Chapter 41

In Varna, a council of war was held to decide upon the course to be pursued against the Russians. Among others, General Stein, or Ferhat Pasha, as he was called after his conversion to Mohammedanism, proposed the landing of troops in Asia in order to drive the enemy from the Caucasus. But St. Arnaud, who felt that he had not long to live, and, therefore, wished to end his career as gloriously as he could, voted for an attack on Sebastopol, the naval port of the Crimea. He was supported by Lord Raglan, who desired nothing more fervently than the destruction of the Russian fleet. So far no less than 15,000 men had perished in the campaign. The remaining force, composed of 56,000 soldiers, of whom 6,000 were Turks, was landed, on September 14, at Eupatoria on the west coast of the peninsula. To the south of Eupatoria the sea forms a bay which receives the waters of the River Tchernaya, flowing past the ruins of Inkermann. Upon the southern side is the fortified city of Sebastopol. On the northern side fortifications had been built to protect the fleet anchored in the bay. Upon the heights overlooking the river Alma, Prince Menzikov, Governor of the Crimea, had stationed his army of 39,000 men with 106 guns. Although the heights overhanging the Alma are more than five miles long, the Russian troops by which they were defended formed a front of but three miles. This left the extreme left of the Russians open to an attack by a ford opposite the village of Almatack. Against Menzikov, Marshal St. Arnaud and Lord Raglan could oppose 63,000 men and 128 guns. The weakness of the undefended left flank of the Russian army was discovered from the French ships. St. Arnaud laid his plans accordingly. On the morning of September 20, the attack was begun. The warships steamed up the river and opened fire on the enemy. Bosquet, in command of a French division and a Turkish contingent, was assigned to attack Menzikov's left. He pushed his way through the village of Almatack and forded the river. His Zouaves nimbly climbed the heights and reached the feebly defended plateau. Menzikov, busily engaged in resisting the advance of the English against his right, at first refused to believe the unwelcome tidings. He endeavored to shift a part of his force from right to left. Meantime the English, under Lord Raglan, were subjected to so fierce a fire from the Russian main position that they could make no headway. They lay passive upon the ground waiting for the French under Canrobert and Louis Napoleon to begin the attack in front, and thus divert the attention of Menzikov. Weary of their long delay, Lord Raglan took matters into his own hands. The English infantry rose from the field, advanced upon the Russian main position, and, under a hot fire, stormed the Russian redoubt with dreadful loss. Attacked on the one side by the English and on the other by the French, Menzikov was compelled to beat a retreat.

[Sidenote: War artists and correspondents]

The battle of the Alma was one of the first modern engagements described by special war correspondents in the field. The news of the victory was despatched to London with a rapidity prophetic of the feats performed by latter-day correspondents. Besides the war correspondents, several artists of note followed the armies of the allies. Among the French painters who have perpetuated some of the well-known episodes of the Crimean War were Horace Vernet, who painted a "Battle of Alma," and Paul Alexandre Protais, a pupil of Desmoulins, who first came into note about that time. Another artist who made his early reputation in the war of the Crimea was Adolphe Schreyer.

[Sidenote: Tolstoi]

On the Russian side, Count Lyof Tolstoi served at the front, together with his namesake and fellow writer, Count Alexander Tolstoi. There he gathered impressions for his stories on the siege of Sebastopol, and for his subsequent great novel of the Napoleonic invasion, "War and Peace."

[Sidenote: Cholera]

Besides the news of victory, the Crimean War correspondents told of the sore plight of the English army, of the ravages of cholera, and of the wretchedly organized hospital system. No preparations had been made for a very long campaign. The taking of Sebastopol, it was thought by the English, would present no grave difficulties.

[Sidenote: Todleben]

But Sebastopol was better prepared to meet an attack than England knew. True it is that early in the war the city might have been taken by a dash from the land and sea. But the chance was now gone. Three days after the defeat of Alma, Menzikov sank seven vessels of the Russian Black Sea fleet in the mouth of the harbor. On all sides the city was strongly fortified in accordance with the suggestion of Todleben, an ingenious artillery officer.

[Sidenote: Allies beaten off]

Instead of moving directly upon Sebastopol the allies first marched to Balaklava, further to the south, where they would be in constant communication with the ships and could establish a base of supplies. On October 17, an unsuccessful attack was made on Sebastopol.

[Sidenote: Russian success]

At dawn on October 25, the Russians crossed the Tchernaya and stole rapidly on until their vanguard had reached a position from which they could cannonade Canrobert's Hill, the post most distant from the forces of the allies and nearest the village of Kamara. The main Russian army under Liprandi soon came up and began to fire upon Canrobert's Hill and the adjacent works. The English replied with the assistance of a troop of horse artillery and of a field battery. Two English divisions and two French brigades were sent to the aid of the garrison on the hills. The Russians succeeded in storming Canrobert's Hill and in capturing the next and smaller fortification. Threatened by overwhelming numbers, the troops on the remaining hills withdrew.

[Sidenote: Balaklava]

Two English cavalry brigades--the Light and the Heavy--commanded by Lord Lucan, had been manoeuvring to protect Balaklava. The Light Brigade, under Lord Cardigan, faced the Tchernaya; the Heavy Brigade, under Scarlett, was on the Balaklava side of the ridge. A great body of Russian cavalry swept down the slope upon the Heavy Brigade, and for a moment threw it into disorder. But Scarlett's men charged the Russians. The two opposing bodies of cavalry clashed and seemed to melt one within the other. Then the Russian horsemen yielded, and fled over the ridge whence they had first appeared five minutes before.

[Sidenote: The charge of the Light Brigade]

A disposition on the Russian side to carry off the captured guns induced Lord Raglan to send Lord Lucan an order "to advance rapidly to the front and try to prevent the enemy carrying away the guns." The order was carried by Captain Nolan, who found Lucan between his two brigades, with the Light Brigade beyond Woronzov road. Whose "front" was meant Lucan did not know. Nolan conjectured that "the guns" in question were those which had retired with the retreating Russian cavalry. Already the Russian cavalry had taken protection behind its works toward the Tchernaya, and was supported by Liprandi's troops posted along the Woronzov road, and by Russian guns bearing on the valley from the ridge and from Fedioukin heights. Nolan, Lord Lucan reported later, insisted that these very guns must be regained. Although Lord Cardigan of the Light Brigade shared Lucan's misgivings he obeyed the command. With the order, "The Brigade will advance!" the famous charge of the Six Hundred began. Nolan galloped obliquely across the Brigade as it started. He was killed by the first shell fired from a Russian gun. Into the thick of the Russians Cardigan rode with his men. The forlorn exploit has been immortalized by Alfred Tennyson:

Half a league, half a league, Half a league onward, All in the valley of Death Rode the six hundred. "Forward, the Light Brigade! Charge for the guns!" he said: Into the valley of Death Rode the six hundred.

[Sidenote: Liprandi's victory]

The whole Brigade would have been wiped out after the repulse, when the Russian cavalry rode in pursuit, had not several squadrons of French cuirassiers ridden to the rescue. The fact that the Russians retained the hills which they had captured justified Liprandi in claiming the victory.

[Sidenote: Preparing for battle]

In November, the French infantry in the Crimea numbered 81,000, the British 16,000, and the Turkish 11,000. Brave as the Moslems undoubtedly were, they were not permitted to demonstrate their value in subsequent encounters. While the allies strengthened their batteries and replenished their magazines, the Russians likewise fortified their position and gathered reinforcements. It was a race on both sides for the first delivery of the attack. On November 4, the allied commanders definitely arranged for a cannonade and an assault which was to place Sebastopol at their mercy. The Russians, recognizing their peril, completed the assembly of their forces to attack the allies and forestall them. In all, Menzikov could oppose 115,000 soldiers to the 65,000 available men of the allies. The Russian commander assigned the main attack to General Soimonov with 19,000 infantry and 38 guns and to General Paulov with 16,000 infantry and 96 guns. The regiments in the valley of the Tchernaya, formerly commanded by Liprandi, but now led by Gortschakov, were "to support the general attack by drawing the enemy's forces toward them." The garrison of Sebastopol was to cover with its artillery fire the right flank of the attacking force. After effecting their junction, the two divisions were to place themselves under General Danneberg's command.

[Sidenote: Inkermann]

Soimonov issued under cover of a thick fog from the fortress before dawn on November 5, and to the surprise of the allies began the attack on the English left. The timely arrival of reinforcements under Buller enabled the British to repel the Russians. Soimonov was left dead on the field. The attack of Paulov on the right was no more successful. The Russians were here repulsed with frightful loss. When Danneberg arrived on the scene he found that, with Paulov's battalions on Mount Inkermann and with those of Soimonov, he could recommence the battle with 19,000 men and 90 guns. Ten thousand of these men were hurled against the English centre and right by Danneberg. The carnage was frightful. Between the hostile lines rose a rampart of fallen men. The Russians would probably have swept away the British by the sheer force of greater numbers, had they not been taken in the flank and repulsed by a French regiment which arrived just in time to save their English comrades.

[Sidenote: A dear victory]

Although the Russian attacking force had been diminished to 6,000 men, it was once more resolutely launched against the enemy, this time against the centre and left of the allied armies. So impetuous was the assault, that for a time the Russians carried all before them. But a simultaneous, irresistible advance of the French and English not only repulsed the attacking force, but drove it off the field. Shortly before noon the battle was decided. The heavy losses suffered by the Russians enabled the allies to oppose greater numbers of men against Danneberg's broken battalions and his still unused reserve, and to make use of their guns, now for the first time superior in number to the Russian ordnance. The battle of Inkermann closed with no grand charge on the one side, nor wild flight on the other. When the Russians saw that success was hopeless, they withdrew gradually, with no attempt on the part of the wearied allies to convert the repulse into a rout. On both sides, men had been ruthlessly sacrificed.

[Sidenote: Crimean horrors]

Inkermann was followed by a gloomy winter. The Black Sea was swept by terrible storms which destroyed transport ships laden with stores for the army. The horses that charged at Balaklava became unfit for service; the men who had fought at Inkermann languished in field hospitals. In the wretchedly organized lazarets at Scutari the sick and wounded died by scores for lack of proper medical attendance. Shameful frauds were perpetrated in filling the contracts for preserved meats. With grim humor "Punch" exclaimed: "One man's preserved meat is another man's poison." After the harrowing misery that prevailed in camp had been pictured in the London newspapers, something like system was finally established in the hospitals by the energy of Miss Florence Nightingale.

[Sidenote: Sardinia's offered help]

Balaklava and Inkermann had a profound effect upon the diplomatic negotiation of the Powers. England and France attempted to induce Austria and Prussia to take arms against the Czar. But Prussia would do nothing without the Confederation; and Austria would do nothing without Prussia. Buol-Schauenstein, the Austrian Minister of Foreign Affairs, would gladly have mediated; but the prospects of success were not rosy. To the annoyance of Austria, Piedmont, which had maintained its position in Italy despite Austria, offered to take part in the war. Austria saw that she must now act quickly if she wished to preserve her European prestige. On December 2, she signed a treaty with England and France binding herself not to negotiate separately with the Czar; to defend the principalities which she had occupied in accordance with her compact with Turkey, after their evacuation by the Russians; and to deliberate with the Powers as to the best course to be pursued if the war were not ended by January 1, 1855. The treaty was intended merely to thwart Piedmont.

1855

[Sidenote: Crimean war scandals]

[Sidenote: Parliamentary inquiry]

Complaints of neglect and maladministration in the Crimea waxed ever louder. The reports of the war correspondents at the front aroused indignation in London and Paris. Now the London "Times" came out with a leading article which produced a profound sensation throughout England. The burden of it was a bitter complaint that "the noblest army ever sent from our shores has been sacrificed to the grossest mismanagement. Incompetency, lethargy, aristocratic hauteur, official indifference, favor, routine, perverseness and stupidity reign, revel, and riot in the camp before Sebastopol, in the harbor of Balaklava, in the hospitals of Scutari, and how much nearer home we do not venture to say. We say it with extremest reluctance, no one sees or hears anything of the Commander-in-Chief. Officers who landed on the 14th of September, and have incessantly been engaged in all the operations of the siege, are not even acquainted with the face of their commander." The exposures of the "Times" were taken up in Parliament. Already Lord John Russell had urged upon the Earl of Aberdeen the necessity of having the War Minister in the House of Commons, and recommended that Lord Palmerston should be intrusted with the portfolio of war. The Prime Minister refused to recommend the proposed change to the Queen, on the ground that it would be unfair to the Duke of Newcastle, against whom, he said, no positive defect had been proved. As soon as Parliament assembled on January 25, the opposition moved for a commission of inquiry "into the condition of our army before Sebastopol, and into the conduct of those departments whose duty it has been to minister to the wants of that army." Lord John Russell at once wrote to Lord Aberdeen that since this motion could not be resisted, and was sure to involve a censure of the War Department, he preferred to tender his resignation. The retirement of the leaders of the House of Commons served to paralyze the government's resistance. After a debate of two nights the motion for an inquiry was accepted by 305 against 148 votes. As Mr. Molesworth, who was present, wrote:

[Sidenote: Aberdeen's Ministry defeated]

"Never, perhaps, had a government been more decisively defeated. When the numbers were announced, the House seemed to be surprised, and almost stunned by its own act. There was no cheering; but for a few moments a dead silence, followed by a burst of derisive laughter. The Ministers of course resigned."

[Sidenote: Palmerston, Premier]

Lord John Russell and Lord Derby, each in turn, tried to form a Ministry, but both failed. Lord Palmerston was then called in, and succeeded in rallying a Cabinet composed largely of the members of the old Administration. Thus Lord Granville, Earl Grey, the Duke of Argyll, Lord Clarendon and William E. Gladstone were retained. The chief change was the appointment of Lord Panmure to take the place of the Duke of Newcastle as Secretary of War. Lord Panmure, better known as Fox Maule, had already served as Minister of War during the six years of Lord Russell's administration, and had shown himself thoroughly capable in that post. Commissions of inquiry were now sent to the Crimea. At the same time diplomatic conferences were reopened at Vienna.

[Sidenote: Cavour's master-stroke]

The evident insincerity of Count Buol stirred up a hornet's nest of indignation. The people of England and France became incensed as they saw that Austria showed no inclination to fight. Prussia flatly refused to assist Austria in any warlike undertaking. Victor Emmanuel of Sardinia took advantage of the situation to join the allies. On April 21 he sent 15,000 men to the Crimea.

During the diplomatic parleys of the Powers, the siege of Sebastopol wearily dragged along. The commissariat and land-transport systems broke down. The armies were weakened by cholera, cold, and starvation. Negotiations for peace were set on foot by Austria. A conference was opened at Vienna under promising auspices.

[Sidenote: Death of Emperor Nicholas]

[Sidenote: The Four Points]

Czar Nicholas, with whom the war was a personal grievance, died on March 2--of pulmonary apoplexy, reported the physicians--of bitter disappointment and despair, claimed his people. His son, Alexander II., peace-loving as he was known to be, did not venture to show himself less of a true Russian than his father. The Conference proved a failure. Lord John Russell, England's representative, was instructed to insist upon the admission of Turkey into the Concert of Powers. To secure this end, four principal points were to be considered, now famous under the name of the Four Points--the fate of the Danube principalities, the free navigation of the Danube, the limitation of Russian supremacy in the Black Sea, and the preservation of the integrity of the Ottoman Empire. The attempt to limit Russia's supremacy in the Black Sea was the chief point upon which the Powers could not agree.

[Sidenote: Changes at the front]

The operations in the Crimea were vigorously renewed. Lord Raglan died and was succeeded by General Simpson. Long before him, old Marshal St. Arnaud was carried away by disease. His post was taken by Canrobert, who afterward resigned in favor of Pelissier. On August 16, the Russians under Liprandi made a desperate effort to raise the siege by an attack on the allies. The assault was made on the French divisions and on the Sardinian contingent. Liprandi was foiled. Northern Italy was in a delirium of joy when the news came that the banner of Piedmont had been carried to victory over a great Power, side by side with the flag of France. The far-sightedness of Cavour's audacious policy was now fully appreciated.

[Sidenote: Russian works assaulted]

[Sidenote: Zouaves storm the Malakov]

[Sidenote: British beaten off]

[Sidenote: Sebastopol yielded to allies]

[Sidenote: Cost of the great siege]

The repulse proved fatal to the Russians. Nearer and nearer the French drew to the city. But the ingenious Todleben threw up works which also brought the Russians closer to the enemy. Sometimes it seemed as if the allies were the besieged and not the besiegers. Malakov Tower and the Mamelon battery in front of it were the scenes of bloody conflicts. Night sorties were made and repelled. On June 7, the English assaulted the quarries in front of the Redan, and the French assailed the Mamelon. Both attempts were successful. On the 18th, a fierce attack was made on the Redan and the Malakov batteries, which resulted in failure, because the French did not act with sufficient precision. A simultaneous assault was made on the Malakov and the Redan on September 5. The French upon capturing the Malakov were to hoist their flag, and thereby signal to the English when to move against the Redan. A brilliant success was won by the Zouaves. Their tricolor waved over the ramparts fifteen minutes after they had started to scale the steep heights. The task of the English troops proved more difficult. They were compelled to advance under a galling fire, but stormed the parapets despite the resistance which they encountered. The attacking force, however, was too small; reinforcements did not come in time, and the remnant of the party was compelled to withdraw. It was the story of Balaklava told over again with bloody emphasis--the story of splendid courage on the part of the men, of wretched generalship on the part of their commanders. After the attack, the Russians withdrew from the south side of Sebastopol. That portion of the city had been so thoroughly bombarded that Gortschakov could no longer hold out. "It is not Sebastopol that we have left to them, but the burning ruins of the town, to which we ourselves set fire," wrote the Russian commander after his brave defence. He could indeed boast that later generations would "recall with pride" the great siege and its stirring events. The investment had lasted eleven months. It involved the construction of seventy miles of trenches and the employment of 60,000 fascines, 80,000 gabions, and 1,000,000 sandbags. One and one-half million shells and shot were fired into the town from the cannon of the besiegers. The Russian forces in and about Sebastopol numbered 150,000; their losses sustained in its defence amounted, in killed, wounded and missing, to 90,142. The allied armies numbered 80,650 French, 43,000 English, and 20,000 Turks in January, 1855. The British troops suffered terribly from disease. The forty-one English infantry battalions, which embarked originally, mustered 36,923, and were reinforced by 27,884. Their strength at the conclusion of hostilities was 653 less than it was at the beginning. The Sardinians suffered proportionately. The wastage, due principally to disease, thus amounted to 28,537 men.

[Sidenote: The defense of Kars]

With the fall of Sebastopol the war may be said to have ended. A brilliant chapter which had little effect on the Crimean campaign, partly because it occurred after the fall of Sebastopol, partly because it concerned chiefly the Armenians, was the long defence of Kars by Colonel Williams and Wassif Pasha against an overwhelming Russian army under General Muraviev. Williams sturdily held his ground, bravely repulsed a violent attack in which the Russians lost over 5,000 men, and surrendered on November 27, with all the honors of war, only when starvation stared his little garrison in the face.

[Sidenote: First ironclads before Kinburn]

[Sidenote: Success of first trial]