The Crimean War

Theirs not to reason why

Theirs but to do or die

Into the valley of Death

Rode the six hundred

In 1853, England and France decided that Russia was becoming a bit too strong for their liking.  In particular, they were concerned that the Russians would invade the Balkans and capture Constantinople (now known as Istanbul) and thus be able to send their fleets worldwide year round.

In addition to various Internet sources, I watched a three part documentary on the war on Amazon Prime.

Initially the dispute was between Russia, led by Tsar Alexander II, and the Ottoman Empire, which became Turkey in 1922 – a secular republic though mostly Muslim.  For their part, the Russians (Orthodox Christians) assumed the British (Protestant) and French (Catholic) would never side with the Ottomans (Muslims) against them, only to find that the European powers were more leery of Russia gaining a naval presence in the Mediterranean than they were of religious compatibility. 

Bomarsund and Kronstadt.  The latter fortress protects St. Petersburg, for centuries the Russian capital, from enemy naval attack.  The British decided it was too strong to attack, so they attacked the former fortress and then left.  As a result, St. Petersburg was never seriously threatened during the war and remained in Russian hands.  For that matter, the Germans never succeeded at taking Leningrad during WWII, instead besieging it for three years.

The Balkans.  Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Macedonia, Albania, and Serbia.  These were under Ottoman control at the time.  The Russians attempted to invade what is now Romania during this time, but were repulsed by the Ottomans and their British and French allies.  One particularly interesting character was Omar Pasha, a European who converted to Islam and became one of the Ottomans’ more capable military commanders.

Sevastopol.  The Russians’ major city and port on the north shore of the Black Sea; the peninsula on which it’s located is called the Crimea.  The Allies landed here, set up a base of operations at Balaclava, and made various attempts to besiege and attack Sevastopol.  For their part, the Russians eagerly defended it, sending various relief armies to attack the British and French, with mixed results.  Eventually it fell in September 1855.

Timeline

October 5, 1853.  War breaks out between Russia and the Ottoman Empire.  The British and French send forces to Constantinople, while the Ottomans successfully defend the Balkans from a brief Russian invasion.

March 1854.  The British (PM Lord Aberdeen) and French (Napoleon III) declare war on Russia.

October 1854.  The Charge of the Light Brigade, a doomed cavalry charge against heavily fortified Russian artillery positions.

November 1854.  The Battle of Inkerman.  The British manage to defeat a Russian force sent to relieve Sevastopol.

September 1855.  After several bombardments and Allied attacks on the Russian fortifications at Malakoff and the Grand Redan, the Russians finally abandon Sevastopol, allowing the Allies to occupy it.  The British make it a point to destroy all port and shipbuilding facilities to temporarily neutralize Russia’s Black Sea Fleet.

January 1856.  The Austrians finally threaten to enter the war on the Allied side, prompting the Russians to ask for peace.

March 1856.  The Treaty of Paris ends the war.

Notables

Zouaves.  The French North African troops, with their distinctive headgear and pants, acted as France’s de facto elite troops.  As the French had been in combat in Algeria off and on since 1830, they had considerable combat experience.

Inkerman.  I remember the pool in Paris.  Despite superior numbers, the Russians were unable to defeat the British forces’ technical superiority:  armed with 1853 Enfield rifles (standard issue of the Confederate Army years later) vs the Russians’ smoothbore muskets.  Rifling triples the effective range of a longarm, giving riflemen a distinct advantage over musketeers except at point blank range.

Florence Nightingale.  She did not come to Balaclava but remained at Scutari, a large Turkish barracks at Constantinople where the Allies sent most of their wounded.  She pioneered many concepts of hygiene which were almost unknown at the time.  

Sisters of Mercy.  The Russian equivalent of Florence Nightingale. 

Leo Tolstoy.  The Russian writer fought in this war and used his experiences to write War & Peace.  He looks remarkably like Dean Stockwell.

Battle Photography.  This was the first major conflict to be photographed.  The technology wouldn’t allow moving soldiers to be photographed, but posing – and immobile corpses on a battlefield – were fair game.

The Trooper.  I’m not sure if Iron Maiden's Bruce Dickinson or Steve Harris have ancestors who fought in the war – neither are old enough to have done so themselves, obviously – but their song “The Trooper” is a rare rock’n’roll tribute to this otherwise obscure conflict.

The war caused heavy casualties on both sides, though at this point most were caused by cholera and poor hygiene than bullets or cannonballs.  The Russians kept the Allies out of St. Petersburg, whereas the Allies kept the Russians out of Constantinople and the Balkans, making the capture of Sevastopol the only major accomplishment of the war.