Fought in part to open up trade in the Russian-dominated Black Sea region, the 1850s’-era war pitted a victorious France and Britain against Moscow. Shown here is the fall of Russia’s key Black Sea port of Sebastopol. (Library of Congress)
A war waged by Britain, France, Sardinia, and Turkey against Russia and fought mainly in the Crimea that seriously weakened both Austria and Russia, the two powers most desirous of preserving the peace settlement of 1815.
Crimea, a Russian peninsula on the north shore of the Black Sea, became the focal point of a conflict that helped make possible the success of the European national movements. The war, though seemingly remote and unconnected, remains important for a number of reasons: (1) it provided a forum for presenting Italian grievances at war’s conclusion; (2) it became the first war covered by newspaper correspondents; (3) it witnessed the heroic role of women in war, led by Florence Nightingale, as army nurses; and (4) for the first time in centuries Britain and France fought on the same side because of a mutual concern of interests in the eastern Mediterranean being threatened by Russia.
In 1853, Russian tsar Nicholas I made demands on the decaying Ottoman empire, which he described as “the Sick Man of Europe,” claiming that the Orthodox Church in the Ottoman empire needed to be placed under Russian protection. Nicholas moved military forces into the two Danubian principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia. Britain, which had been no party to the original dispute concerning the Holy Places, was drawn into the fray as a result of Turkish fears. The French also “claimed a certain protective jurisdiction” over the Christians in the Holy Land.
An important cause of the war involved the actions of Napoléon III. The new French emperor had recently overthrown the Second French Republic and he “welcomed the chance of distracting his people’s attention from domestic politics.” In addition, the tsar’s dislike for Napoléon III, the fact that for hundreds of years the French had been “the principal Western people in the Near East” and that they “had often furnished money and advisers to the Sultan,” France’s huge volume of trade conducted in the Near East, its staffing and financing of Christian missions, and talk of building a Suez canal made it all the more likely that the French would encourage the Turkish government to resist Russian claims to protect Orthodox Christians within Turkey.
Fought in part to open up trade in the Russian-dominated Black Sea region, the 1850s’-era war pitted a victorious France and Britain against Moscow. Shown here is the fall of Russia’s key Black Sea port of Sebastopol. (Library of Congress)
On November 30, 1853, the Russians initiated military contact by sinking a Turkish squadron in the Black Sea port of Sinope. Napoléon III then sent a letter to the tsar, demanding that he withdraw his troops from the principalities. The tsar refused and the Western powers declared war on March 28, 1854. Great Britain’s policy focused on defending Turkey and the Near East from Russian advances. Its prime concern involved protecting trade routes to India and the Far East. The small mountain kingdom of Sardinia, which entered the contest “solely for the purpose of raising the Italian question at the peace conference,” sided with Britain and France. Austria, desirous of protecting its own empire, declared neutrality, but quickly occupied Wallachia and Moldavia with almost no resistance from the fleeing Russian forces. Austria also did not want to see Russia control the Balkans and Constantinople, or allow France and Britain “to master the situation alone.”
During the course of fighting, the British fleet blockaded Russia in the Baltic and Black Seas. French and British armies invaded Russia, landing their forces in the Crimean Peninsula. The bulk of the fighting took place there. One of the most memorable engagements of the war took place on October 25, 1854, when, “during an attack by the Russian general Prince Menshikov on the British base at Balaklava, the Light Brigade won undying fame for its valiant but suicidal charge through North Valley.” This heroic action has been forever immortalized in Lord Tennyson’s poem, “The Charge of the Light Brigade.” In November 1854, the allies, principally the British and French, settled down to a winter siege of Sevastopol. The British suffered terribly in the trenches. Medicine remained in short supply. Many ships carrying clothing, stores, and munitions were wrecked by winter storms. However, the arrival of Nightingale and her nurses alleviated some of the pain suffered by the sick and wounded soldiers.
The death of Tsar Nicholas, who was succeeded by his more pacific son Alexander II, the defeat at the Battle of the Chernaya River in August, and the French capture of the most important redoubt of Malakhov led to the Russian surrender of Sevastopol on September 8, 1855. Napoléon III, who was growing tired of the war, and the new Russian leader both pursued peace.
On March 30, 1856, the Treaty of Paris was consummated. The participants included France, Britain, Sardinia, Turkey, Russia, and neutral Austria. The principal terms of the settlement involved territorial integrity and open trade. Russia ceded the left bank of the mouth of the Danube to Moldavia and surrendered its claim to protecting Christians in the Ottoman empire. Wallachia and Moldavia (united as Romania in 1858), with Serbia, were recognized as self-governing principalities. Russia agreed not to maintain warships on the Black Sea. The sultan promised his Christian subjects equality before the law in exchange for guarantees that no foreign power would interfere in the internal affairs of the Ottoman empire. Most important, the Danube River became an international river open to commercial shipping of all nations. The Treaty of Paris “was a complete diplomatic success for the Allies.” The British belief that “free ships make free goods” prevailed. The notion of freedom of the seas and the rights of neutrals to trade in wartime became international law. Commercial prosperity and free trade reigned as a result of the Crimean War.
Charles F. Howlett
See also: Black Sea; British Empire; French Empire; Ottomans.
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