2. Crimean War

3. Background: Concert of Europe damaged by the Revolutions of 1848.
Ottomans: “Sick Man of Europe”
Crimean Peninsula
connected to the Ukraine.
Russian naval base at Sevastopol.
Gave Russia a presence in the Black Sea
Russia versus the Allies (Ottoman Empire, Britain, and France)

4. Crimean War, 1854-1856 French policy: British policy:
Napoleon III demands access to holy sites in Turkey
Russian wan concession for Orthodox
British policy:
Prevent Russian expansion in the Near East
Stratford Canning, British ambassador, tells Turks to deny Russia

5. War Begins Russian navy smash Ottoman fleet on Black Sea
moved into of Moldavia and Wallachia (Romania)
France and Britain demanded evacuation
Public opinion sways declaration of war
Austria turns back on Russia & slides into Moldavia & Wallachia—technically neutral
Piedmont-Sicily uses as an opportunity to gain power
Russia v. everyone else…first World War?

6. And the War Ends… Czar Nicholas I assassinated in 1855
Czar Alexander II begin peace negotiation, war ends in 1856.
Treaty of Paris: Russia loses control of trade, Ottomans enter the “Concert of Europe”

7. Significance & Impact The Crimean War was the first modern conflict
Trenches
Telegraphs
Railways
Glory & honor unrealistic in modern war…we are not prepared
Brutal: Poor communications, strategic errors, and disease
Florence Nightingale
French
British
Ottoman
Sardinian
Russia
Deaths
95,000
21,097
175,300
2,050
450,015
KIA
11%
13%
Wounds
21%
10%
Disease
63%
77%

10. Significance & Impact Europe not as unified as they think they are
National interests outweigh the Concert
Britain & Austria isolates selves
France overestimates strength
Russia’s weaknesses— begin modernization