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Crimean War

From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Crimean War
Part of the Ottoman wars in Europe and the Russo-Turkish Wars

Attack on the Malakoff, by William Simpson
Date16 October 1853 – 30 March 1856 (1853-10-16 – 1856-03-30)
(2 years, 5 months and 2 weeks)
Location
Result Allied victory
Territorial
changes
Russia loses the Danube Delta and Southern Bessarabia.
Belligerents
 Ottoman Empire
 France[a]
 United Kingdom[a]
Kingdom of Sardinia Sardinia[b]
 Russia
 Greece[c]
Commanders and leaders
Strength
Total: 673,900
Ottoman Empire 235,568[1]
Second French Empire 309,268[2]
United Kingdom 97,864[2]
Kingdom of Sardinia 21,000[2]
Total: 889,000[2]

888,000 mobilised
324,478 deployed
Casualties and losses

Total: 165,363–223,000[3] dead
45,770 combat deaths
119,593 non-combat deaths

  • Ottoman Empire 45,400 dead[2]
    20,900 combat deaths
    24,500 non-combat deaths
  • 95,615 dead[2]
    20,240 combat deaths
    75,375 non-combat deaths
  • United Kingdom 22,182 dead[2]
    4,602 combat deaths
    17,580 non-combat deaths
  • Kingdom of Sardinia 2,166 dead[2]
    28 combat deaths
    2,138 non-combat deaths
Total: 450,015 dead[4][2][5]
73,125 combat deaths
376,890 non-combat deaths
Casualties include death by disease. In all cases, death by disease exceeded the sum of "killed in action" or "died of wounds".

The Crimean War (1853–1856), also called the Eastern War (Russian: Восточная война), was fought between the Russian Empire against the French Empire, the United Kingdom, the Kingdom of Sardinia and the Ottoman Empire. Most of the fighting, including the Battle of Balaclava, happened in Crimea, but some of it was what is now western Turkey and around the Baltic Sea.

The Crimean War is sometimes called the first "modern" war since its weaponry and tactics were used for the first time and affected all later wars.[6] It was also the first war to use a telegraph to give information to a newspaper quickly.[7]

Background

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The Ottoman Empire was declining by the mid-1800s. The war started after the Ottoman Empire decided that France, not Russia, had the right to protect Christians in the Holy Land near the area of modern-day Israel.[8]

Russia sent an army to take part of Ottoman Romania and so the British and the French allies sent an army and a navy to help the Ottomans. When the allies got to their camp in Gallipoli, Russia retreated and so the allies decided instead to take back Crimea, where Russia had its naval base. Russia had taken Crimea from the Ottoman Empire in an earlier war.

The Allies won the war in Crimea but gave it back to Russia in return for Russia giving back other places and promising not to have a navy on the Black Sea.

The Crimean War was a very important point in the history of warfare since new weapons were used. It was also the first war to be reported by the press via photography and journalists. Another very important factor was that it was the first war with real field hospitals, which were started by Florence Nightingale.

After it lost the war, Russia decided to make changes, including increasing its development of weaponry and ending serfdom in 1861.

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  1. 1.0 1.1 From 1854
  2. From 1855
  3. Until 1854

References

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  1. Badem 2010, p. 180.
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 Clodfelter 2017, p. 180.
  3. Зайончковский А. М. Восточная война 1853—1856. — СПб.: Полигон, 2002. — ISBN 5-89173-159-2
  4. Figes 2010, p. 489.
  5. Mara Kozelsky, "The Crimean War, 1853–56." Kritika: Explorations in Russian and Eurasian History 13.4 (2012): 903–917 online.
  6. Royle. Preface
  7. "The Crimean War: The war that made Britain 'great' - Telegraph". telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved November 17, 2010.
  8. Hooker, Richard (1999). "The Ottomans: European Imperialism and Crisis". Washington State University. Archived from the original on January 4, 2011. Retrieved April 9, 2011.

Other websites

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