The Crimean War, a trial by fire for Western Europe
Russia’s defeat by progress: Why the Tzar’s armies couldn’t keep up
1850s Europe, a political landscape shaken by the revolutions of 1848 that eradicated the old order of the Concert of Europe enforced by Metternich for three decades prior. France had emerged from the “Springtime of Nations” with a President turned-Emperor looking to prove himself as a competent leader within the new order. Austria’s aptitude had been shown up by the Hungarian revolution which had to be crushed with the help of the Russians.
Prussia emerged from the turmoil almost as authoritarian as it had begun, though the King had won the favour of the people by facing the crowds alone in Berlin, and now had the opportunity for expansion against the shattered Austrian monopoly of Germany. Britain, barely affected by these revolutions, would continue its trade with the outside world and Europe, extending its economic dominance even further over the other Great Powers.
However, it is Russia which I’d like to address in this article, or more specifically, the first great attempt to extend its dominion into the Balkans which was halted significantly by the Western Powers. Britain fearing Russia’s increasing presence in the Mediterranean, and France under Napoleon III (Napoleon’s nephew) looking to prove himself on the theatre of war. Economically and industrially, Russia was falling behind Europe, although progress had been made under tzar Nicholas II, the country’s trebling textile industry was far from enough to keep up with the Western and Central Powers.
Between 1830 and 1900, Russia’s share of world manufacturing output increased by 33%, whereas the German states as a whole (excluding Austria) saw 160%. These factors help to exemplify the unpreparedness of Russia for a war such as the Crimean, especially against the two Western Powers which allied against it, and had by 1860 combined shares of world output 242 times larger. These sources aren’t even taking into account the fact that Russia heavily relied on unexperienced conscripts from all around the Empire, and the concentration of military training was seen barely anywhere outside of the St. Petersburg-Moscow axis.
The war’s beginning was convoluted with various political machinations in play during the 1850s. Tzar Nicholas was eyeing the lands of Constantinople and the rich Danubian Principalities (modern day Rumania) and trying to exert his influence over the so-called “sick man of Europe” to do so, the Turkish Empire, in serious decline by the 1850s having recently lost a war against its own nominal regions of Egypt. Napoleon III also had clear desires on land within the Ottoman realm, he supported the catholic monks near Jerusalem in order to gain their favour if ever he were to attempt an exertion of influence into Egypt, particularly near the Sinai Peninsula, where he planned to clear way for the construction of a canal.
The Russians, seeing the French moves in order to influence the Ottomans, and the Sultan Abdülmecid I’s inaction in face of the claims Russia made on the predominantly Orthodox regions on the border, invaded the Principalities in July 1853. Russia, crossing the Danube, met the Ottomans in the battle of Oltenița in November, and simultaneously annihilated the Ottoman fleet at the battle of Sinope, marking a dominant victory of Russia in the entirety of the Black Sea.
“We are determined to resist the encroachments of Russia in the East, to maintain the balance of power in Europe, and to defend the independence of the Ottoman Empire.” -Lord Palmerston
The British Navy was already deployed in the Black Sea by the arrival of the troops, with ships such as HMS furious and HMS retribution. These ships were placed respectively in positions across from the ports of Odessa in modern Ukraine and Sevastopol, and to disallow any new sorties by the Russian Navy.
Nicholas II, infuriated by the moves made by Britain and France, yet realising the situation was impossible, pulled his troops out from the Danubian Principalities, repositioning hundreds of thousands of them along forts on the coasts both the sea of Azov and the Black Sea.
This was done when the allied powers made landing on Crimea and fought off a Russian attack in the battle of Alma on the 20th of September 1854. Britain also used its blue-water Navy to harass the Baltic coast and the Gulf of Finland, tying down around 200,000 soldiers in-case of a naval invasion, although Russian military officials advised that 400,000 men were required for a true defence.
The war continued with the French and British making headway in Crimea, culminating in the battle of Balaclava in October 1854, with the charge of the British light Brigade going down in history as one of the major blunders of the war as they charged not at the Turkish redoubts to deny the Russians the Causeway heights, but in a frontal assault at the Russian guns, tearing a sixth of the 600 men to shreds.
During the war, many individuals rose to the occasion of providing critical medical healthcare for the wounded soldiers. Florence Nightingale being the most exceptional distinction, cutting the death rate in the military hospital in Scutari, Turkey, from 42% to 2% by improving the means of sanitation and training 38 nurses to do the same, cleaning up the areas of surgery and the dirty floors, as well as improving ventilation for the soldiers.
Nevertheless, after a decisive victory for the Allies at the Battle of Inkerman. They approached Sevastopol, destroying the remaining Russian morale to fight for further expansion in a siege of a city that last from the October of 1854 to the September of 1855, and ending with a Russian surrender to France, Britain, and the Ottoman Empire in the Congress of Paris on March 30, 1856.
Many factors contributed to the Russian defeat, and it demonstrated just how inept their army really was in the field against the allies’ superior technology and possibility to sustain a long war. With the vast majority of railway tracks ending south of Moscow, supplies to the soldiers were forced to trek for ~ 45-60 days, whereas the allies could supply their forces within a matter of days, especially with the aid from the Ottomans and the established military ports in Constantinople and Varna on the Bulgarian coast.
The Russians suffered from diplomatic isolation that followed with the destruction of the Holy Alliance founded in 1815 to protect the absolutist monarchies from the nationalist revolts that Napoleon had stirred. Austria, (Russia had assumed) would set its forces on the weak Ottoman lands in Bosnia and Serbia, while they were distracted in the Caucasus, and then divide the spoils between them. However, Austria as Nicholas later discovered, was also scared of Russia’s growing influence in the Balkans, which Austria also had desires on. Therefore, they would not only not join the war on the Russian side, but diplomatically condemn the Russian actions, and send “peacekeeping” forces into the Danubian Principalities to prevent further conflict, effectively taking any Russian claims to annex the territories away from the tzar.
Finally, Russia employed the use of outdated rifles, not equipped to withstand the newer technological models of France and Britain, as they were far more used to fighting the even more outdated Ottoman Empire. Russia, using smoothbore muskets, meant that the effective range of their shots was about 70-100 yards, whereas the allied rifled barrels could hit targets up to 7 times further away. Russia also used roundshot and bronze smoothbore cannons, which weren’t up to the efficiency of the allied shell artillery.
The treaty in the Congress of Paris 1856 declared the Black Sea a neutral zone, while returning the delta of the Danube to the Ottoman Empire. The Ottomans were admitted into the Concert of Europe and the other nations promised to respect their territorial integrity, while the Danubian principalities, having been demilitarized by Austria, were given de-facto autonomy, representing a sizeable opportunity to influence the region by Russia in the future.
“We cannot deceive ourselves any longer; we must say that we are both weaker and poorer than the first-class powers, and furthermore poorer not only in material terms but in mental resources, especially in matters of administration.” -Grand Duke Constantine, Son of Tzar Nicholas I
The defeat significantly set back Russia’s territorial ambitions, as well as disallowing their navy a region with which to exert itself in training exercises. It also represented a significant loss for the British and French however, who lost around 250,000 combined soldiers with ~127,000 to 170,000 men succumbing to death due to sickness from the attrition warfare and the lack of adequate medical standards.
All in all, the Crimean War represents a significant shift in the Russian attempt at hegemony, and marked in the minds of the Russian nobility the desperate need of Russia to modernize, an idea which would be implemented by Alexander II in his emancipation of the serfs, as well as Sergei Witte in his economic reforms in the late 19th century. Britain was placated from the threat of Russia, but still lost a sizeable amount of men to preventable illnesses. France in reality came out as a major victor from this war, Napoleon III had asserted himself as a great leader, and would attempt to use this leverage in the Italian Wars against Austria, where he would be put in his place at Solferino. The war only checked Russian ambitions, didn’t end them, but the Russian people took them to heart, and it will always be remembered as a war that could’ve been avoided, had cooler heads prevailed.