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The only war fought by Great Britain between the Napoleonic Wars and World War I, the Crimean War lasted from 1854 to 1856. While the British and their French allies finally won over their Russian opponents, the war became famous for miliary and logistical incompetence.

Notes toward an article

• The war largely took place on the Crimean Peninsula, sometimes callled the Crimea (largely around Sevastopol), on the Black Sea -- some action also took place on the Russian Pacific coast, Asia Minor, the Baltic and White Seas
• The roots of the war's causes lay in the existing rivalry between the British and the Russians in other areas such as Afghanistan. Conflicts over control of holy places in Jerusalem led to aggressive actions in the Balkans, and around the Dardanelles.
• Major battles
  • The Battle of Alma - September 20, 1854
  • The Battle of Balaklava - October 25, 1854 (see also Charge of the Light Brigade);
  • The Battle of Inkermann - November 5, 1854;
  • Siege of Sebastopol (more correctly, "Sevastopol") - September 25, 1854 to September 8, 1855
  • Battle of Eupatoria, February 17, 1855
  • the Siege of Kars, June to November 28, 1855
  • Battle of Chernaya River (aka "Traktir Bridge") - August 25th, 1855.

• It was the first war where the electric telegraph started to have a significant effect; the first 'live' war reporting to the London Times, and English generals reduced independence of action from London due to such rapid communications.
• Florence Nightingale

• obscure cross-link: Beryl Bainbridge's novel Master Georgie is set in the Crimean War.

Links

• http://www.geocities.com/Broadway/Alley/5443/crimopen.htm
• Crimean War Research Society: http://www.hargreave-mawson.demon.co.uk/cwrs.html