The Crimean War

The Crimean War

The Crimean War started because France and Russia wanted control over the Middle East and surrounding areas. The war lasted from 1856 to 1858, just under two years. The more important parts of the war are the causes and events that led up to it, the battle of the Alma, the naval wars of various seas and Sevastopol, the heavily fortified base of the Russian fleet.

MLV Ffrench Blake states that the main cause of the war was "Russia's desire for territorial expansion, particularly towards a port in the Mediterranean." (Blake 1). He also believes that the inevitable drift into the war was aggravated by the back and forth nature of the rulers of the opposing countries and bad diplomacy. The immediate excuses of the war were for protection of oppressed minorities and retaliation against the death of nationalists in religious riots. Philip Warner believes that the main cause of the war was that Britain and Russia were both large countries and only one of them would be able to prevail. At the time, Britain was a country that stretched all the way to India and they couldn't afford to have line of communication through the Middle East cut. Russia spanned an entire eight million square miles. "However, the looseness and backwardness of their territories did not stop the Russians from wishing to extend their influence." (Warner 5). Albert Seaton believes that the Tsar Nicholas did not want war, but it was part of his political strategy to bring Europe to the brink of hostilities in order to intimidate those who opposed him. "He would undoubtedly have taken even greater risks if only France and Turkey had been involved, but he was worried by the close interest taken by the British in the Middle East, for the islanders were already openly assessing the armed strengths there and did not conceal their low opinion of the value of the Black Sea Fleet." (Seaton 42).

Philip Warner believes that the battle of the Alma occurred because Sebastopol, Russia's heavily fortified base, had no proper defences and it was decided that the part of the Russian army would be sent to completely stop or at least slow down the Allied Army at Alma. The Russians and the Allies both set up very planned out and strategic formations, but they just ended up attacking each other head on. For some reason, Menschikov, the commander of the Russian army, didn't bring in his reserves.