War of the firsts: The crimean war (1853-1856)

Abstract

The Crimean War (1853-1856), which can be qualified as the first modernworld war, is also the first combined operation in which the Turkish army took part in modernterms. Furthermore, this war is the first one that introduced the Ottoman State to the migrationproblem.The Crimean War, in which the alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, Britain andPiedmont-Sardinian Kingdom fought against Russia, is an incomparable war wherein manytechniques and methods were used for the first time. The Ottomans allied themselves with theWestern European states for the first time, and in addition, the first trench warfare, the first wirecommunication, and the first war photographs appeared on the history scene during this war.Likewise, the first multinational amphibious operation in the world naval history and the lastnaval campaign of the sailing warships were conducted in this war.The relations between the Ottoman State and Russia, the principal belligerent parties,had started centuries before this war and important battles had been waged between the two.Having adopted the policy of becoming a global state as from the rule of Tsarina Catherine II(the Great), Russia left no stone unturned including war in order to take control of the (Istanbuland Canakkale) Straits, the Caucasus and the Balkans; and it fairly approached its objectivesthrough the 1774 Treaty of Kuchuk Kainarji. After taking the Ottoman Orthodox subjects underits protection, Russia took advantage of every opportunity and played its trump card on theminorities in 1853 particularly for attaining its goals on the Straits. Furthermore, Russia stirredup a new trouble under the pretext of controlling the holy places in Jerusalem. Thereafter, as theguarantor state, it occupied Wallachia and Moldavia for the settlement of these problems.Russian demands on the Balkans and the Straits turned the situation into aninternational problem. Although Britain, who was extremely sensitive about the probability ofRussian influence on the Eastern Mediterranean, had pursued a policy of confining Russia tothe Black Sea until then, it thenceforth resorted to a policy of totally annihilating Russianpresence in the seas. At this stage started the Crimean War, in which the Ottoman State foughtagainst Russia for the first time together with Britain, France and Piedmont (participated in thewar at a later time and established the Italian Unification after the war) and which was one of themost important wars of the 19 th century.This article deals with the alliances between the belligerent parties of the Crimean War,which constitutes one of the most important pages of the 19 th century European history; as wellas the activities of the Russian army and navy in Wallachia-Moldavia, the Black Sea, Crimeaand the Caucasus; the measures taken by the allies against these Russian activities, theiroperations and the results of those operations. Moreover, the gains and losses of the combatantparties due to this war will be assessed.