Crimean War
The Crimean War (1853–1856), also called the Eastern War (Russian: Восточная война), was fought between the Russian Empire against the French Empire, the United Kingdom, the Kingdom of Sardinia and the Ottoman Empire. Most of the fighting, including the Battle of Balaclava, happened in Crimea, but some of it was what is now western Turkey and around the Baltic Sea.
| Crimean War | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Ottoman wars in Europe and the Russo-Turkish Wars | |||||||||
 Attack on the Malakoff, by William Simpson | |||||||||
| |||||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||||
 Ottoman Empire France[a] United Kingdom[a] Sardinia[b] |
 Russia Greece[c] | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
Total: 673,900 235,568[1] 309,268[2] 97,864[2] 21,000[2] |
Total: 889,000[2] 888,000 mobilised 324,478 deployed | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
|
Total: 165,363–223,000[3] dead |
Total: 450,015 dead[4][2][5] 73,125 combat deaths 376,890 non-combat deaths | ||||||||
| Casualties include death by disease. In all cases, death by disease exceeded the sum of "killed in action" or "died of wounds". | |||||||||
The Crimean War is sometimes called the first "modern" war since its weaponry and tactics were used for the first time and affected all later wars.[6] It was also the first war to use a telegraph to give information to a newspaper quickly.[7]
Background
changeThe Ottoman Empire was declining by the mid-1800s. The war started after the Ottoman Empire decided that France, not Russia, had the right to protect Christians in the Holy Land near the area of modern-day Israel.[8]
Russia sent an army to take part of Ottoman Romania and so the British and the French allies sent an army and a navy to help the Ottomans. When the allies got to their camp in Gallipoli, Russia retreated and so the allies decided instead to take back Crimea, where Russia had its naval base. Russia had taken Crimea from the Ottoman Empire in an earlier war.
Results
changeThe Allies won the war in Crimea but gave it back to Russia in return for Russia giving back other places and promising not to have a navy on the Black Sea.
The Crimean War was a very important point in the history of warfare since new weapons were used. It was also the first war to be reported by the press via photography and journalists. Another very important factor was that it was the first war with real field hospitals, which were started by Florence Nightingale.
After it lost the war, Russia decided to make changes, including increasing its development of weaponry and ending serfdom in 1861.
Related pages
changeNotes
changeReferences
change- ↑ Badem 2010, p. 180.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 Clodfelter 2017, p. 180.
- ↑ Зайончковский А. М. Восточная война 1853—1856. — СПб.: Полигон, 2002. — ISBN 5-89173-159-2
- ↑ Figes 2010, p. 489.
- ↑ Mara Kozelsky, "The Crimean War, 1853–56." Kritika: Explorations in Russian and Eurasian History 13.4 (2012): 903–917 online.
- ↑ Royle. Preface
- ↑ "The Crimean War: The war that made Britain 'great' - Telegraph". telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved November 17, 2010.
- ↑ Hooker, Richard (1999). "The Ottomans: European Imperialism and Crisis". Washington State University. Archived from the original on January 4, 2011. Retrieved April 9, 2011.
Other websites
change
- Austria Chronology Crimean War Archived 2008-10-24 at the Wayback Machine
- France Chronology Crimean War Archived 2008-04-01 at the Wayback Machine
- Great Britain Chronology Crimean War Archived 2008-07-31 at the Wayback Machine
- Italy Chronology Crimean War Archived 2007-09-30 at the Wayback Machine
- Russia Chronology Crimean War Archived 2008-09-17 at the Wayback Machine
- Turkey Chronology Crimean War Archived 2008-10-03 at the Wayback Machine