1853-1856

Crimean War was fought between Russian forces and the allied armies of Britain, France, the Ottoman Empire (now Turkey), and Sardinia. The war's name comes from the Crimean Peninsula, an area of present-day Ukraine where much of the fighting took place.

Causes of the war included religious, commercial, and strategic rivalries among Britain, France, and Russia in the Near East and political rivalries between France and Russia in Europe. A chief objection of the allies was Russia's expansion in the Black Sea region. Major battles in the Crimean Peninsula occurred along the River Alma and around the towns of Sevastopol, Balaklava, Inkerman, and Yevpatoriya (also spelled Eupatoria). Russia's lack of supplies, railroads, and reinforcements led to its defeat. The Treaty of Paris, signed on March 30, 1856, ended the war. It forced Russia to give up some territory it had taken from the Ottoman Empire and forbade warships on and fortifications around the Black Sea.

The Crimean War was the first war to be covered by newspaper reporters and photographers at the front. The English poet Lord Tennyson wrote a famous poem, "The Charge of the Light Brigade," about the Battle of Balaklava. The activities of Florence Nightingale, an English nurse, later helped bring about improvements in nursing and hospital care.

The "Charge of the Light Brigade" took place October 25, 1854 as an English brigade of 600 men, against hopeless odds, charged the Russian army with both sides suffering heavy losses.

Contributor: A. P. Saab, Ph.D., Prof. of History and Associate Dean of the Graduate School, Univ. of North Carolina, Greensboro.