Crimean War

What would come to be known as the Crimean War involved an alliance of England, France, and Turkey against Russia. This would be perhaps the first war covered by newspaper correspondents in such a way as to bring the war vividly to the people at home. It would also be the war that produced the heroism of Florence Nightingale, the heroic image of the Charge of the Light Brigade (celebrated thereafter in poetry, fiction, and film), and a number of influential histories, journals, and other accounts. This was also a war in which the British did not live up to their military reputation, and analyses of the war have focused on the inept manner in which the British were led, a degree of incompetence bordering on the criminal when the leadership allowed what would become known as the Charge of the Light Brigade, leading to the deaths of hundreds of British cavalrymen.

The fact that this conflict came to be known as the Crimean War should not hide the fact that the Crimea itself was not the issue in the war or even that the war was confined to the Crimea. Indeed, the naval component of the war extended half-way round the world. The case of the war has been given much attention and has been framed differently by different commentators. Blake takes the following view:

The main cause of the war was Russia's desire for territorial expansion, particularly towards a port in the Mediterranean. The immediate excuses for war were more complicated, but of a pattern familiar enough tod

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, it is not surprising that the conduct of the war could be equally confusing, with many uncertain what they were doing, with others suffering for decisions made by incompetent leaders, and with campaigns that were pointless being pursued as if they would be decisive. Sardinia entered the war for a foolish reason--this was a small mountain kingdom with no direct stake in the war, but it wanted to be able to raise the Italian question at the peace conference. The British fleet managed to blockade Russia in both its Baltic and Black Sea outlets, and French and British armies invaded Russia itself. Their armies landed in the Crimean peninsula, and all important fighting was confined to that region. The Austrian Empire had its own reasons for wanting to prevent Russia from conquering the Balkans or Constantinople and also did not want to see France or Britain mastering the situation alone. Austria had not fully recovered from an earlier war, but the military rallied as best it could and occupied Wallachia and Moldavia, forcing the Russians to evacuate the region. As noted, the Crimean war was an interesting and dramatic opportunity for newspaper correspondents, and one of the most important of these was William Howard Russell,

Category: History - C