In the 1840s, a sharp rise in anti-Russian sentiment was observed in Europe. London feared strengthening the position of St. Petersburg in the Turkish possessions - in the Balkans and the Middle East. Preserving Turkey, even if weak, but controlled by England, was beneficial for the UK business community - a British business forced the Turks to open their market. In addition, London, on favorable terms, through its Ottoman possessions, exported to Asia.
Although Nicholas I pursued a very careful policy, the inhabitants of the Balkans and other Christian regions controlled by Turkey sympathized with Russia and inspired fears among the British. In addition, London saw in St. Petersburg a rival in the struggle for Central Asia and the Caucasus. Therefore, the European press blamed Russia for allegedly desiring to seize the Ottoman Empire in order to curb the sultan’s aspirations for European civilization.
The French authorities, in turn, dreamed of revenge after the defeat in the war of 1812 and were annoyed because Nicholas I did not want to recognize Napoleon III as a legitimate ruler. In addition, a conflict broke out between the Catholic and Orthodox communities in Palestine over control of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, in which Paris and St. Petersburg supported their co-religionists.
In February 1853, the envoy of Nicholas I Alexander Menshikov arrived in Turkey. The Russian prince demanded to hand over the holy places in the Middle East to the Hellasan church and give Russia the right to protect the Christian subjects of the Ottoman Empire. But on the advice of British diplomats, the Sultan only partially met the demands of Nicholas I and denied Russia the right to patronize Christians in the Balkans and the Middle East.
In the summer of 1853, Russia severed diplomatic relations with Turkey and, taking advantage of the right previously granted to her by the Sultan, she led troops into the Danube principalities in order to persuade the Turks to negotiate. However, the leadership of the Ottoman Empire, feeling the support of the Western European powers, still refused to comply with the requirements of St. Petersburg and declared war on Russia on October 16. Nicholas I believed that the Turks would be afraid of a direct clash with the Russian Empire, Britain and France would not be able to agree on joint actions, and Austria would support Russia. But it turned out wrong.
“In St. Petersburg, they overestimated their influence on Austria, underestimated the possibilities of France and gave too much importance to the Anglo-French contradictions,” said the candidate of historical sciences, associate professor of Moscow State University in an interview with RT. Lomonosov Oleg Airapetov.
Big war
On November 30, 1853, the ships of the Russian Black Sea Fleet under the command of Vice Admiral Pavel Nakhimov defeated the Turkish squadron at Cape Sinop, leaving the Ottoman Empire practically without a fleet on the Black Sea.
- © I. K. Aivazovsky "Sinop battle on November 18, 1853 (Night after the battle)" (1853)
Against this background, the anti-Russian campaign in the UK has increased significantly. British journalists argued that Christians in the Ottoman Empire allegedly have more rights than in Russia.
The British authorities have begun to develop plans for the division of Russia, involving the alienation of Finland, Poland, Bessarabia, the Crimea and the Caucasus. In addition, the English business wanted to end Russian protectionism and get free access to the empire market.
March 27, 1854 Britain and France declared war on Russia. In April, the Anglo-French squadron shelled Odessa, causing significant damage to the city and sinking nine Russian merchant ships. As a result of the return fire of coastal batteries, four enemy frigates suffered, and the steamer Tigr ran aground. Members of his crew were captured. Thanks to the successful actions of the Russian artillerymen, the British and French could not land troops in the Odessa region and left for the open sea.
In the spring of 1854, Russian troops crossed the Danube, but in June, due to the threat of Austrian intervention against Russia, they were forced to retreat. In July, the Russian army on the Caucasian front occupied Bayazet, and on August 5, defeated the Turks in the Battle of Kyryuk-Darin.
The invasion of the Crimea
At the same time, in July 1854, the Anglo-French squadron attacked the coastal fortifications of Sevastopol, and on September 14 the Allies began landing their expeditionary force in Yevpatoria.
- © Robert Gibb "The Thin Red Line" (1881)
“Already at the beginning of the war, the problems of the Russian army were clearly visible. There was a shortage of steamboats, most of the troops were armed with obsolete smoothbore guns, but the main thing was the fatal mistakes of military commanders. The Anglo-French fleet, which consisted mostly of transport workers, was near Evpatoria, but no one thought to assemble a squadron in order to attack it at that moment. In Evpatoria itself, grain reserves were left, which the Allied army then fed on for several months. In addition, the British and French were able to quickly find about 1.5 thousand of Tatar wagons for the transfer of guns and supplies to Sevastopol. If the transport had been destroyed in advance, the participants in the invasion would have started very big problems, ”said Alexander Shirokorad, a writer and military historian, in an interview with RT.
At the beginning of the Crimean War, Sevastopol was practically not fortified. Fortifications under the leadership of an outstanding military engineer Edward Totleben began to be erected just before the landing of the Allies.
On September 20, in the battle at Alma, the Allies defeated the Russian troops, who were trying to block their way to Sevastopol, and a month later the city was subjected to fierce bombardment.
- © D. Carmichael "The bombing of Sevastopol" (1855)
On October 25, during the Battle of Balaclava, the Russian army failed to crush the British camp near Sevastopol, but it disrupted the assault on the city. On November 5, Russian troops began to crush the British in the Battle of Inkerman, but were eventually defeated by the French who came to the rescue of the British.
On November 14, the strongest storm sank 53 Allied ships off the coast of the Crimea. British and French troops were left without most of the ammunition and supplies, but the Russian command failed to take advantage of this. In February 1855, an attempt was made to release Evpatoria from the participants of the invasion. On May 24, Kerch fell, and on June 3-5, the Allies broke through to the key fortification that defended Sevastopol, to Malakhov Kurgan.
The city was under heavy bombardment, which took from 500 to 1000 human lives per day.
On September 8, 1855, Malakhov Kurgan fell. Russian troops set fire to what was left of the city, blew up the powder cellars and sank the remnants of the fleet, then retreated to the northern side of the Sevastopol Bay - the Allies got the ruins.
Anglo-French-Turkish troops lost about 70 thousand people killed and wounded near Sevastopol, the Russian - about 93 thousand.
The outcome of the war
On the other fronts, the actions of the Allies were less successful than in the Crimea. In November 1855, the Turkish Kars fell. The British and the French in the Baltic near Kronstadt and Sveaborg could not do anything. In the Far East, the Russian garrison was defended by Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. The attempt to capture Nikolaev, which became the main center of the Black Sea Fleet after the fall of Sevastopol, completely failed. The Allied forces were able to capture only the fortress of Kinburn, located at the entrance to the Dnieper-Bug estuary, but were forced to stop the attack, having encountered a complex system of fortifications and artillery batteries.
- © F.I. Baikov "Battle at the village of Kyuryuk-Dar in the vicinity of the fortress of Kars on July 24, 1854" (1818-1890)
France, after the fall of Sevastopol and the seizure of key cities of the Crimea, considered the main tasks accomplished. To fight further to strengthen Britain, Paris did not want to. As a result, on March 30, 1856, a peace treaty was signed at the Paris Congress between Russia and the allies. In exchange for the liberation of the Crimean cities, St. Petersburg returned Kars to Turkey, the Black Sea was declared neutral, and Russia lost the right to deploy combat fleets in its waters and build fortresses. Russia also lost part of Bessarabia and the protectorate over Moldavia and Wallachia. According to some reports, St. Petersburg agreed to abandon the policy of protectionism, since soon after the end of the war, Russia lifted all customs restrictions.
“The specific negative consequences of war are sometimes inclined to exaggerate. Yes, Russia was left without a sailing fleet on the Black Sea, but it was still time to abandon it and start everything from scratch. There were no mechanisms for strict control over the implementation of agreements, and soon after the defeat, it was possible to begin to carefully build steamships, without having to mount tools on them immediately. However, in this situation, the foreign ministry played a negative role, which allegedly promised to quickly cancel the Paris Treaty, if St. Petersburg will strictly comply with its terms. As a result, the ships on the Black Sea began to be built much later than they actually could, ”said Alexander Shirokorad.
According to Oleg Airapetov, the main reason for Russia's defeat in the Crimean War was the absence of reforms long overdue in the country.
“Everything that could have been done in the conditions of war was done. Russia has withstood an extremely difficult standoff. It would be naive to believe that in those circumstances it was really possible to win, speaking alone against the alliance of the strongest armies and fleets of the world, ”the expert emphasized.
According to the historian, the Crimean War pushed the Russian authorities to change.
“Nicholas I died during the war. And the initially conservative-minded Alexander II, the defeat prompted the idea of the speedy implementation of reforms - in particular, the most important of them - the abolition of serfdom. The authorities were aware of the fact that the socio-economic system needed to be urgently changed, because only the over-tension and heroism of the Russian soldiers saved the country from a disaster, ”Oleg Ayrapetov summarized.