The Crimean War

The Crimean War was a conflict fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the French Empire, the British Empire, the Ottoman Empire, the Kingdom of Sardinia, and the Duchy of Nassau. The war was part of a long-running contest between the major European powers for influence over territories of the declining Ottoman Empire. Most of the conflict took place on the Crimean Peninsula, but there were smaller campaigns in western Turkey, the Baltic Sea, the Pacific Ocean and the White Sea.

The war has gone by different names. In Russia it is also known as the "Eastern War" (Russian: Восточная война, Vostochnaya Voina), and in Britain at the time it was sometimes known as the "Russian War".

The Crimean War is notorious for the logistical and tactical errors during the land campaign on both sides (the naval side saw a successful Allied campaign which virtually annihilated the Russian Navy). Nonetheless, it is considered to be the first "modern" war as it "introduced technical changes which affected the future course of warfare," including the first tactical use of railways and the telegraph.[9] It is also famous for the work of Florence Nightingale, who pioneered modern nursing practices while caring for wounded British soldiers.