The Crimean War Timeline

The Crimean War had its beginnings in the unresolved 'Eastern Question' of how to deal with the decaying Ottoman Empire. The empire which had been called 'the sick man of Europe' by Tsar Nicolas I had long been the target of Russian territorial expansion. Beginning with the Russian victory over the Turks in the war of 1828 the Russian Empire had signed several treaties with the Turks giving them ever increasing influence in the Black Sea. Russian influence was further increased by their support of the Sultan against the Egyptian rebel Mehemet Ali. In return for their support the Russians had gained exclusive military access to the Dardanelles and the rights to protect Orthodox Christians in the Balkans.

Such growing influence disturbed other European powers. England felt that their colonial interests in India would be threatened by further Russian expansion, and sought to support the Turks against the Russians. The British would be aided by the like minded French who had long viewed the Tsar as an oppressive despot. Both nations were looking for a cause to stop further Russian expansionism.

The cause was not long in coming. It took the form of a religious dispute between Catholic and Orthodox officials concerning the stewardship of the Church of the Nativity and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. Both sides appealed to the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, Sultan Abd al-Majid, hoping that he would rule in their favor. The sultan ruled in favor of the Catholics, who had the backing of France.

Russia had supported the Orthodox side and sent Prince Menshikov to renegotiate the agreement, citing previous treaties designating Russia as the protector of Orthodox Christians living within the Ottoman Empire. The Sultan refused Menshikov's attempt to negotiate a new treaty which would have allowed Russia to intervene in Turkish affairs whenever it felt that the Sultan was not doing enough to protect Ottoman Christians.

Menshikov returned home and soon afterwards Russia delivered an ultimatum to the Turks. The sultan refused the Russian ultimatum and soon after Russian troops entered the territories of Moldova and Walachia beginning the Crimean War.

1853
	2 March	Prince Menshikov arrives in Constantinople with demands on the Porte.
	21 May (9 May)	Menshikov leaves Constantinople, breaking off diplomatic relations with the Ottoman Empire.
	31 May (19 May)	Russia issues an ultimatum to Ottoman Empire.
	8 June	British fleet approaches the Dardanelles.
	3 July (21 June)	The Russian army 80,000 men crosses the Pruth River, invading Moldavia and beginning the Crimean War.
	9 October (27 September)	Turkey demands Russian forces leave the Danubian Principalities within 15 days.
	5 October	Ottoman Empire declares war on Russia.
	28 October	Turkish army crosses the Danube river at Kalafat.
	30 October	British fleet enters the Bosphorus.
	4 November	Russian army defeated by Turkish forces at Oltenitza.
	30 November	Turkish naval squadron at Sinope commanded by Vice Admiral Osman Pasha is destroyed at anchor by Russian squadron commanded by Vice Admiral Nakhimov. Turkish losses are seven frigates, three corvettes, two steamers, and 2960 sailors.
1854
	4 January	Combined British and French fleet enters the Black Sea.
	5 January	Turkish forces win battle of Citate.
	8 January	Russian army invades Dobruja.
	11 January	Russia is warned that its ships in the Black Sea must return to Sevastopol.
	10 February	British peace deputation sees Tsar Nicolas I.
	23 February	First British troops set sail for Ottoman Empire.
	27 February	Russia is told that it has six days to begin withdrawing its forces from Moldova and Walachia. Withdrawal must be completed by April.
	11 March (27 February)	French and British deliver an ultimatum demanding Russia withdraw from the Danubian Principalities. British Baltic Fleet sails from Spithead.
	19 March	French troops set sail for Ottoman Empire.
	20 March	French Baltic Fleet sails.
	28 March (16 March)	France and England declare war on Russia.
	5 April	British troops arrive at Gallipoli.
	10 April	England and France sign a treaty of alliance against Russia.
	14 April	Russians besiege Silistra.
	18 April	Turkish victory at Rohova.
	20 April	Austria and Prussia declare their neutrality.
	22 April	The bombardment of Odessa.
	28 May	French and British forces embark for Varna.
	3 June (22 May)	Austria demands that Russia refrain from extending the war into the Balkans and withdraw its troops from the Danubian Principalities.
	23 June	Russian forces abandon the siege of Silistra.
	26 June	French and British fleets arrive off Kronstadt near St. Petersburg.
	7 July	Turkish forces defeat Russian forces at Giurgevo.
	28 July	Russian forces withdraw across the Pruth river. Turkish forces defeat Russian forces at Bayezid.
	8 August (27 July)	Austria joins Britain and France in issuing the Four Points proclamation.
	13 August	British/French forces besiege Bomarsund in the Baltic.
	16 August	Surrender of Bomarsund.
	21 August	British naval squadron bombards Kola, Russia.
	22 August (10 August)	Austrian forces occupy the Danubian Principalities thereby removing the Balkans as a theatre of war.
	30 August	British naval failure at Petropavlovsk.
	5 September	British and French forces embark at Varna for the Crimea.
	14 September (2 September)	Allied armies, including Britain and France, land 64,000 troops unopposed in Kalamata bay.
	19 September	British and French forces encounter Russian troops at the River Bulganek.
	20 September	Battle of Alma A combined British-French force of 26,000 under Lord Raglan defeat the Russian force of 40,000 under Prince Menshikov opening the route to Sevastopol.
	23 September	Russians in Sevastopol sink ships to block the entrance to the harbor.
	24 September	Flank march by British and French forces around Sevastopol.
	26 September	British forces enter Balaklava.
	29 September	Commander of French forces, Marshal St. Arnaud dies.
	17 October	Siege of Sevastopol begins with twenty seven British and French ships launching a six hour naval bombardment of Sevastopol. The bombardment was ineffective and resulted in two attacking ships being heavily damaged. Russian forces suffer minor casualties, attacking forces take 340 dead and wounded.
	22 October (10 October)	Austria begins to mobilize its military.
	23 October	Florence Nightingale and 38 nurses leave England to aid British casualties.
	25 October	Battle of Balaklava. The British Light Brigade suffers heavy casualties while charging Russian guns. British stand of the 'Thin Red Line' repulses much larger Russian force.
	26 October	Russian attack of 'Little Inkerman' In a three hour battle Russian forces attacking British 2nd division are repulsed. Russian casualties are 350 men while British casualties are 85 men.
	4 November	Florence Nightingale and her nurses arrive in Scutari.
	5 November	Battle of Inkerman British and French armies defeat a Russian force of 50,000 men; 12,000 Russian soldiers are killed in the battle.
	14 November	The Great Storm in the Crimea. Over thirty British cargo ships are destroyed along with their much needed supplies during a violent storm..
	2 December (20 November)	Austria enters into an alliance with France and England. This alliance would allow Austria to go to war with Russia if the Danubian Principalities were attacked.
	22 December	Rear Admiral Lyons replaces Vice Admiral Dundas as commander of the British Fleet in the Crimea.
	24 December	Brout succeeds Vice Admiral Hamelin as commander of the French Fleet in the Crimea.
1855
	10 January	Russians feint attack on Balaklava.
	17 January	Russian army attacks Eupatoria north of Kalamata Bay.
	26 January	The Kingdom of Piedmont (Sardinia) joins the allies.
	31 January	In England Lord Aberdeen's government falls.
	5 February	Lord Palmerston forms a new government in the aftermath of Lord Aberdeen's failure.
	20 February	French and British attack across the River Tchernaya is frustrated by a snowstorm.
	22 February	Russian army seizes and fortifies the Mamelon, a position outside of the fortress and in front of French lines.
	24 February	French attack on Sevastopol fails.
	2 March	Tsar Nicholas I dies and is succeeded by his son Alexander II. Prince Menshikov is recalled.
	15 March	Conference of Vienna opens.
	4 April	Second Baltic expedition leaves Spithead, England.
	9 April	Second bombardment of Sevastopol.
	26 April	Conference of Vienna closes without results.
	1 May	Fierce fighting on the French left flank at the Quarantine cemetery.
	2 May	First French expedition sails for Kerch, but is recalled by Marshal Conrobert.
	16 May	The French commander Marshal Conrobert resigns his command and is replaced by Marshal Pelissier.
	23 May	Expedition to Kerch sails again.
	25 May	Kerch and Yenikale fall to joint French and British forces.
	26 May	French and British forces enter the Sea of Azov.
	5 June	'Massacre' of Finnish crew by Russians at Hango, Finland.
	6 June	Third bombardment of Sevastopol. The Mamelon and the Quarries fall to the French and British forces.
	16 June	Russian forces begin first attack at Kars in the Caucasus.
	17 June	Fourth bombardment of Sevastopol.
	18 June	Main assault on the Malakov and Redan is repulsed with heavy losses.
	20 June	Russian Admiral Pavel Nakhimov is mortally wounded. Russian General Eduard Totleben is wounded in the foot and can no longer personally conduct defensive operations of Sevastopol.
	28 June	British commander Lord Raglan dies.
	1 July	General James Simpson is appointed commander of the British army in the Crimea.
	14 July	Conference between Allies where Turkish commander Omar Pasha asks to withdraw his troops and fight the Russians in Asia Minor.
	7 August	Second Russian attack at Kars.
	9 August	British fleet bombards Sveaborg, Finland.
	16 August	Russian army attacks at the Battle of the Tchernaya River but are defeated by French and Sardinian forces.
	17 August	Fifth bombardment of Sevastopol.
	5 September	Sixth bombardment of Sevastopol.
	6 September	Reacting to news of the siege of Kars, Turkish commander Omar Pasha leaves for Asia Minor.
	8 September	Major attack on Sevastopol. Only the French attack on the Malakov is successful. French attacks on the Little Redan and Bastion du Mat both fail. British attack on the Redan also fails.
	9 September	Russian forces evacuate the southern side of Sevastopol.
	29 September	Russian forces attack Kars and are defeated. Cavalry skirmishes occur at Eupatoria. Omar Pasha's troops embark for Asia Minor.
	3 October	Omar Pasha's army lands at Suchum Kaleh south of the Caucasus mountains. The army is to be a relief expedition for Kars.
	7 October	Kinburk expedition sails for the mouth of the Dnieper River.
	16-17 October	British and French expedition to take Russian fort at Kinburn at the mouth of the River Bug. The force was comprised of ten ships of the line and some 80 other vessels. Three French ironclad steamers (Devastation, Lave, and Tonnante) were part of the bombardment force. Russian return fire against the ironclads is largely ineffective and the fort falls to the beseigers. Russian garrison of 700 surrender along with 80 guns.
	18 October	Ochakov is destroyed and evacuated by the Russians.
	22 October	Selim Pasha's army lands at Trebizond and marches to Erzerum.
	6 November	Russian army is defeated by Omar Pasha at the River Ingur south of the Caucasus mountains.
	11 November	General James Simpson resigns as British commander and is replaced by General William Codrington.
	15 November	French magazine at Sevastopol explodes killing 80 and wounding almost 300.
	28 November (16 November)	Turkish forces at Kars surrender to Russian army.
	8 December	South of the Caucasus mountains Omar Pasha's army is forced to withdraw from the River Skeniscal.
	28 December (16 December)	Count Esterhazy takes Austria's ultimatum to St. Petersburg. It states that for hostilities to end Russia would have to accept autonomy for Moldova and Walachia, all nations to have access to the Danube, and demilitarization of the Black Sea. If these conditions were not accepted by 18 January then Austria would go to war with Russia.
1856
	16 January	Tsar Alexander II accepts Austrian demands despite opposition from some of his ministers.
	29 January	Russian army bombards Sevastopol.
	25 February (13 February)	The peace conference in Paris opens.
	29 February	Armistice is signed.
	30 March (18 March)	The Treaty of Paris is signed, officially ending the Crimean War.
	27 April	Treaty of Paris is ratified by its signatory nations.
	12 July	General Codrington and the last British troops leave the Crimea.

The outcome of the war for the Russian Empire was disastrous; its powerful Black Sea fleet had been destroyed and it had lost many of the advantages that Tsar Nicolas I had won over the previous 25 years. The nation was was also forced into accepting the terms of the Treaty of Paris which sought to keep the Black Sea free of warships in the future. Russia also lost its special status as protector of the Danubian Principalities of Moldova and Walachia. It was also forced to abandon its claim as protector of Orthodox Christians in the Balkans. The Straits Convention of 1841 was to be revisited and all nations were to be granted access to the Danube.

It was the Black Sea clauses of the Treaty of Paris that affected the Russian military the most. They dictated that the Russian navy could no longer maintain a fleet on the Black Sea nor could it establish any naval arsenal on its shores. The one good point for the Russian navy was that their naval installation at Nikolayev was not affected as it was not judged to be on the Black Sea. Shipbuilding was also not affected, although the treaty stipulated that Russia could only maintain six warships of no more than 800 tons, and four ships of no more than 200 tons.

The city of Kars in the Caucasus was returned to the Turks, but no further restrictions on Russian activity in the region were established. The Russian army could still build fortresses and deploy troops in the area. The treaty provisions regarding navigation of the Danube were deferred to lesser commissions to address. Another effect of the war was to cause a large number of the Crimean Tatars who lived in the region to resettle in Ottoman lands.

The poor conduct of Crimean War was to spur reform in both the British and Russian armies, especially in their logistics and supply systems. The Russians would go on to carry out an extensive review of Army doctrine that would lead to the abandonment of the parade ground army of Nicolas I. It also showed the great advantage of rifled weapons and would lead to the universal adoption of breech loading rifles by the Russian army in the 1860's

The Russian defeat of the Crimean War was the result of years of Russian military stagnation that acts of individual heroism were unable to overcome. Here you will find statistics regarding the size of Russian forces in the Crimea and the losses they incurred. Some statistics are uncertain at this time and are marked as such.