The

Crimean War

lasted from 1854 to 1856. It was fought between Russia and an alliance of the United Kingdom, France, the Ottoman_Empire joined somewhat tardily by Piedmont-Sardinia. The majority of the conflict took place around the Crimean peninsula on the Black_Sea. After a dispute with the Ottoman Empire over the guardianship of several holy towns in Palestine and the protection of Orthodox Christians, Russia invaded Moldavia and Walachia, both semi-autonomous vassals of the Ottoman Empire, resulting in a declaration of war by the Ottomans in late 1853. The Russians, under the command of admiral Nakhimov, the hero of the Battle of Navarino, sank the Ottoman fleet at Sinope on November_30. The Ottomans were joined by Britain and France on March_28, 1854, and by Sardinia in January 1855. Austria also threatened to enter the war on the Ottoman side, causing the Russians to withdraw from the occupied areas, which were immediately occupied by the Austrians, in August 1854. The following month, though the immediate cause of war was withdrawn, allied troops landed in the Crimea and besieged the city of Sevastopol, home of the tsar's Black Sea fleet and a threat of future Russian penetration into the Mediterranean. The Russians had to scuttle their ships and used the naval cannons as the additional artillery, and the ships' crews as the marines. Admiral Nakhimov was mortally wounded in the head by a sniper shot, and died on June 30, 1855. The city was finally captured in September 1855. In the same year, the Russians occupied the Turkish/Armenian city of Kars. After the occupation of Sevastopol and the accession of Alexander II peace negotiations began. The war ended with the Treaty of Paris (1856). The war became infamously known for military and logistical incompetence, epitomized by the Charge_of_the_Light_Brigade immortalized in Tennyson's poem. Cholera undercut French preparations for the siege of Sevastopol, and a violent storm on the night of November 14, 1854 wrecked nearly thirty vessels with their precious cargoes of medical supplies, food, clothing and other necessaries. In the desperate winter that followed, scandalous treatment of wounded soldiers, which was covered by war correspondents for newspapers, prompted the work of Florence_Nightingale, introducing modern nursing methods. The Crimean War was also the first in which tactical use was made of railways. Most Interesting Side Note: The Crimean War occasioned the invention of hand rolled "paper cigars" - cigarettes - by French and British troops who copied their Turkish comrades in using old newspaper for rolling when their cigar-leaf rolling tobacco ran out or dried and crumbled.

Timeline

  • Some action also took place on the Russian Pacific coast, Asia_Minor, the Baltic and White_Seas
  • The roots of the war's causes lay in the existing rivalry between the British and the Russians in other areas such as Afghanistan. Conflicts over control of holy places in Jerusalem led to aggressive actions in the Balkans, and around the Dardanelles.
  • Major battles
  • Destruction of the Ottoman fleet at Sinope - November_30, 1853;
  • The Battle_of_Alma - September_20, 1854
  • The Battle_of_Balaclava - October_25, 1854 (''see also'' Charge_of_the_Light_Brigade);
  • The Battle_of_Inkerman - November_5, 1854;
  • Siege_of_Sebastopol (more correctly, "Sevastopol") - September_25, 1854 to September_8, 1855
  • Battle_of_Eupatoria, February_17, 1855
  • the_Siege_of_Kars, June to November_28, 1855
  • Battle_of_Chernaya_River (aka "Traktir Bridge") - August_25, 1855.
  • It was the first war where the electric telegraph started to have a significant effect; the first 'live' war reporting to ''The_Times'', and British generals' reduced independence of action from London due to such rapid communications. Newspaper readership informed public opinion in Britain and France as never before.
  • Florence_Nightingale Military commanders
  • Pavel_Stepanovich_Nakhimov (Russia)
  • Eduard_Ivanovich_Totleben (Russia)
  • Fitzroy_Somerset,_1st_Lord_Raglan (Britain)
  • Jacques_Leroy_de_Saint_Arnaud (France)
  • François_Certain_Canrobert (France)

    Obscure cross-links:

  • Beryl_Bainbridge's novel ''Master Georgie'' is set in the Crimean War.
  • Stephen_Baxter's novel Anti-Ice starts with the siege of Sebastopol, which is shortened dramatically by a new ''Anti-Ice'' weapon. The book asks the question - what if nuclear weapons had existed in Victorian times?

    External links

  • http://www.geocities.com/Broadway/Alley/5443/crimopen.htm
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    Copyright (c) 2004
    Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled
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