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Definition: Crimean War from Philip's Encyclopedia

(1853-56) Fought by Britain, France, and the Ottoman Turks against Russia. In 1853, Russia occupied Turkish territory and France and Britain, determined to preserve the Ottoman Empire, invaded the Crimea (1854) to attack Sevastopol. The war was marked on both sides by incompetent leadership and organization. The Charge of the Light Brigade is the best-known example. Sevastopol was eventually captured (1855). At the Treaty of Paris (1856) Russia surrendered its claims on the Ottoman Empire.

Crimean War

From The Columbia Encyclopedia
(krīmē'Әn), 1853–56, war between Russia on the one hand and the Ottoman Empire, Great Britain, France, and Sardinia on the other. The causes of the conflict were inherent in the unsolved Eastern Question . The more immediate occasion was a dispute between Russia and France over the Palestinian holy places. Challenging the claim of Russia to guardianship of the holy places, France in 1852 secured from Sultan Abd al-Majid certain privileges for the Latin churches. Russian counterdemands were turned down (1853) by the Ottoman government. In July, 1853, Russia retorted by occupying the Ottoman vassal states of Moldavia and Walachia, and in October, after futile negotiations, the Ottomans declared war. In Mar., 1854, Britain and France, having already dispatched fleets to the Black Sea, declared war on Russia; Sardinia followed suit in Jan., 1855. Austria remained neutral, but by threatening to enter the war on the Ottoman side forced Russia to evacuate Moldavia and Walachia, which were…
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1853–1856 The Crimean War was a struggle between Russia and Britain, along with its allies, over Russian expansion into the Ottoman-controlled territories of the Black Sea. The war was part of the so-called Eastern Question, or what should be done about the weakened Ottoman Empire. Eager for…
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Full text Article Crimean War

From Britannica Concise Encyclopedia
(October 1853–February 1856) War fought mainly in the Crimea between the Russians and an alliance consisting of the Ottoman empire, Britain, France, and Sardinia-Piedmont. It arose from the conflict of great powers in the Middle East and was more directly caused by Russian demands to exercise…
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Full text Article CRIMEAN WAR

From Historical Dictionary of Russian and Soviet Intelligence
Russian diplomacy in the early 1850s played a critical role in isolating Russia in the first general European war since Waterloo. Disputes over European issues and the question of which country controlled sites in the Holy Land precipitated a war that left Russia alone against an Anglo-French…
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Full text Article Crimean War

From The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia with Atlas and Weather Guide
War (1853–56) between Russia and the allied powers of England, France, Turkey, and Sardinia. The war arose from British and French mistrust of Russia's ambitions in the Balkans. It began with an allied Anglo-French expedition to the Crimea to attack the Russian Black Sea city of Sevastopol. The…
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Full text Article Crimean War

From The Columbia Encyclopedia
(krīmē'Әn), 1853–56, war between Russia on the one hand and the Ottoman Empire, Great Britain, France, and Sardinia on the other. The causes of the conflict were inherent in the unsolved Eastern Question . The more immediate occasion was a dispute between Russia and France over the Palestinian holy…
| 370 words
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Full text Article Crimean War (1854–1856)

From Encyclopedia of World Trade: From Ancient Times to the Present Full text Article A-Z Entries
Armed conflict waged by Britain, France, Sardinia, and Turkey against Russia and fought mainly in the Crimea. The war seriously weakened both Austria and Russia, the two powers most desirous of preserving the peace settlement of 1815. Crimea, a Russian peninsula on the north shore of the Black Sea, …
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Full text Article Crimean War

From Chambers Dictionary of World History
A war fought in the Crimean Peninsula by Britain and France against Russia. Its origins lay in Russian successes in the Black Sea area and the British and French desire to prevent further expansion into the Ottoman Empire by the Russians, since this would threaten the Mediterranean and overland…
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Full text Article Crimean War, 1853–6.

From The Oxford Companion to British History
Known to contemporaries as ‘the Russian War’, this arose from long-term Russian ambitions to expand westward and southward, resisted by Britain as a matter of policy. The immediate cause was a petty struggle between Russia and France over rights in Ottoman Turkey. This produced an ultimatum from…
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Full text Article CRIMEAN WAR, The

From The Welsh Academy Encyclopaedia of Wales
Britain and France declared war on Russia, in support of Turkey, in March 1854. In September, an expeditionary force landed on the Crimean peninsula and major battles were fought at Alma (20 October), Balaclava (25 October) and Inkerman (5 November), in which both the Royal Welch Fusiliers and the…
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French soldiers during the Crimean War, 1855, by Hippolyte Lalaisse (1812-1884), engraving. Crimean War, 19th century.
Credit: French soldiers during the Crimean War, 1855, by Hippolyte Lalaisse (1812-1884), engraving. Crimean War, 19th century. / De Agostini Picture Library / M. Seemuller / The Bridgeman Art Library Description: French soldiers during the Crimean War, 1855, by Hippolyte Lalaisse (1812-1884), …
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