Crimean War facts for kids

Crimean War

The Crimean War (1853–1856), also called the Eastern War (Russian: Восточная война), was a war fought between Russia on one side, and France, the United Kingdom, the Kingdom of Sardinia and the Ottoman Empire on the other side. Most of the fighting happened in the Crimean Peninsula, with other fighting in western Turkey, and around the Baltic Sea.

The Crimean War is sometimes called the first "modern" war, since the weaponry and tactics used had never been seen before and affected all other wars after it. It was also the first war where a telegraph was used to quickly give information to a newspaper.

Background

The Ottoman Empire was declining by the mid-1800s. European countries, which wanted as much land around the world as possible, looked to the Ottoman Empire. The war itself started after the Ottoman Empire said Russia, and not France, had the right to protect the Holy Land near the area of modern-day Israel.

Differences

The Crimean War was a very important point in the history of warfare. It was not only different in the weapons it used, it was also the first war related to by press, by photography and journalists. Another very important factor was that it was the first war with real field hospitals, started by Florence Nightingale. The defeat of Russia in the war caused increased development of weaponry and the end of serfdom in 1861.

Related pages

• Florence Nightingale

Images for kids

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  Southeastern Europe after the Treaty of Bucharest (1812)

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  The First Serbian Uprising (1804–1813) against the Ottoman Empire.

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  The naval Battle of Navarino (1827), as depicted by Ambroise Louis Garneray.

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  Russian siege of Varna in Ottoman-ruled Bulgaria, July–September 1828

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  Russian siege of Kars, Russo-Turkish War of 1828–29

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  French Emperor Napoleon III

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  From 1816 to 1856, Foreign Minister Count Karl Nesselrode guided Russian policy.

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  Russo-French skirmish during the Crimean War

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  The Russian destruction of the Ottoman fleet at the Battle of Sinop on 30 November 1853 sparked the war (painting by Ivan Aivazovsky).

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  Valley of the Shadow of Death, by Roger Fenton, one of the most famous pictures of the Crimean War

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  Mahmudiye (1829) participated in numerous important naval battles, including the Siege of Sevastopol

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  French zouaves and Russian soldiers engaged in hand-to-hand combat at Malakhov Kurgan.

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  Turkish troops storming Fort Shefketil

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  Russo-British skirmish during the Crimean War. By Harry Payne

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  Depiction of the 93rd Sutherland Highlanders at the Battle of Alma. Richard Simkin

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  The French landing near Yevpatoria, in Kalamita Bay

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  British cavalry charging against Russian forces at Balaclava

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  The Chasseurs d'Afrique, led by General d'Allonville, clearing Russian artillery from the Fedyukhin Heights during the Battle of Balaclava

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  Historical map showing the territory between Balaclava and Sevastopol at the time of the Siege of Sevastopol

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  Siege of Sevastopol

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  Battle of Malakoff

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  Battle of the Chernaya, the forces at the beginning of the battle and the Russian advance

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  The French captured Sevastopol after a nearly year-long siege.

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  Disembarkation of the expedition to Kerch

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  Caucasus front during the Crimean War

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  General Bebutashvili defeated the Ottomans at the Battle of Kurekdere.

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  The Capitulation of Kars

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  Bombardment of Bomarsund during the Crimean War, after William Simpson

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  "Bombardment of the Solovetsky Monastery in the White Sea by the Royal Navy", a lubok (popular print) from 1868

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  The Bersaglieri halt the Russian attack during the Battle of the Chernaya.

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  A Greek legion fought for Russia at Sevastopol

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  One of three 17th-century church bells in Arundel Castle, England, which were taken from Sevastopol as trophies at the end of the Crimean War.

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  Treaty of Paris (1856)

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  Crimean War Memorial at Waterloo Place, St James's, London

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  Sebastopol Monument, Halifax, Nova Scotia – the only Crimean War Monument in North America

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  During the Crimean War, Florence Nightingale and her team of nurses cleaned up the military hospitals and set up the first training school for nurses in the United Kingdom.

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  A tinted lithograph by William Simpson illustrating conditions of the sick and injured in Balaklava

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  FitzRoy Somerset, Omar Pasha and Marshal Pélissier

See also

In Spanish: Guerra de Crimea para niños