Now, since the time of Russia's defeat in the Crimeahas passed more than one and a half centuries, anybody any more will not tell, that there fought "cretins with villains". This has already said 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 incalculable. But the king's ambitions were unaware that it was necessary to fight not by numbers, but by skill.
Military actions unfolded not only ona peninsula that gave the name of a three-year campaign, but also in the Caucasus, the White, Black, Barents Seas, Kamchatka and the Danube principalities. However, Crimea has undergone more than everyone, therefore the Crimean war became. The heroes of the war selflessly gave their lives for the sake of strengthening control over the Black Sea straits and the Balkan Peninsula. It's unlikely that they all understood how important this is for the country, but for her, Russian people have always given up everything they had.
It was necessary to fight not only with the Turks, becauseThe Ottoman Empire was greatly weakened, in which case the victory would have been easy and simple. No, the whole European coalition - Britain, France, Sardinia and others like them - stood up against Russia, as always earlier and later. And, as always, they attacked from all sides on all the borders of a huge Russia - that's what the Crimean War turned out to be. Heroes of the war were everywhere - from the White Sea to Petropavlovsk. But they could not win.
The Turks needed the Balkans, where they flared upthe national liberation movement is becoming stronger, and they also wanted to join the empire of the Crimea and the sea coast of the Caucasus. Europe wanted to drop the authority of Russia in the world community, weaken it, prevent it from establishing itself in the Middle East, and, if possible, take Poland, the Crimea, Finland and the Caucasus from it. All this for the sake of their own markets. They were very pleased with the Crimean War. The heroes of the war perished for the sake of other people's ambitions and for someone else's enrichment.
Emperor Nicholas the First in the early 50'snineteenth century pondered the actions to separate the Orthodox Balkans from the Ottoman Empire and did not anticipate that Austria and Britain would go against such a great goal. It was at least short-sighted. Britain dreamed of pushing Russia out not only from the shores of the Black Sea, but also from Transcaucasia. Napoleon the Third just as much wanted revenge for the lost war of 1812, all this is obvious. The Russian heroes of the Crimean War did everything they could to win, but the forces were not equal, and other reasons - purely technical properties - were prevented.
In October, Nicholas I started a war with Turkey,having signed the corresponding manifesto, and the first half-year really was conducted only with the Turks the Crimean War of 1853. The heroes of these military actions proved themselves from the very first days. However, the tsar miscalculated, hoping for non-interference and even to 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 rifled weapons of Europeans, our smoothbore obviously lost.
The artillery was utterly obsolete.Our ships plied basically still under sails, and European steam engines have already implemented. Communication, as, indeed, always has been, as, indeed, will continue to happen many times, the fronts received food and ammunition late and lacked, the replenishment did not arrive on time. With the Turks, the Russian army would have coped with this scenario, but even the numerous heroes of the Crimean War could not influence the united forces against Europe.
At first, success was variable.The main milestone was the Sinop battle in November 1853, when the Russian admiral, the hero of the Crimean War PS Nakhimov, completely defeated the Turkish fleet in the Sinop bay for several hours. In addition, all shore batteries were suppressed. The naval Turkish base lost more than fifteen ships and more than three thousand people were killed only, all shore fortifications were destroyed. The commander of the Turkish fleet is taken prisoner. 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 flooded, several of them were damaged and went into repair. Thirty-seven people were killed. 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 conducted sea battle in Sinop Bay, literally gold, inscribed on the pages of the history of the Russian fleet. And immediately after that France and England stepped up, they could not allow Russia to win. A war was declared, and immediately foreign squadrons appeared on the Baltic near Kronstadt and Sveaborg, which were attacked. In the White Sea, British ships bombarded the Solovetsky Monastery. The war also began in Kamchatka.
At the second stage of the war - from April 1854 to February1856 - began the intervention of the British and French in the Crimea and attacks on Russian fortresses in the four seas. Most of all, the interventionists sought to capture the peninsula of Crimea, because Sevastopol was already the most serious naval base of Russia. Allies began their expedition in Evpatoria, where they immediately won the river Alma. Commander AS Menshikov took Russian troops to Bakhchisarai. Protect the coast were the heroes of Sevastopol. The Crimean War did not leave them a chance to win, but they were prepared for the siege in the most serious way. The defense was headed by PS Nakhimov, VI Istomin and VA Kornilov.
How did the combat admirals find themselves on the shore?More than twenty thousand of its sailors joined the land forces, flooding their ships at the entrance to the Sevastopol Bay, thus strengthening the city-fortress from the sea. At this step the heroes of the Crimean War (1853-1856) went because the weak Russian navy could not still resist the interventionists. But guns from ships - more than two thousand guns - served as an additional strengthening of the bastions of the fortress. There were eight of them, besides other fortifications. The peaceful population actively participated in their construction, when everything was mounted in the walls: boards. furniture, utensils, stones and simple earth, something that could at least partially detain bullets. The people came so many that all lacked picks and shovels - all of them, these ordinary people, also heroes of the Crimean War of 1853-1856.
The fortress held the siege for 349 days.Thirty thousand strong garrisons and naval crews stood and selflessly repulsed five massive bombings that destroyed the entire ship's side of the city. Fired from the land and from the sea, in total more than one and a half thousand guns fired fifty thousand shells. But the heroes of Sevastopol were not scared, the Crimean War had not yet been lost, and despite the incomparable number of guns, the Russians shot very accurately. Two hundred and sixty-eight guns supported this dishonest duel from our side. Enemy fleet received great losses - eight ships went to repair - and retreated.
More from the sea, Sevastopol was not bombed, tooskillfully defended the Russian troops, little blood and quickly the city could not be taken, although it was on this and the whole calculation was based. The victory was important, although it turned out to be more moral than military: the coalition troops were not defeated, the occupation continued. There were also irreparable losses. During the siege, many heroes of the Crimean War (1853-1856) were killed. The list of losses was headed by Vice-Admiral Kornilov, heroically killed under fire, in the first days. And Nakhimov, who now headed the defense of Sevastopol, was promoted to the admiral. It was March 1855. And in July he was mortally wounded - almost at the same place where Kornilov was killed.
The Russian army under the command of the prince himselfMenshikova tried to help Sevastopol by delaying the besiegers, but in vain. Battles near Evpatoria, Inkerman and on the Black River ended unsuccessfully and the defenders of the hero city were helped very little. The ring of the enemy shrank ever tighter. The campaign in the Crimea for the Russians was clearly lost. In the Caucasus, things were a little better, there Turkish troops were beaten repeatedly, even managed to capture the fortress of Kars.
However, the heroes of the Crimean War and their exploits in no waycould compensate with their courage all the shortcomings of the armament and supply of the Russian army. At the end of August, the French occupied the southern part of Sevastopol and Malakhov Kurgan. The fate of the city with these losses was solved: more than a quarter of the entire garrison, thirteen thousand people were lost in the battles of this same day. The northern part of the city never gave up, capitulations from the defenders did not wait.
One hundred and fifteen thousand people of the Russian army inThe Crimea was still ready to act, even if the enemy's forces exceeded their number - the occupiers on the peninsula landed one hundred and fifty thousand. Thus, the culmination of the whole war was the defense of Sevastopol. After that, military actions were stopped. The Russians managed to win in the Caucasus, but they lost very much in the Crimea. The armies were almost completely depleted, and, what is characteristic, everything. Even invasive. Negotiations began.
The Peace Treaty was signed in Paris in March 1856of the year. Russia has lost not only in the territories, but in moral humiliation. The southern regions of Bessarabia were torn away, the right of protection of Serbia and the Danube Orthodox from the empire was taken away. But the most unpleasant is the neutralization of the Black Sea: our country could no longer have any naval forces, fortresses and arsenals there. The borders of Russia were naked. In the Middle East, too, all the influence was lost: Moldova, Serbia and Wallachia were returned to the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire.
The fallen heroes of the Crimean War, whose listis compiled after its termination and it is inexpressibly great (and the list of heroes begins from the name of Emperor Nicholas I, who remained in disgrace, 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 alignment of world forces. Weaknesses in the management and equipment of the armies were exposed, but there was a demonstration of an unshakable Russian spirit and inexhaustible heroism of Russian soldiers. The public in the country spoke more and more boldly and truthfully, the Nikolaev government was convicted. The government took up reforms in the state.
Vladimir Alekseevich Kornilov, Vice Admiral, wasa hereditary naval officer. Participated in the famous Navarino battle (1827) against the Egyptian and Turkish fleet, where the crew of the flagship "Azov" entrusted to him showed exceptional prowess and the first in the history of Russia received the stern St. George flag.
Next to Kornilov, two others foughthero of the Crimean War: young lieutenant Nakhimov and midshipman Istomin. At the very beginning of the war, in October 1853, Kornilov, while on reconnaissance, discovered a Turkish ship in the bay, imposed a battle on him, defeated him and led him to Sevastopol in tow. After repair, this steamer - a rarity for Russia of those times - was commissioned and went to the Black Sea Fleet under the name "Kornilov."
Before the siege of Sevastopol Vice Admiralurged the council of flagships and commanders to give the coalition its last naval battle. 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 approach the city from the sea.
Then Vladimir Alekseevich organizedbuilding fortifications and preparing bastions for the siege. On the Malakhov Mound was mortally wounded by a massive artillery shelling, circling new fortifications. Kornilov managed to order: "Defend Sevastopol!" and a few minutes later he died. Although, as shown by the Crimean War (1853), the heroes do not die!
Pavel Stepanovich Nakhimov was the son of a military man whosefive sons became outstanding military sailors: vice-admiral, director of the naval cadet corps, where all five studied, became a younger brother - Sergei. However, it was Paul who covered this name with glaring fame. As a midshipman, he went on a brigade "Phoenix" to Denmark and Sweden, then served in the Baltic. He became captain of the Navarin ship, distinguished himself in the blockade of the Dardanelles (1828) and was among the decorated with orders.
In 1832, he stepped into the role of commander inthe most famous frigate Pallada, and continued his service in the Baltic under the leadership of the legendary F. Bellingshausen. Two years later he was transferred to Sevastopol, handing the leadership of the battleship Silistria, where Nakhimov was found for the next eleven years. Need I say that the ship has become exemplary? The best in the Navy! Nakhimov's name became more and more popular day by day: a demanding, but kind and cheerful person in all around awakens the best feelings.
The Crimean War showed that the people were not mistaken inassessment of personal qualities of Pavel Stepanovich. At the beginning of the war, in November 1853, Nakhimov figured out an enemy squadron heading for the Caucasus, but hiding from a storm in Sinop Bay. Nakhimov had eight ships, and Osman Pasha - sixteen. Than 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 unparalleled, even higher than Chesma, and thus Nakhimov forever entered the history of the Russian fleet.
Further Nakhimov gladly entered into submission toKornilov during the siege of Sevastopol, and after his death took the place of commander. Several assaults were heroically repulsed, the king was granted awards to Nakhimov for this, to which Pavel Stepanovich complained with annoyance: "It would be better if shells and bombs were lifted!". In June, Nakhimov died almost at the same place of Malakhov Kurgan, where his predecessor was. But the country still remembers its hero!
