Crimean War

Review

The Congress of Vienna set up a security system for Europe based on the principles of BALANCE OF POWER and COLLECTIVE SECURITY. The situation began to change because of the 1848 revolutions. The 1848 revolutions were nationalist movements that challenged the security of Europe. This, coupled with the rise of Prussia ( Germany ) and Italy dismantled the security system established in Vienna. See map.

TOUR GUIDE

The Crimean War

OVERVIEW

Roger Fenton, The valley of the shadow of death.
LC-USZC4-9217

Caused By:

1. The safety of Christians in the Ottoman Empire and a dispute between the Roman Catholic and Orthodox Christians.

2. Disputed control of the waterways, the Bosporus and the Dardanelle that would allow Russia access to the Mediterranean Sea and trade routes (The Eastern Question—see page 78). Another resource on the Eastern Question.

Actions:

1. Russia attempted to control the Bosporus and the Dardanelles by dominating Turkey (The Ottomans).

2. Turkey responded by declaring war on Russia in 1853.

3. Britain and France join forces with Turkey in 1854.

4. The Battle of the Light Brigade, a disastrous historical military
engagement that took place during the initial phase of the Crimean War.

Results

1. Russia is defeated by the combined force of Turkey , France and Britain .

2. The Treaty of Paris was signed in 1856.

3. The Ottoman Empire was weakened

4. Austria who remained neutral had its weaknesses exposed; this leads to attempts by Italian nationalists to rise against Austrian domination of Italy .

5. The Austrian empire becomes increasingly weak from this point forward.

6. Overview

Interesting:

1. Women served as army nurses for the first time. Florence Nightingale becomes well known for her role in the Crimean War.

2. For the first time, journalists reported news straight from the battlefield.

3. “The Charge of the Light Brigade”, a British nationalistic poem is written to raise morale in Britain . It idealizes the British troops’ role in the war. See a video clip.

Roger Fenton, William H. Russell, Esqr., the Times special correspondent.   LC-USZC4-9183

4. Why The Charge of the Light Brigade Still Matters.

5. Read an excerpt from "Crimean Punishment" and the quote below.

"The first casualty when war comes, is truth," said American Senator Hiram Johnson in 1917, and in his gripping, now-classic history of war journalism, entitled "The First Casualty: The War Correspondent as Hero and Myth-Maker from the Crimea to Kosovo", Phillip Knightley shows just how right Johnson was. From William Howard Russell, who described the appalling conditions of the Crimean War in the Times [London], to the ranks of reporters, photographers, and cameramen who captured the realities of war in Vietnam, The First Casualty tells a fascinating story of heroism and collusion, censorship and suppression, myth-making and propaganda."

Permissions and Credits

There are no known restrictions on the photographs in the Roger Fenton Crimean War Photograph Collection. Credit Line: Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, [reproduction number, e.g., LC-USZC4-1234]. Full rights and restrictions information is available at: http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/res/277_fent.html.