A commissariat is a department or organization commanded by a commissary or by a corps of commissaries.
96-398: In many countries, commissary is a police rank. In those countries, a commissariat is a police station commanded by a commissary. In some armies, commissaries are logistic officers. In those countries, a commissariat is a department charged with the provision of supplies, both food and forage, for the troops. The supply of military stores such as ammunition is not included in the duties of
192-536: A Commissary General of Provisions was first made by James II in 1685 to provide for his troops encamped on Hounslow Heath . As a permanent post the appointment had lapsed by 1694, but a century later it was revived for senior officer of the Commissariat (a department of HM Treasury responsible for the procurement and issue of various stores and victuals to the army and the provision of transport). The Commissariat officers were uniformed civilians, appointed by
288-596: A visitation upon the Diocese of Chichester with regard to safeguarding failures in the diocese over many years. According to their interim report: "Our appointment by the Archbishop of Canterbury - the first such appointment of Commissaries for over 100 years - is evidence of the deep concern held in the Church of England for this diocese and its failure properly to protect children in its care". In current practice in
384-586: A commissariat. In almost every army the duties of transport and supply are performed by the same corps of departmental troops. When James II mustered an army on Hounslow Heath in 1685, he appointed a certain John Shales as Commissary General of provisions, responsible for sourcing, storing and issuing food for the troops and forage for the horses. In addition he was to license and regulate sutlers , to procure wagons, carriages, horses and drivers when required for transport and to account for all payments to
480-605: A conflict between the democratic ideals of the west that started with the "great movement of 1789" against "Russia and Absolutism". He described the Ottoman Empire as a buffer against a pattern of expansionism by the Tsar. Marx and Engels also accused Lord Palmerston of playing along with the interests of Russia and being unserious in preparing for the conflict. Marx believed Palmerston to be bribed by Russia, and shared this belief with David Urquhart . Urquhart, for his part,
576-535: A cordial understanding with England in regard to the Eastern Question, and early in the spring of 1853 he had a series of interviews with Sir George Hamilton Seymour , then British ambassador at St. Petersburg." Emperor Nicholas I assured that he did not intend to seize Constantinople and territories in the Balkans, he himself offered Britain to take over Egypt and Crete. Concessions at the conclusion of
672-502: A government official charged with oversight or an ecclesiastical official who exercises in special circumstances the jurisdiction of a bishop. In many countries, the term is used as an administrative or police title. It often corresponds to the command of a police station, which is then known as a " commissariat ". In some armed forces, commissaries are officials charged with overseeing the purchase and delivery of supplies, and they have powers of administrative and financial oversight. Then,
768-579: A group within the Order who are best served separately than in a Province into which they would otherwise be forced, e.g., due to language divisions. As with military usage, the Religious Superior of the division is referred to as the Commissary. The term is most commonly used among Franciscan Orders. The term is also used among Indian Zoroastrians. Commissary A commissary is
864-841: A new treaty confirming France and the Catholic Church's supreme authority over Catholic holy places, including the Church of the Nativity , which had been held by the Greek Orthodox Church . Tsar Nicholas I then deployed his 4th and 5th Army Corps along the River Danube in Wallachia, as a direct threat to the Ottoman lands south of the river. He had Foreign Minister Count Karl Nesselrode undertake talks with
960-494: A number of District Commissaries were engaged and made accountable to him: the beginnings of a more permanent Commissariat; his remit, however, was limited to the British mainland (and even there some areas, including barracks, were separately administered). Away from Britain's shores, the army was provided for independently as before. In 1809 things began to change with the appointment of a Commissary-in-chief to superintend both
1056-555: A number of battles , which forced Mahmud II to seek Russian military aid. A Russian army of 10,000 landed on the shores of the Bosphorus in 1833 and helped prevent the Egyptians from capturing Constantinople . "The reasons for the Tsar's disquietude are not obscure. Not Turkey alone was threatened by the advance of Ibrahim . The rights secured to Russia by a succession of treaties were also directly jeopardized. The substitution of
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#17327652691291152-527: A respectable Power". Orlando Figes has claimed that "The motives of the British in promoting liberal reforms were not just to secure the independence of the Ottoman Empire against Russia. They were also to promote the influence of Britain in Turkey", also: "to promote British free-trade interests (which may have sounded splendid but was arguably damaging to the Ottoman Empire)". "British exports to
1248-649: A result. A second Russian counterattack at Inkerman ended in a stalemate. By 1855, the Italian Kingdom of Sardinia sent an expeditionary force to Crimea, siding with France, Britain and the Ottoman Empire. The front settled into the Siege of Sevastopol , involving brutal conditions for troops on both sides. Smaller military actions took place in the Caucasus (1853–1855), the White Sea (July–August 1854) and
1344-634: A virile Albanian dynasty at Constantinople in place of the effete Osmanlis was the last thing desired by the Power which wished, naturally enough, to command the gate into the Mediterranean". Russia was satisfied with the weak government in Constantinople (Istanbul). As a result, the Treaty of Hünkâr İskelesi was signed and greatly benefited Russia. It provided for a military alliance between
1440-541: Is a lawful action; but Russia demands a treaty to protect millions of Christians, and that is deemed to strengthen its position in the East at the expense of the balance of power. We can expect nothing from the West but blind hatred and malice.... ( comment in the margin by Nicholas I : 'This is the whole point'). Russia was militarily weak, technologically backward and administratively incompetent. Despite its grand ambitions toward
1536-598: Is considered to be equal in rank to a commandant in the Spanish army. In the French National Police , a commissaire is assigned to a commune with a population of more than 30,000. Larger communes have more than one. Paris has well over one hundred commissaires. All commissaires are graduates and can fulfill both administrative and investigative roles. In the Romanian Police , similarly to
1632-730: Is constantly kept open by means of the Commissariat chests between Great Britain and all its Foreign dependencies so that if a sum has to be received or paid in Canada, Australia or China for any branch of the Public Service it may be done by a transfer in the Commissariat Chest Account, without any remittance. The Commissariat officers act in effect as Sub Treasurers to the Lords Commissioners of
1728-457: Is nothing; but Russia only thinks of occupying Constantinople, and the peace of Europe is threatened. The English declare war on the Chinese , who have, it seems, offended them: no one has the right to intervene; but Russia is obliged to ask Europe for permission if it quarrels with its neighbour. England threatens Greece to support the false claims of a miserable Jew and burns its fleet: that
1824-616: The Baltic , near the Russian capital of Saint Petersburg , an Anglo-French fleet instituted a naval blockade and bottled up the outnumbered Russian Baltic Fleet , causing economic damage to Russia by blockading trade while also forcing the Russians to keep a large army guarding St. Petersburg from a potential allied attack. After a minor skirmish at Köstence (now Constanța ), the allied commanders decided to attack Russia's main naval base in
1920-531: The Black Sea straits . Also, Serbia received autonomy, and the Danubian Principalities ( Moldavia and Wallachia ) became territories under Russian protection. France took the opportunity to occupy Algeria , which had been under Ottoman rule, in 1830. In 1831, Muhammad Ali of Egypt , the most powerful vassal of the Ottoman Empire, declared independence. Ottoman forces were defeated in
2016-632: The Board of Ordnance . The Commissariat's officers held ranks ranging from Commissary-General (equivalent to a Brigadier-General in the Army ) to Deputy Assistant Commissary-General (equivalent to a Lieutenant ) with Commissary Clerks akin to NCOs . Under the Treasury the Commissariat was organised into two branches: Stores and Accounts. Transport (albeit nominally a responsibility of the Stores Branch)
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#17327652691292112-707: The Concert of Europe . The flashpoint was a disagreement over the rights of Christian minorities in Palestine , (now divided between Israel and Palestine), then part of the Ottoman Empire, with the French promoting the rights of Roman Catholics , and Russia promoting those of the Eastern Orthodox Church . The churches worked out their differences with the Ottomans and came to an agreement , but both
2208-536: The Danubian Principalities (now part of Romania but then under Ottoman suzerainty ). On 16 October [ O.S. 4 October] 1853, having obtained promises of support from France and Britain, the Ottomans declared war on Russia. Led by Omar Pasha , the Ottomans fought a strong defensive campaign and stopped the Russian advance at Silistra (now in Bulgaria ). A separate action on
2304-561: The French Emperor Napoleon III and the Russian tsar Nicholas I refused to back down. Nicholas issued an ultimatum that demanded the Orthodox subjects of the Ottoman Empire be placed under his protection. Britain attempted to mediate and arranged a compromise to which Nicholas agreed. When the Ottomans demanded changes to the agreement, Nicholas recanted and prepared for war. In July 1853, Russian troops occupied
2400-861: The French armed forces . The equivalent terms are commissaire in French, commissario in Italian, Kommissar in Standard German, Kommissär in Swiss German and Luxembourgish, comisario in Spanish, commissaris in Dutch and Flemish, komisario in Finnish, komisarz in Polish and comissário in Portuguese. In many instances these words may also be the equivalent to commissioner , depending on
2496-656: The Lord High Treasurer and the Paymaster-General of His Majesty's Forces . Following the Glorious Revolution of 1688, Shales was reappointed Commissary-General (though he was subsequently accused of mismanagement and replaced). After 1694 the appointment lapsed, though it was reinstated subsequently from time to time on a more geographically-specific basis, for a particular expedition, theatre of war or colonial garrison. Otherwise, in
2592-552: The North Pacific (1854–1855). Sevastopol finally fell after eleven months, after the French assaulted Fort Malakoff . Isolated and facing a bleak prospect of invasion by the West if the war continued, Russia sued for peace in March 1856. France and Britain welcomed the development, owing to the conflict's domestic unpopularity. The Treaty of Paris , signed on 30 March 1856, ended the war. It forbade Russia to base warships in
2688-605: The Russian Empire and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire , France , the United Kingdom , and Sardinia-Piedmont . Geopolitical causes of the war included the decline of the Ottoman Empire (the " Eastern Question "), the expansion of Russia in the preceding Russo-Turkish Wars , and the British and French preference to preserve the Ottoman Empire to maintain the balance of power in
2784-693: The Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca from 1774), the Ottomans reversed their earlier decision, renounced the French treaty and declared that Russia was the protector of the Orthodox Christians in the Ottoman Empire. Napoleon III responded with a show of force by sending the ship of the line Charlemagne to the Black Sea and thereby violated the London Straits Convention. The gunboat diplomacy show of force, together with money , induced Ottoman Sultan Abdülmecid I to accept
2880-722: The War Office . The Commissariat remained a uniformed civilian service until 1869, when its officers transferred to the new Control Department as commissioned Army officers. The supply organization of the British Army then went through a number of incarnations, including the Commissariat and Transport Department, Staff and Corps, before becoming the Army Service Corps in 1888. In the " Major General's Song " in The Pirates of Penzance by Gilbert and Sullivan ,
2976-568: The balance of power that had been established in the Congress of Vienna in 1815. Russia had assisted Austria's efforts in suppressing the Hungarian Revolution of 1848 , and expected a free hand in settling its problems with the Ottoman Empire, the " sick man of Europe ". However, Britain could not tolerate Russian dominance of Ottoman affairs, which would challenge its domination of the eastern Mediterranean. Starting with Peter
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3072-548: The muster roll . These musters took place six or seven times per year (and monthly from 1687). At a muster the total number of officers and men was checked against the roll, each soldier's arms and accoutrements were inspected and each officer's rank (and record of leave) was checked against their level of pay. Only after the Commissary General had certified the muster roll would the Paymaster General of
3168-463: The ultima ratio of kings, being, it had been seen, the means which the present ruler of France was in the habit of employing in the first instance. The agreement referred to by the French was in 1740. At present most historians (except for the new Russian Orthodox nationalists) accept that the question of the holy places was no more than a pretext for the Crimean War. As conflict emerged over
3264-474: The " commissariat " is the organization associated with the corps of commissaries. By extension, the term " commissary " came to be used for the building where supplies were disbursed. In some countries, both roles are used; for example, France uses " police commissaries " ( commissaires de police ) in the French National Police and "armed forces commissaries" ( commissaires des armées ) in
3360-553: The Army's Commissariat was at the height of change, as outlined in the paragraph above, the suggestion that the Major-General did not know precisely what the term meant may perhaps have been also a very pointed satirical allusion to that rapidly changing situation. In the penal colonies of New South Wales and Van Dieman's Land (now Tasmania ), the Commissariat Department also had responsibility for
3456-682: The Bishop of London, resolved to use the commissary system to provide leadership for churches in the American colonies . ( James Blair was an early such commissary). Commissaries were appointed to some, but not all, of the thirteen colonies into the second half of the eighteenth century. Later, commissaries were sometimes appointed for other parts of the British Empire . In 2011 the Archbishop of Canterbury appointed commissaries to conduct
3552-447: The Black Sea in case of war. Thus, the way to the Black Sea was open for British and French warships during a possible Russo-Ottoman conflict. Russian historians tend to view that history as evidence that Russia lacked aggressive plans. The Russian historian V. N. Vinogradov writes: "The signing of the documents was the result of deliberate decisions: instead of bilateral (none of the great powers recognized this Treaty of Unkiar Skelessi),
3648-679: The Black Sea, Sevastopol , in Crimea . After extended preparations, allied forces landed on the peninsula in September 1854 and marched their way to a point south of Sevastopol after they had won the Battle of the Alma on 20 September 1854. The Russians counterattacked on 25 October in what became the Battle of Balaclava and were repulsed, but the British Army 's forces were seriously depleted as
3744-422: The Black Sea. The Ottoman vassal states of Wallachia and Moldavia became largely independent. Christians in the Ottoman Empire gained a degree of official equality, and the Orthodox Church regained control of the Christian churches in dispute. The Crimean War was one of the first conflicts in which military forces used modern technologies such as explosive naval shells , railways and telegraphs . The war
3840-420: The British and the French Empires were allied with the Ottoman Empire and were determined to prevent that from happening. The historian A. J. P. Taylor argued that the war had resulted not from aggression, but from the interacting fears of the major players: In some sense the Crimean War was predestined and had deep-seated causes. Neither Nicholas I nor Napoleon III nor the British government could retreat from
3936-411: The Christian population of Palestine , to the detriment of Russia (the sponsor of Eastern Orthodoxy ). To achieve that, he in May 1851 appointed Charles, marquis de La Valette , a zealous leading member of the Catholic clericalists, as his ambassador to the Sublime Porte of the Ottoman Empire. Russia disputed that attempted change in authority. Referring to two previous treaties (one from 1757 and
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4032-445: The Church of England, the relevant archbishop appoints an episcopal commissary during a diocesan vacancy in see ; that bishop (usually the senior suffragan in the diocese) is commonly called Acting Bishop of the diocese (e.g. Acting Bishop of Birmingham). Crimean War Total: 165,363 dead 45,770 combat deaths 119,593 non-combat deaths The Crimean War was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between
4128-432: The Commissariat Department became principally a financial office: its fund (the Commissariat Chest) was used to provide a form of banking service for public services in the Colonies; in the words of a Treasury memorandum laid before Parliament in 1841: The Commissariat raises keeps and disburses, according to fixed regulations, the whole of the funds required to carry the foreign expenditure of this country. […] An account
4224-435: The Egyptians at the Battle of Nezib on 24 June 1839 but were saved by Britain, Austria , Prussia and Russia, who signed a convention in London on 15 July 1840 that granted Muhammad Ali and his descendants the right to inherit power in Egypt in exchange for the removal of Egyptian forces from Syria and Lebanon . Moreover, Muhammad Ali had to admit a formal dependence on the Ottoman sultan. After Muhammad Ali refused to obey
4320-407: The European Balance of Power. Because of "British commercial and strategic interests in the Middle East and India", the British joined the French, "cement[ing] an alliance with Britain and... reassert[ing] its military power". Among those who supported the British strategy were Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels . In his articles for the New-York Tribune around 1853, Marx saw the Crimean War as
4416-452: The French National Police, the rank of comisar is equivalent to the British police rank of superintendent ( see also Romanian police ranks ). With the establishment of an English standing army following the Restoration of the Monarchy a Commissary General of Musters was appointed on 20 December 1660. This officer, with the assistance of four deputies, was responsible for mustering troops by regiment and checking their names against
4512-421: The Great in the early 1700s, after centuries of Ottoman northward expansion and Crimean-Nogai raids , Russia began a southwards expansion across the sparsely-populated " Wild Fields " toward the warm water ports of the Black Sea, which does not freeze over, unlike the handful of ports controlled by Russia in the north. The goal was to promote year-round trade and a year-round navy. Pursuit of that goal brought
4608-405: The London Straits Convention were made earlier in 1841. "By signing the convention, the Russians had given up their privileged position in the Ottoman Empire and their control of the Straits, all in the hope of improving relations with Britain and isolating France". But Britain after 1838 was interested in preserving the integrity of the Ottoman Empire and rejected all Russian proposals. "The fall of
4704-432: The Major-General boasts that when, among many other bits and pieces of seemingly elementary or irrelevant information, he "know(s) precisely what is meant by commissariat", he will be the best officer the army has ever seen (satirizing 19th century British officers' lack of concrete military knowledge). That line can perhaps also be read in a second and very different way; since that work was first performed in 1878, when
4800-476: The Ordnance storekeeping system). After 1869 Commissary and associated titles were used as junior officer ranks by the Control Department (military successor to both the Commissariat and the Ordnance Field Train). A split in 1875 created the Commissariat and Transport Department and the Ordnance Store Department , which used (respectively) Commissary-General and Commissary-General of Ordnance for their senior officers (along with other Commissary ranks down
4896-411: The Ottoman Empire from destruction, but the Ottomans also lost their independence in foreign policy. Britain and France desired more than any other states to preserve the integrity of the Ottoman Empire because they did not want to see Russia gaining access to the Mediterranean Sea . Austria had the same fears. Russia, as a member of the Holy Alliance , had operated as the "police of Europe" to maintain
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#17327652691294992-421: The Ottoman Empire was not, however, a requirement of British policy in the East. A weak Ottoman state best suited British interests". French Emperor Napoleon III 's ambition to restore France's grandeur initiated the immediate chain of events that led to France and Britain declaring war on Russia on 27 and 28 March 1854, respectively. He pursued Catholic support by asserting France's "sovereign authority" over
5088-430: The Ottoman Empire with control of the Orthodox Church's hierarchy. A compromise was reached regarding Orthodox access to the Holy Land, but the Sultan, strongly supported by the British ambassador, Stratford Canning, 1st Viscount Stratford de Redcliffe , rejected the most sweeping demands. Russian historian Vinogradov V.N. point out that Menshikov's demands did not go beyond the limits of previous treaties. "The agreement
5184-449: The Ottoman Empire) on the Russian southwest flank would mitigate that threat. The Royal Navy also wanted to forestall the threat of a powerful Imperial Russian Navy . Taylor stated the British perspective: The Crimean war was fought for the sake of Europe rather than for the Eastern question; it was fought against Russia, not in favour of Turkey.... The British fought Russia out of resentment and supposed that her defeat would strengthen
5280-460: The Ottoman Empire, including Egypt and the Danubian principalities, increased nearly threefold from 1840 to 1851 (...) Thus it was very important, from the financial point of view, for Britain to prevent the Ottoman Empire from falling into other hands." "From this moment (1838) the export of British manufactured goods to Turkey rose steeply. There was an elevenfold increase by 1850". Assistance from Western European powers or Russia had twice saved
5376-504: The Ottoman Empire. Having resigned the ambassadorship in January, he had been replaced by Colonel Rose as chargé d'affaires . Lord Stratford then turned around, sailed back to Constantinople, arriving there on 5 April 1853 and convinced the Sultan there to reject the Russian treaty proposal as compromising Ottoman independence. The Leader of the Opposition in the British House of Commons , Benjamin Disraeli , blamed Aberdeen and Stratford's actions for making war inevitable, which started
5472-445: The Ottomans. Nesselrode confided to Seymour: [The dispute over the holy places] had assumed a new character—that the acts of injustice towards the Greek church which it had been desired to prevent had been perpetrated and consequently that now the object must be to find a remedy for these wrongs. The success of French negotiations at Constantinople was to be ascribed solely to intrigue and violence—violence which had been supposed to be
5568-411: The Porte a Tariff Convention which in effect transformed the Ottoman Empire into a virtual free-trade zone. Therefore its trade interests pushed it to protect the integrity of the Ottoman Empire. In the long term, the Ottoman Empire lost the opportunity to modernize and industrialize, but in the short term, it gained the opportunity to receive the support of European powers (primarily Britain) in opposing
5664-440: The Porte personified for him the whole Eastern Question, The British and the French sent in naval task forces to support the Ottomans, as Russia had prepared to seize the Danubian Principalities . All the calculations of the Russian emperor turned out to be erroneous. Britain refused his proposals, it was not possible to prevent the Anglo-French rapprochement, Austria opposed his policy, the Ottoman Empire showed intransigence. On
5760-412: The Porte. The ‘Great Elchi’, or Great Ambassador, as he was known in Constantinople, had a direct influence on the policies of the Turkish government. (...) His presence was a source of deep resentment among the Sultan's ministers, who lived in terror of a personal visit from the dictatorial ambassador". Nicholas fumed at "the infernal dictatorship of this Redcliffe" whose name and political ascendancy at
5856-447: The Russian Empire but that he had an obligation to the Christian communities in the Ottoman Empire. He next dispatched a highly-abrasive diplomat, Prince Menshikov , on a special mission to the Ottoman Sublime Porte in February 1853. By previous treaties, the sultan had committed "to protect the (Eastern Orthodox) Christian religion and its churches". Menshikov demanded a Russian protectorate over all 12 million Orthodox Christians in
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#17327652691295952-494: The Russian and the Ottoman Empires if one of them was attacked, and a secret additional clause allowed the Ottomans to opt out of sending troops but to close the Straits to foreign warships if Russia were under threat. Egypt remained nominally under Ottoman sovereignty but was de facto independent. In 1838 in a situation similar to that of 1831, Muhammad Ali of Egypt was not happy about his lack of control and power in Syria , and he resumed military action . The Ottomans lost to
6048-443: The Treasury but issued with letters of commission by the War Office ; they were given rank as follows: The department was overseen by a Commissary-in-Chief from 1809-1816, and by a Commissary General in Chief from 1858 to 1869. Between 1793 and 1859 Assistant Commissary , Commissary and (from 1810) Chief Commissary were (civilian) ranks in the Field Train Department of the Board of Ordnance (the field force element of
6144-421: The Treasury in the foreign possessions of the Crown". Provision of food, forage and fuel for the army abroad remained a (albeit secondary) responsibility of the Commissariat at this time. In its much reduced form, the Commissariat infamously struggled to deal with the complexities of supplying the Army during Crimean War ; in December 1854 control of the military functions of the Commissariat were transferred to
6240-516: The area". When Russia conquered those groups and gained possession of their territories, the Ottoman Empire lost its buffer zone against Russian expansion, and both empires came into direct conflict. The conflict with the Ottoman Empire also presented a religious issue of importance, as Russia saw itself as the protector of history of the Eastern Orthodox Church under the Ottoman Orthodox Christians , who were legally treated as second-class citizens . The Ottoman Reform Edict of 1856 , promulgated after
6336-416: The armed forces, provides pre-military training, drafts men for military service, organizes reserves for training, and performs other military functions at the local level. Among Roman Catholic religious orders , the term Commissariat refers to a division of the Order which is a semi-autonomous body. It is considered less viable than a full Province , but with potential to develop into such, or it serves
6432-441: The autonomy of the first Balkan Christian nation under the empire. The Greek War of Independence , which began in early 1821, provided further evidence of the empire's internal and military weakness, and the commission of atrocities by Ottoman military forces (see Chios massacre ) further undermined the empire. The disbandment of the centuries-old Janissary corps by Sultan Mahmud II on 15 June 1826 ( Auspicious Incident ) helped
6528-399: The chain of command). After 1880 officers of the new Army Service Corps were given full military rank, but the Army Ordnance Department retained Commissary of Ordnance (and Deputy and Assistant Commissary of Ordnance ) as its junior officer ranks throughout the First World War . The Canons of the Church of England , referring to the metropolitical jurisdiction of archbishops and to
6624-500: The colonial era, and it was also used to designate various provisional governments of administrations. Executive or administrative body composed of several commissaries is often called Council of Commissaries or Board of Commissaries . Deputy of a commissary is styled as vice-commissary or sub-commissary . In the Soviet Union, commissaries' powers of oversight were used for political purposes. These commissaries are often known as commissars in English. A Spanish police Commissary
6720-473: The conflict for prestige once it was launched. Nicholas needed a subservient Turkey for the sake of Russian security; Napoleon needed success for the sake of his domestic position; the British government needed an independent Turkey for the security of the Eastern Mediterranean... Mutual fear, not mutual aggression, caused the Crimean War. In the early 1800s, the Ottoman Empire suffered a number of existential challenges. The Serbian Revolution in 1804 resulted in
6816-480: The context. The word is recorded in English since 1362, for "one to whom special duty is entrusted by a higher power". This Anglo-French word derives from Medieval Latin commissarius , from Latin commissus (pp. of committere) "entrusted". Governmental or administrative structures (or bodies) headed by a commissary (or composed of several commissaries) are often referred to as commissary governments or commissary administrations . Such terms were often used during
6912-476: The contrary, a favourable situation was developing for Britain. Britain had great naval power and a powerful economy, but did not have a strong land army. The alliance with France, which had a strong land army, made it possible to strike at Russia. "With the help of French infantry, it was possible to overturn Russia's positions with one blow" In February 1853, the British government of Prime Minister Lord Aberdeen reappointed Lord Stratford as British ambassador to
7008-761: The desire of the conquered peoples for self-determination and Russia, which sought to crush its influence in the Balkans and Asia. Publicly, European politicians made broad promises to the Ottomans. Lord Palmerston , the British Foreign Secretary , said in 1839: "All that we hear about the decay of the Turkish Empire, and its being a dead body or a sapless trunk, and so forth, is pure and unadulterated nonsense. Given 10 years of peace under European protection, coupled with internal reform, there seemed to him no reason why it should not become again
7104-429: The eighteenth century, arrangements for supply and transport tended to be devolved to individual regiments, who would work with a combination of civilian contractors and other agencies. The only centralized control at this time was that exercised by HM Treasury , which ultimately authorised expenditure. In 1793, however, with Britain at war with France , a Commissary-General for Britain was once again appointed and in 1797
7200-666: The emerging Russian state into conflict with the Ukrainian Cossacks and then the Tatars of the Crimean Khanate and Circassians . "The plan to develop Russia as a southern power had begun in earnest in 1776, when Catherine placed Potemkin in charge of New Russia (Novorossiia), the sparsely populated territories newly conquered from the Ottomans on the Black Sea’s northern coastline, and ordered him to colonize
7296-560: The empire in the longer term but deprived it of its existing standing army in the short term. In 1827, the Anglo-Franco-Russian fleet destroyed almost all of the Ottoman naval forces at the Battle of Navarino . In 1830, Greece became independent after ten years of war and the Russo-Turkish War (1828–29) . The Treaty of Adrianople (1829) granted Russian and Western European commercial ships free passage through
7392-470: The empire's status as a European power . The war thus became a catalyst for reforms of Russia's social institutions , including the abolition of serfdom and overhauls in the justice system, local self-government, education and military service. As the Ottoman Empire steadily weakened during the 19th century, the Russian Empire stood poised to take advantage by expanding southward. In the 1850s,
7488-526: The forces issue pay to the regiment. In 1798 the commanding officer of each regiment, together with its regimental Paymaster, took over responsibility for the musters and the Deputy Commissaries were dismissed. The Commissary General continued to oversee a central office of musters until 1817 when the post was abolished and its duties transferred to the Secretary at War . The appointment of
7584-586: The fort town of Kars , in the Ottoman Empire, led to a siege, and an Ottoman attempt to reinforce the garrison was destroyed by a Russian fleet at the Battle of Sinop in November 1853. Fearing the growth of influence of the Russian Empire, the British and French fleets entered the Black Sea in January 1854. They moved north to Varna in June 1854 and arrived just in time for the Russians to abandon Silistra. In
7680-399: The home and foreign Commissariat services. The Commissariat was still a department of HM Treasury and its personnel were uniformed civilians (though they were subject to military discipline). It now supplied food, fuel and forage for all troops, as well as certain other equipment including barrack stores. The main items outside its remit were arms and ammunition, which were the responsibility of
7776-581: The importance of Britain's trade interests and did not understand the changes in the situation after the conclusion of the Anglo-Ottoman Treaty in 1838 (see Treaty of Balta Liman ). Russia attempted to "honestly" negotiate with the United Kingdom on the partition of the Ottoman Empire and made concessions in order to eliminate all objections from the United Kingdom. "The Tsar Nicholas had always, as we have seen, been anxious to maintain
7872-415: The issue of the holy places, Nicholas I and Nesselrode began a diplomatic offensive, which they hoped would prevent either British or French interference in any conflict between Russia and the Ottomans and prevent both from forming an anti-Russian alliance. Nicholas began courting Britain by means of conversations with Seymour in January and February 1853. Nicholas insisted that he no longer wished to expand
7968-444: The needs of convicts and, in the early days, provisions sold by storekeepers, as well as for military garrisons and naval victualing. This practice dated from the inception of the colony in 1788, before the colony was self-sufficient in food production. The Governors of the colonies were military men, and the administration of stores was performed by commissary officers. After 1855, the Commissariat Department only had responsibility for
8064-465: The new Treaty of London was obligatory for all, it closed the Bosphorus and Dardanelles. In the absence of expansion plans, this was a sound decision". In 1838, Britain lost interest in crushing the Ottoman Empire. On the contrary, after the conclusion of the trade treaty of 1838 (see Treaty of Balta Liman ), Britain received unlimited access to the markets of the Ottoman Empire. "Britain imposed on
8160-450: The ordinary jurisdiction of diocesan bishops, states that: "Such jurisdiction is exercised by the (arch)bishop himself, or by a Vicar-General, official, or other commissary to whom authority in that behalf shall have been formally committed by the (arch)bishop concerned.". In previous centuries Bishops sometimes appointed representatives, called commissaries, to perform functions in distant portions of their dioceses. In 1684 Henry Compton ,
8256-729: The provisions of military forces, the few remaining convicts, and lunatics. It was abolished, in New South Wales, in 1870 when the last British military forces departed. Similar arrangements applied in the Moreton Bay penal colony (originally part of New South Wales) and Western Australia . Military commissariats of the Soviet Army and modern Russian Army is а local military administrative agency that prepares and executes plans for military mobilization, maintains records on military manpower and economic resources available to
8352-673: The requirements of the convention, the allied Anglo-Austrian fleet blockaded the Nile Delta , bombarded Beirut and captured Acre . Muhammad Ali then accepted the convention's conditions. On 13 July 1841, after the expiry of the Treaty of Hünkâr İskelesi, the London Straits Convention was signed under pressure from the European countries. The new treaty deprived Russia of its right to block warships from passing into
8448-414: The south, it had not built its railway network in that direction, and its communications were poor. Its bureaucracy was riddled with graft, corruption and inefficiency and was unprepared for war. Its navy was weak and technologically backward. Its army, although very large, suffered from colonels who pocketed their men's pay, from poor morale, and from a technological deficit relative to Britain and France. By
8544-402: The war's end, the profound weaknesses of the Russian armed forces had become readily apparent, and the Russian leadership was determined to reform it. However, no matter how great the problems of Russia were, Russia believed those of the Ottomans were greater. "In a one-to-one fight Nikolai (Tsar) had no doubt of beating the Ottoman armies and navy". Russian foreign policy failed to understand
8640-402: The war, largely reversed much of the second-class status, most notably the tax that only non-Muslims paid . Britain's immediate fear was Russia's expansion at the expense of the Ottoman Empire. The British desired to preserve Ottoman integrity and were concerned that Russia might make advances toward British India or move toward Scandinavia or Western Europe . A distraction (in the form of
8736-533: The wounded. The Crimean War marked a turning point for the Russian Empire. The war weakened the Imperial Russian Army , drained the treasury and undermined Russia's influence in Europe. The empire would take decades to recover. Russia's humiliation forced its educated elites to identify its problems and recognise the need for fundamental reforms. They saw rapid modernisation as the sole way to recover
8832-482: Was a British politician who was a major advocate for the Ottoman Empire. Mikhail Pogodin , a professor of history at Moscow University , gave Nicholas I a summary of Russia's policy towards the Slavs in the war. Nicholas' answer was filled with grievances against the West. Nicholas shared Pogodin's sense that Russia's role as the protector of Orthodox Christians in the Ottoman Empire was not understood and that Russia
8928-461: Was also one of the first to be documented extensively in written reports and in photographs . The war quickly became a symbol of logistical, medical and tactical failures and of mismanagement. The reaction in Britain led to a demand for the professionalisation of medicine, most famously achieved by Florence Nightingale , who gained worldwide attention for pioneering modern nursing while she treated
9024-550: Was reached on the administration of church rites of both clergy in respected temples and, secondly, that the tsar rejected the idea of expanding his right of patronage and, in fact, insisted on confirming the terms of the Kucuk-Kaynardzhiy treaty of 1774, which allowed giving advice to the Sultan, but did not oblige them to accept". "By the early 1850s Stratford Canning had become far more than an ambassador or adviser to
9120-830: Was something of a poor relation; this in part led to the Commander-in-chief establishing a separate Royal Waggon Train . After the end of the Napoleonic Wars the office of Commissary-in-chief was abolished and the Treasury moved to consolidate the department's remit. In 1822 the Stores Branch (along with its warehouses and staff both at home and abroad) was transferred to the Board of Ordnance, which also took on responsibility for provision of food, forage and fuel to troops in England ten years later. Thereafter
9216-430: Was unfairly treated by the West. Nicholas especially approved of the following passage: France takes Algeria from Turkey , and almost every year England annexes another Indian principality : none of this disturbs the balance of power; but when Russia occupies Moldavia and Wallachia , albeit only temporarily, that disturbs the balance of power. France occupies Rome and stays there several years during peacetime: that
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