Editing Crimean War (section)

==Battles==
<gallery widths="220">
File:Crimean war map 1853.svg|Map of Crimean War, year 1853
File:Crimean war map 1854.svg|Map of Crimean War, year 1854
File:Crimean war map 1855.svg|Map of Crimean War, year 1855
</gallery>

===Danube campaign===
{{see also|Wallachian Revolution of 1848|Moldavian Revolution of 1848 |Convention of Balta Liman}}
[[File:Ottoman ship of the line Mahmudiye.png|thumb|upright|''[[Mahmudiye (ship)|Mahmudiye]]'' (1829) participated in numerous important naval battles, including the [[Siege of Sevastopol (1854–1855)|Siege of Sevastopol]]]]

The Danube campaign opened when the Russians occupied the Danubian Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia in July 1853,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Edgerton |first=Robert B |url=https://archive.org/details/deathorglory00robe/mode/2up |title=Death or glory : the legacy of the Crimean War |year=1999 |page=15}}</ref> which brought their forces to the north bank of the River Danube. In response, the Ottoman Empire also moved its forces up to the river, establishing strongholds at [[Vidin]] in the west and [[Silistra]]{{sfn|Figes|2010|pp=172–184}} in the east, near the mouth of the Danube. The Ottoman move up the River Danube was also of concern to the Austrians, who moved forces into [[Transylvania]] in response. However, the Austrians had begun to fear the Russians more than the Ottomans. Indeed, like the British, the Austrians were now coming to see that an intact Ottoman Empire was necessary as a bulwark against the Russians. Accordingly, Austria resisted Russian diplomatic attempts to join the war but remained neutral during the Crimean War.{{sfn|Taylor|1954|loc=[https://archive.org/details/dli.bengal.10689.13016/page/n106 pp. 64]–81}}

After the Ottoman ultimatum in September 1853, forces under Ottoman General [[Omar Pasha]] crossed the Danube at Vidin and captured [[Calafat]] in October 1853. Simultaneously, in the east, the Ottomans crossed the Danube at Silistra and attacked the Russians at [[Oltenița]]. The resulting [[Battle of Oltenița]] was the first engagement since the declaration of war. The Russians counterattacked but were beaten back.{{sfn|Badem|2010|pp=101–109}} On 31 December 1853, the Ottoman forces at Calafat moved against the Russian force at Chetatea or [[Cetate, Dolj|Cetate]], a small village nine miles north of Calafat, and engaged it on 6 January 1854. The battle began when the Russians made a move to recapture Calafat. Most of the [[Battle of Cetate|heavy fighting took place in and around Chetatea]] until the Russians were driven out of the village. Despite the setback at Chetatea, Russian forces on 28 January 1854 laid [[Siege of Calafat|siege to Calafat]]. The siege would continue until May 1854 when it was lifted by the Russians. The Ottomans would also later beat the Russians in battle at [[Caracal, Romania|Caracal]].{{sfn|Figes|2010|pp=130–143}}

In early 1854, the Russians again advanced by crossing the River Danube into the Turkish province of [[Dobruja]]. By April 1854, the Russians had reached the lines of [[Trajan's Wall]], where they were finally halted. In the centre, the Russian forces crossed the Danube and laid [[Siege of Silistria (1854)|siege to Silistra]] from 14 April with 60,000 troops. The defenders had 15,000 troops and supplies for three months.{{sfn|Porter|1889|p=415}} The siege was lifted on 23 June 1854.<ref>{{Cite book |last=James J. Reid |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Zgg6c_Ndtu4C&pg=PA242 |title=Crisis of the Ottoman Empire: Prelude to Collapse 1839–1878 |publisher=Franz Steiner Verlag |year=2000 |isbn=978-3515076876 |pages=242–262}}</ref> The British and the French could not then take the field for lack of equipment.{{sfn|Porter|1889|p=415}}
[[File:Осада Силистрии 1. Виллевальде.jpg|thumb|left|The Siege of Silistra]]
In the west, the Russians were dissuaded from attacking Vidin by the presence of the Austrian forces, which had swollen to 280,000 men. On 28 May 1854, a protocol of the Vienna Conference was signed by Austria and Russia. One of the aims of the Russian advance had been to encourage the Orthodox Christian [[Serbs]] and [[Bulgarians]] who were living under Ottoman rule to rebel. When the Russian troops crossed the River [[Prut]] into Moldavia, the Orthodox Christians showed no interest in rising up against the Ottomans.{{sfn|Figes|2010|pp=131, 137}} Adding to Nicholas I's worries was the concern that Austria would enter the war against the Russians and attack his armies on the western flank. Indeed, after attempting to mediate a peaceful settlement between Russia and the Ottomans, the Austrians entered the war on the side of the Ottomans with an attack against the Russians in the Danubian Principalities which threatened to cut off the Russian supply lines. Accordingly, the Russians were forced to raise the siege of Silistra on 23 June 1854 and to begin abandoning the principalities.{{sfn|Figes|2010|p=185}} The lifting of the siege reduced the threat of a Russian advance into Bulgaria.

In June 1854, the Allied expeditionary force landed at [[Varna, Bulgaria|Varna]], a city on the Black Sea's western coast, but made little advance from its base there.{{sfn|Figes|2010|pp=175–176}} [[Karl Marx]] was noted to have quipped that "there they are, the French doing nothing and the British helping them as fast as possible".{{sfn|Troubetzkoy|2006|p=192}} In July 1854, the Ottomans, under Omar Pasha, crossed the Danube into Wallachia and on 7 July 1854 engaged the Russians in the city of [[Giurgiu]] and conquered it. The capture of Giurgiu by the Ottomans immediately threatened [[Bucharest]] in Wallachia with capture by the same Ottoman army. On {{awrap|26 July}} 1854, Nicholas I, responding to an Austrian ultimatum, ordered the withdrawal of Russian troops from the principalities. Also, in late July 1854, following up on the Russian retreat, the French staged an expedition against the Russian forces still in Dobruja, but it was a failure.{{sfn|Figes|2010|pp=188–190}}

By then, the Russian withdrawal was complete, except for the fortress towns of northern Dobruja, and Russia's place in the principalities was taken by the Austrians as a neutral peacekeeping force.{{sfn|Figes|2010|p=189}} There was little further action on that front after late 1854, and in September, the allied force boarded ships at Varna to invade [[Crimea]].{{sfn|Figes|2010|p=198}}

===Black Sea theatre===
[[File:Turkish troops storming Fort Shefketil (cropped).jpg|thumb|Turkish troops storming [[Shekvetili|Fort Shefketil]]]]
The naval operations of the Crimean War commenced with the dispatch in mid-1853 of the French and the British fleets to the Black Sea region, to support the Ottomans and to dissuade the Russians from encroachment. By June 1853, both fleets had been stationed at [[Beşik Bay, Çanakkale|Besikas Bay]], outside the Dardanelles. With the Russian occupation of the Danube Principalities in July 1853, they moved to the Bosphorus, and on 3 January 1854, they entered the Black Sea.<ref name="Britannica"/>

Meanwhile, the Russian [[Black Sea Fleet]] operated against Ottoman coastal traffic between Constantinople and the Caucasus ports, and the Ottoman fleet sought to protect the supply line. The clash came on 30 November 1853, when a Russian fleet attacked an Ottoman force in the harbour at [[Sinop, Turkey|Sinop]] and destroyed it at the Battle of Sinop. The battle outraged British public opinion, which called for war.{{sfn|Arnold|2002|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=_UreS--MoD0C&pg=PR95 95]}} There was little additional naval action until March 1854, when after the declaration of war, the British frigate {{HMS|Furious|1850|6}} was fired on outside [[Odessa]] Harbour. In response an Anglo-French fleet [[1854 bombardment of Odessa|bombarded the port]] and caused much damage to the town. To show support for the Ottomans after the Battle of Sinop, on 22 December 1853, the Anglo-French squadron entered the Black Sea and the steamship HMS ''Retribution'' approached the [[Port of Sevastopol]]. Its commander received an ultimatum not to allow any ships in the Black Sea.
[[File:Debarquement des Français et des Anglais dans la baie de Kalamita le 14 septembre 1854.jpg|thumb|The French landing near [[Yevpatoria]], Crimea, 1854]]
In June, the fleets transported the Allied expeditionary forces to Varna to support the Ottoman operations on the Danube. In September they again transported the armies, this time to Crimea. The Russian fleet then declined to engage the allies but preferred to maintain a "[[fleet in being]]", a strategy that failed when Sevastopol, the main port and the base of most of the Black Sea fleet, came under siege. The Russians were reduced to scuttling their warships as [[blockship]]s after they had stripped them of their guns and men to reinforce batteries on shore. During the siege, the Russians lost four 110- or 120-gun, three-decker ships of the line, twelve 84-gun two-deckers and four 60-gun [[frigate]]s in the Black Sea, as well as a large number of smaller vessels. During the rest of the campaign, the allied fleets remained in control of the Black Sea and ensured that the various fronts were kept supplied.

In May 1855, the allies successfully invaded [[Kerch]] and [[Siege of Taganrog|operated against Taganrog]] in the [[Sea of Azov]]. In September, they moved against Russian installations in the [[Dnieper]] estuary by [[Battle of Kinburn (1855)|attacking Kinburn]] in the first use of [[ironclad]] ships in naval warfare.

===Crimean campaign===
[[File:Russo-British skirmish during Crimean War.png|thumb|upright|Russo-British skirmish during the Crimean War. By [[Harry Payne (artist)|Harry Payne]] ]]
The Russians evacuated Wallachia and Moldavia in late July 1854. Therefore, the immediate cause of war had now been withdrawn, and the war might have then ended.{{sfn|Figes|2010|p=192}} However, war fever among the public in both Britain and France had been whipped up by the press in both countries to the degree that politicians found it untenable to propose immediately ending the war. The coalition government of [[George Hamilton-Gordon, 4th Earl of Aberdeen]], fell on 30 January 1855 on a no-confidence vote, as Parliament voted to appoint a committee to investigate the mismanagement of the war.{{sfn|Figes|2010|p=311}}

French and British officers and engineers were sent on 20 July on ''[[HMS Fury (1845)|Fury]]'', a wooden ''Bulldog''-class paddle sloop, to survey the harbour of Sevastopol and the coast near it. They managed to get close to the harbour mouth to inspect the formidable batteries. Returning, they reported that they believed that 15,000–20,000 troops were encamped.{{sfn|Porter|1889|p=421}} Ships were prepared to transport horses, and siege equipment was both manufactured and imported.{{sfn|Porter|1889|p=422}}

The Crimean campaign opened in September 1854. In seven columns, 360 ships sailed, each steamer towing two sailing ships.{{sfn|Porter|1889|p=422}} Anchoring on 13 September in the bay of [[Yevpatoria]], the town surrendered, and 500 marines landed to occupy it. The town and the bay would provide a fallback position in case of disaster.{{sfn|Figes|2010|p=201}} The ships then sailed east to make the landing of the allied expeditionary force on the sandy beaches of [[Kalamita Bay]], on the south-west coast of Crimea. The landing surprised the Russians, as they had expected a landing at [[Kacha, Sevastopol|Katcha]]. The last-minute change proved that Russia had known the original campaign plan. There was no sign of the enemy and so all of the invading troops landed on 14 September 1854. It took another four days to land all of the stores, equipment, horses and artillery.

The landing took place north of Sevastopol and so the Russians had arrayed their army in expectation of a direct attack. The allies advanced and on the morning of 20 September came up to the River [[Alma (Crimea)|Alma]] and engaged the Russian Army. The Russian position was strong, but after three hours,{{sfn|Porter|1889|p=424}} the allied frontal attack had driven the Russians out of their dug-in positions with losses of 6,000 men. The [[Battle of the Alma]] resulted in 3,300 Allied losses. Failing to pursue the retreating forces was one of many strategic errors made during the war, and the Russians themselves noted that if the allies had pressed south that day, they would have easily captured Sevastopol.
[[File:La bataille de l'Alma en 1854.jpg|thumb|The Battle of the Alma]]
Believing the northern approaches to the city too well defended, especially because of the presence of a large [[star fort]] and the city being on the south side of [[Sevastopol Bay]], Sir John Burgoyne, the engineer advisor, recommended for the allies attack to Sevastopol from the south. The joint commanders, [[FitzRoy Somerset, 1st Baron Raglan|Raglan]] and [[Jacques Leroy de Saint-Arnaud|Saint-Arnaud]], agreed.{{sfn|Porter|1889|p=426}} On 25 September, the whole army began to march southeast and encircled the city from the south after it had established port facilities at [[Balaklava|Balaclava]] for the British and at [[Kamiesch]] ({{langx |ru| Камышовая бухта | translit = Kamyshovaya bukhta}}) for the French. The Russians retreated into the city.<ref>The famous dispatches of a British war correspondent appear in William Howard Russell, ''The Great War with Russia: The Invasion of the Crimea; a Personal Retrospect of the Battles of the Alma, Balaclava and Inkerman, and of the Winter of 1854–55'' (Cambridge University Press, 2012)</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Engels|first=Frederick|author-link=Frederick Engels|title=Collected Works of Karl Marx and Frederick Engels |publisher=International Publishers |year=1980 |isbn=978-0-7178-0513-6 |volume=13 |location=New York |pages=477–479 |chapter=The News from the Crimea |orig-year=1853–54}}</ref>

The Allied armies moved without problems to the south, and the heavy artillery was brought ashore with batteries and connecting trenches built. By 10 October, some batteries were ready, and by 17 October, when the bombardment commenced—126 guns were firing, 53 of them French.{{sfn|Porter|1889|p=430}} The fleet meanwhile engaged the shore batteries. The British bombardment worked better than that of the French, who had smaller-calibre guns. The fleet suffered high casualties during the day. The British wanted to attack that afternoon, but the French wanted to defer the attack.

A postponement was agreed, but on the next day, the French were still not ready. By 19 October the Russians had transferred some heavy guns to the southern defences and had outgunned the allies.{{sfn|Porter|1889|p=431}}

Reinforcements for the Russians gave them the courage to send out probing attacks. The Allied lines, beginning to suffer from cholera as early as September, were stretched. The French, on the west, had less to do than the British on the east, with their siege lines and the large nine-mile open wing back to their supply base on the south coast.

===Battle of Balaclava===
{{Main|Battle of Balaclava}}
[[File:Relief of the Light Brigade.png|thumb|British cavalry charging against Russian forces at Balaclava]]
A large Russian assault on the allied supply base to the southeast at Balaclava was rebuffed on 25 October 1854.{{rp|521–527}} The [[Battle of Balaclava]] is remembered in Britain for the actions of two British units. At the start of the battle, a large body of Russian cavalry charged the [[93rd Highlanders]], who were posted north of the village of [[Kadikoi]]. Commanding them was Sir [[Colin Campbell, 1st Baron Clyde|Colin Campbell]]. Rather than "[[infantry square|form square]]", the traditional method of repelling cavalry, Campbell took the risky decision to have his Highlanders form a single line two men deep. Campbell had seen the effectiveness of the new [[Minié rifle]]s with which his troops were armed at the Battle of Alma, a month earlier, and he was confident that his men could beat back the Russians. His tactics succeeded.{{sfn|Greenwood|2015|loc= ch. 8}} From up on the ridge to the west, the ''[[The Times|Times]]'' correspondent [[William Howard Russell]] saw the Highlanders as a "thin red streak topped with steel", a phrase which soon became the "[[The Thin Red Line (Battle of Balaclava)|Thin Red Line]]".<ref>John Millin Selby, ''The thin red line of Balaclava'' (London: Hamilton, 1970)</ref>

Soon afterward, a Russian cavalry movement was countered by the [[Charge of the Heavy Brigade|Heavy Brigade]], which charged and fought hand to hand until the Russians retreated. That caused a more widespread Russian retreat, including a number of their artillery units. After the local commanders had failed to take advantage of the retreat, Lord Raglan sent out orders to move up and to prevent the withdrawal of naval guns from the recently captured redoubts on the heights. Raglan could see those guns because of his position on the hill. In the valley, that view was obstructed, and the wrong guns were in sight to the left. The local commanders ignored the demands, which led to the British [[aide-de-camp]], Captain [[Louis Nolan]], personally delivering the quickly-written and confusing order to attack the artillery. When [[George Bingham, 3rd Earl of Lucan|Lord Lucan]] questioned to which guns the order referred, the aide-de-camp pointed to the first Russian battery that he could see and allegedly said "There is your enemy, there are your guns", because of his obstructed view, which were wrong. Lucan then passed the order to the [[James Brudenell, 7th Earl of Cardigan|Earl of Cardigan]], which resulted in the [[Charge of the Light Brigade]].
[[File:Robert Gibb - The Thin Red Line.jpg|thumb|''[[The Thin Red Line (Battle of Balaclava)|The Thin Red Line]]'' at the Battle of Balaclava, where the [[93rd (Sutherland Highlanders) Regiment of Foot|93rd Sutherland Highlanders]] held off Russian cavalry.]]
In that charge, Cardigan formed up his unit and charged the length of the Valley of the Balaclava, under fire from Russian batteries in the hills. The charge of the Light Brigade caused 278 casualties of the 700-man unit. The Light Brigade was memorialised in the famous poem by [[Alfred, Lord Tennyson]], "[[The Charge of the Light Brigade (poem)|The Charge of the Light Brigade]]". Although traditionally, the charge of the Light Brigade was looked upon as a glorious but wasted sacrifice of good men and horses, recent historians believe that the charge of the Light Brigade succeeded in at least some of its objectives.<ref>{{citation |first=John |last=Sweetman |title=Balaclava 1854: The charge of the light brigade |publisher=Osprey Publishing |date=1990}}</ref>{{page needed|date=January 2022}} The aim of any cavalry charge is to scatter the enemy's lines and frighten the enemy off the battlefield. The Charge of the Light Brigade so unnerved the Russian cavalry, which had been routed by the Charge of the Heavy Brigade, that the Russians were set to full-scale flight.{{sfn|Figes|2010|p=252}}{{sfn|Small |2007}}

The shortage of men led to the failure of the British and the French to follow up on the Battle of Balaclava, which led directly to the much bloodier [[Battle of Inkerman]]. On 5 November 1854, the Russians attempted to raise the siege at Sevastopol with an attack against the allies, which resulted in another allied victory.<ref>{{citation |first=Patrick |last=Mercer |title=Inkerman 1854: The Soldiers' Battle |date=1998}}</ref>{{page needed|date=January 2022}}

===Winter of 1854–1855===
[[File:Weller Siege of Sebastopol 1854-1855.jpg|thumb|Historical map showing the territory between Balaclava and Sevastopol at the time of the Siege of Sevastopol]]
Winter weather and a deteriorating supply of troops and [[materiel]] on both sides led to a halt in ground operations. Sevastopol remained invested by the allies, whose armies were hemmed in by the [[Imperial Russian Army]] in the interior. On 14 November, the "[[Great Storm of 1854|Balaklava Storm]]", a major weather event, sank 30 allied transport ships,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Crimean War, 1853–1856 |url=http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/wars_crimean.html |access-date=25 January 2015 |website=historyofwar.org}}</ref> including {{HMS|Prince|1854|6}}, which was carrying a cargo of winter clothing.{{sfn|Porter|1889|p=435}}

The storm and the heavy traffic caused the road from the coast to the troops to disintegrate into a quagmire, which required engineers to devote most of their time to its repair, including by quarrying stone. A [[plateway|tramway]] was ordered and arrived in January with a civilian engineering crew, but it took until March before it had become sufficiently advanced to be of any appreciable value.{{sfn|Porter|1889|p=439}} An [[electrical telegraph]] was also ordered, but the frozen ground delayed its installation until March, when communications from the base port of Balaklava to the British HQ was established. The [[pipe-and-cable-laying plough]] failed because of the hard frozen soil, but nevertheless {{convert|21|mi|km}} of cable were laid.{{sfn|Porter|1889|p=449}}

The troops suffered greatly from cold and sickness, and the shortage of fuel led them to start dismantling their defensive [[gabion]]s and [[fascine]]s.{{sfn|Porter|1889|p=442}} In February 1855, the Russians attacked the allied base at Eupatoria, where an Ottoman army had built up and was threatening Russian supply routes. The Russians were defeated at the [[Battle of Eupatoria]],{{sfn|Figes|2010|pp=321–322}} leading to a change in their command.

The strain of directing the war had taken its toll on the health of Tsar Nicholas. Full of remorse for the disasters that he had caused, he caught pneumonia and died on 2 March.<ref name="Radzinsky2005">{{Cite book |last=Radzinsky |first=Edvard |url=https://archive.org/details/alexanderiilastg00radz |title=Alexander II: The Last Great Tsar |publisher=Free Press |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-7432-7332-9 |location=New York}}</ref>{{rp|96}}

===Siege of Sevastopol===
{{Main|Siege of Sevastopol (1854–1855)}}
[[File:Crimea Sevastopol Istorychny boulevard Memorial complex-55.jpg|thumb|''[[Siege of Sevastopol (panorama)|The Siege of Sevastopol]]'' panorama by [[Franz Roubaud]]]]
[[File:Siege of Sevastopol 1855.jpg|thumb|''Siege of Sevastopol 1855'' by Grigoryi Shukaev]]
The allies had had time to consider the problem, and the French were brought around to agree that the key to the defence was the [[Malakhov Kurgan|Malakoff]].{{sfn|Porter|1889|p=441}} Emphasis of the siege at Sevastopol shifted to the British left against the fortifications on Malakoff Hill.{{sfn|Figes|2010|p=339}} In March, there was fighting by the French over a new fort being built by the Russians at [[Mamelon (fort)|Mamelon]], on a hill in front of the Malakoff. Several weeks of fighting resulted in little change in the front line, and the Mamelon remained in Russian hands.

In April 1855, the allies staged a second all-out bombardment, which led to an artillery duel with the Russian guns, but no ground assault followed.{{sfn|Figes|2010|pp=340–341}}

On 24 May 1855, 60 ships, containing 7,000 French, 5,000 Turkish and 3,000 British troops, set off for a raid on the city of [[Kerch]], east of Sevastopol, in an attempt to open another front in Crimea and to cut off Russian supplies.{{sfn|Figes|2010|p=344}} When the allies landed the force at Kerch, the plan was to outflank the Russian Army. The landings were successful, but the force made little progress thereafter.

Many more artillery pieces had arrived and had been dug into batteries. The first general assault of Sevastopol took place on 18 June 1855. There is a legend that the assault was scheduled for that date in favour of {{nowrap|Napoleon III}} in the 40th anniversary of the [[Battle of Waterloo]], but the legend is not confirmed by historians.{{sfn|Tarle|1950|p=367}} However, the appearance of such a legend is undoubtedly symptomatic since the war in France was understood as a certain revanche for the [[French invasion of Russia|defeat of 1812]].

In June, a third bombardment was followed after two days by a successful attack on the Mamelon, but a follow-up [[Battle of Malakoff|assault on the Malakoff]] failed with heavy losses. Meanwhile, the garrison commander, Admiral [[Pavel Nakhimov]], fell on 30 June 1855,{{sfn|Figes|2010|p=378}} and Raglan died on 28 June.{{sfn|Porter|1889|p=460}} Losses in those battles were so great that by agreement of military opponents short-term truces for removal of corpses were signed (these truces were described in the work of [[Leo Tolstoy]] "[[Sevastopol Sketches]]"). The assault was beaten back with heavy casualties and in an undoubted victory for Russia. It is worth mentioning that the Russian [[Siege of Sevastopol (panorama)]] depicts the moment of the assault of Sevastopol on 18 June 1855.
[[File:Attaque du mamelon vert et des ouvrages blancs, 7 juin 1855.jpg|thumb|French [[zouave]]s attack Russian positions in the Battle of Malakoff]]
In August, the Russians again made an attack towards the base at Balaclava, which was defended by the French, newly arrived [[Crimean War order of battle: Kingdom of Sardinia|Sardinian]] and Ottoman troops.{{sfn|Porter|1889|p=461}} The resulting [[Battle of the Chernaya]] was a defeat for the Russians, who suffered heavy casualties.

For months, each side had been building forward rifle pits and defensive positions, which resulted in many skirmishes. Artillery fire aimed to gain superiority over the enemy guns.{{sfn|Porter|1889|pp=450–462}} The final assault was made on {{awrap|5 September}}, when another French bombardment (the sixth) was followed by an assault by the [[French Army]] on {{awrap|8 September}} and resulted in the French capture of the Malakoff fort. The Russians failed to retake it and their defences collapsed. Meanwhile, the British assaulted the [[Battle of the Great Redan|Great Redan]], a Russian defensive battlement just south of the city of Sevastopol, a position that had been attacked repeatedly for months. Whether the British captured the Redan remains in dispute: Russian historians recognise only the loss of the Malakhov Kurgan, a key point of defence, claiming that all other positions were retained.{{sfn|Tarle|1950|p=462}} What is agreed is that the Russians abandoned the positions, blew up their powder magazines and retreated to the north. The city finally fell on 9 September 1855, after a 337-day-long siege.<ref name="Radzinsky2005" />{{rp|106}}<ref>Leo Tolstoy, ''Sebastopol'' (2008) {{ISBN|1-4344-6160-2}}; Tolstoy wrote three firsthand battlefield observations "Sebastopol Sketches."</ref>

Both sides were now exhausted, and no further military operations were launched in Crimea before the onset of winter. The main objective of the siege was the destruction of the Russian fleet and docks and took place over the winter. On 28 February, multiple mines blew up the five docks, the canal, and three locks.{{sfn|Porter|1889|p=471}}

===Azov campaign===
{{Main|Siege of Taganrog}}
[[File:Simpson Disembarkation of the expedition to Kertch at Kamish Bournou.jpg|thumb|left|Disembarkation of the expedition to [[Kerch]]]]

In early 1855, the allied Anglo-French commanders decided to send an Anglo-French naval squadron into the [[Azov Sea]] to undermine Russian communications and supplies to besieged [[Sevastopol]]. On 12 May 1855, Anglo-French warships entered the [[Kerch Strait]] and destroyed the coast battery of the Kamishevaya Bay. Once through the Kerch Strait, British and French warships struck at every vestige of Russian power along the coast of the Sea of Azov. Except for [[Rostov-on-Don|Rostov]] and [[Azov]], no town, depot, building or fortification was immune from attack, and Russian naval power ceased to exist almost overnight. This Allied campaign led to a significant reduction in supplies flowing to the besieged Russian troops at Sevastopol.

On 21 May 1855, the [[gunboat]]s and armed steamers attacked the seaport of [[Taganrog]], the most important hub near [[Rostov-on-Don]]. The vast amounts of food, especially bread, wheat, barley and rye, that were amassed in the city after the outbreak of war were prevented from being exported.

The [[Governor of Taganrog]], [[Yegor Tolstoy]], and Lieutenant-General [[Ivan Krasnov]] refused an allied ultimatum by responding, "Russians never surrender their cities". The Anglo-French squadron bombarded Taganrog for 6{{frac|2}}&nbsp;hours and landed 300 troops near the [[Depaldo Stairs|Old Stairway]] in the centre of Taganrog, but they were thrown back by [[Don Cossacks]] and a volunteer corps.

In July 1855, the allied squadron tried to go past Taganrog to [[Rostov-on-Don]] by entering the [[Don (river)|River Don]] through the [[Mius River]]. On 12 July 1855 HMS&nbsp;''Jasper'' grounded near Taganrog thanks to a fisherman who moved [[buoy]]s into shallow water. The [[Cossacks]] captured the gunboat with all of its guns and blew it up. The third siege attempt was made 19–31 August 1855, but the city was already fortified, and the squadron could not approach close enough for landing operations. The allied fleet left the [[Taganrog Bay|Gulf of Taganrog]] on 2 September 1855, with [[HMS Grinder (1855)|minor military operations]] along the Azov Sea coast continuing until late 1855.

===Caucasus theatre===
[[File:The Armenian Front During the Crimean War, 1853-56.gif|thumb|upright=1.6|Caucasus front during the Crimean War]]

As in the [[Russo-Turkish Wars|previous wars]], the Caucasus front was secondary to what happened in the west. Perhaps because of better communications, western events sometimes influenced the east. The main events were the [[Siege of Kars|second capture of Kars]] and a landing on the [[Georgia (country)|Georgian]] coast. Several commanders on both sides were either incompetent or unlucky, and few fought aggressively.<ref>This section summarizes [[William Edward David Allen]] and [[Pavel Muratov]], ''Caucasian Battlefields'', 1953, Book II</ref>

'''1853:''' There were four main events. 1. In the north, the Ottomans captured the border fort of Saint Nicholas in a surprise night attack (27/28 October). They then pushed about 20,000 troops across the [[Choloki]] river border. Being outnumbered, the Russians abandoned [[Poti]] and [[Redoubt Kali]] and drew back to [[Marani, Georgia|Marani]]. Both sides remained immobile for the next seven months. 2. In the centre the Ottomans moved north from [[Ardahan]] to within cannon-shot of [[Akhaltsike]] and awaited reinforcements (13 November), but the Russians routed them. The claimed losses were 4,000 Turks and 400 Russians. 3. In the south about 30,000 Turks slowly moved east to the main Russian concentration at [[Gyumri]] or Alexandropol (November). They crossed the border and set up artillery south of town. Prince [[Vakhtang Orbeliani]] tried to drive them off and found himself trapped. The Ottomans failed to press their advantage; the remaining Russians rescued Orbeliani and the Ottomans retired west. Orbeliani lost about 1,000 men from 5,000. The Russians now decided to advance. The Ottomans took up a strong position on the [[Kars]] road and attacked-only to be defeated in the [[Battle of Başgedikler]], losing 6,000 men, half their artillery and all of their supply train. The Russians lost 1,300, including Prince Orbeliani. This was Prince Ellico Orbeliani, whose wife was later kidnapped by [[Imam Shamil]] at [[Tsinandali]]. 4. At sea the Turks sent a fleet east, which was destroyed by Admiral Nakhimov at Sinope.

[[File:Kuruk-Dara1.jpg|thumb|General [[Vasili Bebutov|Bebutashvili]] defeated the Ottomans at the [[Battle of Kurekdere]].]]

'''1854:''' The British and French declared war on 28 March.<ref name="Britannica"/> Early in the year on 3 January, the Anglo-French fleet appeared in the Black Sea,<ref name="Britannica"/> and the Russians abandoned the Black Sea Defensive Line from [[Anapa]] south. [[Nikolay Muravyov-Karsky|Nikolay Muravyov]], who replaced [[Mikhail Semyonovich Vorontsov|Vorontsov]], fearing an Anglo-French landing in conjunction with [[Shamil, 3rd Imam of Dagestan]] and the [[Qajar Iran|Persians]], recommended withdrawal north of the Caucasus. For that purpose, he was replaced by [[Aleksandr Baryatinsky]]. When the allies chose a land attack on Sevastopol, any plan for a landing in the east was abandoned.

In the north, [[Georgiy Evseevich Eristov]] pushed southwest, fought two battles, forced the Ottomans back to [[Batumi]], retired behind the Cholok river and suspended action for the rest of the year (June). In the far south, Wrangel pushed west, fought a battle and occupied [[Doğubayazıt|Bayazit]]. In the centre. the main forces stood at Kars and Gyumri. Both slowly approached along the Kars-Gyumri road and faced each other, neither side choosing to fight (June–July). On 4 August, Russian scouts saw a movement which they thought was the start of a withdrawal, the Russians advanced and the Ottomans attacked first. [[Battle of Kurekdere|They were defeated]] and lost 8,000 men to the Russian 3,000. Also, 10,000 irregulars deserted to their villages. Both sides withdrew to their former positions. About then, the [[Qajar Iran|Persians]] made a semi-secret agreement to remain neutral in exchange for the cancellation of the indemnity from the previous war.

[[File:Thomas Jones Barker The Capitulation of Kars 1855.jpg|thumb|The Capitulation of Kars]]

'''1855: Siege of Kars:''' Up to May 1855, Ottomans forces in the east were reduced from 120,000 to 75,000, mostly by disease. The local [[Armenia]]n population kept Muravyov well-informed about the Ottomans at Kars and he judged they had about five months of supplies. He therefore decided to control the surrounding area with cavalry and starve them out. He started in May and by June was south and west of the town. A relieving force fell back and there was a possibility of taking [[Erzurum]], but Muravyov chose not to. In late September he learned of the fall of Sevastopol and a Turkish landing at Batum. This led him to reverse policy and try a direct attack. It failed, the Russians losing 8,000 men and the Turks 1,500 (29 September). The blockade continued and Kars surrendered on 28 November.

'''1855: Georgian coast:''' Omar Pasha, the Turkish commander at Crimea had long wanted to land in Georgia, but the western powers vetoed it. When they relented in August most of the campaigning season was lost. In 8 September Turks landed at Batum, but the main concentration was at [[Sukhumi|Sukhum Kale]]. This required a 100-mile march south through a country with poor roads. In essence, it was a military demonstration in order to frighten the Russian command and force it to lift the siege of the fortress of Kars. "All luck depended on whether Muravyov (the Russian commander) would be scared or not".{{sfn|Tarle|1950|p=493}} But the Russian command did not see a serious threat, the Siege of Kars was continued. The Russians planned to hold the line of the [[Enguri|Ingur]] river which separates [[Abkhazia]] from Georgia proper. Omar crossed the Ingur on 7 November and then wasted a great deal of time, the Russians doing little. By 2 December he had reached the [[Tskhenistsqali]], the rainy season had started, his camps were submerged in mud and there was no bread. Learning of the fall of Kars he withdrew to the Ingur. The Russians did nothing and he evacuated to Batum in February of the following year.

===Baltic theatre===
{{See also|Charles John Napier#Baltic Campaign|Åland War}}
[[File:Escadre franco-anglaise devant Bomarsund.jpg|thumb|left|[[Battle of Bomarsund|Bombardment of Bomarsund]] during the Crimean War, by [[Antoine Léon Morel-Fatio]]]]

The [[Baltic Sea|Baltic]] was a forgotten theatre of the Crimean War.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Anderson |first=Edgar |year=1969 |title=The Scandinavian Area and the Crimean War in the Baltic |journal=Scandinavian Studies |volume=41 |issue=3 |pages=263–275 |jstor=40917005}}</ref> Popularisation of events elsewhere overshadowed the significance of this theatre, which was close to Saint Petersburg, the Russian capital. In April 1854, an Anglo-French fleet entered the Baltic to attack the Russian naval base of [[Kronstadt]] and the [[Baltic Fleet|Russian fleet]] that was stationed there.<ref name=Colvile1>{{cite journal |first=R.F. |last=Colvile |title= The Baltic as a Theatre of War: The Campaign of 1854. |journal=The RUSI Journal |date=1941 |volume=86 |issue=541 |pages=72–80 |doi=10.1080/03071844109424963 |url=http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/03071844109424963 }}</ref> In August 1854, the combined British and French fleet returned to Kronstadt for another attempt. The outnumbered Russian Baltic Fleet confined its movements to the areas around its fortifications. At the same time, the British and French commanders Sir [[Charles Napier (Royal Navy officer)|Charles Napier]] and [[Alexandre Ferdinand Parseval-Deschenes]] although they led the largest fleet assembled since the [[Napoleonic Wars]], considered the [[Suomenlinna|Sveaborg]] fortress too well-defended to engage. Thus, shelling of the Russian batteries was limited to two attempts in 1854 and 1855, and initially, the attacking fleets limited their actions to blockading Russian trade in the [[Gulf of Finland]].<ref name=Colvile1/> Naval attacks on other ports, such as the ones in the island of [[Gogland|Hogland]] in the Gulf of Finland, proved more successful. Additionally, allies conducted raids on less fortified sections of the [[Grand Duchy of Finland|Finnish]] coast.<ref>{{cite journal |first=R.F. |last=Colvile |title=The Navy and the Crimean War |journal=The RUSI Journal |date=1940 |volume=85 |issue=537 |pages=73–78 |doi=10.1080/03071844009427344 |url=http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/03071844009427344 }}</ref> These battles are known in [[Finland]] as the [[Åland War]].

Russia depended on imports—both for its domestic economy and for the supply of its military forces: the blockade forced Russia to rely on more expensive overland shipments from Prussia. The blockade seriously undermined the Russian export economy and helped shorten the war.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Clive Ponting |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C7lo1UBTp74C&pg=SA2-PA24 |title=The Crimean War: The Truth Behind the Myth |publisher=Random House |year=2011 |isbn=978-1407093116 |pages=2–3}}</ref>

The burning of tar warehouses and ships led to international criticism, and in London the MP [[Thomas Milner Gibson]] demanded in the House of Commons that the [[First Lord of the Admiralty]] explain "a system which carried on a great war by plundering and destroying the property of defenceless villagers".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Burke |first=Edmund |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DbYHAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA93 |title=The Annual Register of World Events: A Review of the Year |year=1855 |page=93}}</ref>
In fact, the operations in the Baltic sea were in the nature of binding forces. It was very important to divert Russian forces from the south or, more precisely, not to allow Nicholas to transfer to Crimea a huge army guarding the Baltic coast and the capital.<ref>Tarle E.V. Crimean war. М.-L.: 1941–1944. p. 88</ref> This goal Anglo-French forces achieved. The Russian Army in Crimea was forced to act without superiority in forces.

In August 1854 a Franco-British naval force captured and destroyed the [[Battle of Bomarsund|Russian Bomarsund fortress]] on [[Åland|Åland Islands]]. In the August 1855, the Western Allied Baltic Fleet [[Bombardment of Sveaborg|tried to destroy heavily defended Russian dockyards at Sveaborg]] outside [[Helsinki]]. More than 1,000 enemy guns tested the strength of the fortress for two days. Despite the shelling, the sailors of the 120-gun ship ''[[Russian ship of the line Rossiya|Rossiya]]'', led by Captain Viktor Poplonsky, defended the entrance to the harbour. The Allies fired over 20,000 shells but failed to defeat the Russian batteries. The British then built a massive new fleet of more than 350 gunboats and mortar vessels,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lowe |first=Norman |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XppMDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA106 |title=Mastering Modern British History |date=2017 |publisher=Palgrave |isbn=978-1137603883 |edition=5th |location=London, England |page=106 }}{{Dead link|date=February 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> which was known as the [[Great Armament]], but the war ended before the attack was launched.

Part of the Russian resistance was credited to the deployment of newly invented [[naval mine]]s. Perhaps the most influential contributor to the development of naval mining was a Swede resident in Russia, the inventor and civil engineer [[Immanuel Nobel]] (the father of [[Alfred Nobel]]). Immanuel Nobel helped the Russian war effort by applying his knowledge of industrial explosives, such as [[nitroglycerin]] and [[gunpowder]]. An account given in 1860 by [[United States Army]] Major [[Richard Delafield]] dates modern naval mining to the Crimean War: "[[Torpedo]] mines, if I may use this name given by [[Robert Fulton|Fulton]] to 'self-acting mines underwater', were among the novelties attempted by the Russians in their defences about Cronstadt and Sevastopol."<ref name="mines">{{Cite web |title=Mining in the Crimean War |url=http://www.exwar.org/Htm/8000PopH2.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030428045336/http://www.exwar.org/Htm/8000PopH2.htm |archive-date=28 April 2003 |access-date=28 April 2006}}</ref>

For the campaign of 1856, Britain and France planned an attack on the main base of the Russian Navy in the Baltic sea—Kronstadt. The attack was to be carried out using armoured floating batteries. The use of the latter proved to be highly effective in the attack on Kinburn on the Black Sea in 1855. Undoubtedly, this threat contributed on the part of Russia the decision on the conclusion of peace on unfavourable terms.

===White Sea theatre===
[[File:The British Attack of Solovetsky Monastery.jpg|thumb|"Bombardment of the [[Solovetsky Monastery]] in the [[White Sea]] by the [[Royal Navy]]", a ''[[lubok]]'' (popular print) from 1868]]

In late 1854, a squadron of three British warships led by [[HMS Miranda (1851)|HMS&nbsp;''Miranda'']] left the Baltic for the [[White Sea]], where they shelled [[Kola, Russia|Kola]] (which was destroyed)<ref>''Administrative-Territorial Division of Murmansk Oblast'', pp. 18–19</ref> and the [[Solovetsky Islands]].

===Pacific theatre===
{{Main|Siege of Petropavlovsk}}
Minor naval skirmishes also occurred in the Far East, where at [[Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky|Petropavlovsk]] on the [[Kamchatka Peninsula]] a British and French Allied squadron including {{HMS|Pique|1834|6}} under Rear Admiral [[David Price (Royal Navy officer)|David Price]] and a French force under Counter-Admiral [[Auguste Febvrier Despointes]] [[Siege of Petropavlovsk|besieged]] a smaller [[Pacific Fleet (Russia)|Russian force]] under Rear Admiral [[Yevfimiy Putyatin]]. In September 1854, an Allied landing force was beaten back with heavy casualties, and the Allies withdrew. The victory at Petropavlovsk was for Russia in the words of the future [[Ministry of War of the Russian Empire|Minister of War]] [[Dmitry Milyutin]] "a ray of light among the dark clouds". The Russians escaped under the cover of snow in early 1855 after Allied reinforcements arrived in the region.

The Anglo-French forces in the [[Far East]] also made several small landings on [[Sakhalin]] and [[Urup]], one of the [[Kuril Islands]].<ref>Mikhail Vysokov: [http://www.sakhalin.ru/Engl/Region/history.htm A Brief History of Sakhalin and the Kurils] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100409063243/http://www.sakhalin.ru/Engl/Region/history.htm |date=9 April 2010 }}: [http://www.sakhalin.ru/Engl/Region/book/late_19th.htm Late 19th] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090412042134/http://www.sakhalin.ru/Engl/Region/book/late_19th.htm |date=12 April 2009 }}</ref>

===Piedmontese involvement===
{{main|Crimean War order of battle: Kingdom of Sardinia}}
[[File:Crimea Cernaia DeStefani.JPG|thumb|The Italian [[Bersaglieri]] halt the Russian attack during the [[Battle of the Chernaya]].]]

[[Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour|Camillo di Cavour]], under orders of [[Victor Emmanuel&nbsp;II]] of [[Kingdom of Sardinia (1720–1861)|Piedmont-Sardinia]], sent an expeditionary corps of 15,000 soldiers, commanded by General [[Alfonso La Marmora]], to side with French and British forces during the war.{{sfn|Arnold|2002|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=_UreS--MoD0C&pg=PA112 111–112}} This was an attempt at gaining the favour of the French, especially when the issue of uniting Italy would become an important matter. The deployment of Italian troops to Crimea, and the gallantry shown by them in the Battle of the Chernaya (16 August 1855) and in the Siege of Sevastopol, allowed the Kingdom of Sardinia to be among the participants at the peace conference at the end of the war, where it could address the issue of the ''[[Risorgimento]]'' to other European powers.

===Greece===
{{main|Greek Volunteer Legion}}
[[File:Greek volunteers in Sevastopol 1854.jpg|thumb|A [[Greek Volunteer Legion|Greek legion]] fought for Russia at Sevastopol]]

Greece played a peripheral role in the war. When Russia attacked the Ottoman Empire in 1853, King [[Otto of Greece]] saw an opportunity to expand north and south into Ottoman areas that had large Greek Christian majorities. Greece did not coordinate its plans with Russia, did not declare war, and received no outside military or financial support. Greece, an Orthodox nation, had considerable support in Russia, but the Russian government decided it was too dangerous to help Greece expand its holdings.{{sfn|Figes|2010|pp=32–40}} When the Russians invaded the Principalities, the Ottoman forces were tied down so Greece invaded [[Thessaly]] and [[Epirus]]. To block further Greek moves, the British and French occupied the main Greek port at [[Piraeus]] from April 1854 to February 1857,<ref>{{Cite book|first=Spencer C.|last=Tucker|author-link=Spencer C. Tucker|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=h5_tSnygvbIC&pg=PA1210|title=A Global Chronology of Conflict|publisher=[[ABC-CLIO]]|year=2009|isbn=978-1851096725|page=1210}}</ref> and effectively neutralized the [[Hellenic Army|Greek Army]]. The Greeks, gambling on a Russian victory, incited the large-scale [[Epirus Revolt of 1854]] as well as uprisings in [[Ottoman Crete]]. The insurrections were failures that were easily crushed by the Ottomans' allied [[Egyptian Army#Under the Muhammad Ali Dynasty|Egyptian Army]]. Greece was not invited to the peace conference and made no gains out of the war.{{sfn|Figes|2010|p=139}}{{sfn|Badem|2010|p=183}} The frustrated Greek leadership blamed the King for failing to take advantage of the situation; his popularity plunged and he was forced to abdicate in 1862.

In addition, a 1,000-strong [[Greek Volunteer Legion]] was formed in the Danubian Principalities in 1854 and later fought at Sevastopol.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Todorova |first=Maria |year=1984 |title=The Greek Volunteers in the Crimean War |url=https://ojs.lib.uom.gr/index.php/BalkanStudies/article/view/5133 |journal=Balkan Studies |volume=25 |pages=539–563 |issn=2241-1674}}</ref>

===Kiev Cossack revolt===
A peasant revolt that began in the [[Vasylkiv]] county of [[Kiev Governorate]] (province) in February 1855 spread across the whole Kiev and [[Chernigov Governorate|Chernigov governorates]], with peasants refusing to participate in [[corvée labour]] and other orders of the local authorities and, in some cases, attacking priests who were accused of hiding a decree about the liberation of the peasants.<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |url=http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?linkpath=pages%5CK%5CY%5CKyivCossacks.htm |title=Kiev Cossacks |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopedia of Ukraine]]}}</ref>{{Better source needed|date=August 2019}}