The Crimean War 1853-1856

The Crimean War of 1853-56 began after Russian Tsar Nicholas I tried to obtain further concessions from the Ottoman Empire. Initially, this was a jurisdictional dispute over the holy places of Ottoman-controlled Jerusalem which escalated to a Russian claim to having an exclusive right to protect Orthodox Christians within Ottoman territories. Another major factor was the dispute between Russia and France over the privileges of the Russian Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches in the holy places in Palestine. Great Britain and France entered the conflict in 1854, allying with the Turks. The Crimean War was fought mainly on the Crimean Peninsula between the Russians and the British, French, and Ottoman Empire, with support (from January 1855) of Sardinia. The Treaty of Paris (March 30, 1856) that ended the war was a serious diplomatic setback for Russia, though involving few territorial concessions.

Supported by Britain, the Ottoman Empire took a firm stand against Russian demands, who occupied the Danube principalities (modern Romania) on the Russo-Turkish border in July 1853. The British fleet was ordered to Constantinople (Istanbul) on September 23rd. On October 4th the Turks declared war on Russia and in the same month opened an offensive against the Russians in the Danube principalities. After the Russian Black Sea fleet destroyed a Turkish squadron at Sinope, on the Turkish side of the Black Sea, the British and French fleets entered the Black Sea on January 3, 1854, to protect Turkish transports. On March 28th, Britain and France declared war on Russia. To satisfy Austria and avoid having that country also enter the war, Russia evacuated the Danube principalities. Austria occupied them in August 1854. In September 1854 the allies landed troops in Russian Crimea, on the north shore of the Black Sea, and began a year-long siege of the Russian fortress of Sevastopol. Major engagements were fought at the Alma River on September 20, at Balaklava on October 25, and at Inkerman on November 5th. On January 26, 1855, Sardinia-Piedmont entered the war and sent 10,000 troops. Finally, on September 11th, three days after a successful French assault on the Malakhov, a major strongpoint in the Russian defenses, the Russians blew up the forts, sank the ships, and evacuated Sevastopol. Secondary operations of the war were conducted in the Caucasus and in the Baltic Sea.

After Austria threatened to join the allies, Russia accepted preliminary peace terms on March 1, 1856. The Congress of Paris worked out the final settlement from February 25th to March 30th. The resulting Treaty of Paris, signed on March 30, 1856, was signed between Russia on one side and the alliance of France, Great Britain, Sardinia, and the Ottoman Empire on the other. It guaranteed the integrity of the Ottoman Empire and obliged Russia to surrender southern Bessarabia, at the mouth of the Danube. Russia was obliged to surrender Bessarabia (situated at the mouth of the Danube River) to Moldavia, which along with Walachia were reorganized as autonomous states under Ottoman suzerainty. (These two principalities later joined to form Romania.) The Black Sea was neutralized (i.e., its waters were closed to all warships), and the Danube was opened to the shipping of all nations. The Crimean War was managed and commanded very poorly on both sides. Disease accounted for a disproportionate number of the approximately troops lost by each side.

The war did not settle the relations of the powers in Eastern Europe. It did awaken the new Russian emperor Alexander II (who succeeded Nicholas I in March 1855) to the need to overcome Russian military and economic backwardness in order to compete successfully with the other European great powers. A further result of the war was that Austria, having sided with Great Britain and France, lost the support of Russia in central European affairs. Austria became dependent on Britain and France, which failed to provide support, leading to the Austrian defeats in 1859 and 1866 that, in turn, led to the unification of Italy and Germany.

References

Kohn, 133; Clodfelter, 295-302; COW22; EB - Crimean War; EB - Treaty of Paris.

Category

Inter-State War

Region

Eastern Europe

Belligerents

Ottoman Empire, Russia, France, UK, Sardinia

Dispute

Governance

Initiation Date

October 4, 1853

Termination Date

March 1, 1856

Duration

2 years, 4 months, 27 days
(880 days)

Outcome

Imposed Settlement
(Allied victory)

Fatalities

Total: 264,200
Russia: 100,000
Ottoman Empire: 45,000
France: 95,000
UK: 22,000
Sardinia: 2,200

Magnitude

5.7