022 - December 22, 2022. 

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Chapter 7. The Naval War 

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"“The moonlight was still floating on the waters, when men, looking from numberless decks towards the east, were able to hail the dawn.” 

"—Orlando Figes"

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"Although the Crimean War is now chiefly remembered for the land conflict in the Crimean Peninsula, this war also involved naval conflicts in several other theaters.

"The Sea of Azov is to the north of the Black Sea and accessible only via a narrow strait at Kerch. This body of water was an important part of the supply route for the besieged garrison at Sevastopol—supplies came from Taganrog, the port for the city of Rostov-on-Don in the far north of the Sea of Azov. In order to interdict these supplies, an Anglo-French naval force of gunboats and armed steamers passed through the Kerch Strait in May 1855 and proceeded to attack all Russian installations in the Sea of Azov. Russian naval forces in the area were virtually wiped out and coastal batteries and defenses were bombarded. There was an attempt to besiege the city of Taganrog, though this was unsuccessful. There was also an attempt to reach the city of Rostov by sailing up the Don River, but this too failed.

"Just as in conflicts between forces on land it quickly became apparent that Russian naval units were inferior to their French and British counterparts; although the Russian navy was large, most Russian warships were wooden-hulled sailing ships while many French and British vessels were steam-powered and provided with the latest type of naval guns and steel armor. Russian sailors and gunners were also less well trained. The Anglo-French fleet remained in the Sea of Azov, virtually unchallenged, until late 1855. This severely restricted the flow of supplies to the garrison at Sevastopol.

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"The Baltic Sea is far distant from the Crimea, but this war also featured naval combat in this location. The Baltic was extremely important to Russia—the city of St. Petersburg lies at the far end of the Gulf of Finland which itself is part of the eastern Baltic. The main base for the Russian fleet in the Baltic was at Kronstadt, on an island in the Gulf of Finland around 15 kilometers west of St. Petersburg. In April 1854, soon after the declaration of war, a large Anglo-French fleet entered the Gulf of Finland and attacked the base at Kronstadt. The outcome was not decisive, and in August 1854, an even larger allied fleet (the biggest naval fleet assembled since the Napoleonic wars) returned to the Baltic. The Russian Baltic fleet, heavily outnumbered, stayed in its base, protected by powerful shore batteries while the allies attacked a number of smaller Russian ports and defenses in the Gulf of Finland.

"The naval action in the Baltic did not produce a decisive naval engagement, but it proved very damaging to the Russian war effort. The Russian balance of payments depended heavily on exports through the Gulf of Finland. The presence of an allied fleet there essentially stopped all sea-borne exports and imports to and from Russia. All exports and imports then had to be made via the overland route through Prussia—a much more expensive and time-consuming journey. The presence of allied naval units threatening St. Petersburg also forced the Russians to keep large armies in the area in case of an allied landing. This prevented the transfer of troops from this area to the Crimea. In these ways the allied naval action in the Baltic was very important—while it achieved little in the way of tactical success, strategically it helped to undermine the Russian economy and kept large numbers of troops pinned down who might otherwise have been sent to reinforce the Russian armies in the Crimea."

Do they realise the chain of events leading to Russian Revolution, and Thence to the treaty between Germany and Russia that eased the path of Hitler occupying Europe until he turned on Russia in 1941, began here, in Anglo-French coordinated attack against Russia damaging Russian economy? 

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"There was also naval action in the White Sea (an inlet of the Barents Sea). In November 1854, a squadron of British warships shelled and virtually destroyed the town of Kola, though an attempt to storm the important port of Arkhangelsk failed. In the Far East, an Anglo-French naval force attacked the important city of Petropavlovsk on the Kamchatka Peninsula. The attempt to take the city in September 1854 was beaten back, one of the few successful actions undertaken by the Russians against the Anglo-French naval operations. In the same theater, allied landings at Sakhalin and on the Kuril Islands were successful but had little effect on the progress of the war."

Couldn't possibly have helped the trust between future allies of WWI and WWII, could it? 

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"Perhaps surprisingly, there was relatively little naval action in the Black Sea during this war. Before France and Britain joined the war, the Russian Black Sea fleet inflicted a number of defeats on the naval forces of the Ottoman Empire, but when the large Anglo-French fleet arrived in the area in September 1854, they were not challenged by Russian warships. Instead, the Russian Black Sea fleet remained in harbor in Sevastopol. During the siege of that city, these warships were sunk to block the harbor and their guns taken to be used in the defenses.

"Prior to the outbreak of the Crimean War, it was believed that the Russian navy might be capable of fighting on equal terms against the warships of Britain and France. This proved to be an illusion; the poorly trained Russian sailors and gunners proved to be no match for the most modern naval technology with well-trained crews. Although the naval campaign in the Baltic was an important strategic element of the war, it was clear that this conflict would be decided not at sea but on land."

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December 22, 2022 - December 22, 2022. 

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Chapter 8. The Fall of Sevastopol 

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"“Beggars in the streets of London were at that time leading the lives of princes, compared to the life of our soldiers in the Crimea.” 

"—Florence Nightingale"

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"Although most of the fighting on land during this conflict took place on the Crimean Peninsula, there was also a protracted series of battles in the Caucasus Mountains. These mountains formed a natural barrier between the southern extent of the Russian Empire and the northern edge of the Ottoman Empire. In the early stages of the war in 1853, Russian naval victories in the Black Sea helped to assure Russian victories in the mountains including the defeat of the Ottoman Empire at the Battle of Başgedikler.

"After the allied fleet arrived in the Black Sea, the Russian navy in the area was no longer able to support its troops on land and the fighting reduced in scale and intensity. Just as in other theaters, the bulk of casualties in this area were caused not by combat but by disease. In the period January to May 1855, the Ottoman army in the Caucasus was reduced from 120,000 to less than 75,000, mainly due to cholera and dysentery. It is believed that Russian casualties were on a similar level."

Was it this, that Turkey sought to revenge - by massacring a million Armenians around WWI era? 

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"The fighting in the Caucasus continued throughout the rest of the war, but with few major gains for either side and no large-scale pitched battles to compare with those fought on the Crimean Peninsula. It was only late in the war that the Russians would mount one final major attack against the Ottoman stronghold of Kars, the most important fortress of Eastern Anatolia. The purpose of this attack was to relieve pressure on the siege of Sevastopol. The assault failed, though the city finally fell to Russian forces in November 1855.

"The siege of Sevastopol continued into the spring of 1855. Public disquiet at conditions endured by British troops during the siege of Sevastopol combined with horror at blunders such as the Charge of the Light Brigade led directly to the resignation of the British prime minister, Lord Aberdeen. In February 1855, a new government was formed under the control of Lord Palmerstone, who promised to take a much harder line on the war and ensure that it was prosecuted with professionalism and vigor.

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"By April 1855, a tramway was completed between the main British supply base at Balaclava and British positions around Sevastopol. Throughout the winter, the supply situation had improved for British troops. They were finally provided with adequate warm clothing and food as well as replacement horses. Additional guns and ammunition were also brought up until, by early April, there were more than 500 French and British artillery pieces in position around the city. On Easter Sunday, April 8, 1855, these guns began a fierce bombardment of the defensive position in Sevastopol. During the next couple of weeks, around 6,000 Russian defenders were killed by artillery fire alone.

"In May and early June, there were a number of relatively small-scale attacks by British and French troops who were joined in May by 15,000 troops from the Kingdom of Sardinia which had joined the war against Russia. Then, on June 7, the French launched a massive attack against the Mamelon and the Malakhov, two of the largest Russian defensive positions. The French took the Mamelon but were driven back from the Malakhov. They lost more than 5,000 men during this attack. In another attack on June 18, the French gained little ground but suffered another 3,500 casualties.

"Continuous bombardment by British and French artillery continued to take its toll on the defenders of Sevastopol; during June, Russian casualties averaged more than 1,000 men every day. In late June, the British commander-in-chief, Lord Raglan, suffered what seemed to be a bout of Cholera, leading to his death on June 28.

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"The bombardment of the city continued throughout the summer until, in early September, the British and French agreed to undertake a large-scale combined assault on Sevastopol. The French would attack the Malakhov and the British would focus on the Redan, another large defensive position. A massive bombardment began on September 5 and continued for three days. Then, at around mid-day on September 8, the combined assault began.

"The French were successful in their attempt to storm the Malakhov. The British assault on the Redan proved more difficult, in part due to rocky terrain, but the eventual outcome was the taking of both these important positions. Russian forces counter-attacked, and savage fighting continued until evening, but the Redan and the Malakhov remained in allied hands. In the evening, allied troops in these positions watched as Russian troops streamed out of the area, crossing bridges to the north side of the harbor and abandoning the ruined city. On September 11, Russian forces burned the last remaining Russian warships in Sevastopol harbor. After 11 months, the siege was finally over.

"The final French attack on the Malakhov cost the French more than 7,000 casualties, including five generals killed. The British lost over 2,000 and the Russian more than 12,000 including two generals. It has been estimated that the Russians lost in total more than 100,000 men during the siege of Sevastopol. Allied forces suffered over 70,000 casualties, but that does not include deaths due to disease.

"This siege was the central part of the Crimean War, and the loss of the city of Sevastopol was a major blow to Russian prestige and to confidence in the abilities of its military forces."

Which resulted in the implacable demand for control of East Europe post WWII, not helped by lack of alacrity by allies in making a treaty with Soviet Union before, with desperate courting, Germany did. 

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December 22, 2022 - December 22, 2022. 

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Chapter 9. The End of the War 

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"“Whatever our fate is or may be, we have made it and do not complain of it.” 

"—Leo Tolstoy, who served as an artillery officer during the siege of Sevastopol"

Hence his War And Peace. 

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"Dissatisfaction caused by the Crimean War affected many of the participants. The Ottoman Empire, already weakened by internal strife, was further undermined by the war. In Britain, dissatisfaction caused by high casualties and a perception of incompetent leadership led to a number of demonstrations against the war, something virtually unheard of in Britain. In Russia, failures during the war also led to dissent and dissatisfaction; in February 1855, a peasant revolt which began in Vasylkiv county spread across the whole of Kiev with peasants refusing to participate in government labor. They were supported by Cossacks who also attacked priests who were thought to be secretly supporting the government. In France, there was widespread dissatisfaction at the very high level of casualties in return for what was seen as vague objectives.

"With the fall of Sevastopol, there was little point in continuing the war. The Anglo-French forces were not strong enough to mount any large-scale invasion of Russia, and it was clear that there was no public support for such an action. The Ottoman Empire had been fought to a standstill in the Caucasus and the loss of the fortress of Kers was a major blow. The Russian economy was suffering due to the blockade in the Gulf of Finland and the very fabric of Russian society seemed to be threatened by internal revolt. By the end of 1855, all sides were very willing to consider how best to bring the Crimean War to an end. In February 1856, the Congress of Paris was held to end the war. This was achieved in March with the signing of the Treaty of Paris.

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"This treaty caused almost as much dissatisfaction as the war. The British and French agreed to return Sevastopol and the whole of the Crimean Peninsula to Russia, making people in both countries question why so many soldiers had died there to protect it. Russia was forced to return Kers and the Danubian principalities to the Ottoman Empire. The Russians also agreed to demilitarize the Black Sea and not to build naval bases or defensive positions there. All the great powers agreed to respect the independence and territorial integrity of the Ottoman Empire. 

"The Treaty of Paris lasted for just 15 years. In 1871, France was defeated by Prussia in the Franco-Prussian War and as a direct result the French Empire was ended when Emperor Napoleon III was deposed and the Third French Republic was proclaimed."

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December 22, 2022 - December 22, 2022. 

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Chapter 10. Aftermath 

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"“O wasted bravery of our mighty dead!” 

"—Gerald Massey"

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"Each of the four empires directly involved in the Crimean War was affected by it, and even the Austrian Empire, which was only peripherally involved, was also impacted.

"For the most part, Russia simply ignored those provisions of the Treaty of Paris which prevented it from creating naval bases in the Black Sea. Russia assumed, correctly, that neither Britain nor France was willing to risk another unpopular war over Russian power in the Black Sea. Russia continued to be regarded as one of the great powers, despite the military and organizational failings exposed by the Crimean War. These failings came to the surface again in the Russo-Japanese War of 1905 and the First World War. Revolts and insurrection which grew in strength during the Crimean War finally swept away Imperial Russia completely in the revolution of 1917.

"The Ottoman Empire, the so-called “sick man of Europe,” continued its slow and seemingly inexorable decline before its final collapse in 1923 which saw the establishment in its place of the modern, secular nation-state of Turkey with Kemal Atatürk as its president. The Crimean War had little effect on the Ottoman Empire beyond, perhaps, accelerating its final collapse."

Surely T.E. Lawrence helped, even if only a little, or at any rate possibly a tad less than proclaimed in the larger-than-life portrayal by David Lean in the epic Lawrence of Arabia?

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"The Second French Empire lasted only another 15 years until defeat by Prussia in 1871 led to the creation of a new republic. France had no real interest in the Black Sea, and without Napoleon III, there was never any real danger that France would once again find itself fighting against Russia in the Crimea.

"The British Empire continued much as before, with the policy of splendid isolation becoming even more pronounced as the nineteenth century progressed. In part, this increasing isolation was due to the reaction to the Crimean War—this war was seen as pointless and wasteful, and most people did not understand why British troops should have died not to protect British interests but to prop up the tottering Ottoman Empire. For the next 50 years, Britain did all that it could to separate itself from European affairs.

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"The Austrian Empire, though not directly involved in the Crimean War, was nevertheless affected by it. The military failures of the Russian Empire, a former ally of the Austrian Empire, helped to convince the Austrians that they needed to look elsewhere in Europe for a strong ally. Instead of Russia, they moved closer to Prussia, growing stronger all the time and soon to challenge and defeat France. The Austrian Empire became Austria-Hungary in 1867 and remained in alliance with Prussia which evolved into a Germany with imperial ambitions. When the First World War began in 1914, Austria-Hungary found itself fighting alongside Germany and against its former ally, the Russian Empire. The end of that war brought defeat and dissolution for the once-mighty Austrian Empire. 

"The Crimean War helped to change Europe, not directly by conquest or occupation but by influencing public opinion and politics in all the countries involved. It also represented a transition in warfare itself from the stately maneuvering of the Napoleonic era to the destructive power of rapid-fire weapons in World War I.

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December 22, 2022 - December 22, 2022. 

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Conclusion 

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"The Crimean War can be seen as the first truly modern war. It introduced the horrors of trench warfare, and it showed for the first time how vulnerable cavalry was to modern breech-loading rifles. It saw combat involving steam-powered, ironclad warships, and it used railways for logistical support. This was also the first war to involve regular battlefield reporting by newspaper reporters and the use of photographs to convey images of conflict. All these things would become relatively commonplace later, first in the American Civil War and then in the First World War, but they were first seen together here.

"The Crimean War can also be seen as the last of the great imperial wars. This war directly involved four of the great empires of the world and a fifth (the Austrian Empire) was involved on the periphery. By the end of the First World War, only one of these empires, the British, would still exist.

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"Yet the enduring images of the Crimean War are of confusion and waste. Few people in Britain and France really understood why their troops were involved in fighting Russians in the distant Crimea, a place in which neither country had any interest. The blunders which characterized this war in events such as the Charge of the Light Brigade, the near-starvation of troops besieging Sevastopol, and the massive death toll on all sides due to disease and inadequate medical treatment combined with confusion about war aims led to widespread dissatisfaction at home in all the countries involved."

Which resulted in shaping future attitudes and consequences thereof. 

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"Perhaps this dissent is why the Crimean War is one of the least remembered major wars of the nineteenth century. There were few glorious victories here, making the huge death toll difficult to understand or justify. The Crimean War remains a truly forgotten war.""

No, that's blindness of the author, perhaps due to a schooling in US. 

Not only this war was key to the further developments in Europe including WWI and WWII, but far more; and even by itself, it's still remembered for Florence Nightingale as much as for the event that formed title of the poem by Tennyson, taught through most of Twentieth Century in British school curriculum. 

As for lasting effects, look at the pointless unrelenting war waged by West that began with this, and constantly used Islamic jihadists to "contain" Soviet Union or Russia( - including now the Ukraine black comedy centred on the same neighbourhood - Crimea, Black Sea and Sea of Azov - ), even to inviting great danger, to not only West but to all human civilisation. 

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December 22, 2022 - December 22, 2022. 

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CRIMEA WAR: A HISTORY 

FROM BEGINNING TO END 

(HISTORY OF RUSSIA), 

by 

HOURLY HISTORY. 

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December 21, 2022 - December 22, 2022. 

Purchased December 21, 2022.  

ASIN:- B0868J7RDT

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https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5178592973

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