Prior to the twentieth century, the term “world war” was not a common phrase in the daily socio-political vocabulary. However, the Crimean War of the nineteenth century was most certainly a transcontinental conflict. The Crimean War began a timeline of numerous conflicts in the region of Crimea within the modern post-Napoleonic period. There are many reasons for the Crimean War. However, the most concise reason for the Crimean War is simply Russian expansionism and imperialism. 

    In 1853, the two major empires of Eurasia were the Russian Empire and the Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman Empire and the numerous empires in Christendom had structured a decree in the eighteenth century that decreed that a Christian nation would act as the protectorate of Christian peoples within the Ottoman Empire in areas such as “the Holy Land” or modern-day Israel/Palestine. The political protection of Christians within the Ottoman Empire was a medium through which the protectorate nation was able to exercise influence beyond the religion. The Russian Empire and the Eastern Orthodox Church competed with the French Empire and the Roman Catholic Church for the authority for protection of Ottoman Christians. The British Empire had mediated a negotiation process between the Russian, French, and Ottoman Empires. The three leaders of the respective empires negotiate an agreement. Napoleon III of France utilized both a show of force and its imperial wealth to induce Sultan Abdulmecid I of Ottoman Turkey to regotionate the compromise in favor of the French Empire and Napoleon III of France. Tsar Nicholas I of Russia responded to this renegotiation by militarily advancing into the Danubian Principalities in modern-day Romania. The Russian military aggression induced the declaration of war upon the Russian Empire by the Ottoman Empire, with the military support of the French and British Empires as well and thus began the Crimean War.

    Though the British Empire began the Russo-Ottoman conflict as mediators, the British Empire and its military mobilized into a major aggressor in the Crimean War. The November 21, 1854 issue of London, England’s The Times newspaper contains a letter to the editor of The Times from an Englishman known as “W.S.”. The letter is titled “Why Spare Odessa?”. The writer states that “we have, in short, in the interest of humanity, to civilize the Russian Empire; and it is a mistaken and narrow idea of mercy which would prompt to spare now, since we may be assured that our forbearance will only lead to future barbararities” (W.S.). The statement by “W.S.” advocates for the British Empire and its involvement in the Caucasus in “the interest of humanity (W.S.). The British perception of the war was somewhat divided. Wealthy Englishmen were largely supportive of the war whilst impoverished Englishmen were likely divided. “There were some influential Britons who sought long range results from the war with Russia” (Luxenburg, Norman).

    The empires of the Crimean War acted upon their own respective interests. No empire was altruistic in their military and political ambitions in the Crimea, the Caucasus and the larger region of Eastern Europe. However, the war was certainly the result of Russian imperialism in the region near the Black Sea. The aggression of Russia (the Russian Empire, USSR, and the Russian Federation) is a recurring concept within history, media, and life for the people in Eastern Europe. 

 Works Cited

    W. S. "Why Spare Odessa?" Times, 21 Nov. 1854, p. 6. The Times Digital Archive, link-gale-com.proxy.ulib.uits.iu.edu/apps/doc/CS102271861/TTDA?u=iulib_iupui&sid=bookmark-TTDA&xid=b7b6cf86. Accessed 30 Apr. 2022.

    Luxenburg, Norman. “England and the Caucasus during the Crimean War.” Jahrbücher Für Geschichte Osteuropas, vol. 16, no. 4, 1968, pp. 499–504, http://www.jstor.org/stable/41043588. Accessed 30 April 2022.

    Lalumia, Matthew. “Realism and Anti-Aristocratic Sentiment in Victorian Depictions of the Crimean War.” Victorian Studies, vol. 27, no. 1, 1983, pp. 25–51, http://www.jstor.org/stable/3827272. Accessed 1 May 2022.