FOCUS ON PHILATELY
by Ingert Kuzych, Roman Dubyniak and Peter Cybaniak
Crimean conflict collectibles
PART I
The years 2003-2006 mark the 150th anniversary of a struggle that most people have never heard of or, if they have, don't know what it was all about. Yet the Crimean War was a crucial event in Ukraine's ultimately successful struggle to free itself from the shackles of Russian imperialism.
A summary of the war
The root cause of the war was the Russian Empire's turning to the Balkans in a quest for expansion. As long as Russia had limited its territorial conquests eastward into Siberia or southward to capture Ottoman Turkish possessions along the Black Sea coast in southern Ukraine, the other European powers remained unconcerned. However, when it decided to meddle in Balkan affairs and annexed the Ottoman vassal states of Moldavia and Wallachia in July of 1953, suspicions were raised. When Russia destroyed the Turkish fleet at Sinope in a sneak attack on November 30, 1853, war with the other European powers became inevitable.
Britain was not only indignant at the way the attack was staged, but was distressed with the implications of the Russian moves. If the Russians grabbed the straits leading to the Black Sea, they would be a threat to the Mediterranean and to the British overland lines of communication with India.
France, too, was chagrined by the Russian effrontery and agreed to aid the Ottomans. Newly installed Emperor Napoleon III was eager to find military glory to bolster his regime.
On January 3, 1854, British and French fleets entered the Black Sea to protect the Ottoman coasts and shipping. In March both countries formed an alliance with the Ottoman Empire and formally declared war on Russia.
In May, when news arrived that the Russians had crossed the Danube and were advancing into northern Bulgaria, the British and French sent a force to Varna to check the threat (see Map A). The move proved effective since the Russians decided not to fight and in August withdrew from both Wallachia and Moldavia. For the allies, however, the stay in the Bulgarian town proved disastrous as many of the troops were struck down by a cholera epidemic.
The problem now arose of where to find the enemy. At this point hostilities might have been averted since the Russians had relinquished the territory they had occupied, but the allies decided the Russians needed to be taught a lesson. In early September a combined force of 50,000 British, French and Turkish troops embarked on 600 ships from Varna, across the Black Sea, to Crimea where they landed well north of the Russian stronghold of Sevastopol (Sebastopol) on September 14, 1854. The aim was to eliminate the Black Sea naval base in that city.
In the hostilities that ensued over the next year, several major battles were fought - all won by the allies, but at great cost. The first action occurred on September 20 as the allies moved south. Blocking their advance was an entrenched Russian force of 40,000 men on the heights overlooking the Alma River. A combined Anglo-French force of 26,000 crossed the river and took the slopes at bayonet point. The Russians suffered 1,200 killed and 4,700 wounded or captured; British casualties were 3,000, French 1,000.
The allies failed to follow up their impressive initial success and quarreled amongst themselves, allowing the Russians time to retreat to their fortress at Sevastopol (Figure 1). Had a concerted effort been made quickly to continue a march on the city, it could have been easily occupied as the Russians had not had adequate time to prepare defenses. The war might have been over in weeks. As it turned out, as the allies closed a ring around the city, a number of difficult battles had to be fought.
Perhaps the most famous engagement of the war was fought at Balaklava on October 25, 1854 (Map B). This three-phase action saw the famous stand by the 93rd Highlanders (the "thin red line"; Figure 2), the successful charge of the Heavy Brigade, and the disastrous and useless charge of the Light Brigade (Figure 3). (The latter immortalized by Alfred Tennyson in his famous poem. Through a confusion in orders, the soldiers attacked directly at the strength of the Russian line - its cannon. Of the 607 who rode out, only 198 returned.) Despite the latter tragedy, victory was secured.
Less than two weeks later, on November 5, a massive Russian force of 50,000 Russian troops attacked again, hoping to break the British lines held by 8,000 men at Inkerman. In the bloodiest day of fighting in the war, in fog and drizzling rain where visibility was only a few yards, most of the struggle was hand to hand by bayonet. The Russians suffered 12,000 casualties compared to the 2,500 British and 1,000 French.
Even before these battles, and even before the long, weary siege that ensued, the allies lost appalling numbers of men due to sickness and disease. Fleas, flies and fever coupled with sunstroke in the summer and frostbite during the bitter 1854-1855 winter, killed far more allied troops than the entire Russian army. (Records show that 45,770 allied soldiers died in battle or from wounds sustained during the war, while 117,621 [72 percent] died of non-combat causes, mostly disease.)
Various important developments occurred during the first months of 1855. In January, Piedmont Sardinia sent an expeditionary force of 15,000 men to join the allies. King Victor Emmanuel (who would eventually unify all of Italy) saw this as an opportunity to gain some military glory for himself. In February, the British coalition government of Lord Aberdeen fell, the result of an outraged public alerted to the health disaster in the army's ranks. A Liberal administration under Lord Palmerston succeeded it. (The Crimean War was in many respects the first modern war; it was the first to be covered by photographers and war correspondents, who forwarded their dispatches via telegraph.) On March 2, 1855, Nicholas I, tsar of Russia and instigator of the conflict, died. He was succeeded by his son, who carried on with the war effort.
In May an allied expedition captured Kerch, 250 kilometers (150 miles) east of Sevastopol. This Russian naval base on the eastern tip of Crimea guarded the entrance to the Azov Sea. Many foodstuffs and military equipment were captured in the city and a British "Flying Squadron" of steam gunboats entered the Sea of Azov and searched it from end to end. Ships and trading vessels were burned or destroyed, forts crushed and terror spread along the entire seaboard.
While the British had taken the brunt of the fighting in the first year of 1854, the French made a more significant contribution in 1855, and helped bring the hostilities to a conclusion. At the Chernaia River on August 16, 1855, the Russians were repulsed with some 5,000 casualties to 1,200 for the French and Italians.
In the ensuing weeks, the noose around Sevastopol tightened. On September 5 several days of heavy artillery bombardment severely crippled the defense works around the city. On September 8 the French took the Malakov redoubt, which cleared the way into the city. The following day the Russians began to evacuate, burning houses and blowing up various forts, batteries and magazines. In the harbor, the ships were burned or scuttled. By September 10 devastated Sevastopol (Figure 4) was completely occupied by the allies.
The fall of Sevastopol was the last major engagement of the war for the allies. A follow-up plan was to capture the Russian naval base at Mykolaiv (Nikolaev). Access to this city on the Buh River was guarded by Fort Kinburn. On October 15 this stronghold was battered into submission by the combined naval guns of the British and French fleets. However, it was soon realized that Mykolaiv could not be reached without reinforcements, so the fleets sailed back to Crimea. This foray proved to be the last action of the allies in the war; Turkey subsequently carried out some successful attacks against the Russians in eastern Anatolia.
Meanwhile peace negotiations began and the pressure brought to bear on the Russians increased. On November 21, 1855, Sweden concluded a treaty of alliance with Britain and France against Russia. After Austria threatened to also join the allies, Russia was compelled to sign the Paris Peace Treaty on March 30, 1856. By terms of the agreement, Russia was forced to demilitarize the Black Sea and demolish four naval bases (including Sevastopol) and to relinquish the mouth of the Danube River (which was awarded to Moldavia) and southern Bessarabia (which went to the Ottomans). It was agreed that the Black Sea would be a neutral body of water. (These restrictions lasted until 1871. A few years after the war, the autonomous entities of Wallachia and Moldavia merged to form the United Principalities, and in 1862 they became the new state of Romania. So, an indirect result of the war was a new Balkan nation.)
The war and Ukraine
The possibility that southern, and perhaps even Right Bank Ukraine (west of the Dnipro) might be occupied by the allies greatly concerned Russian government officials. They became particularly fearful of Ukrainian aspirations to freedom should such an occupation occur. It was just at this time that such a possibility found resonance in Prussia, Britain, France and in Polish émigré circles.
Although the majority of Crimean defenders were ethnic Russians, there were many thousands of Ukrainians who also served - and died - in the Russian army. Additionally, some Kozak formations assisted the army in a scouting capacity.
The war also did a great deal of damage to Ukraine's economy, since Ukraine served not only as a close rear area but also in part as a theater of fighting. The resulting opposition to the war among Ukrainian landowners and in commercial circles, as well as growing peasant unrest particularly the Kyiv Kozak peasant revolt of 1855 - assumed alarming proportions for the authorities.
In the end, the military and moral defeat suffered by Russia and the revolutionary events in Ukraine had a direct bearing on the abolition of serfdom in 1861 and in the emergence of a Ukrainian political movement advocating emancipation.
The Crimean conflict on postcards
Many fascinating postcards with connections to Crimea, Sevastopol or the Crimean War survive. Those presented earlier (Figures 1-4) are just a sampling.
The fierce fighting that took place during the war produced feats of extraordinary courage on both sides of the conflict, which both sides sought to commemorate. Russia erected several memorial structures after Sevastopol had been rebuilt. Figure 5 is a postcard showing the Museum of the Defense of Sevastopol; Figure 6 is the circular building built to house the Panorama of the Defense of Sevastopol. The Panorama survives to this day and is a 14 by 115 meter painting by Franz Rubo that was completed in 1904 and first exhibited the following year for the 50th anniversary of the battle. Figures 7 and 8 show, respectively, the Monument to Sunken Ships and the Defense Monument honoring Count Totleben.
Ingert Kuzych may be contacted at P.O. Box 3, Springfield, VA 22150 or at his e-mail address: [email protected].
PART I
Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, January 2, 2005, No. 1, Vol. LXXIII
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