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CRIMEAN WAR
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See also:CRIMEAN See also:WAR . The war of 1853-56, usually known by this name, arose from causes the discussion of which will be found under the heading See also:TURKEY: See also:History. When Turkey, after a See also:period of irregular fighting, declared war on See also:Russia in See also:October 1853, See also:Great See also:Britain and See also:France (subsequently assisted by See also:Sardinia) intervened in the See also:quarrel. At first this intervention was represented merely by the presence of an allied See also:squadron in the See also:Bosporus, but the See also:storm of indignation aroused in Great Britain and France by the destruction of the See also:Turkish See also:fleet at See also:Sinope (3oth See also:November) soon impelled these See also:powers to more active See also:measures. On the 27th of See also:January 1854 they declared war on the See also:tsar, and prepared to carry their armaments to the See also:Danube. In this, the See also:main, See also:theatre of war, the See also:Turks had hitherto proved quite capable of holding their own. The See also:Russian See also:commander, See also:Prince See also:Michael See also:Gorchakov, had crossed the Pruth with two See also:corps See also:early in See also:July 1853, and had overrun See also:Moldavia and Wallachia without difficulty. See also:Omar See also:Pasha, however, disposing of See also:superior forces, was able to check any further advance. During October, November and See also:December the Turks won a See also:succession of actions, of which that at See also:Oltenitza(Nov. 4th) may be particularly mentioned, and a little later Gorchakov found himself compelled to fight at Cetatea (Tchetati) before reinforcements could come up. The defeat he sustained was for the See also:time being decisive (6th See also:Jan. 1854). Three months later, the Russians, now under command of the See also:veteran Prince Paskievich, took the offensive in great force. See also:Crossing the Danube near its mouth at,See also:Galatz and See also:Braila, they advanced through the See also:Dobrudja and closed upon the fortress of See also:Silistria, which offered a strong and steady resistance, with an effect all the greater as the Turks from the See also:side of See also:Shumla, now supported by the leading See also:British and See also:French brigades at See also:Varna, prevented a See also:close investment. The Turks, however, avoided a decisive encounter, and the stormers stood ready in the trenches before Silistria, when the See also:siege was suddenly raised. The decision had passed into other hands. The tsar had learned that the See also:Austrian See also:army of observation in Transylvania, 50,000 strong under Feldzeugmeister See also:Hess, was about to enforce the wishes of the " Four Powers." The Russian offensive was at an end, the army hastily See also:fell back, and on the 2nd of See also:August 1854 the last See also:man recrossed the Pruth. The principalities were at once occupied by Hess. The Invasion of the See also:Crimea.—The See also:primary See also:object of the war had thus easily been obtained. But Great Britain and France were by no means content with a See also:triumph that See also:left untouched the vast resources of an enemy who was certain to employ them at the next opportunity. The two nations See also:felt that See also:Sevastopol, the See also:home of the See also:Black See also:Sea fleet, the See also:port whence See also:Admiral Nachimov had sailed for Sinope, must be crippled for some years at least, and as early as See also:June 29th See also:Lord See also:Raglan and See also:Marshal See also:Saint See also:Arnaud, the allied commanders of See also:England and France, had received instructions to " See also:concert measures for the siege of Sevastopol." Dynastic considerations reinforced the arguments of policy and popular See also:opinion in the See also:case of France; in Great Britain soldier and civilian alike saw the menace of a Russian Mediterranean fleet in the unfinished forts and busy See also:dockyards. The popular See also:strategy for once coincided with the views of the responsible leaders. Yet there is no sign that either the commanders on the spot or their governments realized the magnitude of the undertaking. Few but the most urgently necessary preparations were made, and See also:cholera, breaking out virulently amongst the French at this time, reduced the army at Varna, and even the fleet at sea, to See also:impotence. The troops were so weakened that, even in See also:September, the five-mile See also: The two commanders, after a See also:reconnaissance, decided upon their See also:plan. The French divisions in See also:echelon from the right were to cross the river and force Menshikov inwards, whilst the British were to move straight to their front against the strongest See also:part of the Russian line. Substantially this plan was carried out on the loth of September. Owing to want of men (he had but 36,400 against over 50,000) Menshikov was unable to hold his left wing very strongly, and the French were scarcely checked See also:save by See also:physical obstacles; but opposite the British force the ground sloped See also:glacis-See also:wise up to the Russian line, and nothing but their See also:iron discipline, the best heritage of the See also:Peninsular War, brought them victorious to the See also:crest of Kurghane See also: Once established on the south side, the allies could use the excellent harbours of Kamiesh and See also:Balaklava; this could almost certainly be effected withoutfighting, while in besieging Sevastopol itself and not merely the north side, the allies would be striking at the See also:heart. But a flank march is almost always in itself a hazardous undertaking, and in this case the invaders were required further to abandon their line of retreat on Old Fort. In point of fact, the army, covered by a See also:division opposite the Russian See also:works, successfully accomplished the task. At the same moment Menshikov, after providing for the See also:defence of Sevastopol, had marched out with a See also: Lieut.-See also:Col. See also:Todleben, the Russian See also:chief engineer, had very early begun See also:work on these sites, and daily re-creating, rearming and improving the fortifications, finally connected them by a continuous See also:enceinte. Yet Sevastopol was not, early in October 1854, the towering fortress it afterwards became, and Todleben himself maintained that, had the allies immediately assaulted, they would have succeeded in taking the place. There were, however, many reasons against so decided a course, and it was not until the 17th of October that the first attack took place. All that See also:day a tremendous See also:artillery See also:duel raged. The French siege corps lost heavily and its guns were overpowered. The fleet engaged the harbour batteries dose inshore, and suffered a loss of 500 men, besides severe damage to the ships. On the other See also:hand the British siege batteries silenced the Malakoff and its annexes, and, if failure had not occurred at the other points of attack, an See also:assault might have succeeded. As it was, Todleben, by daybreak, had repaired and improved the damaged works. Meanwhile General See also:Canrobert had succeeded St Arnaud (who died on the 29th of September) in the See also:joint leadership of
Russian Works
t. See also: Malakoff 6. flagstaff 7. See also:Mansion 7. Central See also:Bastion 4. Little Reden V SEVASTOPOL 1854-1856 See also:English See also:Miles 7 the allies. It was not long before Menshikov and the now augmented field army from Bakhchiserai appeared on the Chernaya and moved towards the Balaklava lines and the British See also:base. Balaklava.—A long line of works on the upland secured the siege corps from interference, and the Balaklava lines themselves were strong, but the See also:low See also:Vorontsov See also:ridge between the two was weakly held, and here the Russian commander hoped to sever the line of communications. On the 25th of October .Liprandi's corps carried its slight redoubts at the first See also:rush. But the British cavalry stationed at the See also:foot of the upland was situated on their flank, and as the Russian cavalry moved towards Kadikol, the " Heavy See also:Brigade " under General See also:Scarlett charged home with such effect that Menshikov's troopers only rallied behind their field batteries near Traktir See also:bridge. At the same time some of the Russian squadrons, coming upon the British 93rd See also:regiment outside the Balaklava lines, were completely broken by the steady volleys of the " thin red line." The " See also:Light Brigade " of British cavalry, farther north, had hitherto remained inactive, even when the Russians, broken by the " Heavies," fled across their front. The cavalry commander, Lord See also:Lucan, now received orders to prevent the withdrawal of the guns taken by Liprandi. The aide-de-camp who carried the order was killed by the first See also:shell, and the whole question of responsibility for what followed is wrapped in obscurity. Lord See also:Cardigan led the Light Brigade straight at the Russian field batteries, behind which the enemy's squadrons had re-formed. From the guns in front, on the Fedukhin heights, and on the captured ridge to their right, the advancing squadrons at once met a deadly converging See also:fire, but the gallant troopers nevertheless reached the guns and cut down the artillerymen. Small parties even charged the cavalry behind, and at least two unbroken squadrons struck out right and left with success, but the combat could only end in one way. The 4th Chasseurs d'Afrique relieved the British left by a dashing See also:charge. The " Heavies " made as if to advance, but came under such a storm of fire that they were withdrawn. By twos and threes the gallant survivors of the " Light Brigade " made their way back. Two-thirds of its See also:numbers were left on the field, and the day closed with the Russians still in possession of the Vorontsov ridge. See also:Inkerman.—If the heights lost in this See also:action were not absolutely essential to the safety of the allies, the point selected for the next See also:attempt at See also:relief was of vital importance. The junction of the covering army and the siege corps near Inkerman was the See also:scene of a slight action on the day following Balaklava, and the battle of Inkerman followed on the 5th of November. By that time the French had made good the losses of the 17th of October, their approaches were closing upon Flagstaff bastion, and the British batteries daily maintained their superiority over the Malakoff. On the 5th there was to have been a See also:meeting of generals to See also:fix the details of an assault, but at See also:dawn the Russian army, now heavily reinforced from See also:Odessa, was attacking with the utmost fury the British divisions guarding the See also:angle between Bosquet and the siege corps. The battle of Inkerman defies description; every regiment, every See also:group of men See also:bore its own See also:separate part in the confused and doubtful struggle, save when leaders on either side obtained a momentary See also:control over its course by means of reserves which, carrying all before them with their See also:original impetus, soon served but to swell the melee. It was a " soldiers' battle " pure and See also:simple. After many See also:hours of the most desperate fighting the arrival of Bosquet (hitherto contained by a force on the Balaklava ground) See also:con-firmed a success won by supreme tenacity against overwhelming odds, and Menshikov sullenly drew off his men, leaving over 12,000 on the field. The allies had lost about 3300 men, of whom more than two-thirds belonged to the small British force on which the See also:strain of the battle fell heaviest. Their losses included several generals who could See also:ill be spared, but they had held their ground, which was all that was required of them, with almost unrivalled tenacity. Lord Raglan was promoted to be field marshal after the battle. The See also:Winter of 1854-1855.—It was now obvious that the armymust winter in the Crimea, and preparations in view of this were begun betimes. But on the See also:night of November 14th a violent storm arose which wrecked nearly See also:thirty vessels with their See also:precious cargoes of treasure, medical comforts, See also:forage, clothing and other necessaries. After so See also:grave a calamity it was to be expected that the troops would be called upon to undergo great hardships. But the See also:direct cause of sufferings that have become a byword for the utmost depths of misery was the loss of twenty days' forage in the great storm. Of See also:food and clothing enough was in See also:store to See also:tide over temporary difficulties, but the only paved road from Balaklava to the British camps was now in Russian hands, and the few starving transport animals were utterly inadequate for the work of See also:drawing wagons over the miry See also:plain; things went from See also:bad to worse with Raglan's troops, until from the outposts before the Redan to the hospitals at See also:Scutari a See also:state of the utmost misery prevailed, relieved only by the example of devotion and self-See also:sacrifice set by See also:officers and men. The British See also:hospital returns showed eight thousand sick at the end of November. Even the French, whose base of Kamiesh had escaped the storm, were not unhurt by the severity of the winter, but Napoleon III. sent freely all the men his general asked, while the Russians in Sevastopol, who had made long painful See also:marches from the interior, were the survivors of the fittest. Canrobert took over the lines before the Malakoff to relieve the British. He had at the end of January 1855 78,000 men for See also:duty; Raglan could barely See also:muster 12,000. But, with the See also:advent of See also:spring, paved roads and a railway were promptly taken in hand, and during the See also:remainder of the war the British troops were so well cared for that their See also:death-See also:rate was See also:lower than at home, while the hospitals in See also:rear, thanks to the See also:energy and devotion of See also:Florence See also:Nightingale and her nurses, became See also:models of good management. Course of the Siege.—Meanwhile the siege works were making but slow progress, and the fortress See also:grew day by day under the skilful direction of Todleben. See also:Rifle-pits pushed out in front of the defenders' lines were connected so as to See also:form a veritable envelope. Beyond the left wing a new line, the " White Works," sprang up in a single night, and the hill of the Mamelon was suddenly crowned with a See also:lunette to cover the still defiant Malakoff. But the See also:absence of See also:bomb-See also:proof cover exposed the huge working parties necessary for these defences to an almost incessant See also:feu d'enfer, by which the Russians every See also:week suffered the losses of a pitched battle. Meanwhile the field army was idle, Menshikov had been replaced by Prince Michael Gorchakov, Liprandi's corps had withdrawn from the Vorontsov ridge, and Omar Pasha, with a detachment of the troops he had led at Oltenitza and Cetatea, repulsed a Russian attack on See also:Eupatoria (Feb. 17th). The besiegers steadily approached the White Works, Mamelon, Redan and Flagstaff bastion, and as spring arrived the logistic and material advantages of the allies returned. On See also:Easter See also:Sunday (See also:April 8th, 1855) another terrific See also:bombardment began, which lasted almost uninterruptedly for ten days. The White Works and the Mamelon were practically destroyed, and the Russians, See also:drawn up in momentary expectation of assault, lost between six and seven thousand men. But the bombardment ceased, and assault did not follow. For, at the allied headquarters and at See also:Paris, grave See also:differences of opinion on the conduct of the war had See also:developed. Napoleon III. wished active operations to be undertaken against the Simferopol field army, whereas the leaders on the spot, while admitting the theoretical soundness of the French See also:emperor's views, considered that they were wholly beyond the means of the two armies. The discussions culminated in Canrobert's resignation of the chief command, though he would not leave the army, and took a subordinate See also:post, which he filled with great distinction to the end of the war. His successor, General See also:Pelissier, was a soldier trained in the hard school of Algerian warfare, and endowed, as was soon evident, with the most inflexible See also:resolution of See also:character. He did not hesitate to take up and maintain a position of decided opposition to his See also:sovereign's views; and the See also:capture of Kerch (24th May 1855), carried out by a joint expedition, was the first See also:earnest of new vigour in the operations. This success served all the purposes of a See also:complete investment of Sevastopol, the want of which had greatly troubled the allied generals. The line of communication and See also:supply between Sevastopol and the interior was cut, vast stores intended for the fortress were destroyed, and the sea of See also:Azov was cleared of See also:shipping. On the 25th Canrobert established himself on the Fedukhin heights, his right continued along the Chernaya by General la See also:Marmora's newly arrived Sardinians, 15,000 strong, while masses of Turks occupied the Vorontsov ridge and the old Balaklava battlefield. As June approached, Raglan and Pelissier, who, unlike most allied commanders, were in complete See also:accord and sympathy, initiated very vigorous methods of attack. They decided that the works See also:west of Flagstaff could be comparatively neglected, and the full See also:weight of the bombardment once more fell upon the Mamelon and the Malakoff. Once more these works were reduced to ruins, but the See also:rest of the defences still held out. The Assault of the Redan.—On the 7th of June 1855 the French stormed the Mamelon and the White Works, the British captured and maintained some quarries close to the Redan, and next See also:morning the whole of Todleben's envelope had become a siege-parallel. The losses were, as usual, heavy, 85oo to the Russians, 6883 to the allies. This was merely a preliminary to the great assault fixed for the 18th, the fortieth anniversary of See also:Waterloo. But meanwhile Pelissier's See also:temper and Raglan's See also:health had been strained to breaking-point by continued dissensions with Paris and See also:London. The See also:telegraph, a new strategic See also:factor, daily tormented the unfortunate commanders with the latest ideas of the Paris strategists, and on the fateful day the two armies rushed on to failure. The French attack on the Malakoff dwindled away into a meaningless fire-fight: the British, attacking the Redan in See also:face of a cross-fire of one hundred heavy guns, at first succeeded in entering the work, but in the end sustained a bloody and disastrous repulse. Of the six generals who led the two attacks, four were killed and one wounded, and on the 17th and 18th the losses to the Russians were 5400, to the allies 4000. But the defenders' resources were almost at an end, and the bombardment reopened at once with increased fury. On the loth Todleben was wounded, and soon afterwards Nakhimov, the See also:victor of Sinope, found a grave by the side of three other admirals who had fallen in the defence. Pelissier resolutely clung to his plans, in spite of the failure of the 18th, against ever-increasing opposition at home. Raglan, worn out by his troubles and heartbroken at the Redan failure, died on the 28th, mourned by none more deeply than by his stern colleague. The Storming of the Malakoff.—During July the Russians lost on an See also:average 250 men a day, and at last it was decided that Gorchakov and the field army must make another attack at the Chernaya—the first since Inkerman. On the 16th of August the corps of Generals Liprandi and Read furiously attacked the 37,000 French and Sardinian troops on the heights above Traktir Bridge. The assailants came on with the greatest determination, but the result was never for one moment doubtful. At the end of the day the Russians drew off baffled, leaving 260 officers and 8000 men on the field. The allies only lost 1700. With this defeat vanished the last chance of saving Sevastopol. On the same day (Aug. 16th) the bombardment once more reduced the Malakoff and its dependencies to impotence, and it was with See also:absolute confidence in the result that Pelissier planned the final assault. On the 8th of September 1855 at See also:noon, the whole of Bosquet's corps suddenly swarmed up to the Malakoff. The fighting was of the most desperate See also:kind. Every See also:casemate, every See also:traverse, was taken and retaken time after time, but the French maintained the See also:prize, and though the British attack on the Redan once more failed, the Russians crowded in that work became at once the helpless See also:target of the siege guns. Even on the far left, opposite Flagstaff and Central bastions, there was severe hand-to-hand fighting, and throughout the day the bombardment mowed down the Russian masses along the whole line. The fall of the Malakoff was the end of the siege. All night the Russians were filing over the See also:bridges to the north side, and onthe 9th the victors took possession of the empty and burning prize. The losses in the last assault had been very heavy, to the allies over ro,000 men, to the Russians 13,000. No less than nineteen generals had fallen on that day. But the crisis was surmounted. With the capture of Sevastopol the war loses its absorbing See also:interest. No serious operations were undertaken against Gorchakov, who with the field army and the remnant of the See also:garrison held the heights at Mackenzie's Farm. But Kinburn was attacked by sea, and from the naval point of view the attack is interesting as being the first instance of the employment of ironclads. An See also:armistice was agreed upon on the 26th of See also:February and the definitive See also:peace of Paris was signed on the 3oth of March 1856. Decisive Importance of the Victory.—The importance of the siege of Sevastopol, from the strategical point of view, lies beneath the See also:surface. It may well be asked, why did the fall of a place, at first almost unfortified, bring the See also:master of the Russian See also:empire to his knees? At first sight Russia would seem to be almost invulnerable to a sea See also:power, and no first success, however crushing, could have humbled See also:Nicholas I. Indeed the capture of Sevastopol in October 1854 would have been far from decisive of the war, but once the tsar had decided to defend to the last this See also:arsenal, the See also:necessity for which he was in the best position to appreciate, the factor of unlimited resources operated in the allies' favour. The sea brought to the invaders whatever they needed, whilst the See also:desert tracks of See also:southern Russia were marked at every step with the corpses of men and horses who had fallen on the way to Sevastopol. The hasty nature, too, of the fortifications, which, daily crushed by the fire of a thousand guns, had to be re-created every night, made huge and therefore unprotected working parties necessary, and the losses were correspondingly heavy. The See also:double cause of loss completely exhausted even Russia's resources, and, when large bodies of See also:militia appeared in line of battle at Traktir Bridge, it was obvious that the end was at hand. The novels of See also:Tolstoy give a graphic picture of the war from the Russian point of view; the miseries of the desert march, the still greater miseries of See also:life in the casemates, and the almost daily See also:ordeal of See also:manning the lines under shell-fire to meet an assault that might or might not come; and no student of the siege can leave it without feeling the profoundest respect for the courage, discipline and stubborn See also:loyalty of the defenders. See also:Minor Operations.—A few words may be added on the minor operations of the war. The See also:Asiatic frontier was the scene of severe fighting between the Turks and the Russians. Hindered at first by See also:Shamyl and his Caucasian mountaineers, the Russians stood on the defensive during 1853, but next See also:year they took the offensive, and, while their coast See also:column won an action on the 16th of June at the river Churuk, another force from See also:Erivan gained an important success on the Araxes and took See also:Bayazid, and General Bebutov completely defeated a Turkish column from See also:Kars at Kuruk Dere (July 3ist, 1854). Next year See also:Count See also:Muraviev completely isolated the garrison of Kars, which made a magnificent defence, inspired by See also:Fenwick See also:Williams Pasha and other British officers. In one assault alone 7000 Russians were killed and wounded, and it was not until the 26th of November 1855 that the fortress was forced to surrender. The naval operations in the Baltic furnish many interesting examples for the study of naval war. The allied fleet in 1854, after a first repulse, succeeded in landing a French force under Baraguay d'Hilliers before Bomarsund, and the place fell after an eight days' siege. In 1855 seventy allied warships appeared before See also:Kronstadt, which defied them. Reinforced they attacked Sveaborg, but after two days' fighting had to draw off baffled. The numbers engaged in the Crimean War and the cost in men and See also:money is stated in See also:round numbers below. In May 1855 the Crimean theatre of war occupied 174,500 allies (of whom 32,000 were British) and 170,000 Russians. The losses in battle were: allies 70,000 men, Russians 128,700; and the See also:total losses, from all causes and in all theatres of the war: allies 252,600 (including 45,000 English), Russians 256,000 men (Berndt, See also:Die Zak/ See also:im Kriege, p. 35). In the siege of Sevastopol the Russians are stated by Berndt to have lost 102,670 men dead, wounded and missing. 454 Mulhall (Dict. of See also:Statistics, 1903 ed., pp. 586-587) gives much greater losses to each of the four powers principally engaged. The cost of the war in money is stated by Mulhall to have been £69,000,000 to Great Britain, £93,000,000 to France, £142,000,000 to Russia. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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