History UsefulNotes / TheCrimeanWar

* AFatherToHisMen: Admiral Pavel Nakhimov and Sir Colin Campbell.

* ''The Charge of the Light Brigade'', 1936 film starring Creator/ErrolFlynn and very VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory.

* NiceJobBreakingItHero: The Battle of Sinop. Admiral Nakhimov burned the Turkish fleet in one sudden attack -- only to cause much, much more powerful French and English forces to get involved. It didn't end well for Nakhimov himself and the whole Russian Black Sea fleet. But the victory is still celebrated in Russia. (Of cource, this is not a failure of Nakhimov's, who was a soldier sent to the war who did his very best; it was a [[GoneHorriblyWrong disastrous miscalculation]] of Russian diplomats and analytics who didn't believe that European powers could ever cooperate with each other, much less enter the war.)

* YoungFutureFamousPeople: Garnet Wolseley and Evelyn Wood, both future British field marshals, served in the conflict, as did Richard Burton and [[UsefulNotes/TheRiverWar Charles Gordon]]. A young Russian artilleryman named Creator/LeoTolstoy first gained literary recognition for his memoirs, ''Sevastopol Sketches''. Finally, the United States sent Captain [[UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar George McClellan]] to the Crimea as a military observer. Eduard Totleben would later take part in reducing Plevna and command the entire Russian field army in the Balkans during the Russo-Turkish War.

* ObnoxiousInLaws: Lords Cardigan and Lucan, Britain's two primary cavalry commanders, were brothers-in-law nursing a long-held grudge against each other. This had dreadful consequences when [[WhatAnIdiot Lord Raglan appointed Cardigan to serve under Lucan]].

* CrowningMomentOfAwesome: For the British, the Charge of the ''Heavy'' Brigade at Balaclava. 600 British cavalry charged uphill against 2,000 Cossacks, in violation of every conceivable military doctrine -- ''and they won''. Sadly, the Light Brigade didn't share their fortune and ended up being the ones remembered...
** The Italian ''Bersaglieri'' infantry at the Battle of the Chernaya River. After the Italians repelled the Russian attack on their position, they saw the French ''Zouaves'' were having trouble against the main attack... so they charged the Russian cavalry, forced them to retreat, gave chase and transformed the retreat in a rout when the Russians stopped to regroup and [[OhCrap saw that the mad soldiers with strange hats were almost on top of them]]. When they realized what had just happened, the ''Zouaves'' gave their red fezzes to the ''Bersaglieri'' as alternative headgear as a sign of admiration.

* HoldTheLine: [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thin_Red_Line_%281854_battle%29 The Thin Red Line.]] Doubles as a CrowningMomentOfAwesome for the 93rd Highland Regiment.

* Mentioned in an unusual context in [[http://www.alternatehistory.com/discussion/showpost.php?p=2006561&postcount=13 this]] [[CrowningMomentOfFunny hilarious post]] on the discussion board of Website/AlternateHistoryDotCom. [[spoiler:The post spoofs the overuse of [=WWII=] as a setting for {{FPS}} games by inverting it to the Crimean War as the most popular game setting and [=WWII=] getting barely any mention at all in games.]]

This all started when French Emperor Napoleon III induced the Ottoman Sultan Abdulmecid I to recognize France as the protector of the Christian peoples in Ottoman Palestine (which at the time meant the whole eastern shore of the Mediterranean: not just modern Israel/Palestine, but also Lebanon and bits of Syria and Turkey). This, of course, did not sit well with the Russian Tsar, Nicholas I (not the other [[UsefulNotes/RedOctober Nick]]), as it had the practical effect of favoring the Catholic communities of the region (particularly the Maronites of Lebanon) over the various [[UsefulNotes/OrthodoxChristianity Eastern Orthodox]] communities of which Russia regarded itself as the natural protector. As a result, Russia sent troops to the Ottoman-controlled Danubian Provinces (in today's Romania), forcing Abdulmecid to declare war on Russia. A surprise attack on Turkish ships in the Battle of Sinop drew Britain and France into the war. The Kingdom of Piedmont came in for reasons unclear to everyone but its Prime Minister, [[MagnificentBastard Count Cavour]].

* XanatosGambit: Piedmont's participation in the war. The Piedmontese Prime Minister [[MagnificentBastard Count Cavour]] came into the war recognizing that no matter how large or small the commitment, no matter whether they won or lost, the other powers, particularly France, would owe the Kingdom a solid. A few years later, Cavour called in the favour: France must ally with the Kingdom of Piedmont against the Habsburgs and help them take Northern Italy. The [[HonorBeforeReason ever-honorable]] Napoleon III couldn't refuse, though considering his relations with Russia this wasn't a terrible burden.

* YoungFutureFamousPeople: Garnet Wolseley and Evelyn Wood, both future British field marshals, served in the conflict, as did Richard Burton and [[TheRiverWar Charles Gordon]]. A young Russian artilleryman named Creator/LeoTolstoy first gained literary recognition for his memoirs, ''Sevastopol Sketches''. Finally, the United States sent Captain [[UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar George McClellan]] to the Crimea as a military observer. Eduard Totleben would later take part in reducing Plevna and command the entire Russian field army in the Balkans during the Russo-Turkish War.

This all started when French Emperor Napoleon III induced the Ottoman Sultan Abdulmecid I to recognize France as the protector of the Christian peoples in Ottoman Palestine (which at the time meant the whole eastern shore of the Mediterranean: not just modern Israel/Palestine, but also Lebanon and bits of Syria and Turkey). This, of course, did not sit well with the Russian Tsar, Nicholas I (not the other [[RedOctober Nick]]), as it had the practical effect of favoring the Catholic communities of the region (particularly the Maronites of Lebanon) over the various [[UsefulNotes/OrthodoxChristianity Eastern Orthodox]] communities of which Russia regarded itself as the natural protector. As a result, Russia sent troops to the Ottoman-controlled Danubian Provinces (in today's Romania), forcing Abdulmecid to declare war on Russia. A surprise attack on Turkish ships in the Battle of Sinop drew Britain and France into the war. The Kingdom of Piedmont came in for reasons unclear to everyone but its Prime Minister, [[MagnificentBastard Count Cavour]].

!!The CrimeanWar in fiction:

The Crimean War was a war fought from 1853 to 1856 between the [[UsefulNotes/TsaristRussia Russian Empire]] on one side and an alliance consisting of the [[UsefulNotes/VictorianBritain British Empire]], [[UsefulNotes/TheFrenchColonialEmpire the French Empire]] (no not [[UsefulNotes/NapoleonBonaparte that empire]] -- his nephew), [[CityStateEra the Kingdom of Sardinia]], and the Ottoman Empire (today's Turkey). It also counts as the 13th of Russia's 16 wars with Turkey (the first stemming back to the mid 16th Century)

* DiabolusExNihilo: For the Russians, the British attacks on Solovetsky Monastery and Petroplavsk. A full scale world map is the best illustration as to how unconnected and unexpected these strikes seemed.

The Crimean War was a war fought from 1853 to 1856 between the [[TsaristRussia Russian Empire]] on one side and an alliance consisting of the [[UsefulNotes/VictorianBritain British Empire]], [[UsefulNotes/TheFrenchColonialEmpire the French Empire]] (no not [[UsefulNotes/NapoleonBonaparte that empire]] -- his nephew), [[CityStateEra the Kingdom of Sardinia]], and the Ottoman Empire (today's Turkey). It also counts as the 13th of Russia's 16 wars with Turkey (the first stemming back to the mid 16th Century)

This all started when French Emperor Napoleon III induced the the Ottoman Sultan Abdulmecid I to recognize France as the protector of the Christian peoples in Ottoman Palestine (which at the time meant the whole eastern shore of the Mediterranean: not just modern Israel/Palestine, but also Lebanon and bits of Syria and Turkey). This, of course, did not sit well with the Russian Tsar, Nicholas I (not the other [[RedOctober Nick]]), as it had the practical effect of favoring the Catholic communities of the region (particularly the Maronites of Lebanon) over the various [[UsefulNotes/OrthodoxChristianity Eastern Orthodox]] communities of which Russia regarded itself as the natural protector. As a result, Russia sent troops to the Ottoman-controlled Danubian Provinces (in today's Romania), forcing Abdulmecid to declare war on Russia. A surprise attack on Turkish ships in the Battle of Sinop drew Britain and France into the war. The Kingdom of Piedmont came in for reasons unclear to everyone but its Prime Minister, [[MagnificentBastard Count Cavour]].

* ZergRush: The Russian and, to a lesser extent, Turkish militaries were ''infamous'' for this, since unlike the Western parts of the Allies they didn't need to worry about PR or running out of people. [[EpicFailure It also caused them to suffer more casualties than anyone else.]] Many works cover the Charge of the Light Brigade,[[note]]which isn't an example, inasmuch as a) the attack was made in error and b) the British were heavily outnumbered[[/note]] but the most even more catastrophic Russian attempts to "Bounce" the Western Allies out are left with Creator/LeoTolstoy.

This all started when French Emperor Napoleon III induced the the Ottoman Sultan Abdulmecid I to recognize France as the protector of the Christian peoples in Ottoman Palestine (which at the time meant the whole eastern shore of the Mediterranean: not just modern Israel/Palestine, but also Lebanon and bits of Syria and Turkey). This of course did not sit well with the Russian Tsar, Nicholas I (not the other [[RedOctober Nick]]), as it had the practical effect of favoring the Catholic communities of the region (particularly the Maronites of Lebanon) over the various [[UsefulNotes/OrthodoxChristianity Eastern Orthodox]] communities of which Russia regarded itself as the natural protector. As a result, Russia sent troops to the Ottoman-controlled Danubian Provinces (in today's Romania), forcing Abdulmecid to declare war on Russia. A surprise attack on Turkish ships in the Battle of Sinop drew Britain and France into the war. The Kingdom of Piedmont came in for reasons unclear to everyone but its Prime Minister, [[MagnificentBastard Count Cavour]].

The war was fought on three fronts, the major front was the Danubian Front, fought in the Balkans (mainly Romania), the Black Sea and the Crimean Peninsula. The name of the war comes from the fact most of the fighting was in the Crimea, particularly in the port city of Sevastopol, which was besieged by the Allies for almost a year before the Russians surrendered.

Other fronts were the Caucasus Campaign (fought mainly in Armenia and Northwestern Turkey), with its major battle being a 5-month siege in Kars, and the Naval Campaign (fought in the Baltic and White Seas as well as the Pacific Ocean) and saw the defeat of the Russian Baltic fleet.

In the end it was an allied victory. The resulting Treaty of Paris (the first since UsefulNotes/TheNapoleonicWars) gave the Danubian Principality of Moldavia the Budjak, both Moldavia and Wallachia autonomy (to be monitored by the victorious powers; this set off the final chain of events culminating in the official formation of UsefulNotes/{{Romania}} a few years later) and demilitarized the Black Sea (and unimportantly, the Russian-controlled Åland Islands in Finland).

Russia's setback also instituted greater reforms in the military, which it would put to good use when they fought Turkey again 20 years later. The British military also underwent drastic reforms after their poor performance in this conflict (the aforementioned Light Brigade fiasco in particular having drawn ''enormous'' criticism, even if the actual charge was seen as heroic at the time), especially in medicine, sanitation and officer selection.

* BalanceOfPower: Ottoman Turkey and Romanov Russia for centuries have been fighting for Influence over the Balkans and Ukraine to the West (with Austria and until the late 18th century, Poland), and the Caucasus to the east (with Persia/Iran until the early 19th Century).

* CrowningMomentOfAwesome: For the British, the Charge of the ''Heavy'' Brigade at Balaclava. 600 British cavalry charged uphill against 2,000 Cossacks, in violation of every conceivable military doctrine - ''and they won''. Sadly, the Light Brigade didn't share their fortune and ended up being the ones remembered...
** The Italian ''Bersaglieri'' infantry at the Battle of the Chernaya River. After the Italians repelled the Russian attack on their position they saw the French ''Zouaves'' were having trouble against the main attack... So they ''charged the Russian cavalry, forced them to retreat, gave chase and transformed the retreat in a rout when the Russians stopped to regroup and [[OhCrap saw the mad soldiers with strange hats were almost on top of them]]''. When they realized what had just happened, the ''Zouaves'' gave their red fezs to the ''Bersaglieri'' as alternative headgear as a sign of admiration.
* DemotedToExtra: The British and French contingents to the Allied army were roughly equal at the war's onset, and in the early battles like the Alma and Balaclava the British did most of the fighting. But the French were better-able (or more willing) to replace losses to battle and illness, so by the war's final battles the British played an ancillary role, at best. Christopher Hibbert claims that by spring of 1855, the French outnumbered British troops by ten-to-one.
* DiabolusExNihilo: For the Russians, the British attacks on Solovetsky Monastery and Petroplavsk. A full scale world map is the best illustration as to how unconnected and unexpected these strikes seemed.

** And from Russia's point of view, the defence of Sevastopol was one.
*** To make this even more complicated, the siege of Stevastopol tended to be one as well. The Allies had dug in in siege lines all around Stevastopol, and the Russians tried to use their superior manpower to try and break through several times [[ForWantOfANail only to be defeated every time]]. So in a way, the entire campaign consisted of both sides Holding the Line against each other and the campaign ended when the Russian one collapsed.

* LordErrorProne[=/=]GeneralFailure: Both Lucan and Cardigan were and are criticized for ordering the Charge of the Light Brigade; after the event was over both of them vigorously tried to smear the other. On a larger scale, the incompetence of so many military officers in the British force eventually led to a reform leading to the phase-out of the practice of [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney purchasing commissions.]] Not that the British had a monopoly on bad generals, however: Canrobert of the French army was nicknamed "Robert Can't" for his indecisiveness, and Prince Menshikov was downright incompetent, losing the Battle of Alma before being KickedUpstairs.

* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Sinop battle. Admiral Nakhimov burned all the Turkish fleet in one sudden attack -- just to bring into the war much more advanced and powerful French and English forces. Didn't end well for Nakhimov himself and the whole Russian Black Sea fleet. But the victory is still celebrated in Russia. (Of cource, this is not failure of Nakhimov, who was a soldier sent to the war who did his very best; it was a [[GoneHorriblyWrong disastrous miscount]] of Russian diplomats and analyticts who didn't believe that European powers can ever ally together or enter this war.)

** During a lull in the battle, Lord Raglan wants the British cavalry to recover artillery captured by the Russians earlier in the day. Raglan doesn't realize that due to the undulating landscape, the South Valley where he directs the advance isn't visible across the entire battlefield.
** Raglan sends several vague orders to Lord Lucan, his cavalry commander, directing him to recover the guns. Lucan cannot see the South Valley from his vantage point and declines to act. He's further baffled by Raglan's comment that he would "be supported by infantry, which has been ordered to advance on two fronts," assuming this means he shouldn't attack until British infantry arrives.[[note]] It's also unclear what infantry Raglan meant. The only infantry on the field was Colin Campbell's 93rd Highlanders, deployed defensively to Raglan's extreme right, and various Turkish units routed in the morning's fighting. The closest substantial infantry force was George Cathcart's division, still several miles away.[[/note]] However, Lucan makes no effort to clarify Raglan's instructions.
** Not understanding Lucan's inaction, Raglan writes the fateful fourth order, which reads: "Lord Raglan wishes the cavalry to advance rapidly to the front, follow the enemy, and try to prevent the enemy from carrying away the guns. Troop of horse artillery may accompany. French cavalry on your left. Immediate." Note the absence of specific reference points for Lucan to follow.
** Raglan sends his aide, Captain Louis Nolan, to deliver the message, verbally emphasizing that Lucan must attack immediately. Still confused by Raglan's orders, Lucan loses his temper and angrily demands that Nolan clarify. Nolan responds by gesturing towards the ''North'' Valley, where the Russians have positioned several artillery batteries, supported by riflemen and several cavalry squadrons.
** Lucan passes the order to Lord Cardigan, commanding the Light Brigade. Cardigan initially disbelieves the order, sending aides to Lucan asking for different instructions. Eventually Lucan joins Cardigan and explains that he's to advance down the North Valley. Cardigan protests but Lucan [[JustFollowingOrders insists it's Raglan's order]], and the Charge begins.
** As a tragic postscript, Captain Nolan rides with Cardigan and [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone appears to recognize his mistake]] as the advance begins. However, he's killed by Russian artillery fire before he can alert Cardigan.

* SuicideNotAccident: widely rumored to happen to Nicolas I when he saw he can't win the war. Officially, he died from taking cold, but it seemed that he strived to make it lethal, or even directly using poison.
* WeAREStrugglingTogether: Frictions between the British, the French, the Turks, and eventually the Austrians accounted for much of the blundering. This largely because there was no unified Allied command; Raglan, St. Arnaud and Omar Pasha operated independently and more or less had to agree to cooperate.
* WeatherOfWar: The Battle of Inkerman, fought mostly in a compounded fog and rainstorm. More generally both sides, but especially the Allies, suffered during an extremely harsh winter.

* XanatosGambit: Piedmont's participation in the war. The Piedmontese Prime Minister [[MagnificentBastard Count Cavour]] came into the war recognizing that no matter how large or small the commitment, no matter whether they won or lost, the other powers, particularly France, would owe the Kingdom a solid. A few years later, Cavour calls in the favour: France must ally with the Kingdom of Piedmont against the Habsburgs and help them take Northern Italy. The [[HonorBeforeReason ever-honorable]] Napoleon III couldn't refuse, though considering his relations with Russia this wasn't a terrible burden.

* ZergRush: The Russian and to a lesser extent Turkish militaries were *infamous* for this, since unlike the Western parts of the Allies they didn't need to worry about PR or running out of people. [[EpicFailure It also caused them to suffer more than anyone else.]] Many works cover the Charge of the Light Brigade,[[note]]Which isn't an example, inasmuch as a) the attack was made in error, b) the British were heavily outnumbered[[/note]] but the most even more catastrophic Russian attempts to "Bounce" the Western Allies out are left with Creator/LeoTolstoy.

--> '''Shaun Hastings''' It was also one of the first truly "modern" wars, if large masses of men shooting each other over which toff got to call themselves Emperor of Wherever can be called "modern." Technology like the exploding artillery shell, the railroad, and the telegraph shaped the conflict, and the advent of photographic technology meant it was one of the first wars to be documented in the press. This was particularly delightful in that the great legacy of the Crimean war was [[GeneralFailure the rank incompetence and general mismanagement on the part of the leadership of all sides]]. Something to really be proud of there. [[EpicFail If you're going to be inept, be REALLY inept]]. For the citizens on the home front puffed up with [[PatrioticFervor patriotic fervour]], this was a bit like going to see your favourite band in concert only to realise that they only sounded good thanks to auto-tune and ruthless editing.

Known in Russia as the Oriental War and sometimes in Britain as the Russian War.

** Lucan passes the order to Lord Cardigan, commanding the Light Brigade. Cardigan initially disbelieves the order, sending aides to Lucan to clarify. Eventually Lucan joins Cardigan and explains that he's to advance down the North Valley. Cardigan protests but Lucan insists it's Raglan's order, and the Charge begins.
** As a tragic postscript, Captain Nolan rides with Cardigan and appears to recognize his mistake as the advance begins. However, he's killed by Russian artillery fire before he can alert Cardigan.

* ZergRush: The Russian and to a lesser extent Turkish militaries were *infamous* for this, since unlike the Western parts of the Allies they didn't need to worry about PR or running out of people. [[EpicFailure It also caused them to suffer more than anyone else.]] Many works cover the Charge of the Light Brigade, but the most even more catastrophic Russian attempts to "Bounce" the Western Allies out are left with Creator/LeoTolstoy.

Into the valley of Death]]\\

* Mentioned in an unusual context in [[http://www.alternatehistory.com/discussion/showpost.php?p=2006561&postcount=13 this]] [[CrowningMomentOfFunny hilarious post]] on the discussion board of AlternateHistoryDotCom. [[spoiler:The post spoofs the overuse of [=WWII=] as a setting for {{FPS}} games by inverting it to the Crimean War as the most popular game setting and [=WWII=] getting barely any mention at all in games.]]

->''"[[AttackAttackAttack 'Forward, the Light Brigade!'\\
Was there a man dismay'd?]]\\
[[GeneralFailure Not tho' the soldier knew\\
Someone had blunder'd:]]\\
[[CannonFodder Theirs not to make reply,\\

Theirs but to do and die:]]\\
[[WarIsHell Into the valley of Death]]\\
[[TearJerker Rode the six hundred.]]"''

* TheAlliance: Played Ironically Straight with Britain, France and Turkey, since in reality they are all [[TheEmpire empires.]]

* TheEmpire: Russia.
** In fact the British, French and Turkey are empires as well.

This all started when French Emperor Napoleon III induced the the Ottoman Sultan Abdulmecid I to recognize France as the protector of the Christian peoples in Ottoman Palestine (which at the time meant the whole eastern shore of the Mediterranean: not just modern Israel/Palestine, but also Lebanon and bits of Syria and Turkey). This of course did not sit well with the Russian Tsar, Nicholas I (not the other [[RedOctober Nick]]), as it had the practical effect of favoring the Catholic communities of the region (particularly the Maronites of Lebanon) over the various [[OrthodoxChristianity Eastern Orthodox]] communities of which Russia regarded itself as the natural protector. As a result, Russia sent troops to the Ottoman-controlled Danubian Provinces (in today's Romania), forcing Abdulmecid to declare war on Russia. A surprise attack on Turkish ships in the Battle of Sinop drew Britain and France into the war. The Kingdom of Piedmont came in for reasons unclear to everyone but its Prime Minister, [[MagnificentBastard Count Cavour]].

* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Sinop battle. Admiral Nakhimov burned all the Turkish fleet in one sudden attack -- just to bring into the war much more advanced and powerful French and English forces. Didn't end well for Nakhimov himself and the whole Russian Black Sea fleet. But the victory is still celebrated in Russia.

* TheSiege: Used in Sevastopol and Kars.

[[caption-width-right:350:''C'est magnifique! Mais c'est pas la guerre, c'est la folie.''[[note]]"It's magnificent! But it's not war, it's madness."[[/note]] ]]

In the end it was an allied victory. The resulting Treaty of Paris (the first since the Napoleonic Wars) gave the Danubian Principality of Moldavia the Budjak, both Moldavia and Wallachia autonomy (to be monitored by the victorious powers; this set off the final chain of events culminating in the official formation of UsefulNotes/{{Romania}} a few years later) and demilitarized the Black Sea (and unimportantly, the Russian-controlled Åland Islands in Finland).

Recent historians (Trevor Royle, Orlando Figes) argue that the Crimean War had farther-reaching impact than is generally thought, even beyond medical and military reforms. The unification of Italy was an indirect result of the Piedmontese Kingdom's participation in the war (see below). The blocking of Russian expansion into Eastern Europe, and waning of Austrian power, left a power vacuum which was ultimately filled by a soon-to-be-unified Germany. Turkish nationalism was also stirred by their role in the conflict. All of these had drastic consequences [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarI a few decades later]]. It was also the first time in the "modern" era that France and Britain cooperated heavily in a military conflict, which was particularly notable as a few decades prior, [[NapoleonicWars the two had been at each other's throats as primary belligerents in the greatest war the world had yet known]]. The earliest seeds of what would eventually become the Allies of the World Wars and later NATO were probably planted in this conflict.