Russia and the Crimean War

State of Europe: 1800s-1850s

• Britain and France expanded

• Russia fell behind

• Russia tried to establish ports and a navy in the Black Sea

• Britain and France grew wary of Russia’s expansionism

• Also, the Ottoman Empire was collapsing– Religious conflicts

between Muslims and Orthodox Christians

• Russia saw an opportunity to secure valuable land

State of Europe: 1800s-1850s

Crimean War

• 1853-1856 – This “diplomatic war” between Russia and Turkey grew to include the British and the French on Turkish side. Later Sardinia- Piedmont would also join on the side of the Ottoman Empire

• Causes• 1)       Struggle for control of the keys to holy sites within

the Ottoman Empire and Jerusalem between Orthodox monks and Roman Catholic monks.

• 2) Control of the waterways between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean.

Ottoman Empire

Ottoman Empire: “Sick Man of Europe”

The Balkans

Russia as defender of Balkan peoples

Christian Orthodox Serbs Greeks Roumanians Bulgarians

Slavs (Slavdom) Serbs Bulgarians Slovenes Croats

Russian Expansion: Warm water port?

The Crimean War

• July 1853: Under pretense of protecting Orthodox Christians, Russia invades Moldavia and Wallachia, and sieges Ottoman forts lining the Danube River

• October 1853: Ottoman Empire declares war on Russia

• March 1854: France and England declare war on Russia

• June 1854: The Austrian Empire enters the war on the side of the Ottomans

• This is a surprise to Nicholas due to the Russian help in 1848 in suppressing rebellion in 1848

• This would have ended the war, if not for warmongering stirred up by British public opinion and newspapers

The Crimean War

Crimean War, the Combatants

• Russian Empire: 700,000 troops

• Bulgarian legion: 7000 troops

• Ottoman Empire: 300,000 troops

• British Empire: 250,000 troops

• French Empire: 400,000 troops

• Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont: 30,000 troops

• Total: 980,000 troops

Map of Crimean War, 1853-1856

Meanwhile in Britain…

• A fantastical new creation known as the “photograph” had just been invented

Meanwhile in Britain…

• The Crimean War was the first “media war”, where the public was kept up to date daily through newspapers and photographs

• This led to warmongering in newspapers, because the leaders wanted to demonstrate Britain’s military might

• A large part of why the war went on so long

Roger Fenton

Battle of Balaklava (October 1854)Charge of the Light Brigade

Lord Alfred Tennyson (1809-1892; poem 1880)

IMPACT

• Art and literature of the Romantic Era glorified the war– The Charge of the Light Brigade

• Alfred, Lord Tennyson

Half a league, half a league,   Half a league onward,All in the valley of Death   Rode the six hundred."Forward, the Light Brigade!"Charge for the guns!" he said:Into the valley of Death   Rode the six hundred.

Florence Nightingale (1820-1910)

November 1854: Nightingale and nurses arrived at Scutari

Endgame March 2, 1855: Nicholas I died Alexander II vowed change Armistice signed on 29 February 1856 Treaty of Paris 30 March 1856:

Black Sea became neutral territory, no warships Ottoman independence and territorial integrity were to be

“respected.” Ottomans had to proclaim Muslims and non-Muslims equal

before the law. Moldavia and Wallachia back under nominal Ottoman rule Russia lost territory it had been granted at the mouth of

the Danube Russia forced to abandon its claims to protect Christians in the

Ottoman Empire in favour of France.

Death toll

Allies:• 374,600 total dead• Turks: total dead and

wounded: 200,000 est.total dead est. 50,000

• French: 100,000, of which 10,240 killed in action; 20,000 died of wounds; ca 70,000 died of disease

• British: 2,755 killed in action; 2,019 died of wounds; 16,323 died of disease

• Sardinians-Italians: 2,050 died from all causes

Russians:• (estimates vary):• High: ca 522,000 killed,

wounded and died of disease• Medium: 256,000 killed,

wounded and died of disease, of which dead 60,000 to 110,000

• Low: ca 143,000 dead and 81,000 injured, of which 25,000 killed in action; 16,000 died of wounds; 89,000 died of disease

Consequences of War– Isolation of Austria

• This isolation was one of the reasons of its defeat in the 1866 Austro-Prussian War and loss of influence in most of the German-speaking lands. Soon after, Austria would ally with Prussia as it became the new German Empire, creating the conditions that would lead to the First World War.

– War correspondents change warfare

– Nursing professionalized

– Britain and France on same side

SIGNIFICANCE

• The war revealed Russia’s technological and economic backwardness.

• To end the conflict Russia had to agree to demilitarize the Black Sea and halt its expansion into the Balkans

Alexander II and Serfdom• Was Russian Tsar(1855-1881)- in nature was a conservative ruler, however

he saw that serfdom was the major problem in Russia’s inability to Westernize. told serf owners that reform would be better if it came from above peacefully rather than below in revolts

• 1861: freed serfs• In theory, emancipation of serfs should have provided serfs with full

citizenship, instead they received an average of about half the land• Peasants had to pay large sums for land because it was own collectively

making each peasant jointly responsible for the payments of all the families in the village (socialism anyone?). The government hoped that collectivized responsibility would strengthen the village as a social unit and prevent the formation of a landless peasantry. This however prevented individual peasants from improving their status

Russian Reforms under Alexander II• serfdom abolished

– positives – serfs gain rights to marry without permission, to buy and sell land, to sue in court and to pursue trades

– negatives – over a forty-nine year period serfs have to pay back, including interest, their landlords in order to receive their land

• local government reform – local government run by zemstvos, a system of provincial and county councils, which proved to be largely ineffective

• judicial reform – included equality before the law, impartial hearings, uniform procedures, judicial independence, and trial by jury

• military reform – service requirements lowered from twenty-five to fifteen years and discipline is relaxed slightly

• repression in Poland – Poland basically becomes a Russian province under Russian laws and language

Russian Revolutionaries – people or groups not satisfied by Alexander’s reforms

• Alexander Herzen – started a movement called populism, based on the communal life of peasants

• Vera Zasulich – attempted to assassinate the military governor of St. Petersburg

• The People’s Will – terrorist group that assassinated Alexander II

Industrialization• 1860: government encouraged and subsidized private railway companies and

construction boomed• 1860: 1,250 miles of railroad, by 1880 15,500 miles• Enabled wheat exports in what became industrial suburbs: St. Petersburg and

Moscow• Railroads gave rise to territorial expansion in south and east• Military force strengthened; nationalism grew with imperial expansion in

Central Asia• Also contributed to spread of Marxian philosophy• Under direction of minister of finance, began to build government built state

owned railroads such as Trans-Siberian Railroad (from Moscow to Vladivostok)

• Wanted to place “backwards Russia” on the gold standard of the “civilized world”

• ½ of world’s oil

Government Reform• 1864: creation of local government called zemstvo• Local assembly elected by three class system of towns,

peasant villages, and land owners• Dealt with local issues and remained subordinate to the

traditional bureaucracy and local nobility• Russian liberals hoped that zemstvo would lead to an

elected national parliament• Most successful was reform of legal system which

established independent courts and equality before the law

Education• 1864: legislation passed requiring primary and

secondary schools to observe moral and religious principles and accept entrants of any social estate

• Formation of “intelligentsia”-individuals of at least secondary, western education trained for service in imperial system, felt independent from patrimonial and hierarchical society and troubled cultural and economic distance between elites and masses

• Universities governed themselves; students couldn’t form own associations

• Women were allowed to take courses but could not earn degrees

Censorship• Term ‘Glasnost’ meaning openness was introduced, eased censorship of daily

newspapers, books, and periodicals, yet Ministry of Interior maintained right to withdraw from circulation any publication that had “dangerous orientation”

• Many tested censorship by “articulating views that were mildly nonconformist”• “one kopek” newspapers and the Russkoe slavo(the Russian World)-

highlighted social problems such as crime, alcoholism, prostitution, and disease as well as suffering of peasantry, workers, and immigrants.

• Student demonstrations in the 1860’s arose from inadequate financial support from the stat, malnutrition, and bad living conditions.

• the populist movement of the 1870s-1890’s rejected violence and believed that their task was to educate the peasants about their role in Russian society; ‘serve the masses’

• The group ‘People’s Will’ believed that political assassination was the only way to bring change

The Church/Religion

• “To be Orthodox is to be Russian”• Russian icons are typically paintings on wood, often small,

though some in churches and monasteries may be as large as a table top. (shown above is Rublev's Trinity)

• body of Christians who are united under the Patriarch of Moscow

• During this time the church served as an employment agency and social security office for the impoverished

• Reflected uncertainty of the Russian people about their status in the empire.

• The church was poverty stricken, overshadowed by the secular state yet spiritual revival took place. The 19th century saw the rise of starchestvo under Paisiy Velichkovsky and his disciples at the Optina Monastery. Offered comfort and counseling to ordinary people.

Alexander III

• autocratic and repressive

• rolled back his father’s reforms

• strengthened secret police and censorship of the press