The Banner of Battle - the Story of the Crimean War

After the Napoleonic wars, European Statesmen avoided war in fear that war on the continent would led to violent social change. The Revolutions of 1848, which started in Paris, spread across the European continent replacing statesmen in France and Austria, increasing the desire for Hungarian independence, and inspiring movements for German and Italian unification. This political upheaval destroyed the "Concert of Europe's" united responsibility of maintaining peace on the continent as nations resorted to authoritative diplomacy to establish their international prestige. The Banner of Battle: The Story of the Crimean War provides a common historical framework and capricious public opinion of the Crimean War.

Although the Russians were at war in 1828-9 over the Tsar's right, from the Treaty of Kuchuk Kainardji, to protect Christians in the Ottoman Empire, Russian Chancellor Nesselrode convinced Nicholas I that Russia could increase her influence in Constantinople by halting their military advances in the Balkans and friendly cooperation with the Turks. The tension increased between Britain and Russia as the British feared that their trade would suffer if the Black Sea became a Russian lake. Even though Tsar Nicholas I insisted on contingency planning with Britain for the Eastern Question, Lord Aberdeen, Britain's Prime Minister, disregarded the message for over a decade.

In May of 1850, Napoleon III renewed a Bourbon claim by taking up the defense of Roman Catholic Holy Places in the Middle East. Tsar Nicholas claimed that Napoleon was violating Russia's right to protect Turks in the Ottoman Empire. However, the Turks granted the French the right to protect the Holy Places as well as reassuring Orthodox believers that there would not be a change in the status quo. In response, Tsar Nicholas ordered his troops to reoccupy the Danubian Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia. The British newspapers demanded action against Russian aggression. Britain, France, and Russia wanted to maintain peace; yet it was too late, as the Turks declared war against Russia on October 5, 1853 for not withdrawing troops from the Danubian principalities.

Although there were demands for instant intervention in London and Paris, Napoleon III and Lord Aberdeen still hoped that this conflict could be resolved peacefully. After the Turks attacked the Russian army in the Danube, Russian warships retaliated by destroying the Ottoman Fleet at Sinope. The elimination of the Turkish fleet and the threat of Russian expansion frightened Britain and France, who came to the defense of the Ottoman Empire. Although British and French Vessels reached the black sea by January 3, 1854, the unpreparedness of the unusual allies delayed the war.

Britain and France made a futile attempt of executing the orders to move and supply troops in the Black Sea. The French army lacked the sufficient amount of artillery, cavalry horses, ambulances, and provisions; the condition of the British Army was no better than the French army. As the heat of summer progressed, the armies and navies were weakened by cholera. When the British and French armies finally enter battle, Lord Cardigan led the Light Brigade's misdirected charge into its decimation in the valley of death. Yet The Hospital in Scutari could not properly take care of the soldiers, because medicines were in short supply, hygiene was being neglected, and mass infections were common, many of them fatal. By winter of 1854, the press and the public in Britain and France wanted out of the war.

Although the allies were unprepared, the imperial army of Russia could not send reinforcements to Sebastopol fast enough. The only railroads in Russia lie between St. Petersburg and Moscow. The Russian Regiments at Sebastopol were forced to withdraw from the naval fortress, when the allies take Malakoff. Tsar Alexander, who took over the army after Nicholas' death the following march, was willing to accept terms for peace as long as the terms were favorable and honorable to Russia. The Treaty of Paris, based on the Austrian Plan of the "Four Points", was finalized on March 30, 1856.

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