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1854-56
 

For most of the 19^th Century, the Great Powers were awaiting the break-up of the vast Ottoman Empire, and grab the spoils for themselves.  Covering the junction of Europe, Asia and Africa, this Turkish territory was of vital strategic importance to all of the Great Powers.

 

The Russian Empire to the north required sea ports.  Their only access to the sea was in the Baltic and the Far East.  They wanted to control the Dardanelles Straits so that they could have unfettered access to the Mediterranean from the Black Sea.

 

British policy was to maintain the balance of power so that no other nation could gain the strength to threaten her Empire.  The Austro-Hungarians didn’t like the idea of Russian expansion, but they were in Russia’s debt for assisting them to restore their Hungarian kingdoms.  France wished to consolidate their North African Empire and expand their influence in Egypt and the Levant (now called Lebanon.)

 

The spark that ignited the war was a seemingly insignificant dispute between Roman Catholic priests and Greek Orthodox monks over precedence in the Holy places of Bethlehem and Jerusalem.  The priests appealed to the French for help, whilst the monks appealed to the Russians.  The Turkish Sultan found in favour of the priests.

 

The Tsar attempted to bully the Sultan, and the British and French sent ships to the Dardanelles to support the Turks.  The Sultan refused to back down so in July 1853, the Russians invaded the Danubian Principalities (now Romania) and as a consequence Turkey declared war on Russia in October 1853.

 

On 1^st December, the Russians sank a squadron of Turkish ships at Sinope with the loss of 4,000 men.  This galvanised the British and French and they declared war on Russia on 27^th March, 1854.

 

In May, Russia besieged the Turkish fortress of Silestria, but to the dismay of the Tsar, the Austro-Hungarians massed 50,000 troops on their borders with Russia and demanded that the Russians withdrew from the Danubian Principalities, which they were forced to do.

 

British and French troops had landed in Turkey in May 1854, and were based at Varna.  Here it suffered terribly from the heat and disease, and now that the war was over, there was very little for them to do.  Now that the Army was in place, at great cost, the government decided to neutralise the Russian port of Sevastopol on the Crimean peninsula.  It was also felt that a sea voyage would be good for then troops’ health!

 

Therefore, equipped only with what they were wearing and what they could carry, the British and French troops landed 30 miles north of Sevastopol on 14^th September, 1854.

 

A Guards Brigade was dispatched which consisted of the 1^st Battalion alongside the 3^rd Grenadiers and 1^st Bn Scots Guards.  Their first encounter was at the Battle of the Alma on 20^th September, 1854, when the Guards Brigade were in the thick of the fighting to capture the Russian strongpoint of the Great Redoubt. Although greatly out numbered they forced the Russians to withdraw, and the 1^st Battalion were commended for their ordered precision and discipline as they advanced under fire.

 

The Allies then moved onto Sevastopol but instead of attacking it immediately, it was decided to lay siege to it.  This was a decision that had dire consequences later in the war.

 

The British base was at Balaclava and on 25^th October, the Russians launched a strong attack on it.  Although the Guards did not take part in this battle it is worthwhile to note that this is where the 93^rd Highlanders[1] stopped the Russians by extending to a frontage of only two ranks, an incident that famously became known as ‘the thin red line.’  The disastrous Charge of the Light Brigade also occurred during this battle.

 

The Battle of Inkerman took place on 5^th November when 30,000 Russians using the cover of thick fog were able to creep up on the British troops who were holding the high ground on the approaches to Balaclava.  Reinforcements were hastily sent but the British were vastly outnumbered.  The ground was very broken and covered in thick scrub which meant that the tactics of the day, i.e. using large formed bodies of troops, were unworkable and the battle broken down into scattered bodies of troops fighting vicious hand-to-hand encounters with the enemy.  The thick fog was a help as well as a hindrance in that it helped to conceal their weak numbers. At the end of the day the Russians were driven off, but at the cost of very heavy British casualties, the Coldstream losing 92 killed and 128 wounded.

 

The war now stagnated into the Siege of Sevastopol through the extremely harsh winter of 1854-55.  Problems were compounded by the fact that a storm in November sank twenty-one ships containing much of the army’s supplies, including food, tents and medical supplies.  The troops suffered terribly, many dying of the cold and disease.  Sevastopol was besieged for a year and despite many assaults, it wasn’t until September 1855 that the Russians finally withdrew.  The war finally ended in March 1856, and the Battalion returned home during June.

 

The conduct of the Crimean War highlighted many deficiencies in the British Army.  Since the defeat of Napoleon in June 1815, the army had not fought a major war for nearly 40 years and very little had changed in that time.  The supply system in the field was woefully inadequate and the equipment supplied to the British soldier was unsuitable and out of date.  The Medical Services were completely overwhelmed and it took the likes of Florence Nightingale to highlight the problems and institute reforms.  As a result of the lessons learnt during the war, many reforms were launched throughout every aspect of the army and a great deal of modernisation took place.

 

The Crimean War also saw the introduction of the Victoria Cross for acts of the highest valour and heroism.  Prior to this the only awards available were the Order of Bath for officers, and the Distinguished Conduct Medal which was instituted for others ranks in 1854. The Victoria cross was the first award which was available for acts of gallantry irrespective of rank.  The first awards were presented by Queen Victoria at a special parade in Hyde Park in 1857.  The Coldstream were awarded four Victoria Crosses during the Crimean War.

 

Related Pictures

  A Bandsman              A Pioneer          An Officer




Leaving for the Crimea War

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