62-626: The Crimean War was fought between the Russian Empire and the Ottoman Empire (plus Ottoman allies France, Britain, and Sardinia) from October 1853 to March 1856. Crimean War may also refer to: 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 the Russian Empire and an ultimately victorious alliance of
124-522: 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 was also one of the first to be documented extensively in written reports and in photographs . The war quickly became
186-458: 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 the Great in the early 1700s, after centuries of Ottoman northward expansion and Crimean-Nogai raids , Russia began a southwards expansion across
248-583: 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 the European Balance of Power. Because of "British commercial and strategic interests in
310-502: 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 was unfairly treated by the West. Nicholas especially approved of
372-719: 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 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
434-587: 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 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
496-583: 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 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
558-546: 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 the wounded. The Crimean War marked a turning point for the Russian Empire. The war weakened the Imperial Russian Army , drained
620-515: 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 the south, it had not built its railway network in that direction, and its communications were poor. Its bureaucracy
682-629: 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 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
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#1732780232077744-651: 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 the Ottomans. Nesselrode confided to Seymour: [The dispute over the holy places] had assumed a new character—that the acts of injustice towards
806-633: 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 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,
868-598: 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 the Concert of Europe . The flashpoint was a disagreement over
930-507: 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, 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
992-613: 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 a cordial understanding with England in regard to the Eastern Question, and early in
1054-461: 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 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
1116-734: 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 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
1178-454: 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 the ultima ratio of kings, being, it had been seen, the means which the present ruler of France was in
1240-646: 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 a conflict between the democratic ideals of the west that started with the "great movement of 1789" against "Russia and Absolutism". He described
1302-589: 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 the war, largely reversed much of the second-class status, most notably the tax that only non-Muslims paid . Britain's immediate fear
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#17327802320771364-492: 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, was a British politician who was a major advocate for the Ottoman Empire. Mikhail Pogodin ,
1426-629: 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 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
1488-667: 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 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
1550-639: 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 the Black Sea straits . Also, Serbia received autonomy, and the Danubian Principalities ( Moldavia and Wallachia ) became territories under Russian protection. France took
1612-419: 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 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
1674-586: 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 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
1736-597: 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 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
1798-594: 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 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
1860-521: 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 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
1922-665: 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 the process that would force the Aberdeen government to resign in January 1855 over the war. Battle of Inkerman Too Many Requests If you report this error to
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1984-462: 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 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
2046-527: 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 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
2108-455: 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 the Black Sea. The Ottoman vassal states of Wallachia and Moldavia became largely independent. Christians in the Ottoman Empire gained
2170-486: 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 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
2232-473: 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 a respectable Power". Orlando Figes has claimed that "The motives of the British in promoting liberal reforms were not just to secure
2294-462: The documents was the result of deliberate decisions: instead of bilateral (none of the great powers recognized this Treaty of Unkiar Skelessi), 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
2356-514: 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 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
2418-701: 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 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
2480-432: 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 is nothing; but Russia only thinks of occupying Constantinople, and
2542-488: 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 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
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2604-463: 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 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
2666-572: 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 the Ottoman Empire, including Egypt and the Danubian principalities, increased nearly threefold from 1840 to 1851 (...) Thus it
2728-686: 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 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
2790-566: 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 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
2852-481: 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 is a lawful action; but Russia demands a treaty to protect millions of Christians, and that
2914-549: 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 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
2976-695: 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 the French Emperor Napoleon III and the Russian tsar Nicholas I refused to back down. Nicholas issued an ultimatum that demanded
3038-485: 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 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
3100-409: The short term, it gained the opportunity to receive the support of European powers (primarily Britain) in opposing 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
3162-441: 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 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
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#17327802320773224-413: 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 the London Straits Convention were made earlier in 1841. "By signing the convention,
3286-432: 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 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
3348-443: The trade treaty of 1838 (see Treaty of Balta Liman ), Britain received unlimited access to the markets of the Ottoman Empire. "Britain imposed on 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
3410-407: 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 the empire's status as a European power . The war thus became a catalyst for reforms of Russia's social institutions , including
3472-399: 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 the conflict for prestige once it was launched. Nicholas needed a subservient Turkey for the sake of Russian security; Napoleon needed success for
3534-430: 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 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
3596-399: 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 the Ottoman Empire) on the Russian southwest flank would mitigate that threat. The Royal Navy also wanted to forestall the threat of
3658-399: 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 the importance of Britain's trade interests and did not understand the changes in the situation after the conclusion of
3720-420: 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 the war's end, the profound weaknesses of the Russian armed forces had become readily apparent, and the Russian leadership
3782-477: 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 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
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#17327802320773844-500: 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 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
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