Editing History of Russia (section)

===Crimean War===
Since the war against Napoleon, Russia had become deeply involved in the affairs of Europe, as part of the "Holy Alliance." The Holy Alliance was formed to serve as the "policeman of Europe." However, to maintain the alliance required large armies. Prussia, Austria, Britain and France (the other members of the alliance) lacked large armies and needed Russia to supply the required numbers, which fit the philosophy of Nicholas I. The Tsar [[Hungarian Revolution of 1848|sent his army into Hungary]] in 1849 at the request of the Austrian Empire and broke the revolt there, while preventing its spread to Russian Poland.<ref>W.B. Lincoln, "Russia and the European Revolutions of 1848" ''History Today'' (Jan 1973), Vol. 23 Issue 1, pp. 53-59 online.</ref> The Tsar cracked down on any signs of internal unrest.<ref>{{cite book|author=Michael Kort|title=A Brief History of Russia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=i8_RH3hhsAMC&pg=PA92|year=2008|publisher=Infobase |page=92|isbn=9781438108292}}</ref>
[[File:Crimea Sevastopol Istorychny boulevard Memorial complex-54.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|The eleven-month [[Siege of Sevastopol (1854–55)|siege]] of a Russian naval base at [[Sevastopol Naval Base|Sevastopol]] during the Crimean War]]
Russia expected that in exchange for supplying the troops to be the policeman of Europe, it should have a free hand in dealing with the decaying Ottoman Empire—the "sick man of Europe." In 1853, Russia invaded Ottoman-controlled areas leading to the [[Crimean War]]. Britain and France came to the rescue of the Ottomans. After a grueling war fought largely in Crimea, with very high death rates from disease, the allies won.<ref>Rene Albrecht-Carrie, ''A Diplomatic History of Europe Since the Congress of Vienna'' (1973) pp. 84–94</ref><ref>{{cite book|first= Orlando |last= Figes|title = The Crimean War: A History|date = 2011|publisher = Henry Holt and Company|isbn = 9781429997249}}</ref>

Historian [[Orlando Figes]] points to the long-term damage Russia suffered:
:The demilitarization of the Black Sea was a major blow to Russia, which was no longer able to protect its vulnerable southern coastal frontier against the British or any other fleet.... The destruction of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, Sevastopol and other naval docks was a humiliation. No compulsory disarmament had ever been imposed on a great power previously.... The Allies did not really think that they were dealing with a European power in Russia. They regarded Russia as a semi-Asiatic state....In Russia itself, the Crimean defeat discredited the armed services and highlighted the need to modernize the countries defenses, not just in the strictly military sense, but also through the building of railways, industrialization, sound finances and so on....The image many Russians had built up of their country – the biggest, richest and most powerful in the world – had suddenly been shattered. Russia's backwardness had been exposed....The Crimean disaster had exposed the shortcomings of every institution in Russia – not just the corruption and incompetence of the military command, the technological backwardness of the army and navy, or the inadequate roads and lack of railways the accounted for the chronic problems of supply, but the poor condition and illiteracy of the serfs who made up the armed forces, the inability of the serf economy to sustain a state of war against industrial powers, and the failures of autocracy itself.<ref>Orlando Figes,  ''The Crimean War'', (2010) pp. 442–443.</ref>