A history of England . tantinople. When, therefore, Nicholas I. demanded thatTurkey should recognise his protectorate over the GreekChristians in the Turkish dominions, and should guaranteethe claims of the Greek Church with reference to the Holyplaces, the Sultan found himself supported in his refusal byEngland and France. Russian troops invaded Moldavia andWallachia (1853), whereupon England and France signed atreaty with Turkey, and in 1854 declared war againstRussia. The Government of Lord Aberdeen had drifted into a warwhich might possibly have been avoided if the Tsar had beendistinctly
A history of England . tantinople. When, therefore, Nicholas I. demanded thatTurkey should recognise his protectorate over the GreekChristians in the Turkish dominions, and should guaranteethe claims of the Greek Church with reference to the Holyplaces, the Sultan found himself supported in his refusal byEngland and France. Russian troops invaded Moldavia andWallachia (1853), whereupon England and France signed atreaty with Turkey, and in 1854 declared war againstRussia. The Government of Lord Aberdeen had drifted into a warwhich might possibly have been avoided if the Tsar had beendistinctly warned that an attack on Turkey would be treatedas a casus belli. But the Cabinet was unfortunately weakenedby dissensions, and in the end Palmerston and the party ofaction forced Aberdeen to declare war. The result was thatEngland was unprepared for hostilities, and a prolonged andcostly struggle followed, which might have been avoided bytimely firmness, and certainly would have been shortened byadequate 486 Victoria. 3. The Invasion of the Crimea (1854).—Even beforethe arrival of the Anglo-French armies at Varna, Turkey hadproved herself strong enough to resist the attack of Russia. TheRussian forces crossed the Danube and laid siege to Silistria;but the siege was begun too late, and when Austria threatenedarmed intervention unless the Russian troops were with-drawn from the Danubian Principalities, the Tsar was com-pelled to yield. The Russian attack on Turkey had thusfailed completely. Unfortunately the war spirit in Englandand France was now thoroughly roused, and demands wereaddressed to the Tsar, which he absolutely refused. Theallied armies under Lord Raglan and St. Arnaud were orderedto make a descent on the Crimea with the object of capturingSebastopol, the head-quarters of Russias power in the BlackSea. In September the allies disembarked thirty miles northof Sebastopol, and a victory was won at Alma over the Russiansunder Menschikoff, who tried to s
Size: 1298px × 1925px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, bookidhistoryofeng, bookyear1916
