Mahmudiye (1829), ordered by the Ottoman Sultan Mahmud II and built by the Imperial Naval Arsenal on the Golden Horn in Istanbul, was for many years the largest warship in the world. The 62x17x7 m ship-of-the-line was armed with 128 cannons on 3 decks. She participated in many important naval battles, including the Siege of Sevastopol (1854-1855) during the Crimean War (1854-1856). She was decommissioned in 1875

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Peace attempts

Nicholas felt that because of Russian assistance in suppressing the Hungarian revolt of 1848, Austria would side with him, or at the very least remain neutral. Austria, however, felt threatened by the Russian troops. When Britain and France demanded the withdrawal of Russian forces from the principalities, Austria supported them and, though it did not immediately declare war on Russia, it refused to guarantee its neutrality.

Russia then withdrew its troops from the Danubian principalites, which were then occupied by Austria for the duration of the war. This removed the original grounds for war, but Britain and France continued with hostilities. Determined to address the Eastern Question by putting an end to the Russian threat to the Ottoman Empire, the allies proposed several conditions for a peaceful resolution, including:

• Russia was to give up its protectorate over the Danubian Principalities;

• It was to abandon any claim granting it the right to interfere in Ottoman affairs on behalf of Orthodox Christians;

• The Straits Convention of 1841 was to be revised;

• All nations were to be granted access to the River Danube.

When the Tsar refused to comply with these Four Points, the Crimean War commenced.

End of the war

Peace negotiations began in 1856 under Nicholas I's son and successor, Alexander II, through the Congress of Paris. Furthermore, the Tsar and the Sultan agreed not to establish any naval or military arsenal on the Black Sea coast. The Black Sea clauses came at a tremendous disadvantage to Russia, for it greatly diminished the naval threat it posed to the Turks. Moreover, all the Great Powers pledged to respect the independence and territorial integrity of the Ottoman Empire.

The Treaty of Paris stood until 1871, when France was defeated by Prussia in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–1871. While Prussia and several other German states united to form a powerful German Empire, the Emperor of the French, Napoleon III, was deposed to permit the formation of a Third French Republic. During his reign Napoleon III, eager for the support of Great Britain, had opposed Russia over the Eastern Question. Russian interference in the Ottoman Empire, however, did not in any significant manner threaten the interests of France. Thus, France abandoned its opposition to Russia after the establishment of a Republic. Encouraged by the decision of the French, and supported by the German minister Otto von Bismarck, Russia denounced the Black Sea clauses of the treaty agreed to in 1856. As Great Britain alone could not enforce the clauses, Russia once again established a fleet in the Black Sea.

Having abandoned its alliance with Russia, Austria was diplomatically isolated following the war. This led to its defeat in the 1866 Austro-Prussian War and loss of influence in most German-speaking lands. Soon after, Austria would ally with Prussia as it became the new state of Germany. With France, now hostile to Germany, allied with Russia, and Russia competing with the newly re-named Austro-Hungarian Empire for an increased role in the Balkans at the expense of the Turks, the foundations were in place for creating the diplomatic alliances that would lead to World War I.

Notwithstanding the guarantees to preserve Ottoman territories specified in the Treaty of Paris, Russia, exploiting nationalist unrest in the Ottoman states in the Balkans and seeking to regain lost prestige, once again declared war on the Ottoman Empire on 24 April 1877. In this later Russo-Turkish War the states of Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia and Montenegro achieved independence.

Criticisms and reform

Photograph of the British army camp at Balaklava during the Crimean War. Albumen silver print by "Robertson & Beato", 1855

The Crimean War was notorious for military and logistical immaturity by the British army. However, it highlighted the work of women who served as army nurses. War correspondents for newspapers reported the scandalous treatment of wounded soldiers in the desperate winter that followed and prompted the work of Florence Nightingale, Mary Seacole, Frances Taylor and others and led to the introduction of modern nursing methods.

The Crimean War also saw the first tactical use of railways and other modern inventions such as the electric telegraph, with the first 'live' war reporting to

by William Howard Russell. Some credit Russell with prompting the resignation of the sitting British government through his reporting of the lacklustre shape of the British forces deployed to the Crimea. Additionally, the telegraph reduced the independence of British overseas possessions from their commanders in London due to such rapid communications. Newspaper readership informed public opinion in the United Kingdom and France as never before. It was the first European war to be photographed.

The war also employed modern military tactics, such as trenches and blind artillery fire. The use of the Minié ball for shot, coupled with the rifling of barrels, greatly increased Allied rifle range and damage.

The British Army system of sale of commissions came under great scrutiny during the war, especially in connection with the Battle of Balaclava, which saw the ill-fated Charge of the Light Brigade. This scrutiny eventually led to the abolition of the sale of commissions.

The Crimean War was a contributing factor in the Russian abolition of serfdom in 1861: Alexander II saw the military defeat of the Russian serf army by free troops from Britain and France as proof of the need for emancipation. The Crimean War also led to the eventual realisation by the Russian government of its current technological inferiority, namely in its military practices as well as its military weapons.

The war also led to the establishment of the Victoria Cross in 1856 (backdated to 1854), the British Army's first universal award for valour.

Chronology of major battles of the war

Crimean War Memorial at Waterloo Place, St James's, London

• Battle of Sinop - 30 November 1853

• Siege of Petropavlovsk - 30-31 August 1854, on the Pacific coast

• Battle of Alma - 20 September 1854

• Siege of Sevastopol - 25 September 1854 to 8 September 1855

• Battle of Balaclava - 25 October 1854 (see also Charge of the Light Brigade)

• Battle of Inkerman - 5 November 1854

• Battle of Eupatoria, 17 February 1855

• Battle of Chernaya River (aka "Traktir Bridge") - 25 August 1855

• Sea of Azoff naval campaign, May to November 1855

• Siege of Kars, June to 28 November 1855

• Battle of verhieuhm, November 10 to December 12 (attaced the pantinar bridge) {bens brigade} {North of the Nile}

Well guess what. This battle never ended. It still goes on to this day in russia.

Prominent military commanders

Chapel in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, commemorating the Siege of Petropavlovsk in 1854

• Russian commanders

• * Prince Mikhail Dmitriyevich Gorchakov

• * Count and Namestnik Ivan Feodorovich Paskevich

• * Admiral Pavel Stepanovich Nakhimov

• * General Eduard Ivanovich Totleben

• * Prince Aleksandr Sergeyevich Menshikov

• British commanders

• * James Thomas Brudenell, 7th Earl of Cardigan

• * Fitzroy Somerset, 1st Lord Raglan

• * Sir Thomas James Harper

• * Sir Edmund Lyons (later 1st Lord Lyons)

• French commanders

• * Marshal Jacques Leroy de Saint Arnaud

• * Marshal François Certain Canrobert

• * Marshal Aimable Pélissier

• Ottoman commanders

• * General Abdülkerim Nadir Pasha

• * General Omar Pasha

• Kingdom of Sardinia commander

• * General Alfonso Ferrero La Marmora

• * General Greg Styles {exiled from spain} 1812

Last veterans

• Yves Prigent (1833-1938). Was in French Navy.

• Charles Nathan (1834-1934). Last French soldier, also saw action in Italy, Syria, Mexico and the Franco-Prussian War.

• Edwin Hughes (1830-1927). Last survivor of the Charge of the Light Brigade.

• Colonel Rookes Evelyn Bell Crompton (1845-1940). He was a cadet on HMS Dragon during the siege of Sevastopol, earning two campaign medals before his twelfth birthday.

• Timothy the Tortoise (1839 - 2004). The naval mascot of the HMS Queen

In fiction

• The Charge of the Light Brigade by Alfred, Lord Tennyson depicted a disastrous but brave cavalry charge during the Battle of Balaclava.

• Leo Tolstoy wrote a few short sketches on the Siege of Sevastopol, collected in The Sebastopol Sketches. The stories detail the lives of the Russian soldiers and citizens in Sevastopol during the siege. Because of this work, Tolstoy has been called the world's first war correspondent.

• Jack Archer: A Tale of the Crimea by G.A. Henty, 1883, a historical novel, details the adventures of two sailors in the Crimean War.

• "Hope" by Lesley Pearse describes the experiences of a nurse in the Crimean War as part of a wider and longer plot.

• James Joyce's Finnegans Wake includes an episode known as "How Buckley Shot the Russian General" which is based on a story from the Crimean War and contains innumerable references to the war, its locales, the languages spoken there, and the literature inspired by the war, including "The Charge of the Light Brigade".

• In Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance and Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn, one of the countries that the characters come from is named Crimea.

• Anti-Ice, by Stephen Baxter, and Queen Victoria's Bomb, by Ronald W. Clark, both depict alternate histories where nuclear weapons were used by the British in the war.

• Captain Nemo: The Fantastic History of a Dark Genius, by Kevin J. Anderson, features several Jules Verne characters (such as Captain Nemo and Robur the Conqueror) serving in the Crimean War.

• Detailed and vivid fictional accounts of the Crimean War, the Intelligence Department, the Charge of the Light Brigade, its aftermath and the experience of nursing during the war are portrayed, as part of a wider plot, in The Winter Journey, Volume 20 of The Morland Dynasty a series of historical novels by author Cynthia Harrod-Eagles. Although this is a recent work of fiction, the author is also a historian and cites many factual works as part of her research for this novel.

• Flashman at the Charge, a 1973 novel by George MacDonald Fraser. Harry Flashman finds himself in the Crimea as an unwilling participant in the notable actions of the War, including The Thin Red Line, the Charge of the Heavy Brigade and the infamous Charge of the Light Brigade.

• Jasper Fforde's novel The Eyre Affair is set in a 1980's world where the Crimean War is still ongoing between the British and the Russians.

• V.A. Stuart's historical fiction novel Hazards Command is about a captain who fights in the Crimean War.

• * Glass Tiger's song The Thin Red Line'' was inspired by the war and the music video depicts a battle between Scots and Russians.

• * The song "Abdul Abulbul Amir" by Irish music hall performer Percy French was inspired by the Crimean War and reduces it to two fighters, the Turk Abdul and the Russian soldier Ivan Skavinsky Skivar, who duel over a triviality and both die, accomplishing nothing.

• * The Irish music song "The Kerry Recruit" deals with the experiences of a young man from Kerry who fights in the war.

See also

• Anglo-Russian War (1807-1812)

• Crimean War medals

• Crimean War Memorial

• Fort Queenscliff

• History of the Balkans

• List of Crimean War Victoria Cross recipients

• Peace Concluded (painting)

• Roger Fenton, Crimean War photographer (the first war photographer)

• Timothy (tortoise), naval mascot