Western History 166: What were the causes of the Crimean War and what were its outcomes?

By the mid 19^th century the Turkish dominated Ottoman Empire was in obvious decline prompting debate about its eventual fate. This was the famed Eastern Question. Although the Turks themselves were Muslim there were substantial Christian minorities living in the Empire. France saw itself as the champion of the Catholic minority in the Ottoman territories while Russia viewed its role as the guarantor of the Empire’s Eastern Orthodox populations. 

Friction was inevitable between the two European powers especially over church rights in the Ottoman controlled Holy Land ( a key sticking point centered over the exclusive rights that the Greek Orthodox church had to the keys to the Church of the Nativity - the birthplace of Jesus Christ).    

The Ottoman Empire source: SlidePlayer

However there were deeper rifts as well. The weakening Ottoman Empire was viewed opportunistically by the Russians, who were seeking to extend their territory with an eye to further expansion around the Black Sea, the Caucasus regions and various parts of the Balkans.

While the two Christian churches had worked out an agreement with the Ottomans  the Russian Tsar Nicholas I chose to strengthen his hand by demanding that all Eastern Orthodox subjects in the Ottoman Empire be placed under Russian protection. The Ottomans refused the request necessitating British entry into the impending fracas on a mediator level. As tension mounted the Russians moved troops into the Danubian Principalities (modern day Romania).

Britain and France made it clear that they would back the Ottomans and in October 1853, with such assurance guaranteed,  the Ottomans declared war against Russia. A Russian advance was stopped at Silistra but the Russian fleet responded by defeating the Ottomans at Sinop. Fearing the consequence of an Ottoman collapse the British and French naval forces entered the Black Sea. The Crimean War now pitted a British, France, Ottoman Alliance (later augmented by Sardinia) against Russia and their Kurdish partners (with some Greek support).

Although the Black Sea theatre (in particular the Crimean peninsular) would dominate most fighting in the Crimean War there were noteworthy skirmishes as well in the Caucasus, the White and Baltic Seas and even the Northern Pacific.

Key battles for the war as a whole included Alma (1854 – Allied victory), Balaclava (1854- indecisive),the Siege of Sevastopol (1854/1855 – Allied victory) and Inkerman (1854 – Allied win).

None of these fights were renowned for military brilliance . In fact the reverse was often true. The ill-fated Charge of the Light Brigade (immortalized in a Tennyson poem) highlighted the consequences of the ossified thinking that was endemic within the British army.

Charge of the Light Brigade (an incorrectly interpreted order caused 110 unnecessary deaths and 116 wounded casualties) source: Britannica

The Crimean War also played out in the British press, in much the same way that the Vietnam war would do so in the United States over a century later. Incompetence was rightly skewered forcing a necessary review of the actions of the top military brass. 

However all was not negative,  the actions of  Florence Nightingale and others provided the framework for the development of nursing as legitimate profession. Its importance in battle field support could not be understated. The Crimean War emphasized the reality..

Florence Nightingale - Nursing pioneer - nicknamed the Lady of the Lamp source:History.com

It was also from the Crimean War that Britain’s highest order of military merit in action – the Victoria Cross – has its place and time of origin.

Victoria Cross source: Legion Magazine

By 1856 the war had come to an end.The Allies had almost 235,000 troop casualties with the Russian figure totalling just less than 540,000 (estimates vary).  The Treaty of Paris ended hostilities, with the Allies who held the upper hand forcing Russia to return Bessarabia to Moldovia (it would later join with Wallachia to form the bulk of Romania).  The Black Sea would become a neutral body thereby frustrating Russian ambitions for the time being.

 Romania - a country in three parts source: Timewise traveller

Like the British the Russians would embrace military reform and other modernizing initiatives. Eventually these changes would spread beyond the military leading to the eventual abolition of serfdom in Russia in 1861 and the growth of anti-Tsarist revolutionary sentiment. More was sure to follow.