Warmatrix

Ruined Great Redan redoubt at Sevastopol

The Crimean War, fought between 1853 CE and 1856 CE, was a forerunner of 'modern' war. It was the first where industrial innovations like railroads and telegraph, and military ones like rifled muskets and ironclads where used. It was also the first that was photographed and reported on by newspaper journalists.
Due to internal troubles, the power of Ottoman Turkish empire rapidly declined in the 19th century CE. It was contemptuously called the 'Sick man of Europe' by tsar Nicolas I. Several great powers lent assistance to the Turks in their struggles in the Middle East. Russia profited the most from the situation. When it conquered the southern Ukraine, its buffer zone with the Ottoman empire disappeared and the two countries fell out with each other. European countries were concerned that Russia would overwhelm the Turks and expand its influence over Turkey and possibly even the Middle East.
The French emperor Napoleon III made the first military move, not out of strategic motives, but to bolster France's prestige. Religion was used as pretext, with France championing the catholics, Russia the orthodox christians and the Ottomans the muslims. Diplomats from both east and west tried to win over the Turks. In 1853 CE Nicholas I sent troops to Moldavia and Wallachia and into the Caucasus mountains. Britain and France reacted by sending fleets to the Dardanelles, yet did not engage. That changed when the Russian fleet destroyed the Turkish one at the Battle of Sinop less than a year later. After a brief ultimatum the two western powers declared war on Russia.
Early in the war most fighting took place around the Danube river. Russia fought with the Ottomans in what was largely a stalemate. Austria, which at first remained neutral, threatened to join the coalition against the Russians, who withdrew shortly after. Austria occupied Moldavia and Wallachia for the remainder of the conflict. At that point the war could have ended, but public opinion in Britain and France demanded a victory.
The western powers concentrated their forces in the Black Sea. They landed troops on the Crimean Peninsula and after victory at the Battle of the Alma started to besiege Sevastopol, the main port. Russian counterattacks were repulsed, with heavy losses at both sides, at the battles of Balaclava and Inkerman. Because of rugged terrain, a cold winter and heavy defensive artillery, the allies took almost a year to conquer the city. Then they tried to push further into Russia, without success.
The fighting on the Crimean peninsula was badly mismanaged. First the Russians failed to stop the allied landing; then the allies failed to take Sevastopol before its defenses were ready; later generals repeatedly lost control of their armies in battle, leading, among others, to the failed Charge of the Light Brigade. When winter set in, the armies proved ill-prepared for the cold and suffered horribly.
Meanwhile there was some fighting on several secondary fronts. In the Caucausus mountains the terrain heavily favored defense and neither side made any significant advance against the other. In the Baltic Sea the allies bottled up the Russian fleet in its harbors and seriously clamped down on Russian Baltic trade, yet were too weak to attempt an invasion. There were also skirmishes in the White Sea and the Pacific.
Early in 1855 CE Sardinia entered the war on the allied side with 10,000 men to strengthen its bargaining position in Italy. By then all other participants were weary of the war. The Ottomans had lost at least 90,000 men, possibly twice as many; France 95,000; Britain 21,000; Russia some 400,000. Most deaths, some 80% on the allied side, resulted not from battle, but from disease, which in turn resulted from bad leadership, logistics and medical care. Peace negotiations started and were concluded the next year with the Treaty of Paris. Russia ceded Kars and some territory in Bessarabia; in return it got the Crimea back. Moldavia and Wallachia were officially returned to the Ottoman empire, but in practice became independent buffer states. More importantly, both Russia and the Ottoman empire agreed to demilitarize the Black Sea coast.
The Crimean war achieved little, but upset the balance of power in Europe that had existed since the Napoleonic Wars. It would be further weakened by Austro-Prussian War, the Franco-Prussian War, the Russo-Turkish War and finally World War I.