While the churches eventually worked out their differences and came to an initial agreement, both
Nicholas I of Russia and Napoleon III refused to back down. Nicholas issued an ultimatum that the Orthodox subjects of the Empire be placed under his protection. Britain attempted to mediate, and arranged a compromise that Nicholas agreed to. When the Ottomans demanded changes, Nicholas refused and prepared for war. Having obtained promises of support from France and Britain, the Ottomans officially declared war on Russia in October 1853.
The war opened in the Balkans when Russian troops occupied provinces in modern
Romania and began to cross the
Danube. Led by
Omar Pasha, the Ottomans fought a strong defensive battle and stopped the advance at
Silistra. A separate action on the fort town of
Kars in eastern Turkey led to a siege, and a Turkish attempt to reinforce the garrison was destroyed by a Russian fleet at
Sinop. Fearing an Ottoman collapse, France and the UK rushed forces to
Gallipoli. Then moved north to
Varna in June, arriving just in time for the Russians to abandon Silistra. Aside from a minor skirmish at
Constanța there was little for the allies to do.
Karl Marx quipped that "there they are, the French doing nothing and the British helping them as fast as possible".
[10]
Frustrated by the wasted effort, and with demands for action from their citizens, the allied force decided to attack the center of Russian strength in the Black Sea at
Sevastopol on the
Crimean peninsula. After extended preparations, the forces landed on the peninsula in September 1854 and fought their way to a point south of Sevastopol after a series of successful battles. The Russians counterattacked on 25 October in what became the
Battle of Balaclava and were repulsed, but at the cost of seriously depleting the British Army forces. A second counterattack, ordered personally by Nicholas, was defeated by Omar Pasha. The front settled into a siege and led to horrible conditions for everyone involved. Smaller actions were carried out in the
Baltic, the
Caucasus, the
White Sea and in the
North Pacific.
Sevastopol fell after eleven months, and formerly neutral countries began to join the allied cause. Isolated and facing a bleak prospect of invasion from the west if the war continued, Russia sued for peace in March 1856. This was welcomed by France and the UK, where the citizens began to turn against their governments as the war dragged on. The war was officially ended by the Treaty of Paris, signed on 30 March 1856. Russia lost the war, and was forbidden from hosting warships in the Black Sea. The Ottoman vassal states of
Wallachia and
Moldavia became largely independent. Christians were granted a degree of official equality, and the Orthodox church regained control of the Christian churches in dispute
Like how we lump all those little wars between France and England together into one nice long century of war.
