Now, when more than one and a half centuries have passed since the defeat of Russia in Crimea, no one will say that "cretins with villains" fought there. This has already been said by the great poet Tyutchev. He is the same age as all the terrible consequences that the Crimean War brought to the country. The heroes of this war are simply innumerable. But the royal ambitions were not aware that it was necessary to fight not by numbers, but by skill.
Eastern war
Military action took place not only on the peninsula, which gave the name of the three-year campaign, but also in the Caucasus, the White, Black, Barents Seas, Kamchatka and the Danube principalities. However, Crimea underwent more than anyone else, and so the Crimean War became. Heroes of the war gave their lives wholeheartedly for the sake of strengthening control over the Black Sea straits and the Balkan Peninsula. It is unlikely that they all understood how important this was for the country, but for the sake of it, the Russian people always sacrificed everything they had.
I had to fight not only with the Turks, since the Ottoman Empire was greatly weakened, in which case the victory would have come easy and simple. No, the whole European coalition - Britain, France, Sardinia and others like them - has risen against Russia, as always earlier and later. And, as always, they were advancing from all sides on all the lines of huge Russia - this is how the Crimean War turned out. Heroes of the war were everywhere - from the White Sea to Petropavlovsk. But they could not win.
Causes
The Turks needed the Balkans, where the national liberation movement flared up more and more, they also wanted accession to the empire of Crimea and the sea coast of the Caucasus. Europe wanted to drop Russia's authority in the world community, weaken it, prevent it from gaining ground in the Middle East, and also, if possible, take away Poland, Crimea, Finland and the Caucasus from it. All this for the sake of their own sales markets. The Crimean War was very beneficial to them. The heroes of the war perished for the sake of another's ambitions and for another's enrichment.
Emperor Nicholas the First in the early 50s of the nineteenth century pondered actions to separate the Orthodox Balkans from the rule of the Ottoman Empire and did not assume that Austria and Great Britain would go against such a great goal. It was at least short-sighted. Great Britain saw in dreams how it was crowding out Russia not only from the shores of the Black Sea, but also from Transcaucasia. Napoleon the Third also wanted revenge for the lost war of 1812, all this is obvious. The Russian heroes of the Crimean War did everything in their power to win, but the forces were not equal, and other reasons — of a purely technical nature — were prevented.
First stage
In October, Nicholas I began the war with Turkey, signing the corresponding manifesto, and for the first half a year the Crimean War of 1853 was really waged only with the Turks. The heroes of these military operations showed themselves from the very first days. However, the king miscalculated, hoping for non-intervention and even for help from the powerful British and Austrian armies. The Russian army was much more numerous - more than a million people. But its equipment left much to be desired. Against the rifled weapons of the Europeans, our smoothbore was clearly losing.
Artillery was utterly outdated. Our ships cruised mostly still under sail, and the European ones already introduced steam engines. Communications, as, by the way, always had before, as, however, will continue to work out repeatedly, were not established, the fronts received food and ammunition late and with a shortage, replenishment did not arrive on time. In such a situation, the Russian army could deal with the Turks, but even the numerous heroes of the Crimean War could not influence the result against the combined forces of Europe.
Sinop battle
At first, success was variable. The main milestone is the Battle of Sinop in November 1853, when the Russian admiral, the hero of the Crimean War P.S. Nakhimov completely defeated the Turkish fleet in Sinop Bay for several hours. In addition, all coastal batteries were suppressed. The Turkish naval base lost more than a dozen ships and more than three thousand people were only killed, all coastal fortifications were destroyed. Turkish fleet commander captured. Only one fast ship with an English adviser on board was able to slip out of the bay.
The losses of the Nakhimovites were much smaller: not a single ship was sunk, several of them were damaged and went into repair. Thirty-seven people died. These were the first heroes of the Crimean War (1853-1856). The list is open. However, it was this brilliantly planned and no less brilliantly held naval battle in Sinop Bay that was literally written in gold on the pages of the history of the Russian fleet. And immediately after that France and England intensified, they could not allow Russia to win. War was declared, and immediately another squadron appeared on the Baltic at Kronstadt and Sveaborg, which were attacked. In the White Sea, English ships bombarded the Solovetsky Monastery. The war began in Kamchatka.
Second phase
At the second stage of the war - from April 1854 to February 1856 - the intervention of the British and French in Crimea and attacks on Russian fortresses in four seas began. Most of all, the interventionists sought to seize the Crimea peninsula, because Sevastopol was already the most serious naval base of Russia. The allies began their expedition in Yevpatoriya, where they immediately won the victory on the Alma River. Commander A. S. Menshikov led the Russian troops to Bakhchisarai. Heroes of Sevastopol remained to guard the coast. The Crimean War did not leave them a chance to win, but they prepared for the siege in a very serious way. The defense was led by P.S. Nakhimov, V.I. Istomin, and V.A. Kornilov.
How did the battle admirals on the shore turn out? More than twenty thousand of his sailors joined the ground forces, flooding their ships at the entrance to the Sevastopol Bay, thereby strengthening the fortified city from the sea. The heroes of the Crimean War (1853-1856) took such a step because the weak Russian fleet could not resist the interventionists anyway. But the guns from the ships - more than two thousand guns - served as an additional strengthening of the bastions of the fortress. There were eight of them, among other fortifications. Civilians actively participated in their construction, when everything was mounted on the walls: boards. furniture, utensils, stones and plain earth, something that could at least partially hold back bullets. So many people came that there weren’t enough picks and shovels for all of them - all of them, these simple people, are also heroes of the Crimean War of 1853-1856.
Defense
The fortress held a siege of 349 days. The thirty thousandth garrison and naval crews withstood and selflessly repelled five massive bombardments that destroyed the entire Ship side of the city. Fired from both land and sea, a total of more than one and a half thousand guns fired fifty thousand shells. But the heroes of Sevastopol were not afraid, the Crimean War had not yet been lost, and despite the disparate number of gun barrels, the Russians fired very accurately. Two hundred and sixty-eight guns supported on our part this dishonest duel. The enemy fleet suffered heavy losses - eight ships went for repairs - and retreated.
Sevastopol was no longer bombed from the sea, the Russian troops defended themselves too skillfully, they couldn’t take the city with little blood and quickly, although this was the basis for the whole calculation. The victory was important, although it turned out to be more moral than military: the coalition troops were not defeated, the occupation continued. Not without irreparable losses. During the siege, many heroes of the Crimean War (1853-1856) died. In the very first days, Vice Admiral Kornilov led the list of losses. And Nakhimov, who now headed the defense of Sevastopol, was promoted to admiral. It was March 1855. And in July, he was mortally wounded - almost at the same place where Kornilov was killed.
Failures
The Russian army, under the command of Prince Menshikov himself, tried to help Sevastopol, delaying the besiegers, but in vain. The battles near Yevpatoria, Inkerman and on the Black River ended unsuccessfully and very little helped the defenders of the hero city. The enemy’s ring tightened. The campaign in Crimea for the Russians was clearly lost. In the Caucasus, things were a little better, there the Turkish troops were beaten more than once, they even managed to capture the Kars fortress.
However, the heroes of the Crimean War and their exploits could not compensate with their courage all the shortcomings of weapons and supplies of the Russian army. In late August, the French occupied the southern part of Sevastopol and Malakhov Kurgan. The fate of the city with these losses was decided: more than a quarter of the entire garrison, thirteen thousand people were lost in the battles of this day. The northern part of the city did not give up, surrender from the defenders did not wait.
End of war
One hundred and fifteen thousand people of the Russian army in the Crimea were still ready to act, even if the enemy forces exceeded their number - one hundred and fifty thousand invaders landed on the peninsula. Thus, the culmination of the whole war was the defense of Sevastopol. After that, hostilities were discontinued. The Russians managed to win in the Caucasus, but they lost very large in the Crimea. The armies were almost completely exhausted, and, characteristically, that’s all. Even predatory. Negotiations have begun.
Paris
A peace treaty was signed in Paris in March 1856. Russia has lost not so much in the territories as in moral humiliation. The southern regions of Bessarabia were torn away, the right of patronage of Serbia and the Danube Orthodox was taken from the empire. But the most unpleasant thing is the neutralization of the Black Sea: our country now could not have any naval forces, fortresses and arsenals there. The borders of Russia were naked. In the Middle East, too, all influence was lost: Moldova, Serbia and Wallachia were returned to the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire.
The fallen heroes of the Crimean War, the list of which was compiled after its end and it is indescribably large (and the list of heroes begins with the name of Sovereign Nicholas I, who remained in shame, but alive!) - it turns out that they died in vain. The defeat of Russia in all rights affected not only its internal position, but also the entire balance of world forces. Weaknesses in command and control of the armies were revealed, but there was also a demonstration of the unwavering Russian spirit and inexhaustible heroism of the Russian soldiers. The public in the country spoke more and more boldly and truthfully, the Nikolaev government was exposed. The government has taken up close reforms in the state.
Kornilov
Vladimir Alekseevich Kornilov, vice admiral, was a hereditary naval officer. He participated in the famous battle of Navarino (1827) against the Egyptian and Turkish fleets, where the crew of the Azov flagship entrusted to him showed exceptional prowess and was the first in the history of Russia to receive the st George flag.
Next to Kornilov, two other heroes of the Crimean War also fought: young Lieutenant Nakhimov and Midshipman Istomin. At the very beginning of the war, in October 1853, Kornilov, being on reconnaissance, discovered a Turkish ship in the bay, imposed a battle on him, defeated and brought him in tow to Sevastopol. After repair, this ship, a rarity for Russia of those times, was put into operation and was part of the Black Sea Fleet under the name Kornilov.
Last order
Before the siege of Sevastopol, the vice admiral urged the council of flagships and commanders to give their last naval battle to the coalition. But most did not support him, the fleet was simply flooded at the entrance to the bay of Sevastopol, so that the enemy could not get closer to the city from the sea.
Then Vladimir Alekseevich organized the construction of fortifications and prepared the bastions for the siege. On the Malakhov Hill, he was mortally wounded during a massive artillery shelling, circling new fortifications. Kornilov managed to order: "Defend Sevastopol!" and a few minutes later he died. Although, as the Crimean War (1853) showed, the heroes do not die!
Nakhimov
Pavel Stepanovich Nakhimov was the son of a military man, whose five sons became outstanding sailors: the vice admiral, director of the naval cadet corps, where all five studied, became his younger brother, Sergei. However, it was Paul who covered this surname with unfading glory. With a midshipman, he went on the Phoenix brig to Denmark and Sweden, then served in the Baltic. He became the captain of the ship "Navarin", distinguished himself in the blockade of the Dardanelles (1828) and was among the awarded.
In 1832, he took the role of commander of the famous frigate "Pallas", and continued to serve in the Baltic under the leadership of the legendary F. Bellingshausen. Two years later, he was transferred to Sevastopol, handing over the leadership of the battleship Silistriya, where Nakhimov found himself for the next eleven years. Needless to say, the ship has become exemplary? The best in the fleet! Nakhimov’s name became more and more popular every day: the demanding, but kind and cheerful person in all those around awakens the best feelings.
Heroic deeds
The Crimean War showed that the people were not mistaken in assessing the personal qualities of Pavel Stepanovich. At the beginning of the war, in November 1853, Nakhimov calculated an enemy squadron heading for the Caucasus, but hiding from a storm in Sinop Bay. Nakhimov had eight ships, and Osman Pasha had sixteen. How the attack of the Russian fleet ended - it was said above. For this brilliant victory, Vice Admiral Nakhimov received the Order of St. George from the sovereign, and Kornilov wrote that the battle was unprecedented, even higher than Chesma, and Nakhimov thus forever entered the history of the Russian fleet.
Then Nakhimov gladly became subordinate to Kornilov during the siege of Sevastopol, and after his death took the place of commander. Several assaults were heroically repulsed, the tsar granted rewards to Nakhimov for this, to which Pavel Stepanovich complained with vexation: “It would be better if the shells and bombs were brought up!” In June, Nakhimov died almost at the same place in the Malakhov Kurgan as his predecessor. But the country today remembers its hero!