Crimean War
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| Crimean War | |||||||||||||
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| See also | Military history of France Military history of Britain History of Russia |
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| Dates | 1854-56 | ||||||||||||
| Place | Crimean Peninsula, Balkans Black Sea, Baltic Sea | ||||||||||||
| Result | Western Allied (British, Sardinian, and French) victory | ||||||||||||
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The Crimean War lasted from 28 March 1854 until 1856. It was fought between Russia and an alliance of the United Kingdom, France, the Ottoman Empire (To some Extent), and Piedmont-Sardinia.
The majority of the conflict took place on the Crimean peninsula in the Black Sea.
Contents |
The War
Beginning of the war
A new conflict was ostensibly provoked during the 1850s by an obscure religious dispute. Under treaties negotiated during the eighteenth century, France was the guardian of Roman Catholics in the Ottoman Empire, whilst Russia was the protector of Orthodox Christians. For several years, however, Catholic and Orthodox monks had disputed possession of the Church of the Nativity and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Palestine. During the early 1850s, the two sides made demands which the Sultan could not possibly satisfy simultaneously. In 1853, the Sultan adjudicated in favour of the French, despite the vehement protestations of the local Orthodox monks.
| Russo-Ottoman Wars | |||
| Battle of Chigirin | |||
| Battle of Bakhchisaray | |||
| Crimean_campaigns | |||
| Azov_campaigns | |||
| Prut_Campaign | |||
| Incident at Balta | |||
| Siege of Ochakov | |||
| Crimean War | |||
| Battles 1877-78 | |||
| World War I | |||
The Tsar of Russia, Nicholas I despatched a diplomat, Prince Menshikov, on a special mission to the Porte. By previous treaties, the Sultan, Abd-ul-Mejid I, was committed "to protect the Christian religion and its Churches", but Menshikov attempted to negotiate a new treaty, under which Russia would be allowed to interfere whenever it deemed the Sultan's protection inadequate. At the same time, however, the British government sent Lord Stratford, who learned of Menshikov's demands upon arriving. Through skilful diplomacy, Lord Stratford convinced the Sultan to reject the treaty, which compromised the independence of the Turks. Shortly after he learned of the failure of Menshikov's diplomacy, the Tsar marched his armies into Moldavia and Wallachia (Ottoman principalities in which Russia was acknowledged as a special guardian of the Orthodox Church), using the Sultan's failure to resolve the issue of the Holy Places as a pretext. Nicholas believed that the European powers would not object strongly to the annexation of a few neighbouring Ottoman provinces, especially given Russian involvement in suppressing the Revolutions of 1848.
When the Tsar sent his troops into Moldavia and Wallachia (the "Danubian Principalities"), the United Kingdom, seeking to maintain the security of the Ottoman Empire, sent a fleet to the Dardanelles, where it was joined by another fleet sent by France. At the same time, however, the European powers hoped for a diplomatic compromise. The representatives of the four neutral Great Powers—United Kingdom, France, Austria and Prussia—met in Vienna, where they drafted a note which they hoped would be acceptable to Russia and Turkey. The note met with the approval of Nicholas I; it was, however, rejected by Abd-ul-Mejid I, who felt that the document's poor phrasing left it open to many different interpretations. The United Kingdom, France and Austria were united in proposing amendments to mollify the Sultan, but their suggestions were ignored in the Court of Saint Petersburg. The United Kingdom and France set aside the idea of continuing negotiations, but Austria and Prussia did not believe that the rejection of the proposed amendments justified the abandonment of the diplomatic process. The Sultan proceeded to war, his armies attacking the Russian army near the Danube. Nicholas responded by despatching warships, which destroyed the entire Ottoman fleet at Sinop on 30 November 1853, thereby making it possible for Russia to land and supply its forces on the Turkish shores fairly easily. The destruction of the Turkish fleet and the threat of Russian expansion alarmed both the United Kingdom and France, who stepped forth in defense of the Ottoman Empire. In 1854, after Russia ignored an Anglo-French ultimatum to withdraw from the Danubian principalities, the United Kingdom and France declared war.
Peace attempts
Nicholas presumed that Austria, in return for the support rendered during the Revolutions of 1848, would side with him, or at the very least remain neutral. Austria, however, felt threatened by the Russian troops in the nearby Danubian Principalities. When the United Kingdom and France demanded the withdrawal of Russian forces from the Principalities, Austria supported them; and, though it did not immediately declare war on Russia, it refused to guarantee its neutrality. When, in the summer of 1854, Austria made another demand for the withdrawal of troops, Russia (fearing that Austria would enter the war) complied.
Though the original grounds for war were lost when Russia withdrew its troops from the Danubian Principalities, the United Kingdom and France failed to cease hostilities. Determined to address the Eastern Question by putting an end to the Russian threat to the Ottoman Empire, the allies proposed several conditions for the cessation of hostilities, including:
- a demand that Russia was to give up its protectorate over the Danubian Principalities
- it was to abandon any claim granting it the right to interfere in Ottoman affairs on the behalf of the Orthodox Christians;
- the Straits Convention of 1841 was to be revised;
- all nations were to be granted access to the River Danube.
As the Tsar refused to comply with the "Four Points," the Crimean War proceeded.
The Siege of Sevastopol
- Main article: Siege of Sevastopol (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 additional artillery, and the ships' crews as marines. During the war the Russians lost four 110- or 120-gun 3-deckers, twelve 84-gun 2-deckers and four 60-gun frigates in the Black Sea, plus a large number of smaller vessels. Admiral Nakhimov was mortally wounded in the head by a sniper shot, and died on 30 June 1855. The city was captured in September 1855.
In the same year, the Russians occupied the Turkish city of Kars.
Baltic Theatre
The most forgotten theatre of the war was most certainly the Baltic. The popularisation of events elsewhere have overshadowed the over arching significance of this theatre in the conclusion of the war. Russia having failed to industrialise was highly dependant on imports for both the domestic economy and the supply of her military forces. From the beginning of the war Britain imposed a blockade on the Baltic waters to restrict imports forcing her to transport far more limited imports overland. As the war continued this constriction crippled the whole of the Russian economy. At the same time a progressive development of attacks on Russian shipping and ports by an increasingly aggressive force that had transformed from a blockade to an offensive force intent on bringing the war to an end by striking at the Russian Capital. The raiding allied British and French fleets destroyed forts on the Finnish coast including Bomarsund on the Åland Islands and Fort Slava. The threat from the raids saw Russia diverting even more troops, eventually some 250,000, to protect Russian territory in the Baltic. As the Allies never exceeded a fifth of that number of troops this gives some sense of the disproportionate force exerted by this theatre. Russian concern was rightly placed as in 1855 the Western Allied Baltic Fleet destroyed the heavily defended Russian dockyards at Sveaborg. As a result of this a plan was devised to attack Cronstadt and capture the Russian capital. A massive new fleet of more than 350 gunboats and mortar vessels was prepared, but before the attack was launched, the Russians capitulated.
Final phase and the peace
Peace negotiations began in 1856 under Nicholas I's successor, Alexander II. Under the ensuing Treaty of Paris, the "Four Points" plan proposed earlier was largely adhered to; most notably, Russia's special privileges relating to the Danubian Principalities were transferred to the Great Powers as a group. In addition, warships of all nations were perpetually excluded from the Black Sea, once the home to the Russian fleet (which, however, had been destroyed in the course of the war). Furthermore, the Tsar and the Sultan agreed not to establish any naval or military arsenal on the coast of that sea. The Black Sea clauses came at a tremendous disadvantage to Russia, for it greatly diminished the naval threat it posed to the Turks. Moreover, all the Great Powers pledged to respect the independence and territorial integrity of the Ottoman Empire.
The Treaty of Paris stood until 1871, when France was crushed by Prussia in the Franco-Prussian War. Whilst Prussia and several other German states united to form a powerful German Empire, the Emperor of France, Napoleon III, was deposed to permit the formation of a French Republic. During his reign (which had begun in 1852), Napoleon III, eager for the support of the United Kingdom, had opposed Russia over the Eastern Question. Russian interference in the Ottoman Empire, however, did not in any significant manner threaten the interests of France. Thus, France abandoned its opposition to Russia after the establishment of a Republic. Encouraged by the decision of the French, and supported by the German minister Otto, Fürst von Bismarck, Russia denounced the Black Sea clauses of the treaty agreed to in 1856. As the United Kingdom alone could not enforce the clauses, Russia once again established a fleet in the Black Sea.
The Crimean War caused a mass exodus of Crimean Tatars towards the Ottoman lands, resulting in massive depopulation in the peninsula.
Characteristics of the war
The war became infamously known for military and logistical incompetence, epitomised by the Charge of the Light Brigade which was immortalised in Tennyson's poem. Cholera undercut French preparations for the siege of Sevastopol, and a violent storm on the night of 14 November 1854 wrecked nearly thirty vessels with their precious cargoes of medical supplies, food, clothing and other necessaries. The scandalous treatment of wounded soldiers in the desperate winter that followed was reported by war correspondents for newspapers, prompting the work of Florence Nightingale and introducing modern nursing methods. Although acknowledged at the time, the work of Mary Seacole, the so-called "black Florence Nightingale", was subsequently overshadowed by that of her white contemporary, and has only recently been readmitted to mainstream history. The Crimean War also introduced the first tactical use of railways.
The Crimean War occasioned the introduction of hand rolled "paper cigars" — cigarettes — to 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.
Major events of the war
- 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 (The Great Game). 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 Sinop - 30 November 1853;
- The Battle of Alma - 20 September 1854
- Siege of Sebastopol (more correctly, "Sevastopol") - September 25, 1854 to 8 September 1855
- The Battle of Balaclava - 25 October 1854 (see also Charge of the Light Brigade);
- The Battle of Inkerman - 5 November 1854;
- Battle of Eupatoria, 17 February 1855
- Battle of Chernaya River (aka "Traktir Bridge") - 25 August 1855.
- Siege of Kars, June to 28 November 1855
- It was the first war where the electric telegraph started to have a significant effect, with the first 'live' war reporting to The Times by William Howard Russell, 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 came into prominence during the Crimean War for her contributions in the field of nursing during the war.
Prominent military commanders
From the Ottoman point of view
The first major Ottoman war, the Crimean War (1854-1856), came with Russia. Like so many of the later conflicts with Europe, this one was initiated not by the Ottomans, but by the other Europeans. Russia was primarily interested in territory. Throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Russia had slowly been annexing Muslim states in Central Asia. By 1854, Russia found itself near the banks of the Black Sea. Anxious to annex territories in Eastern Europe, particularly the Ottoman provinces of Moldavia and Walachia (now in modern day Romania), the Russians went to war with the Ottomans on the flimsiest of pretexts: the Ottomans had granted Catholic France the right to protect Christian sites in the Holy Land (which the Ottomans controlled) rather than Orthodox Russia. That, according to the Russians, justified going to war with the Ottomans.
This war is unique in Ottoman history in that the outcome wasn't heavily influenced by the Ottomans themselves. The war soon became a European war when Britain and France allied with the Ottomans in order to protect their lucrative trade interests in the region. The war ended badly for the Russians, and the Paris peace of 1856 was unfavorable to them. In textbooks, the Crimean War is presented entirely from the perspective of the Europeans, for it brought home the fact that more European powers were willing to overthrow the old order than to maintain it. It had, though, important consequences for the Ottoman Empire, as well. From this point onwards, the Ottoman Empire saw itself as being heavily controlled by other Europeans. The Crimean War initiated a decline in Ottoman morale and a helplessness. Non-Ottoman Europeans, for their part, no longer saw the Ottomans as an equal force to be reckoned with, but as a tool to be used in larger European concerns.
See also
- Beryl Bainbridge's novel Master Georgie is set in the Crimean War.
- Crimean War medalsOttoman medals
- George MacDonald Fraser's novel Flashman at the Charge (1986) likewise.
- 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?
- Florence Nightingale
- Mary Seacole
- Roger Fenton, Crimean War photographer
- Timothy (tortoise), naval mascot.
- Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next novels, including The Eyre Affair, are set an alternate 1985 England where the Crimean War is still being fought.
- Leo Tolstoy wrote a few short sketches on the Siege of Sebastobol, collected in The Stebastobol Sketches. The stories detail the lives of the Russian soldiers and citizens in Sebastobol during the siege. Because of this work, Tolstoy has been called the world's first war correspondant.
- List of Crimean War Victoria Cross recipients
- History of Europe
- History of the Balkans
- Crimean War Memorial
References
- Baumgart, Winfried (2000). The Crimean War, 1853-1856, Arnold Publishers. ISBN 034061465X
- Pottinger Saab, Anne (1977). The Origins of the Crimean Alliance, University of Virginia Press. ISBN 0813906997
- Rich, Norman (1985). Why the Crimean War: A Cautionary Tale, McGraw-Hill. ISBN 0070522553
- Royle, Trevor (2000). Crimea: The Great Crimean War, 1854-1856, Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 1403964165
- Schroeder, Paul W. (1972). Austria, Great Britain, and the Crimean War: The Destruction of the European Concert, Cornell University Press.ISBN 0801407427
- Ponting, Clive (2004). The Crimean War, Chatto and Windus. ISBN 0701173904
Additional works
- Hamley, The War in the Crimea, (London, 1891)
- Kinglake, The Invasion of the Crimea, (nine volumes, London, 1863-87)
- Russell, The War in the Crimea, 1854-56, (London, 1855-56)
- Marx, The Eastern Question, 1853-56, (translated by E. M. and E. Aveling, London, 1897)
- Lodomir, La guerre de 1853-56, (Paris, 1857)
- Kovalevski, Der Krieg Russlands mit der Türkei in den Jahren 1853-54, (Leipzig, 1869)
- Rein, Die Teilnahme Sardiniens am Krimkrieg und de öffentliche Meinung in Italien, (Leipzig, 1910)
