Can someone explain the Crimeon War to me?
- Thread starter Nuka-sama
- Start date
scipian
Czar
Check out wikipedia probably. I have some knowledge of it though...
Russia had been expanding south for a long time trying to get warm water ports. Finally the Europeans got fed up and scared. Oddly enough, the British, who had no continetal holdings, were the main advocates of stopping the expansion. They convinced France to help the Ottomans defeat Russia and take them away from the important Balkans and Constantinople. They had no idea of where to attack and so they decide that, with their superior navy, they should attack the Crimean peninsula (the tiny peninsula in northern Black Sea). In the end both sides blundered horribly, but the Russians "lost" because so many troops died from cold and disease. Apparently, it was a useless war because Russia had already agreed to back away from the Balkans. Oh, well. Nice little history lesson i hope.
Russia had been expanding south for a long time trying to get warm water ports. Finally the Europeans got fed up and scared. Oddly enough, the British, who had no continetal holdings, were the main advocates of stopping the expansion. They convinced France to help the Ottomans defeat Russia and take them away from the important Balkans and Constantinople. They had no idea of where to attack and so they decide that, with their superior navy, they should attack the Crimean peninsula (the tiny peninsula in northern Black Sea). In the end both sides blundered horribly, but the Russians "lost" because so many troops died from cold and disease. Apparently, it was a useless war because Russia had already agreed to back away from the Balkans. Oh, well. Nice little history lesson i hope.
Russia had been eyeing the Balkans for years. Its ultimate (though unrealistic) goal is to march into Konstantiniyye (Constantinople). From there they could control shipping through the Eastern Mediterranean.
Britain was worried that Russian expansionism would lead to 1) destabilisation of Europe and another war similar to the Napoleonic Wars, 2) threat against their own holdings in the Eastern med namely Malta, Ionian Islands and British-friendly regimes in Egypt and Greece, 3) fall of the Ottoman regime, which would threaten Med sea routes and the overland route to India. For more on the British foreign policy at the time, go here http://www.victorianweb.org/history/forpol/principle.html
Russia began to style itself as "protector" of the southern Slavs of the Balkans against the Ottomans, as well as the "defender" of Christianity in the East. Conflict between Catholic and Orthodox Christians in the Holy Land came to a head, and the Muslim governor had to intervene to prevent Christians killing Christians.
According to this website: http://www.regiments.org/wars/19thcent/53crimea.htm "The catalyst for war was a growing dispute from 1840s over the religious custody of Christian Holy Places in Palestine. Catholic monks under French protection had tended the Jerusalem and Bethlehem holy places since the sixteenth century, and this had been guaranteed in perpetuity by the Ottoman capitulations of 1740...Louis Napoleon, seeing the possibilities for political influence, sought reinstatement of the capitulations in 1852, and, after his coronation as Emperor, his concern about religion in the East became a rallying cry for French Catholics. The Sultan supported French claims of jurisdiction. Tsar Nikolai I objected that Russia was the true defender of Christianity in the East, that such a protectorate existed by the Treaty of Kuchuk Kainarji (1774), and that Greek Orthodox were by far the majority Christians (ten million) in the East. The dispute broke into violence in Jerusalem between Catholic and Orthodox monks, and the Muslim governor intervened in 1847 to prevent Christian killing Christian. More importantly, French imperial intrigues revived Russian proposals for dividing the Ottoman empire. The tsar secretly sounded out the British about dismembering the Ottoman empire, but the British, continuing Palmerston's policy of containing Russia, indicated they would do all they could to keep the dying empire alive."
From the same source: "In March 1853 Russia issued an ultimatum that amounted to a demand for Ottoman unconditional surrender: recognition of exclusive Orthodox Christian rights in the Holy Land, Russian protection of those rights, restrictions on other Christians who might interfere with Russian influence, and a new secret alliance to "protect" the Ottoman Empire from the French. The Sultan refused. In July Russia invaded the Ottoman Danubian Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia. For five months the Turks held the upper hand, encouraged by a British and French naval show of force around the Dardanelles. When in November the Russian Black Sea Fleet destroyed the Turkish fleet off Sinope, Britain and France were alarmed and sent an expedition to the East to protect the Ottoman Empire from Russian aggression. The eventual main object was a punitive strike to destroy the Black Sea Fleet and its Crimean base at Sebastopol. In other theatres, the Turks fought Russian advances in Armenia, and the British and French sent fleets into the Baltic. There were also minor naval engagements in the White Sea and the north Pacific."
Britain was worried that Russian expansionism would lead to 1) destabilisation of Europe and another war similar to the Napoleonic Wars, 2) threat against their own holdings in the Eastern med namely Malta, Ionian Islands and British-friendly regimes in Egypt and Greece, 3) fall of the Ottoman regime, which would threaten Med sea routes and the overland route to India. For more on the British foreign policy at the time, go here http://www.victorianweb.org/history/forpol/principle.html
Russia began to style itself as "protector" of the southern Slavs of the Balkans against the Ottomans, as well as the "defender" of Christianity in the East. Conflict between Catholic and Orthodox Christians in the Holy Land came to a head, and the Muslim governor had to intervene to prevent Christians killing Christians.
According to this website: http://www.regiments.org/wars/19thcent/53crimea.htm "The catalyst for war was a growing dispute from 1840s over the religious custody of Christian Holy Places in Palestine. Catholic monks under French protection had tended the Jerusalem and Bethlehem holy places since the sixteenth century, and this had been guaranteed in perpetuity by the Ottoman capitulations of 1740...Louis Napoleon, seeing the possibilities for political influence, sought reinstatement of the capitulations in 1852, and, after his coronation as Emperor, his concern about religion in the East became a rallying cry for French Catholics. The Sultan supported French claims of jurisdiction. Tsar Nikolai I objected that Russia was the true defender of Christianity in the East, that such a protectorate existed by the Treaty of Kuchuk Kainarji (1774), and that Greek Orthodox were by far the majority Christians (ten million) in the East. The dispute broke into violence in Jerusalem between Catholic and Orthodox monks, and the Muslim governor intervened in 1847 to prevent Christian killing Christian. More importantly, French imperial intrigues revived Russian proposals for dividing the Ottoman empire. The tsar secretly sounded out the British about dismembering the Ottoman empire, but the British, continuing Palmerston's policy of containing Russia, indicated they would do all they could to keep the dying empire alive."
From the same source: "In March 1853 Russia issued an ultimatum that amounted to a demand for Ottoman unconditional surrender: recognition of exclusive Orthodox Christian rights in the Holy Land, Russian protection of those rights, restrictions on other Christians who might interfere with Russian influence, and a new secret alliance to "protect" the Ottoman Empire from the French. The Sultan refused. In July Russia invaded the Ottoman Danubian Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia. For five months the Turks held the upper hand, encouraged by a British and French naval show of force around the Dardanelles. When in November the Russian Black Sea Fleet destroyed the Turkish fleet off Sinope, Britain and France were alarmed and sent an expedition to the East to protect the Ottoman Empire from Russian aggression. The eventual main object was a punitive strike to destroy the Black Sea Fleet and its Crimean base at Sebastopol. In other theatres, the Turks fought Russian advances in Armenia, and the British and French sent fleets into the Baltic. There were also minor naval engagements in the White Sea and the north Pacific."
Also, the most incredibly silly thing took place during this war.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charge_of_the_Light_Brigade
"C'est magnifique, mais ce n'est pas la guerre."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charge_of_the_Light_Brigade
"C'est magnifique, mais ce n'est pas la guerre."
GinandTonic
Saphire w/ Schweps + Lime
- Joined
- May 25, 2005
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The charge of the light brigade did at least end the sale of comissions, leading to a basically modern army after the cardwell reforms.
The first war to be covered by war correspondents in a modern way.
Florence Nightingale and the introduction modern nursing.
Created the geo-politics for WWI.
Gave us a rather splendid peom by Tennison, in a chest-thumping boys-own kind of way.
I wanted to linky all those but Im on a mac and its all different
The first war to be covered by war correspondents in a modern way.
Florence Nightingale and the introduction modern nursing.
Created the geo-politics for WWI.
Gave us a rather splendid peom by Tennison, in a chest-thumping boys-own kind of way.
I wanted to linky all those but Im on a mac and its all different
Cheezy the Wiz
Socialist In A Hurry
The only thing I can add to these wonderful posts is this modivation for British intervention:
Draw a line with your finger, starting at Sevastapol. Go down, out of the Black Sea, and into the Aegean. Notice what direction you're going, and keep going that way. What country do you hit?
Egypt. A British Colony.
What's in Egypt?
The Suez Canal. The Gateway to the East.
Draw a line with your finger, starting at Sevastapol. Go down, out of the Black Sea, and into the Aegean. Notice what direction you're going, and keep going that way. What country do you hit?
Egypt. A British Colony.
What's in Egypt?
The Suez Canal. The Gateway to the East.
Joe Harker
1st in the Premiership!
The russians wanted to control the black sea and particularly the bosporus as then they would have a safe all year port compared to the artic as that was for most of the year under ice. The Suez canal was built after the crimean war and it wasn't a british colony either until 1870s 1880s
