Crimean War (Full Documentary) | Animated History

if you haven't heard already the armchair historian team is working on a free historical strategy game fire and maneuver it's a pc game set between the years 1853 to 1871 meaning players can take command in conflicts like the franco-prussian war and even the crimean war you can follow development using our discord link below and you can play the game early by supporting us on patreon learn more about fire and maneuver by checking out our steam page below and don't forget to wishlist as a fierce battle rages around them the light brigade of the british cavalry is preparing to charge though their orders were vague at best shouted over the din of gun and cannon fire the men are ready to ride forth but unfortunately for these brave soldiers their charge will not be wholly remembered as a noble and triumphant action instead it will go down in history as a monument to the chaos and foolishness of the crimean war hi i'm griffin johnson the armchair historian in today's video we will be re-examining a topic which we covered in one of the first ever videos on this channel the crimean war one of the largest and bloodiest european conflicts in the 19th century the war is remembered primarily for the disastrous incompetence of the commanders on both sides and the ultimate futility of the conflict but while the immediate consequences were insignificant the long-term effects of this conflict altered the course of european history and set in motion events that would one day lead to the first world war ever since its foundation in the early 1700s imperial russia had sought control over the warm water ports on the black sea an area traditionally under the influence of the ottoman empire [Music] although once considered the menace of all christian europe by the 19th century the ottomans were in a rapid decline a decline which russia was eager to exploit but after the tumultuous shake-up of the napoleonic wars most other great powers of europe desperately wanted to avoid any more disruptions to the balance of power creating tension between them and the expansionist russians this tension finally boiled over in 1853 sparked by of all things a dispute over the rights of christians in the ottoman empire in an effort to project power in the middle east france declared itself the protector of all christians in the holy land and convinced the ottoman sultan abdul majid the first to issue a decree that the catholic church had sole authority over all churches holy sites and christian citizens in palestine this irritated the eastern orthodox church in russia which had previously held control over most of these churches of course neither france nor russia really cared about the religious rights of christians in palestine controlling churches meant projecting power and influence in the middle east a strategic goal of both nations the french emperor had challenged russia to a game of chicken and the ottoman empire was unlucky enough to find itself right in the middle of it not one to back down the russian tsar nicholas the first promptly sent an ambassador to the ottomans in hope of changing the sultan's mind this effort succeeded and the sultan promptly restored authority over the churches to the orthodox church in russia expectedly the highly ambitious french emperor napoleon iii escalated the situation by sending a warship into the black sea as a show of force which prompted abdul majid to flip-flop once again and proclaim his eternal respect for the authority of the catholic church further negotiations proved fruitless with the british ambassador to the ottoman empire stepping in to support the sultan against russian retaliation neither side was willing to back down and so in may of 1853 two russian armies crossed the pruitt river and invaded the balkan provinces of the ottoman empire left with no other choice the ottomans declared war in response and sent forces to check the russian advance at the danube river arriving in september the ottoman empire quickly moved to establish strongholds along the danube under the leadership of the skilled general omar pasha the first battle of the war took place in early november when the ottomans crossed the river and recaptured the occupied town of altenitsa in modern day romania the russians launched a counter-attack to reclaim the town resulting in a bloody and indecisive battle which ended with both sides withdrawing to their previous positions fighting in the balkans would continue in much the same way for the rest of 1853 with neither side managing to gain a decisive advantage tsar nicholas was hoping for an announcement of support from austria his long-term ally in order to break this stalemate but the austrians were reluctant to get involved instead they hoped to settle things with the mighty pen and hosted a conference in vienna with representatives from france britain and prussia with the goal of drafting a treaty to end the war while these talks were ongoing russian warships chanced upon an ottoman fleet near the port of cena hoping to disrupt their enemy's supply lines the russian ships opened fire initiating battle this engagement saw the first ever use of explosive shells in naval combat which completely devastated the wooden holes of the ottoman ships inflicting over 3 000 casualties and destroying their entire fleet the events at cnop alarmed the other great powers and the representatives at vienna quickly finalized a proposed peace treaty which they presented to sultan abdul majit and tsar nicholas in december nicholas was willing to accept the terms offered but the sultan objected and diplomatic talks soon completely broke down fighting continued and in february of 1854 britain and france presented an ultimatum to russia withdraw from the balkans or they would join the war but now russia refused to back down and the british and french declared their own war in march of 1854 having made no further gains and fearing the intervention of a dubiously neutral austria nicholas ordered his forces to withdraw from the balkan provinces in july russia at this time was one of austria's most important allies and so by not supporting the russians they found themselves isolated diplomatically all throughout the 19th century with hostilities temporarily ceased the war could have ended there but britain and france spurred on by pro-war public opinion and eager to put an end to further russian expansion chose to continue the fighting launching a full invasion of the crimean peninsula seizing this peninsula would russia's naval power in the black sea greatly reducing their influence in the middle east and balkans the allied forces landed at a beach north of the city of sevastopol in september and their troubles began almost immediately the landing of the invasion force was badly mismanaged for starters there was no equipment for the unloading of cargo forcing the soldiers to steal carts and wagons from nearby tartar farms during this piecemeal unloading process the soldiers were forced to sleep outside in the rain and heat due to the lack of tents and camping supplies to make matters even worse there was not enough food or water to go around nor enough medicine to treat the many men who came down with cholera and other diseases after four days the invasion force finally overcame this comedy of errors and set out for sevastopol on the first day of their march the allied forces got their first glimpse of the russian army assembled on a hill on the other side of the alma river the next morning they crossed the river and attacked the russians beginning the battle of alma the defenders were outnumbered with 37 500 men standing against the 56 500 strong invasion force but the russians held a strong defensive position on a steep hill they held out against three hours of repeated assaults by the ottomans british and french before withdrawing however the allied forces were unable to pursue them due to their lack of cavalry following the battle the invading army marched southeast to the coast encircling sebastopol and establishing temporary ports at the towns of balaclava and kamish to bring in supplies in october they began to besiege the city with cannon brought in by sea although further widespread outbreaks of cholera weakened the british army emboldening the defenders to launch several probing attacks on october 25th the russians attempted a large-scale assault on the british position at balaclava sending 25 000 men to disrupt the allies supply chain between their ports and these siege lines the first line of defenses at the verontov heights manned by the ottomans was quickly overwhelmed and the russian cavalry then swept down the hill toward the second defensive line in a valley to the south there a combined force of ottoman and british infantry managed to hold the line against the enemy cavalry charge in a defense that would come to be known as the thin red line on the northern side of the hill the british cavalry's light brigade was sent to intercept russian forces attempting to withdraw after seizing ottoman artillery guns captured on the heights but this order relayed verbally through multiple sources in something like a game of telephone was ultimately misinterpreted by the light brigades commanders who sent the light cavalry charging down the valley straight into the teeth of a dug in russian artillery regiment the resulting charge of the light brigade was a complete failure and left over a third of the brigade soldiers killed wounded or captured and over a half of its horses dead shortly thereafter the russian forces pulled back to their newly captured defensive positions at the varanza of heights and the battle came to an end while the siege of sevastopol would continue the russians had won a tactical and morale boosting victory at balaklava in large part thanks to the disorganization of their enemies this disorganization and incompetence at the command level would continue to plague the allied forces for the rest of the war preventing them from gaining significant ground after the inconclusive battle of balaklava russian strategists believed that their enemy's supply lines were overextended and vulnerable to attack on november 5th the russians gathered a force of 42 000 men to assault the british near the village of inckerman with the goal of breaking through their defenses before reinforcements could arrive advancing in the early hours of the morning the attackers were hidden by a thick fog as they approached the british defenses at a hill called home ridge the french and british defenders on and around homebridge numbered only around 13 000 less than a third of the size of the russian army bearing down on them fighting began at dawn when the russian general fedor soimanov sent around 15 000 men to assault the ridge which in the early stages of battle was defended by just 2 700 men of the british second division however british forward defenses in the valley did catch sight of the russians advancing through the fog and opened fire alerting the men of the second division to attack but due to this fog the defenders on holmridge had no idea how outnumbered they truly were emboldened by their ignorance the acting commander of the second division major general john pennyfeather ordered the entire force to advance down the hill and meet the russians head on the russians attempted to soften up the defenders by bombarding homridge with artillery however they didn't realize that the second division was no longer on the hill they didn't become aware of the impending counter-attack until the british soldiers emerged from the fog right in front of them and fighting began almost immediately the russians attempted to break through on the second division's left flank but were pushed back their outdated flintlock muskets completely outmatched by the british enfield percussion lock rifles in the fighting that followed soymentoff the russian general was killed and swiftly replaced by another officer who was then promptly shot and killed too followed by a third commander who survived for a few minutes and then was killed too at this point the remaining russian officers were understandably reluctant to take charge and so promptly withdrew to regroup as british reinforcements poured in once a second column of russian troops arrived in assistance the tsar's men shifted their focus to the northeast where the british had set up a defensive wall called the barrier fifteen thousand men advanced on the barrier which was being held by only 300 troops channeling their inner spartans these 300 men fixed bayonets and vaulted over the wall to charge at the russian army with the fog still hampering visibility on both sides the bayonet charge caused enough confusion among the russians to halt their advance giving enough time for reinforcements to arrive and attack the russians flank forcing them to withdraw still not knowing exactly what was going on the imperial russian army gathered up for one final push on home ridge the fighting was fierce and hectic with the dense haze forcing many units on both sides to act completely on their own initiative cut off from their allies which would eventually earn the battle of inckerman the nickname the soldier's battle just as the british defenders began to falter the timely arrival of french reinforcements allowed them to hold back the russians and ultimately drive them away from home ridge bringing the battle to an end at the end of the day approximately one-third of the allied and russian soldiers fighting in the battle had been killed wounded or captured the demoralized survivors retreated back behind the walls of sevastopol and the allied forces dug in for a long siege the bitter cold of the ensuing winter coupled with severe supply shortages among the procedures soon led to a halt in ground operations a massive storm in late november destroyed 30 allied transport ships many carrying crucial winter clothing and other supplies which led to thousands of deaths of hypothermia and disease the russians made one more attempt to break out of the siege in february of 1855 attacking an ottoman base at the town of eupatoria north of sevastopol heavy artillery from the ottomans well-fortified positions forced the russians back and the attack was called off after just three hours of fighting the assault on eupatoria was the last major russian effort to break the siege but the miserable struggle for sevastopol was far from over in march british contractors completed the construction of the grand crimean central railway a rail line built to quickly bring ammunition and supplies from the ships to the siege lines the railway allowed the allies to intensify their bombardments of the city but it did little to stave off the waves of disease running rampant through their camps killing tens of thousands the flagging morale of the allied forces was bolstered somewhat by the arrival of 18 000 fresh troops from the kingdom of sardinia whose king hoped to strengthen his alliance with france the sardinian troops provided welcome support but even so when sevastopol finally fell on september 9th both sides were utterly exhausted and no further operations were conducted in crimea before the next winter arrived further east the russians and ottomans continued battering against each other in the caucasus where small and inconclusive engagements had been fought throughout the war while a handful of towns and forts in the region changed hands neither side was able to make any decisive gains on that front this trend was reflected across many other fronts with inconclusive skirmishes taking place in the azov sea the baltic and even russia's pacific coast by late 1855 after years of bloody and pointless fighting both sides were thoroughly sick of the war [Applause] the british public especially fed up with reports of fiascos like the charge of the light brigade and the staggering death toll from disease during the siege of sevastopol began to demand an immediate end to the conflict new technologies like the telegram and photography were making the truth about the horrors of war more accessible to the average citizen than ever before contributing to an unprecedented public outcry although the new british prime minister lord palmerston had great ambitions of expanding the war and permanently crippling the russian empire pressure from the public and his french allies eventually forced him to agree to peace talks on the russian side the new czar alexander ii felt pressured to make peace after austria prussia and sweden began showing signs that they might be willing to join the war on the allies side thus on march 30 1856 the treaty of paris was signed and brought the crimean war to an end the treaty essentially amounted to a status quo restoring orthodox control of the churches in palestine forcing russia and the ottomans to return to each other's captured territories and banning any nation from maintaining warships or fortified ports in the black sea this clause of the treaty was later ignored by the russians in 1871 after the fall of napoleon iii in france caused the french to lose interest in eastern geopolitics six years later in 1877 the russian empire attacked the ottomans again this time claiming territory in the caucasus and securing the independence of bulgaria and other balkan states without much outside interference as russia simply went back and took what it had been after in the first place many in europe were left wondering what the point of the crimean war had been ultimately the only tangible outcome of the crimean war was a tremendous loss of life on both sides around 165 000 of all allied troops died and almost 120 000 of those died of disease the russians lost 130 000 89 000 of which were to disease in britain the public was outraged by the strategic and logistical failures at all levels of command during the war and widespread calls began for sweeping reforms of the army and greater professionalism in the medical field in particular the demands for army reforms were ultimately blocked but the push for medical reform spurred on by the famous battlefield nurses florence nightingale and mary c cole were much more successful leading to the development of professional nursing in britain and improving health care for all british society in russia the embarrassment of defeat prompted a major push for modernization across all sectors of society in order to catch up with the rest of europe the wave of reforms in the years following the crimean war included the abolishment of serfdom expansion of rail and telegraph networks modernization of medicine and the reorganization and modernization of the army the crimean war exposed some of the most devastating flaws of the established ways of waging war in europe prompting major efforts to modernize on both sides this push towards technological dominance contributed to the rise of nationalism in russia an ideology which would profoundly impact the nation's foreign policy for the rest of the 19th century further russian interference in the balkans would later give rise to nationalist sentiments in that volatile region escalating tensions that would eventually boil over into the assassination of an austrian prince in 1914 in many ways the crimean war was the first small domino in the chain leading up to the world wars you

Channel: The Armchair Historian

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Id: XQ2hme8-9e8

Length: 22min 50sec (1370 seconds)

Published: Fri Jul 16 2021