The battle of Olteni\u021ba \u2013 4 November 1853<\/strong><\/h3>\n<\/div> 8,000 Ottomans v 6,000 Russians<\/strong><\/p>\nKilled: 30 Ottomans, 600\u2013700 Russians<\/strong><\/p>\nThe war\u2019s first military engagement came several months before Britain and France joined the hostilities. Near the village of Olteni\u021ba in the region of Wallachia (now part of Romania), the Ottomans established fortified positions on the banks of the River Danube, ready to defend their territory against the steadily advancing Russians under the command of General Peter Dannenberg. As his troops approached these defences, Dannenberg moved his infantrymen to the front.<\/p>\n
However, despite some of them managing to breach the fortifications\u2019 moat, the Russians suffered heavy losses and were recalled, clearly unprepared for the level of artillery required to destabilise the Ottomans\u2019 defences. Perhaps surprisingly, the Ottomans didn\u2019t pursue the retreating Russians, content to have merely contained the opening battle of what would be a drawn-out war. But while not a crucial victory militarily, Olteni\u021ba\u2019s impact was more to do with psychology and morale.
2<\/span> The battle of Sinop \u2013 30 November 1853<\/h3>\n<\/div>
12 Ottoman ships v 11 Russian ships <\/strong><\/p>\nKilled: 3,000 Ottomans, 37 Russians<\/strong><\/p>\nLess than a month after Russian progress on land had been derailed at Olteni\u021ba, the first naval battle of the war gave Russia a significant victory. At the port of Sinop on the Black Sea\u2019s southern shore, a Russian fleet \u2013 including six battleships \u2013 attacked a dozen smaller Ottoman ships in the town\u2019s harbour, all but one of which were sunk or run aground. The Russian squadron remained intact. As well as benefitting from the element of surprise, this dominant victory was testament to the Russians\u2019 deployment of explosive shells which, far more destructive than cannonballs, decimated the wooden hulls of the Ottoman vessels. Not content with demobilising these ships in such a brutal and unrelenting manner, the Russians then turned their aim on Sinop itself, shelling the town and claiming the lives of a great many civilians.<\/p>\n
- On the podcast |\u00a0The Crimean War: everything you wanted to know<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>
Back in St Petersburg, the authorities were both relieved and ecstatic that the hefty financial investment made in upgrading the Russian navy had produced such an emphatic result. Elsewhere in Europe, the unprovoked nature of the attack in Sinop drew instant condemnation; the word \u2018massacre\u2019 was never far from critics\u2019 lips. Deep concern over both Russia\u2019s intentions and its naval firepower fuelled and strengthened the argument for western Europe to become engaged militarily in the conflict. Amid a growing anti-Russian fervour, British and French warships entered the waters of the Black Sea in January 1854. The war was no longer simply Ottoman versus Russian.
3<\/span> The battle of the Alma \u2013 20 September 1854<\/strong><\/h3>\n<\/div> 58,000 allies v 37,500 Russians <\/strong><\/p>\nKilled or wounded: 4,100 allies, 5,000 Russians<\/strong><\/p>\nIn mid-September 1854, an allied force of British, French and Ottoman troops landed on the Crimean Peninsula in a move not foreseen by Russia, which hadn\u2019t predicted a land campaign as winter approached. Under the command of Britain\u2019s Lord Raglan and France\u2019s Armand-Jacques Leroy de Saint-Arnaud, the combined forces were vast in number. Such was the scale of the allied effort \u2013 hundreds of vessels laden with armour, horses and men had crossed the Black Sea \u2013 that it took five days for the entire party to disembark before the massed ranks began to march towards the strategically significant port of Sevastopol, around 35 miles away. After a comparatively minor clash between the allies and the Russians at the Bulganak River, stiffer resistance was in place seven miles away at the mouth of the Alma River, where the Russians had taken up position atop the Alma Heights, a series of bluffs and cliffs which gave them a strategic advantage.<\/p>\n
The allies\u2019 tactics, largely drawn up by the cholera-riven Saint-Arnaud rather than the out-of-his-depth Raglan, saw the French attack the Russian left flank, the latter being surprised at their enemy\u2019s ability to scale the cliffs. The British assaults on the Russian right flank overran key bastions, but their superior firepower (in the form of Mini\u00e9 rifles that fired hollow-based bullets), combined with the French capture of the Alma Heights, drove the Russian army into a full retreat. Remarkably, neither the British or French forces pursued them to Sevastopol, with Saint-Arnaud and Lord Raglan both blaming each other for failing to seize the opportunity. However, Raglan had his eye on a different port: Balaclava.<\/p>\n
![\"""\"]( "\\"\"\"\\"\/")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div> Removing the dead and wounded after the battle of the Alma during the Crimean War. (Photo by Art Images via Getty Images)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n\u00a0
4<\/span> The siege of Sevastopol: 17 October 1854 \u2013 11 September 1855<\/strong><\/h3>\n<\/div> Killed: 128,387 allies, 102,000 Russians<\/strong><\/p>\nThe capture of Sevastopol \u2013 ahead of other ports on the Crimea Peninsula \u2013 had been a primary objective for the allied powers for one overriding reason: it was the base of Russia\u2019s Black Sea fleet, the means through which Nicholas I intended to secure footholds across the Mediterranean basin. Destroying the fleet \u2013 or at least disabling it \u2013 was crucial in stymying the tsar\u2019s expansionist ambitions. The allies chose to pen in Russian forces in the city, and in the process, they ended up creating one of the most famous sieges in history. While the allies had 120 guns pointed at Sevastopol, both from the Black Sea and from the uplands south of the city, the Russians had three times as many to use for their defence, utilising the naval artillery repurposed after they had scuttled in excess of a dozen of their own ships to prevent the allies\u2019 capture of them.<\/p>\n
- Read more |\u00a0Your ultimate guide to the Crimean War<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>
While many significant battles were won and lost beyond the siege lines the allies had constructed, the siege itself became a feature for nearly the next 12 months. The Russians withstood half a dozen heavyweight bombardments in Sevastopol during this time, but the sixth was particularly damaging, claiming between 2,000 and 3,000 Russian casualties on each of its three days. The heroic defence eventually mutated into a reluctant abandonment and retreat.
5<\/span> The battle of Balaclava:\u00a025 October 1854<\/h3>\n<\/div>
28,000 allies v 25,000 Russians <\/strong><\/p>\nKilled or wounded: 615 allies, 627 Russians<\/strong><\/p>\nFollowing their retreat at the battle of the Alma, the Russians spent the next month regrouping ahead of the next skirmish. While redeployed personnel from the Russian navy defended Sevastopol from inside the city, General Alexander Menshikov\u2019s soldiers operated beyond the allies\u2019 siege lines, able to move around the countryside as they tried to find the weakest section to attack. They found it to the south, around the town of Balaclava. Lord Raglan had moved his men there after Alma, but didn\u2019t have enough troops to offer the most watertight defence of the siege\u2019s right flank. The Russians\u2019 first attack was on Ottoman forts on the Vorontsov Heights, and it was a successful encounter, with the Ottomans forced to retreat after an initial spell of stubborn defence.<\/p>\n
The Russians then approached the second defensive line in the region, one formed by Ottoman infantrymen and the British 93rd Highland Regiment. At dawn, the regiment\u2019s commander, Major-General Colin Campbell, outlined to his troops what was about to occur at what was the last defensive line between the Russians and the town of Balaclava. \u201cThere is no retreat from here, men,\u201d he told them bluntly. \u201cYou must die where you stand.\u201d Without the numbers to set them up four-deep, as was customary, Campbell\u2019s defences were half as shallow. In their red uniform jackets, the 93rd met the oncoming Russian cavalry charge with two volleys of fire: one from 800 yards away and a second from 500 yards. This was sufficient. The Russians turned and fled, although Campbell had to order the 93rd not to pursue them. \u201c93rd! 93rd! Damn all that eagerness!\u201d<\/p>\n
The valley of death<\/h3>\n
His advice might have served the equally eager Lord Raglan. Keen to deter the Russians from making off with captured British guns, he ordered that the Light Brigade go after them. Unencumbered by decent armour for either man or horse, the Light Brigade could cover ground quickly and thus disrupt the Russians fleeing with such heavy armaments. So, into the valley rode the Light Brigade; \u201cthe valley of Death\u201d as Lord Tennyson\u2019s poem would later dub it.<\/p>\n
- Read more | Why did Britain fight the Crimean War?<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>
However, a miscommunication had taken them right into the heart of set-in Russian troops who had the British ringed on three sides of the valley. Chaos ensued. A correspondent from the London Illustrated News saw \u201ca flood of smoke and flame, through which hissed the deadly balls\u201d, while a\u00a0French onlooker couldn\u2019t understand the logic of Raglan\u2019s order: \u201cit is not war. It is madness.\u201d Regardless of who was responsible for the misdirected attack, it terrified the Russians, who never again came out on horseback to face British cavalry.
6<\/span> The battle of Inkerman: 5 November 1854<\/h3>\n<\/div>
15,700 allies v 40,500 Russians <\/strong><\/p>\nKilled or wounded: 4,676 allies, 11,959 Russians<\/strong><\/p>\n ![\"""\"]( "\\"\"\"\\"\/")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div> Difficult weather and terrain led the clash at Inkerman to be dubbed \u2018The Soldiers\u2019 Battle\u2019. (Photo by Fine Art Images\/Heritage Images\/Getty Images)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n
Killed: 30 Ottomans, 600\u2013700 Russians<\/strong><\/p>\n The war\u2019s first military engagement came several months before Britain and France joined the hostilities. Near the village of Olteni\u021ba in the region of Wallachia (now part of Romania), the Ottomans established fortified positions on the banks of the River Danube, ready to defend their territory against the steadily advancing Russians under the command of General Peter Dannenberg. As his troops approached these defences, Dannenberg moved his infantrymen to the front.<\/p>\n However, despite some of them managing to breach the fortifications\u2019 moat, the Russians suffered heavy losses and were recalled, clearly unprepared for the level of artillery required to destabilise the Ottomans\u2019 defences. Perhaps surprisingly, the Ottomans didn\u2019t pursue the retreating Russians, content to have merely contained the opening battle of what would be a drawn-out war. But while not a crucial victory militarily, Olteni\u021ba\u2019s impact was more to do with psychology and morale. 12 Ottoman ships v 11 Russian ships <\/strong><\/p>\n Killed: 3,000 Ottomans, 37 Russians<\/strong><\/p>\n Less than a month after Russian progress on land had been derailed at Olteni\u021ba, the first naval battle of the war gave Russia a significant victory. At the port of Sinop on the Black Sea\u2019s southern shore, a Russian fleet \u2013 including six battleships \u2013 attacked a dozen smaller Ottoman ships in the town\u2019s harbour, all but one of which were sunk or run aground. The Russian squadron remained intact. As well as benefitting from the element of surprise, this dominant victory was testament to the Russians\u2019 deployment of explosive shells which, far more destructive than cannonballs, decimated the wooden hulls of the Ottoman vessels. Not content with demobilising these ships in such a brutal and unrelenting manner, the Russians then turned their aim on Sinop itself, shelling the town and claiming the lives of a great many civilians.<\/p>\n Back in St Petersburg, the authorities were both relieved and ecstatic that the hefty financial investment made in upgrading the Russian navy had produced such an emphatic result. Elsewhere in Europe, the unprovoked nature of the attack in Sinop drew instant condemnation; the word \u2018massacre\u2019 was never far from critics\u2019 lips. Deep concern over both Russia\u2019s intentions and its naval firepower fuelled and strengthened the argument for western Europe to become engaged militarily in the conflict. Amid a growing anti-Russian fervour, British and French warships entered the waters of the Black Sea in January 1854. The war was no longer simply Ottoman versus Russian. 58,000 allies v 37,500 Russians <\/strong><\/p>\n Killed or wounded: 4,100 allies, 5,000 Russians<\/strong><\/p>\n In mid-September 1854, an allied force of British, French and Ottoman troops landed on the Crimean Peninsula in a move not foreseen by Russia, which hadn\u2019t predicted a land campaign as winter approached. Under the command of Britain\u2019s Lord Raglan and France\u2019s Armand-Jacques Leroy de Saint-Arnaud, the combined forces were vast in number. Such was the scale of the allied effort \u2013 hundreds of vessels laden with armour, horses and men had crossed the Black Sea \u2013 that it took five days for the entire party to disembark before the massed ranks began to march towards the strategically significant port of Sevastopol, around 35 miles away. After a comparatively minor clash between the allies and the Russians at the Bulganak River, stiffer resistance was in place seven miles away at the mouth of the Alma River, where the Russians had taken up position atop the Alma Heights, a series of bluffs and cliffs which gave them a strategic advantage.<\/p>\n The allies\u2019 tactics, largely drawn up by the cholera-riven Saint-Arnaud rather than the out-of-his-depth Raglan, saw the French attack the Russian left flank, the latter being surprised at their enemy\u2019s ability to scale the cliffs. The British assaults on the Russian right flank overran key bastions, but their superior firepower (in the form of Mini\u00e9 rifles that fired hollow-based bullets), combined with the French capture of the Alma Heights, drove the Russian army into a full retreat. Remarkably, neither the British or French forces pursued them to Sevastopol, with Saint-Arnaud and Lord Raglan both blaming each other for failing to seize the opportunity. However, Raglan had his eye on a different port: Balaclava.<\/p>\n \u00a0 Killed: 128,387 allies, 102,000 Russians<\/strong><\/p>\n The capture of Sevastopol \u2013 ahead of other ports on the Crimea Peninsula \u2013 had been a primary objective for the allied powers for one overriding reason: it was the base of Russia\u2019s Black Sea fleet, the means through which Nicholas I intended to secure footholds across the Mediterranean basin. Destroying the fleet \u2013 or at least disabling it \u2013 was crucial in stymying the tsar\u2019s expansionist ambitions. The allies chose to pen in Russian forces in the city, and in the process, they ended up creating one of the most famous sieges in history. While the allies had 120 guns pointed at Sevastopol, both from the Black Sea and from the uplands south of the city, the Russians had three times as many to use for their defence, utilising the naval artillery repurposed after they had scuttled in excess of a dozen of their own ships to prevent the allies\u2019 capture of them.<\/p>\n While many significant battles were won and lost beyond the siege lines the allies had constructed, the siege itself became a feature for nearly the next 12 months. The Russians withstood half a dozen heavyweight bombardments in Sevastopol during this time, but the sixth was particularly damaging, claiming between 2,000 and 3,000 Russian casualties on each of its three days. The heroic defence eventually mutated into a reluctant abandonment and retreat. 28,000 allies v 25,000 Russians <\/strong><\/p>\n Killed or wounded: 615 allies, 627 Russians<\/strong><\/p>\n Following their retreat at the battle of the Alma, the Russians spent the next month regrouping ahead of the next skirmish. While redeployed personnel from the Russian navy defended Sevastopol from inside the city, General Alexander Menshikov\u2019s soldiers operated beyond the allies\u2019 siege lines, able to move around the countryside as they tried to find the weakest section to attack. They found it to the south, around the town of Balaclava. Lord Raglan had moved his men there after Alma, but didn\u2019t have enough troops to offer the most watertight defence of the siege\u2019s right flank. The Russians\u2019 first attack was on Ottoman forts on the Vorontsov Heights, and it was a successful encounter, with the Ottomans forced to retreat after an initial spell of stubborn defence.<\/p>\n The Russians then approached the second defensive line in the region, one formed by Ottoman infantrymen and the British 93rd Highland Regiment. At dawn, the regiment\u2019s commander, Major-General Colin Campbell, outlined to his troops what was about to occur at what was the last defensive line between the Russians and the town of Balaclava. \u201cThere is no retreat from here, men,\u201d he told them bluntly. \u201cYou must die where you stand.\u201d Without the numbers to set them up four-deep, as was customary, Campbell\u2019s defences were half as shallow. In their red uniform jackets, the 93rd met the oncoming Russian cavalry charge with two volleys of fire: one from 800 yards away and a second from 500 yards. This was sufficient. The Russians turned and fled, although Campbell had to order the 93rd not to pursue them. \u201c93rd! 93rd! Damn all that eagerness!\u201d<\/p>\n His advice might have served the equally eager Lord Raglan. Keen to deter the Russians from making off with captured British guns, he ordered that the Light Brigade go after them. Unencumbered by decent armour for either man or horse, the Light Brigade could cover ground quickly and thus disrupt the Russians fleeing with such heavy armaments. So, into the valley rode the Light Brigade; \u201cthe valley of Death\u201d as Lord Tennyson\u2019s poem would later dub it.<\/p>\n However, a miscommunication had taken them right into the heart of set-in Russian troops who had the British ringed on three sides of the valley. Chaos ensued. A correspondent from the London Illustrated News saw \u201ca flood of smoke and flame, through which hissed the deadly balls\u201d, while a\u00a0French onlooker couldn\u2019t understand the logic of Raglan\u2019s order: \u201cit is not war. It is madness.\u201d Regardless of who was responsible for the misdirected attack, it terrified the Russians, who never again came out on horseback to face British cavalry. 15,700 allies v 40,500 Russians <\/strong><\/p>\n Killed or wounded: 4,676 allies, 11,959 Russians<\/strong><\/p>\nThe battle of Sinop \u2013 30 November 1853<\/h3>\n<\/div>
The battle of the Alma \u2013 20 September 1854<\/strong><\/h3>\n<\/div>
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<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>The siege of Sevastopol: 17 October 1854 \u2013 11 September 1855<\/strong><\/h3>\n<\/div>
The battle of Balaclava:\u00a025 October 1854<\/h3>\n<\/div>
The valley of death<\/h3>\n
The battle of Inkerman: 5 November 1854<\/h3>\n<\/div>
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