Russia loses the Crimean War and Sevastopol falls
An eleven-month siege exposes how far Russia has fallen behind industrialized Europe
Quick facts
- War dates
- 1853-1856
- Siege of Sevastopol
- October 1854-September 1855
- Peace treaty
- Treaty of Paris, March 1856
- Treaty term
- Neutralization of the Black Sea
What happened
Tsar Nicholas I's demand to protect Orthodox subjects of the Ottoman Empire triggered a war in 1853 that drew in Britain and France on the Ottoman side. Allied troops landed in Crimea in September 1854 and won a costly battle at the Alma River, losing 3,000 men to the Russians' 5,000, before besieging Sevastopol, home to Russia's Black Sea Fleet. The city held out for a year through the winter of 1854-1855, with British forces so short of transport and medical supplies that soldiers had to walk 12 miles round trip on foot to fetch food once the roads turned to mud. Sevastopol finally fell in September 1855, and when the Allies also took the Russian base at Kinburn in October and Austria threatened to join the war against Russia, the Tsar agreed to peace terms.
Why it matters
The Treaty of Paris, signed in March 1856, neutralized the Black Sea and the Dardanelles, a direct blow to Russia's dream of a warm-water naval port in the south. The defeat exposed how far Russia's serf-based army and undeveloped transport network had fallen behind Western Europe, and that humiliation directly pushed Tsar Alexander II toward the reforms that would end serfdom six years later.
How we know
British and Russian military records document the siege's major engagements and the logistical collapse of the British supply line; the Treaty of Paris text records the war's formal peace terms.
Sources
- National Army Museum (UK). The Crimean War · Reputable sourcenam.ac.uk · The domain "nam.ac.uk" is on our Reputable source registry. · Link is live and its text matches the event's key terms (Jul 2026)
- National Army Museum (UK). The Crimean War · Reputable sourcenam.ac.uk · The domain "nam.ac.uk" is on our Reputable source registry. · Link is live and its text matches the event's key terms (Jul 2026)
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