Editing Crimean War (section)

===Russian expansionism===
[[File:Siege of Varna 1828.jpg|thumb|Russian [[Siege of Varna (1828)|siege of Varna]] in [[Ottoman Bulgaria|Ottoman-ruled Bulgaria]], July–September 1828]]
Russia, as a member of the [[Holy Alliance]], had operated as the "police of Europe" to maintain the [[balance of power (international relations)|balance of power]] that had been established in the [[Congress of Vienna]] in 1815. Russia had assisted Austria's efforts in suppressing the [[Hungarian Revolution of 1848]], and expected a free hand in settling its problems with the Ottoman Empire, the "[[sick man of Europe]]". However, Britain could not tolerate Russian dominance of Ottoman affairs, which would challenge its domination of the eastern Mediterranean.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Seton-Watson|first=Hugh|author-link=Hugh Seton-Watson|title=The Russian Empire 1801–1917|publisher=Clarendon Press|year=1988|isbn=978-0-19-822152-4|location=Oxford|pages=280–319}}</ref>

Starting with [[Peter the Great]] in the early 1700s, after centuries of Ottoman [[Ottoman wars in Europe|northward expansion]] and [[Crimean–Nogai slave raids in Eastern Europe|Crimean-Nogai raids]], Russia began a [[Russo-Turkish War (1686–1700)|southwards expansion]] across the sparsely-populated "[[Wild Fields]]" toward the warm water ports of the Black Sea, which does not freeze over, unlike the handful of ports controlled by Russia in the north. The goal was to promote year-round trade and a year-round navy.{{sfn|Figes|2010|p=11}} Pursuit of that goal brought the emerging Russian state into conflict with the [[Ukrainian Cossacks]] and then the [[Crimean Tatars|Tatars]] of the [[Crimean Khanate]]<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lincoln |first=W. Bruce |url=https://archive.org/details/romanovsautocr00linc/page/114 |title=The Romanovs |publisher=Dial Press |year=1981 |isbn=978-0-385-27187-5 |location=New York |pages=[https://archive.org/details/romanovsautocr00linc/page/114 114–116]}}</ref> and [[Circassians]].<ref name="James Stanislaus Bell">{{Cite web |last=Bell |first=James Stanislaus |date=1840 |title=Journal of a residence in Circassia during the years 1837, 1838, and 1839 |url=https://archive.org/search.php?query=creator:%22Bell,%20James%20Stanislaus%22 |access-date=25 January 2015 |via=archive.org |publisher=Edward Moxon |location=London |oclc=879553602}}</ref>

"The plan to develop Russia as a southern power had begun in earnest in 1776, when [[Catherine the Great|Catherine]] placed [[Grigory Potemkin|Potemkin]] in charge of New Russia ([[Novorossiya]]), the sparsely populated territories newly conquered from the Ottomans on the Black Sea's northern coastline, and ordered him to colonize the area".{{sfn|Figes|2011|p=23}} 
When Russia conquered those groups and gained possession of their territories, the Ottoman Empire lost its buffer zone against Russian expansion, and both empires came into direct conflict. The conflict with the Ottoman Empire also presented a religious issue of importance, as Russia saw itself as the protector of history of the Eastern Orthodox Church under the [[Christianity in the Ottoman Empire|Ottoman Orthodox Christians]], who were [[Dhimmi|legally treated as second-class citizens]].{{sfn|Figes|2010|loc=ch. 1}} The [[Ottoman Reform Edict of 1856]], promulgated after the war, largely reversed much of the second-class status, most notably the [[jizya|tax that only non-Muslims paid]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lapidus, Ira M. (Ira Marvin) |title=A history of Islamic societies |date=2002 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=0-521-77056-4 |edition=2nd |location=Cambridge |oclc=50227716}}</ref>

Britain's immediate fear was Russia's expansion at the expense of the Ottoman Empire. The British desired to preserve Ottoman integrity and were concerned that Russia might make advances toward [[British India]] or move toward [[Scandinavia]] or [[Western Europe]]. A distraction (in the form of the Ottoman Empire) on the Russian southwest flank would mitigate that threat. The [[Royal Navy]] also wanted to forestall the threat of a powerful [[Imperial Russian Navy]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Strachan |first=Hew |date=June 1978 |title=Soldiers, Strategy and Sebastopol |journal=The Historical Journal |volume=21 |issue=2 |pages=303–325 |doi=10.1017/s0018246x00000558 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |jstor=2638262|s2cid=154085359 | issn=0018-246X }}</ref>{{page range too broad|date=January 2022}} Taylor stated the British perspective:
{{blockquote|The Crimean war was fought for the sake of Europe rather than for the Eastern question; it was fought against Russia, not in favour of Turkey.... The British fought Russia out of resentment and supposed that her defeat would strengthen the European Balance of Power.{{sfn|Taylor|1954|p=61}} }}

[[File:Kars 1828.jpg|thumb|Russian siege of [[Kars]], [[Russo-Turkish War (1828–29)|Russo-Turkish War]] of 1828–1829]]
Because of "British commercial and strategic interests in the Middle East and India",<ref name="RCowley">{{Cite book|editor-last1=Cowley|editor-first1=Robert|editor1-link=Robert Cowley|title=The Reader's Companion to Military History|editor-first2=Geoffrey|editor-last2=Parker|editor2-link=Geoffrey Parker (historian)|date=2001 |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Trade & Reference Publishers |isbn=978-0618127429 |edition=1st  |location=Boston}}</ref> the British joined the French, "cement[ing] an alliance with Britain and... reassert[ing] its military power".<ref name="RCowley" /> Among those who supported the British strategy were [[Karl Marx]] and [[Friedrich Engels]].<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Kissin |first=S. F. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-gzMDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT29 |title=War and the Marxists: Socialist Theory and Practice in Capitalist Wars, 1848–1918 |year=2020 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-000-00980-4}}</ref> In his articles for the ''[[New-York Tribune]]'' around 1853, Marx saw the Crimean War as a conflict between the democratic ideals of the west that started with the "great movement of 1789" against "Russia and Absolutism". He described the Ottoman Empire as a buffer against a pattern of expansionism by the Tsar.<ref>{{Cite book|first1=Karl|last1=Marx|author1-link=Karl Marx|first2=Frederick|last2=Engels|author2-link=Frederick Engels|title= The Russian Menace to Europe |editor-first1=Paul |editor-last1=Blackstock |editor-first2=Bert |editor-last2=Hoselitz |publisher=George Allen and Unwin |location=London |date=1953 |pages=121–202 |url=https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/subject/russia/crimean-war.htm|access-date=2021-06-16|via=www.marxists.org |quote=Originally published in ''[[New-York Tribune|New York Tribune]]'', 7 April 1853}}</ref> Marx and Engels also accused Lord Palmerston of playing along with the interests of Russia and being unserious in preparing for the conflict.<ref>Franz Mering. "Karl Marx. His life story". Moscow. Gospolitizdat. 1957. p. 264 (in Russian)</ref><ref name=":02">{{Cite book |last=Wheen |first=Francis |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RY85Wf7jeEMC&pg=PA211 |title=Karl Marx: A Life |date=2000 |publisher=W. W. Norton|isbn=978-0-393-04923-7 |page=211 |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":1" /> Marx believed Palmerston to be bribed by Russia, and shared this belief with [[David Urquhart]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Story of the Life of Lord Palmerston by Karl Marx |url=https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1853/palmerston/ch06.htm |access-date=2022-05-21 |website=www.marxists.org}}</ref><ref name=":02" /> Urquhart, for his part, was a British politician who was a major advocate for the Ottoman Empire.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Karl Marx: A Life|quote=Chapter 7 |url=https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/bio/marx/wheen/ch07.htm |access-date=2022-05-21 |website=www.marxists.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |title=When the West wanted Islam to curb Christian extremism|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2014/10/15/when-the-west-wanted-islam-to-curb-christian-extremism/ |access-date=2022-05-21}}</ref>

[[Mikhail Pogodin]], a professor of history at [[Moscow State University|Moscow University]], gave Nicholas I a summary of Russia's policy towards the Slavs in the war. Nicholas' answer was filled with grievances against the West. Nicholas shared Pogodin's sense that Russia's role as the protector of [[Christianity in the Ottoman Empire|Orthodox Christians in the Ottoman Empire]] was not understood and that Russia was unfairly treated by the West. Nicholas especially approved of the following passage:{{sfn|Figes|2011|page=134}}

{{blockquote|[[French conquest of Algeria|France takes Algeria from Turkey]], and almost every year [[Company rule in India|England annexes another Indian principality]]: none of this disturbs the balance of power; but when Russia occupies [[Moldavia]] and [[Wallachia]], albeit only temporarily, that disturbs the balance of power. [[Roman Republic (19th century)#French siege|France occupies Rome]] and stays there several years during peacetime: that is nothing; but Russia only thinks of occupying Constantinople, and the peace of Europe is threatened. [[First Opium War|The English declare war on the Chinese]], who have, it seems, offended them: no one has the right to intervene; but Russia is obliged to ask Europe for permission if it quarrels with its neighbour. England threatens [[Kingdom of Greece|Greece]] to support the [[Don Pacifico affair|false claims]] of a miserable Jew and burns its fleet: that is a lawful action; but Russia demands a treaty to protect millions of Christians, and that is deemed to strengthen its position in the East at the expense of the balance of power. We can expect nothing from the West but blind hatred and malice.... (''comment in the margin by Nicholas I'': 'This is the whole point').|Mikhail Pogodin's memorandum to Nicholas I, 1853<ref name="slate">{{Cite news |date=21 March 2014 |title=The Long History of Russian Whataboutism |work=Slate |url=https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2014/03/russia-and-western-double-standards-the-long-history-of-russian-complaints-about-unfair-treatment.html}}</ref>}}

Russia was militarily weak, technologically backward and administratively incompetent. Despite its grand ambitions toward the south, it had not built its railway network in that direction, and its communications were poor. Its bureaucracy was riddled with graft, corruption and inefficiency and was unprepared for war. Its navy was weak and technologically backward. Its army, although very large, suffered from colonels who pocketed their men's pay, from poor morale, and from a technological deficit relative to Britain and France. By the war's end, the profound weaknesses of the Russian armed forces had become readily apparent, and the Russian leadership was determined to reform it.<ref>Barbara Jelavich, ''St. Petersburg and Moscow: Tsarist and Soviet Foreign Policy, 1814–1974'' (1974) p. 119</ref><ref>William C. Fuller, ''Strategy and Power in Russia 1600–1914'' (1998) pp. 252–259</ref>

However, no matter how great the problems of Russia were, Russia believed those of the Ottomans were greater. "In a one-to-one fight Nikolai (Tsar) had no doubt of beating the Ottoman armies and navy".{{sfn|Badem|2010|p=62}} Russian foreign policy failed to understand the importance of Britain's trade interests and did not understand the changes in the situation after the conclusion of the Anglo-Ottoman Treaty in 1838 (see [[Treaty of Balta Liman]]). Russia attempted to "honestly" negotiate with the United Kingdom on the partition of the Ottoman Empire and made concessions in order to eliminate all objections from the United Kingdom.

"The Tsar Nicholas had always, as we have seen, been anxious to maintain a cordial understanding with England in regard to the Eastern Question, and early in the spring of 1853 he had a series of interviews with Sir [[George Hamilton Seymour]], then [[British Ambassador to Russia|British ambassador]] at St. Petersburg."{{sfn|Marriott|1917|p=229}} Emperor Nicholas I assured that he did not intend to seize Constantinople and territories in the Balkans, he himself offered Britain to take over Egypt and Crete.{{sfn|Marriott|1917|p=230}} Concessions at the conclusion of the [[London Straits Convention]] were made earlier in 1841. "By signing the convention, the Russians had given up their privileged position in the Ottoman Empire and their control of the Straits, all in the hope of improving relations with Britain and isolating France".{{sfn|Figes|2011|p=68}} But Britain after 1838 was interested in preserving the integrity of the Ottoman Empire and rejected all Russian proposals. "The fall of the Ottoman Empire was not, however, a requirement of British policy in the East. A weak Ottoman state best suited British interests".{{sfn|Badem|2010|p=68}}