Crimea, a peninsula on the northern shore of the
Black Sea. Although only a small piece of land all along in history it became a
very important point because it is the entry to the Black Sea.
It was first colonised by the Greeks in the 6th
century BC.
In the 1st century AD the Crimean people
became a Roman protectorate.
Tribes from the north and the east invaded Crimea as
they swooped down. Ostrogoths, Huns and other tribes went across until Byzantine
partially controlled it from the 6th to the 12th century.
During the 13th century it was overrun by
Mongolians.
In the late 15th century Tatar khanate became part of
the Ottoman Empire
Russia Empire annexed the Crimea in 1783 till 1914
as Crimea Autonomous Soviet Republic. It
was dissolved in 1945 and Crimea became an oblast of the RSSR from 1945 to 1954
and then a part of the Ukraine SSR from 1954 till 1991 it became two
territories – Autonomous Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol City within the
Ukraine
In 2014 independence was declared and a referendum
of whether to join Russia was held while the peninsular was occupied by Russian
soldiers. After the Crimea's majority voted
to be annexed to Russia it was again split into two federal subjects – Republic
of Crimea and federal city of Sevastopol.
USA and its Allies do not accept the vote and stated
it is illegal and ever since the trouble started and thousands have to die or
severely injured again.
G8 expelled Russia temporarily and started sanction against
the country which is of no benefit to both sites.
Crimean War
From 1854 to 1956 the war was fought between Russia
and the combined forces of Turkey, Britain, France and Piedmont. The war broke out because Russia was not able
to get equal rights from France in a dispute over the Palestinian holy places
and occupied part of the Ottoman Empire.
A conference was held to stop Russian expansion in
the Black Sea area and to protect trade routes; Turkey’s allies demanded to appease
Russia. However, Turkey refused and declared was on Russia in October 1853.
In November the Russians destroyed the Turkish fleet
at Sinope on the Black Sea. This action forced Britain and France to enter the
war in March 1854.
Austria remains neutral but it mobilised its army
whereby Russia was forced to evacuate Wallachia and Moldavia.
The Allied force, under Lord Raglan, entered Crimea
in August 1854. It was ill-prepared and despite suffering heavily of cholera it
defeated the Russia Army at the battle of the Alma River on 20 September 1954. It laid siege to the armed fort of
Sevastopol.
Russia attempted several time to break the siege but
was beaten back by the British defence of the Inkerman ridge. The Tsar’s forces
had to retreat after a bloody battle.
A winter of siege warfare followed the next
Anglo-Russian confronting at the Battle of Balaklava, the place were the
historical Light Brigade charged.
The Allied armies lacked of fuel, clothing and
supplies and therefore suffered of a heavy death toll. The British public
criticism was high after ‘The Times’ reported it by W.H. Russell, the first war
correspondence to use the telegraph to transmit his report.
Florence Nightingale asked for permission to travel
to Crimea. Her introduction of hygiene and various other new methods finally reduced
the mortality in hospital among the Allied wounded form 42 per cent to 2 per
cent. She turned the whole nursing completely around and made it to what it is
today.
When Sevastopol fell, Alexander II, the new Russian Tsar
began a peace process which was formally accepted at the Congress of Paris in
1856.
