And the crimean war

(1848-1858)

At the beginning of the year 1848 the French king, Louis Phil­ippe, appeared as secure as he had been since his accession to the throne eighteen years before. But in February Paris again broke into revolution. Louis Philippe fled, and a republic was immediate­ly proclaimed. The violence of the socialists soon caused a reac­tion. And in December 1848 Louis Napoleon, nephew of the great emperor, was elected as President of the Republic, and his advance­ment to the Empire took place.

The shock of the French revolution was felt throughout whole Europe. Popular risings took place in almost every capital of Ger­many and Italy; the terrible sovereigns hastened to save themselves bygranting some or other form of constitutional government. These outbreaks were accompanied by a strong movement in favour of German and Italian unity, which threatened the downfall of Austria as she had her interests in both countries — they were occupied by her armies. But after about eighteen months of violent fighting the European governments recovered their control, Austria regained her former position, and German and Italian unity seemed even farther off than ever.

Great Britain took no active part in these events. Lord Palmerston gave plenty of good advice — which was not taken — to the various governments of Europe, but declined any warlike interven­tion. Most people in England would have been glad to continue the cause of reforms, as well as that of German and Italian unity; but Palmerston had to maintain the Austrian Empire as a counterpoise both to France and Russia.

In Austria the Hungarians required independent government fortheir country; in Italy, largely owing to the fact that the revolu­tion in Vienna had driven Metternich from power, Milan and Ven­ice drove out the Austrians, for a time at least, and the King of Sardinia helped the revolted Lombardia; in Prussia, Prince Will­iam, afterwards the first German Emperor, was driven from Berlin byrevolutionaries demanding a constitution; Naples, Swizerland and Spain and Portugal were all torn by civil strife. Palmerston supported the new government of France, and advised Austria to relinquish Lombardia and Venetia; when Hungarian leaders fled to Turkey, he wanted to prevent their surrender to Austria, who was now supported by Russia.

As we have seen, Lord Palmerston's foreign policy was ap­proved neither by the Cabinet nor by the queen, and he had to resign.

In 1852 the new government was formed, and Lord Palmerston took the Home Office.

The new government was soon faced by serious trouble abroad.

In 1851 the Great Exhibition was held in London with a noble purpose to proclaim the advent of universal peace, but within three years of that date another great war was raging in the East of Europe. Russia and France had quarrelled over a claim to protect the Christians in Turkey. A hundred years previously the guardian­ship of the holy places in Palestine was given to France, but when in course of time the number of pilgrims belonging to the Greek or Orthodox Church became far greater than those belonging to the Latin and Catholic Church, the Greeks tried to drive their rivals away from their privilege. Louis Napoleon put pressure on the Otto­man Porte in support of the Latins, and the Greeks turned to Russia, the leading Orthodox Power. The Czar, Nicolas I, was not indisposed to break up Turkey's power altogether, and had already suggested a partition to England; but he had no liking for Napoleon III, who he regarded as a usurper, and was determined to check any extension of French influence. He now tried to terrorise the Sultan, and actu­ally demanded the recognition of Russia's claim to protect the members of the Greek Church in Turkish dominion. When this demand was refused he sent an army across the Pruth. The Czar thought that the time was come to recover the advantages which he had lost in 1841. He was now resolved on war.

In England public opinion was decidedly against what it re­garded as Russian aggression. The Russian army occupied Molda­via and Wallachia (July 1852). A conference was held in Vienna, in which the great powers tried in vain to make peace between Russia and Turkey. Great Britain and France therefore made a treaty to act together, and sent their fleets to Dardanelles. The Turks were thus encouraged, and declared war on Russia, in October 1853.

At first the war went against the Turks, and their fleet was destroyed by the Russians in the harbour of Sinope. The British and French fleets were thereupon ordered to enter the Black Sea, and in March 1854 the two powers declared war. The Turks held their own war by land. During the spring of 1854 they successfully resisted the advance of the Russians on the Dunabe; while the allies drove the Russian squadrons in the Baltic and the Black Seas into port. Under these conditions, peace might probably have been made; but the opportunity of finally putting a stop to Russian aggression seemed too good to be lost, and the allies decided to invade the Crimea.

The troops landed in the Crimea on September 14, 1854, and marched on Sebastopol. The battle of the Alma was fought a few days later (September 20). The Russians held a strong position on the southern bank of the little river Alma, which the allies had to pass in order to reach Sebastopol. The French were on the right, near the sea; the British on the left. The chief part of the fighting fell on the latter. The allies thought they might by taking Sebastopol deprive Russia of a continual menace to Turkish independence.

The English commander was Lord Reglan. The battle at the river Alma was won rather by hard fighting than by the generalship, but the Russians were driven back into Sebastopol.

The Allies, having missed an opportunity to attack from the north; resolved to besiege Sebastopol. The town lies, for the most part, on the south side of a long inlet running in from the sea. The allies marched round the head of this inlet, and began the siege from the southern side, getting their supplies from the harbour of oBalaklava, still farther in the south.

Meanwhile the Russians sank their ships in the entrance of the harbour, so as to prevent the allied fleets from forcing their way in, and they had time to strengthen their fortifications. The Russian main body was under the command of Menshicov. Lieutenant-Colonel Todleben, the Russian chief engineer, had very early begun work here, daily re-creating, rearming and improving the fortifica­tions. Yet Sebastopol; early in October 1854, was not the strong fortress, and Todleben himself understood, that, had the allies im­mediately acted, they would have succeeded in taking the place. On the 17-th of October the first attack took place. All that day a tremendous artillery duel raged. The French siege corps lost heavi­ly. The fleet engaged the harbour batteries close inshore, and suflered a loss of five hundred men, besides severe damage to the ships. On the other hand the British siege battaries silenced the Malakoff. The attack might have succeeded, but by daybreak Todleben had repaired and improved the damaged fortifications. On that very day, on the 17-th of October, the bombardment of Sebastopol be­gan. It lasted for a week, but produced little effect, and on Octo­ber 25 the Russian army outside the city made an attempt to drive off the beseigers. It was not long before Menshicov and his army appeared on the river Chernaya and moved towards Balaklava lines and the British base.

A long line of works secured the siege corps from interference,
but the Balaklava lines themselves were strong; but the low Vorontsov
ridge between the two was weakly held, and here the Russian com­
mander hoped to break the line of communication. The battle of
Balaklava, which followed on the 25-th of October, was fought
almost entirely by the cavalry. The British Heavy Brigade dashed
through a largely superior body of enemy, and later in the day the
Light Brigade made its famous attack against the Russian guns. The
Commander led the Light Brigade straight at the Russian batteries.
The advancing squadron immediately were met by a deadly fire,
but the troopers nevertheless reached the guns and cut out the
artillerymen. The "Heavies" tried to advance, but were met with
such a storm of fire that they withdrew. By twos and threes the
survivors of the Light Brigade made their way back. Two-thirds of
its numbers were left on the field, and the day closed with the
Russians still in possession of the Vorontsov ridge.

If the heights lost in this action were not absolutly important to the safety of the Allies, the point selected for the next attempt was of vital importance. The union of the covering army and the siege corps near Inkerman was the day of an action on the day following Balaklava, and the battle of Inkerman followed on the 5-th of November. On that day there was to have been the meeting of generals to fix the details of an attack, but at dawn the Russian army, now heavily reinforced from Odessa, was attacking with the utmost fury the British divisions. The battle of Inkerman defies description; every regiment, every group of men bore its own part in the confused and doubtful struggle. It was "a soldiers' battle", pure and simple. For many hours the British troops, already much reduced in numbers, held the Inkerman ridge, from which the battle is named, against the Russians advancing from the city, who were joined by the army outside. At length, when the British were almost worn out, and could hardly have resisted another attack, the French came to their assistance, and completed by discomfiture of the Russians. Both sides lost heavily in this battle.

Soon after this winter came in full severity. The siege was maintained, but only at the cost of terrible suffering and great loss, more by illness and exposure than by battle. The British troops suffered even more than the French, the cause was chiefly the inexperience and carelessness of the War Office — the natural result of forty years of peace. So great was the popular indignation that the ministry of Lord Aberdeen resigned. His place was taken by Lord Palmerston, who brought a new spirit in the administration, and much improved the state of things in the Crimea. At the same time, the military hospitals were reformed, chiefly through the agency of Miss Nightingale.

Florence Nightingale (1820-1910) was born in Italy, Florence, and got her name in honour of that city, but her childhood was spent in England, chiefly in Derbyshire. From her yearliest years she had a great love of nature and animals. She had a great delight in nursing and bandaging her dolls. Her most ardent desire was to use her talents for the benefit of humanity. Her first season in town was spent in examining hospitals. Then she went abroad to inspect hospitals in Paris and other cities. On the 24-th of October 1854 Florence Nightingale went to the Crimea with a stuff of thirty-seven nurses, partly volunteers, partly professionals trained in hospitals. They reached the Crimea on the 4-th of November, just in time to receive the Balaklava wounded. A day or two later these were joined by 600 from Inkerman. The story of Miss Nightingale's labours is one of the brightest pages in English history. She gave herself, body and soul, to the work. She regularly took her place in the operation-room, to hearten the sufferers by her presence and sympathy, and at night she would make her solitary round of the sickrooms, lamp in hand, stopping here and there to speak a kindly word to some patient. Gradually the effects of her measures were seen in a lowered death-rate.

In the summer of 1855 the siege of Sebastopol was vigorously pressed on. Some small successions were won, and in June a great assault was made. But the fortifications were too strong, and the inhabitants of the town behaved heroically. In August a general bombardment took place, and on September 8 another assault was ordered. The British troops, too few in number, were repulced from the fort which they attacked called Redan. But the French succeeded on their side — they took the Malakoff Tower. The Russians withdrew from the southern part of the town, and the siege was at last at the end. Altoungh the war was being raged in several places besides the Crimea, the evacuation of Sebastopol was the decisive event that led to the peace. There was no further reason— to continue the war, and the Treaty of Paris was signed in March 1856. It recognised the integrity and independence of the Ottoman Em­pire, neutralised the Black Sea, closed it and the Dardanelles to ships of war, and forbade either Russia or Turkey to maintain any arsenal on its coasts. Shortly afterwards (1858) Great Britain, France and Austria entered into supplementary arrangement, which for­bade sailing under neutral flags. They agreed to maintain the integ­rity of the Turkish Empire.

NAMES AND EXPRESSIONS

...unity seemed even farther than ever — объединение, каза­лось, еще более невозможно, чем всегда (букв. — еще дальше)

Sardinia [ sa:'diniə] — о-в Сардиния

Lombardia [lom'ba:diə ] или Lombardy [, lombədi ] —Ломбардия

Venetia [vi' ni:∫'(ə)] — Венеция (провинция в Италии, не город!)

Hungarian [ hΛŋ'ge(ə)riən ] — венгры, венгерский

took the Home Office — занял пост министра внутренних дел

Palestine ['pælistain]— Палестина

in course of time — с течением времени

to drive their rivals away from their priviledge — лишить своих соперников привилегий

put pressure — оказывал давление

turned to Russia — обратились к России

against what it regarded as Russian aggression — против того, что считалось русской агрессией

Moldavia [ mol'delVlə ] — Молдавия

Wallachia [wo'leikiə]—Валахия

Dardanelles [ da:də'nelz ] — Дарданеллы

Sinope [ 'samə(u)]— Синоп

Danube [ 'dænju:b ] —p. Дунай

Baltic [ 'bo:ltik ] —Балтийское (море)

the Crimea [ krai'mi:ə]— Крым

Sebastopol [ sibæ'stəpol ] — Севастополь

Alma [ 'ælmə ] —Альма

the chief part of the fighting fell on the latter — основная часть

сражения легла на последних (т. е. на англичан)

Balaklava [ bələk'lævə]—Балаклава

main body — основное войско

the French siege corps lost heavily — французский осаждавший

корпус понес тяжелые потери

by twos and threes — по двое и по трое the War Office — военное ведомство

Nightingale ['naitingeil]— Найтингейл

Derbishire ['da:bi '∫aiə]—Дербишир

sympathy —сочувствие (не симпатия!)

a lowered death-rate — понижение уровня смертности

Redan [ri' dæn]

Дата добавления: 2015-11-16