How the Crimean War began. Crimean War briefly

In the middle of the 19th century, some disagreements arose between Russia on the one hand and the Ottoman Empire, as well as a number of European states on the other, regarding the division of spheres of influence in the Black Sea and the East. This conflict eventually led to an armed confrontation called the Crimean War, the reasons, course of military operations and results of which will be discussed briefly in this article.

Increasing anti-Russian sentiments in Western European countries

IN early XIX centuries, the Ottoman Empire experienced difficult times. It lost some of its territories and was on the verge of complete collapse. Taking advantage of this situation, Russia tried to increase its influence on some countries of the Balkan Peninsula that were under Ottoman control. Fearing that this could lead to the emergence of a number of independent states loyal to Russia, as well as the appearance of its ships in the Mediterranean Sea, England and France launched anti-Russian propaganda in their countries. Articles constantly appeared in newspapers citing examples of aggressive military policy Tsarist Russia and its possibilities of conquering Constantinople.

Causes of the Crimean War, briefly about the events of the early 50s of the 19th century

The reason for the start of the military confrontation was disagreements regarding the ownership of Christian churches in Jerusalem and Bethlehem. The Orthodox Church, supported by the Russian Empire, on the one hand, and the Catholics, under the patronage of France, on the other, have been fighting for a long time for ownership of the so-called keys to the temple. Eventually Ottoman Empire supported France, giving it the right to own holy places. Nicholas I could not come to terms with this and in the spring of 1853 he sent A.S. Menshikov to Istanbul, who was supposed to negotiate the provision of churches under the management of the Orthodox Church. But as a result, he received a refusal from the Sultan, Russia moved to more decisive actions, as a result of which an outbreak of Crimean War. We will briefly consider its main stages below.

Start of hostilities

This conflict was one of the largest and most significant confrontations between the strongest states of that time. The main events of the Crimean War took place in the Transcaucasus, the Balkans, in the Black Sea basin and partly in the White and Barents Seas. It all started in June 1853, when several Russian troops entered the territory of Moldavia and Wallachia. The Sultan did not like this, and after several months of negotiations, he declared war on Russia.

From this moment, a three-year military confrontation began, called the Crimean War, the course of which we will briefly try to understand. The entire period of this conflict can be divided into two stages:

1. October 1853 - April 1854 - Russian-Turkish confrontation.
2. April 1854 - February 1856 - entry into the war by England, France and the Sardinian Kingdom on the side of the Ottoman Empire.

Initially, everything turned out favorably for the Russian troops, who won victories both at sea and on land. The most significant event was the battle in Sinop Bay, as a result of which the Turks lost a significant part of their fleet.

Second stage of the war

In the early spring of 1854, England and France joined the Ottoman Empire and also declared war on Russia. New opponents Russian troops inferior both in the training of soldiers and in the quality of weapons, as a result of which they had to retreat when coalition ships entered the waters of the Black Sea. The main task for the Anglo-French formations was the capture of Sevastopol, where the main forces of the Black Sea Fleet were concentrated.

To this end, in September 1854, Allied ground formations landed in the western part of Crimea, and a battle ensued near the Alma River, which ended in defeat for the Russian army. Anglo-French troops captured Sevastopol, and after 11 months of resistance the city was surrendered.

Despite the defeats in naval battles and in Crimea, the Russian army showed itself excellently in Transcaucasia, where it was opposed by Ottoman troops. Having successfully repulsed the attacks of the Turks, she launched a rapid offensive and managed to push the enemy back to the Kars fortress.

Treaty of Paris

After three years of fierce fighting, both sides of the conflict did not want to continue the military confrontation and agreed to sit down at the negotiating table. As a result, the results of the Crimean War of 1853-1856. were enshrined in the Paris Peace Treaty, which the parties signed on March 18, 1856. According to it, the Russian Empire was deprived of part of Bessarabia. But a much more serious damage was that the waters of the Black Sea were now considered neutral for the duration of the treaty. This meant that Russia and the Ottoman Empire were prohibited from having their own Black Sea fleets, as well as from building fortresses on its shores. This greatly undermined the country's defensive capabilities, as well as its economy.

Consequences of the Crimean War

As a result of the three-year confrontation between European states and the Ottoman Empire against Russia, the latter was among the losers, which undermined its influence on the world stage and led to economic isolation. This forced the country's government to launch a number of reforms aimed at modernizing the army, as well as improving the lives of the entire population of the country. Thanks to the military reform, conscription was abolished, and military service was introduced instead. New models were adopted into service with the army military equipment. After the uprisings broke out, serfdom was abolished. Changes also affected the education system, finance and courts.

Despite all the efforts made by the Russian Empire, the Crimean War ended in defeat for it; after briefly analyzing the course of its actions, one can judge that the cause of all the failures was poor training of troops and outdated weapons. After its completion, many reforms were introduced aimed at improving the fundamentals of life for the country's citizens. Results of the Crimean War of 1853-1856. Although they were unsatisfactory for Russia, they still gave the tsar the opportunity to realize past mistakes and prevent similar things in the future.

The Crimean War, or, as it is called in the West, the Eastern War, was one of the most important and decisive events of the mid-19th century. At this time, the lands of the western Ottoman Empire found themselves at the center of a conflict between the European powers and Russia, with each of the warring parties wanting to expand their territories by annexing foreign lands.

The war of 1853-1856 was called the Crimean War, since the most important and intense fighting took place in Crimea, although military clashes went far beyond the peninsula and covered large areas of the Balkans, the Caucasus, as well as the Far East and Kamchatka. At the same time, Tsarist Russia had to fight not just with the Ottoman Empire, but with a coalition where Turkey was supported by Great Britain, France and the Kingdom of Sardinia.

Causes of the Crimean War

Each of the parties that took part in the military campaign had its own reasons and grievances that prompted them to enter into this conflict. But in general, they were united by one single goal - to take advantage of Turkey’s weakness and establish themselves in the Balkans and the Middle East. It was these colonial interests that led to the outbreak of the Crimean War. But all countries took different paths to achieve this goal.

Russia wanted to destroy the Ottoman Empire, and its territories to be mutually beneficially divided between the claiming countries. Russia would like to see Bulgaria, Moldova, Serbia and Wallachia under its protectorate. And at the same time, she was not against the fact that the territories of Egypt and the island of Crete would go to Great Britain. It was also important for Russia to establish control over the Dardanelles and Bosporus straits, connecting two seas: the Black and Mediterranean.

With the help of this war, Turkey hoped to suppress the national liberation movement that had swept the Balkans, as well as to take away very important Russian territories Crimea and the Caucasus.

England and France did not want to strengthen the position of Russian tsarism in the international arena, and sought to preserve the Ottoman Empire, since they saw it as a constant threat to Russia. Having weakened the enemy, the European powers wanted to separate the territories of Finland, Poland, the Caucasus and Crimea from Russia.

The French emperor pursued his ambitious goals and dreamed of revenge in a new war with Russia. Thus, he wanted to take revenge on his enemy for his defeat in the military campaign of 1812.

If you carefully consider the mutual claims of the parties, then, in essence, the Crimean War was absolutely predatory and aggressive. It’s not for nothing that the poet Fyodor Tyutchev described it as a war of cretins with scoundrels.

Progress of hostilities

The start of the Crimean War was preceded by several important events. In particular, it was the issue of control over the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Bethlehem, which was resolved in favor of the Catholics. This finally convinced Nicholas I of the need to begin military action against Turkey. Therefore, in June 1853, Russian troops invaded the territory of Moldova.

The response from the Turkish side was not long in coming: on October 12, 1853, the Ottoman Empire declared war on Russia.

First period of the Crimean War: October 1853 – April 1854

By the beginning of hostilities, there were about a million people in the Russian army. But as it turned out, its weapons were very outdated and significantly inferior to the equipment of Western European armies: smooth-bore guns against rifled weapons, a sailing fleet against ships with steam engines. But Russia hoped that it would have to fight with a Turkish army approximately equal in strength, as happened at the very beginning of the war, and could not imagine that it would be opposed by the forces of a united coalition of European countries.

During this period, military operations were carried out with varying degrees of success. And the most important battle of the first Russian-Turkish period of the war was the Battle of Sinop, which took place on November 18, 1853. The Russian flotilla under the command of Vice Admiral Nakhimov, heading to the Turkish coast, discovered large enemy naval forces in Sinop Bay. The commander decided to attack the Turkish fleet. The Russian squadron had undeniable advantage- 76 cannons firing explosive shells. This is what decided the outcome of the 4-hour battle - the Turkish squadron was completely destroyed, and the commander Osman Pasha was captured.

Second period of the Crimean War: April 1854 – February 1856

The victory of the Russian army in the Battle of Sinop greatly worried England and France. And in March 1854, these powers, together with Turkey, formed a coalition to fight a common enemy - the Russian Empire. Now a powerful military force, several times larger than her army, fought against her.

With the beginning of the second stage of the Crimean campaign, the territory of military operations expanded significantly and covered the Caucasus, the Balkans, the Baltic, Far East and Kamchatka. But the main task of the coalition was intervention in Crimea and the capture of Sevastopol.

In the fall of 1854, a combined 60,000-strong corps of coalition forces landed in the Crimea near Evpatoria. And the very first battle on the Alma River Russian army lost, so it was forced to retreat to Bakhchisarai. The garrison of Sevastopol began to prepare for the defense and defense of the city. The valiant defenders were led by the famous admirals Nakhimov, Kornilov and Istomin. Sevastopol was turned into impregnable fortress, which was protected by 8 bastions on land, and the entrance to the bay was blocked with the help of sunken ships.

The heroic defense of Sevastopol continued for 349 days, and only in September 1855 the enemy captured the Malakhov Kurgan and occupied the entire southern part cities. The Russian garrison moved to the northern part, but Sevastopol never capitulated.

Results of the Crimean War

The military actions of 1855 weakened both the allied coalition and Russia. Therefore, there could no longer be any talk of continuing the war. And in March 1856, the opponents agreed to sign a peace treaty.

According to the Treaty of Paris, Russia, like the Ottoman Empire, was prohibited from having a navy, fortresses and arsenals on the Black Sea, which meant that the country's southern borders were in danger.

As a result of the war, Russia lost a small part of its territories in Bessarabia and the mouth of the Danube, but lost its influence in the Balkans.

Introduction

For my essay, I chose the topic “Crimean War 1853-1856: goals and results.” This topic seemed to me the most interesting. "The Crimean War is one of the turning points in history international relations and especially in the history of Russian domestic and foreign policy" (E.V. Tarle). It was an armed resolution of the historical confrontation between Russia and Europe.

Crimean War 1853-1856 It is considered one of the largest and most dramatic international conflicts. To one degree or another, all the leading powers of the world of that time took part in it, and in terms of its geographical scope, until the middle of the 19th century, it had no equal. All this allows us to consider it a kind of “proto-world” war.

It claimed the lives of more than 1 million people. The Crimean War can in some ways be called a rehearsal for the world wars of the 20th century. This was the first war when the leading world powers, having suffered gigantic losses, came together in a fierce confrontation.

I wanted to work on this topic and generally evaluate the goals and results of the Crimean War. The main tasks of the work include:

1. Determination of the main causes of the Crimean War

2. Review of the progress of the Crimean War

3. Assessment of the results of the Crimean War

1. Literature review

In historiography, the topic of the Crimean War was dealt with by E.V. Tarle (in the book "Crimean War"), K.M. Basili, A.M., Zayonchkovsky et al.

Evgeniy Viktorovich Tarle (1874 - 1955) - Russian Soviet historian, academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences.

Basili Konstantin Mikhailovich (1809 - 1884) - an outstanding Russian orientalist, diplomat, writer and historian.

Andrei Medardovich Zayonchkovsky (1862 - 1926) - Russian and Soviet military leader, military historian.

To prepare this work I used the books:

"Russian Imperial House" - for information about the significance of the Crimean War for Russia

"Soviet Encyclopedic Dictionary" - from this book a description of the Crimean War and some general information about this question

Andreev A.R. “History of Crimea” - I used this literature to describe the general history of the war of 1853-1856.

Tarle E.V. "Crimean War" - information about military operations and the significance of the Crimean War

Zayonchkovsky A.M. "Eastern War 1853-1856" - to obtain information about the events preceding the war and the beginning of military operations against Turkey.

2. Causes of the Crimean War

The Crimean War was the result of many years of rivalry between Western powers in the Middle East. The Ottoman Empire was experiencing a period of decline, and the European powers that had designs on its possessions closely watched each other's actions.

Russia sought to secure its southern borders (to create friendly, independent Orthodox states in South-Eastern Europe, the territory of which could not be absorbed and used by other powers), to expand political influence on Balkan Peninsula and the Middle East, to establish control over the Black Sea straits of the Bosporus and Dardanelles - an important route for Russia in the Mediterranean. This was significant from both the military and economic sides. The Russian emperor, recognizing himself as a great Orthodox monarch, sought to liberate the Orthodox peoples under the influence of Turkey. Nicholas I decided to strengthen his position in the Balkans and the Middle East by putting hard pressure on Turkey.

By the time the war began, Sultan Abdülmecid was pursuing a policy of reform - tanzimat, caused by the crisis of Ottoman feudal society, socio-economic problems and increasing rivalry between European powers in the Middle East and the Balkans. For this purpose, borrowed funds from Western states (French and English) were used, which were spent on the purchase of industrial products and weapons, and not on strengthening the Turkish economy. It can be said that Türkiye gradually peacefully fell under the influence of European powers.

The opportunity opened up for Great Britain to form an anti-Russian coalition and weaken Russia's influence in the Balkans. The French Emperor Napoleon III, who reached the throne through a coup d'etat, was looking for an opportunity to intervene in European affairs and take part in some serious war in order to support his power with the brilliance and glory of the victory of French weapons. Therefore, he immediately sided with England in its Eastern policy against Russia. Türkiye decided to use this chance to restore its positions and secede the territories of Crimea and the Caucasus from Russia.

Thus, the causes of the Crimean War were rooted in the clash of colonial interests of countries, i.e. (all countries participating in the Crimean War pursued serious geopolitical interests).

Nicholas I was confident that Austria and Prussia, Russia's partners in the Holy Alliance, would remain at least neutral in the Russian-French conflict, and France would not dare to fight Russia one-on-one. In addition, he believed that Great Britain and France were rivals in the Middle East and would not form an alliance with each other. Nicholas I, speaking against Turkey, hoped for an agreement with England and for the isolation of France (in any case, the Russian emperor was sure that France would not agree to rapprochement with England).

The formal reason for the intervention was a dispute over holy places in Jerusalem, where the Turkish Sultan gave some advantages to Catholics, while infringing on the rights of Orthodox Christians. Relying on the support of France, the Turkish government not only handed over the keys to the Bethlehem Church to Catholics, but also began to restrict Orthodox Christians in the Holy Land, did not allow the restoration of the dome over the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, and did not allow the construction of a hospital and almshouse for Russian pilgrims. All this provoked the participation in the dispute of Russia (on the side of the Orthodox Church) and France (on the side catholic church), who were looking for a reason to put pressure on Turkey.

Defending his co-religionists, Emperor Nicholas I demanded that the Sultan comply with treaties on Russia's rights in Palestine. To do this, in February 1853, by order of the highest order, he sailed to Constantinople with emergency powers Prince A.S. Menshikov. He was instructed to demand that the Sultan not only resolve the dispute over holy places in favor of the Orthodox Church, but also give a special right to the Russian Tsar to be the patron of all Orthodox subjects of the Ottoman Empire. When this was refused, Prince Menshikov notified the Sultan of the severance of Russian-Turkish relations (although the Sultan agreed to give the holy places under Russian control) and left Constantinople. Following this, Russian troops occupied Moldavia and Wallachia, and England and France, in order to support Turkey, sent their fleets to the Dardanelles. The Sultan, having told Russia the demand for the cleansing of the Danube principalities within 15 days, did not wait for the end of this period and began hostile actions against Russia. October 4 (16), 1853 Turkey, counting on the help of European powers, declared war on Russia. As a result, on October 20 (November 1), 1853, Nicholas I published a manifesto on the war with Turkey. Türkiye willingly went to start a war, wanting the return of the northern coast of the Black Sea, Crimea, and Kuban.

The Crimean War began as a Russian-Turkish war, but then turned into a coalition war of England, France, Turkey and Sardinia against Russia. The Crimean War received its name because Crimea became the main theater of military operations.

The active policy of Nicholas I in the Middle East and Europe rallied interested countries against Russia, which led to its military confrontation with a strong bloc of European powers. England and France sought to prevent Russia from entering the Mediterranean Sea, establish their control over the straits and carry out colonial conquests in the Middle East at the expense of the Turkish Empire. They sought to take control of Turkey's economy and public finances.

In my opinion, the main reasons for hostilities can be formulated as follows:

firstly, England, France and Austria sought to strengthen their influence in the European possessions of the Ottoman Empire, oust Russia from the Black Sea region, thereby limiting its advance to the Middle East;

secondly, Türkiye, encouraged by England and France, hatched plans to secede Crimea and the Caucasus from Russia;

thirdly, Russia sought to defeat the Ottoman Empire, seize the Black Sea straits and expand its influence in the Middle East.

3. Progress of the Crimean War

The Crimean War can be divided into two major stages. At the first (from 1853 to the beginning of 1854), Russia fought one-on-one with Turkey. This period can be called classical Russian-Turkish war with the Danube, Caucasus and Black Sea theaters of military operations. At the second stage (from 1854 to February 1856), England, France, and then Sardinia took the side of Turkey. The small Sardinian kingdom sought to achieve recognition of the status of a “power” by European capitals. England and France promised her this if Sardinia entered the war against Russia. This turn of events had a great influence on the course of the war. Russia had to fight a powerful coalition of states that surpassed Russia in the scale and quality of weapons, especially in the field of naval forces, small arms and communications. IN in this regard it can be considered that the Crimean War opened new era wars of the industrial era, when the importance of military equipment and the military-economic potential of states increased sharply.

The Turkish Sultan, supported by England and France, on September 27 (October 4), 1853, demanded that Russia clear the Danube principalities (Moldova and Wallachia) and, without waiting for the 15 days allotted for them to respond, began military operations. October 4 (16), 1853. Turkey declared war on Russia. Under the command of Omar Pasha, the Turkish army crossed the Danube.

The day before the declaration of war, on October 3 (15), 1853, the Ottomans fired at Russian pickets on the left bank of the Danube. October 11 (23), 1853. The Ottomans shelled Russian military ships passing along the Danube. October 15 (27), 1853, an attack by Ottoman troops on Russian fortifications began military operations on the Caucasian front. As a result, on October 20 (November 1), Nicholas I issued a manifesto on Russia’s entry into the war with the Ottoman Empire, and in November he opened military operations.

On November 18 (30), in Sinop Bay, the Russian Black Sea squadron, under the command of Nakhimov, attacked the Turkish fleet and, after a stubborn battle, destroyed it all.

On November 11 (23), commander Nakhimov approached Sinop with small forces and blocked the entrance to the port. A ship was sent to Sevastopol with a request for reinforcements. On November 17 (29), the first part of the expected reinforcements arrived. At that moment, Nakhimov’s squadron included 6 battleships and two frigates. The Turkish squadron, which arrived in Sinop from Istanbul, stood in the roadstead and was preparing to land a large troop landing in the area of ​​Sukhumi and Poti. On the morning of November 18 (30), without waiting for the arrival of Kornilov’s detachment, Nakhimov led his squadron to Sinop. By the evening of the same day, the Turkish squadron was almost completely destroyed, along with its entire crew. Of the entire Turkish squadron, only one ship survived, which fled to Constantinople and brought there the news of the death of the fleet. The defeat of the Turkish squadron significantly weakened Turkey's naval forces.

Alarmed by Russia's victory at Sinop, on December 23, 1853 (January 4, 1854), England and France sent their fleets into the Black Sea, and Russia was demanded to withdraw Russian troops from the Danube principalities. Nicholas I refused. Then on March 15 (27) England and March 16 (28) France declared war on Russia.

England is trying to drag Austria and Prussia into the war with Russia. However, she did not succeed, although they took a position hostile to Russia. April 8 (20), 1854 Austria and Prussia demand that Russia clear the Danube principalities of its troops. Russia is forced to comply with the demands.

On August 4 (16), French troops captured and destroyed the Bomarsund fortress on the Åland Islands, and then carried out a brutal bombardment in Sveaborg. As a result, Russian Baltic Fleet was blocked at their bases. But the confrontation continued, and the attack of the allied forces on Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky at the end of August 1854 ended in complete failure.

Meanwhile, in the summer of 1854, a 50,000-strong expeditionary force of allied forces was concentrated in Varna. This unit was provided with the latest weapons, which the Russian army(rifled guns, etc.).

England and France tried to organize a broad coalition against Russia, but managed to involve only the Sardinian kingdom, dependent on France, in it. At the beginning of hostilities, the Allied fleets bombarded Odessa, but without success. Then the English squadrons made demonstrations in the Baltic Sea, in the White Sea, at the Solovetsky Monastery, even off the coast of Kamchatka, but did not take serious action anywhere. After a meeting of French and English military leaders, it was decided to strike Russia on the Black Sea and besiege Sevastopol as an important military port. If this operation was successful, England and France hoped to simultaneously destroy the entire Russian Black Sea Fleet and its main base.

On September 2-6 (14-18), 1854, a 62,000-strong Allied army landed near Yevpatoria, more numerous, better equipped and armed than the Russian army. Due to a lack of strength, Russian troops were unable to stop the landing of the allied forces, but still tried to stop the enemy on the Alma River, where on September 8 (20), 1854, the Allied army was met by Prince Menshikov with only 35 thousand people and, after an unsuccessful battle, retreated south to Sevastopol, Russia’s main stronghold in Crimea.

The heroic defense of Sevastopol began on September 13 (25), 1854. The defense of the city was in the hands of V.A. Kornilov and Admiral P.S. Nakhimov. The garrison of Sevastopol consisted of only 11 thousand people, and the fortifications were only on one seaside side, and the fortress was almost unprotected from the north and south. Allied forces, supported by a strong fleet, stormed the northern part of Sevastopol. In order to prevent the enemy fleet from reaching the southern side, Menshikov ordered the ships of the Black Sea squadron to be scuttled, and their guns and crews to be transferred to the shore to strengthen the garrison. At the entrance to Sevastopol Bay, the Russians sank several sailing ships, thereby blocking access to the bay for the Anglo-French fleet. In addition, the strengthening began south side.

On October 5 (12), the Allies began shelling the city. One of the main defenders, Kornilov, was mortally wounded by a cannonball at the moment when he was descending from the Malakhov Kurgan, after inspecting the positions. The defense of Sevastopol was led by P.S. Nakhimov, E.I. Totleben and V.I. Istomin. The besieged garrison responded to the enemy, and the first bombardment did not bring much results to the Allies. They abandoned the assault and waged an intensified siege.

A.S. Menshikov, trying to distract the enemy from the city, undertook a series of offensive operations. As a result, the Turks were successfully knocked out from their positions near Kadykioy, but he failed to win the battle with the British near Balaklava on October 13 (25). The Battle of Balaklava was one of major battles The Crimean War between Great Britain, France and Turkey on the one hand, and Russia on the other. The city of Balaklava was the base of the British Expeditionary Force in Crimea. The attack of Russian troops on the positions of the allies at Balaklava, if successful, could lead to a disruption in the supply of the British. On October 13 (25), the battle took place in the valleys north of Balaklava. This was the only battle during the entire Crimean War in which Russian troops significantly outnumbered them.

The Russian detachment consisted of 16 thousand people. The Allied forces were represented mainly by British troops. French and Turkish units also took part in the battle, but their role was insignificant. The number of Allied troops was about two thousand people.

The battle began early in the morning. In order to cover the too wide front of the Russian cavalry attack, the Scottish commander Campbell ordered his soldiers to line up in lines of two. The first Russian attack was repulsed.

Lord Raglan gave the order to attack Russian positions, which led to tragic consequences. During this attack, two thirds of the attackers were killed.

By the end of the fight warring parties remained in their morning positions. The Allied death toll ranged from 400 to 1,000, the Russian death toll was about 600.

On October 24 (November 5), Russian troops under the command of General Soimonov attacked the British positions. The enemy was taken by surprise. As a result, the Russians captured the fortifications, but were unable to hold them and retreated. With the help of General Pavlov's detachment, which approached from Inkerman, the Russian troops managed to achieve a significant advantage, and the British troops found themselves in a critical situation. In the heat of battle, the British lost a large number of their soldiers and were ready to admit defeat, but were saved by the intervention of the French, brought by General Bosquet. The entry of French troops into battle turned the tide of the battle. The outcome of the battle was decided by the advantage in their weapons, which were longer-range than the Russians.

Russian troops were defeated and forced to retreat from big losses(11,800 people), the Allies lost 5,700 people. Among those killed in battle was General Soimonov. The battle also had a positive outcome: the general assault on Sevastopol, planned by the Allies for the next day, did not take place.

The Russians were defeated at Inkerman, and Menshikov’s detachment was forced to retreat from the city deeper into the peninsula.

The war continued. On January 14 (26), 1855, the Sardinian kingdom joined the allied anti-Russian coalition.

The conditions for the defense of Sevastopol were incredibly difficult. There were not enough people, ammunition, food, and medicine.

With the onset of winter, hostilities died down. Nicholas I gathered a militia and sent it to help the defenders of Sevastopol. Grand Dukes Mikhail and Nikolai Nikolaevich arrived in the Russian army for moral support.

In February, hostilities resumed, and, by order of the emperor, Russian troops went on the offensive near the highest point in Sevastopol - Malakhov Kurgan. Several enemy detachments were knocked down from the hills closest to him, and the occupied hills were immediately fortified.

On February 18, 1855, amid these events, Emperor Nicholas I died. But the war continued under the sovereign's successor, Alexander II. Siege and defensive work on both sides continued until the end of March; On the 28th of this month, the Allies began bombardment from land and continued it until April 1, then they soon resumed it again, and only on April 7 the besieged breathed more freely. There have been big changes in their composition. In place of Prince Menshikov, Emperor Alexander II appointed Prince Gorchakov. In turn, among the Allies, the French commander-in-chief Canrobert was replaced by General Pelissier.

Realizing that Malakhov Kurgan was the key to the defense of Sevastopol, Pelissier directed all efforts to capture it. On May 26, after a terrible bombardment, the French took the fortifications closest to Malakhov Kurgan with hostility. All that remained was to take possession of the mound itself, but this turned out to be more difficult than the attackers expected. On June 5 (17), a cannonade began, on June 6 (18) an assault was carried out, but unsuccessfully: General Khrulev repulsed all attacks, the enemy had to retreat and continued for another 3 months fight over the mound, near which all the forces of both sides were now concentrated. On June 8 (20), the wounded leader of the defense, Totleben, left the defenders of the fortress, and on June 27 (July 9) they were struck by a new heavy loss: Nakhimov was mortally wounded in the temple and across died three days later.

On August 4, Gorchakov launched an attack on the enemy positions at the Chernaya Rechka, and the next day he fought a battle there, which ended unsuccessfully for the Russian army. After this, from August 6 (18), Pelissier began bombing the city and continued it continuously for 20 days. Gorchakov became convinced that defending Sevastopol for any longer was unthinkable and that in the event of a new assault, the fortress would be taken. To ensure that the enemy did not get anything, they began placing mines under all the fortifications, and a floating bridge was built to transfer troops.

On August 27 (September 8), at 12 noon, the enemy moved to Malakhov Kurgan and, after a terrible battle, captured it, and General Khrulev, the main defender, was wounded and almost captured. Russian troops immediately began to leave across the bridge to the northern side, the remaining ships were sunk and the fortifications were blown up. After 349 days stubborn struggle and many bloody battles, the enemy captured the fortress, which was a pile of ruins.

After the occupation of Sevastopol, the Allies suspended military operations: they could not launch an offensive into Russia without having convoys, and Prince Gorchakov, who fortified himself with the army near the captured fortress, did not accept battles in open areas. Winter completely stopped allied military operations in Crimea, as illness began in their army.

Sevastopol defense 1854 - 1855 showed everyone the strength of the patriotic feeling of the Russian people and the resilience of their national character.

Not counting on the imminent end of the war, both sides started talking about peace. France did not want to continue the war, not wanting to either strengthen England or weaken Russia beyond measure. Russia also wanted the war to end.

4. Results of the Crimean War

On March 18 (30), 1856, peace was signed in Paris with the participation of all the warring powers, as well as Austria and Prussia. The Russian delegation was headed by Count A.F. Orlov. He managed to achieve conditions that were less severe and humiliating for Russia than expected after such an unfortunate war.

According to the Paris Peace Treaty, Russia received back Sevastopol, Evpatoria and other Russian cities, but returned to Turkey the fortress of Kars taken in the Caucasus, Russia lost the mouth of the Danube and southern Bessarabia, the Black Sea was declared neutral, and Russia was deprived of the right to maintain a navy on it, having also undertaken not to build fortifications on the coast. Thus, the Russian Black Sea coast became defenseless from possible aggression. Eastern Christians came under the protection of European powers, i.e. Russia was deprived of the right to protect the interests of the Orthodox population on the territory of the Ottoman Empire, which weakened Russia's influence on Middle Eastern affairs.

The Crimean War had unfavorable consequences for Russia. Its result was a significant weakening of Russian influence, both in Europe and the Middle East. The destruction of the remnants of the military fleet on the Black Sea and the elimination of fortifications on the coast left the country's southern border open to any enemy invasion. Although, under the terms of the Treaty of Paris, Turkey also abandoned its Black Sea Fleet, it always had the opportunity to bring its squadrons there from the Mediterranean Sea through the Bosporus and Dardanelles straits.

The positions of France and Great Britain and their influence in the Eastern Mediterranean, on the contrary, seriously strengthened, and France became one of the leading powers in Europe.

Crimean War in the period 1853-1856. killed more than 1 million people (522 thousand Russians, 400 thousand Turks, 95 thousand French and 22 thousand British).

In terms of its enormous scale (the size of the theater of operations and the number of mobilized troops), the Crimean War can be compared with the World War. Russia acted alone in this war, defending itself on several fronts. It was opposed by an international coalition consisting of Great Britain, France, the Ottoman Empire and Sardinia (since 1855), which inflicted a crushing defeat on Russia.

The Crimean War frankly demonstrated the fact that in order to achieve its global goals, the West is ready to combine its power with the Muslim East. In the event of this war, to crush the third center of power - Orthodox Russia.

In addition, the Crimean War showed the Russian government that economic backwardness leads to political and military vulnerability. Further economic lag behind Europe threatened more serious consequences. As a result, the main task of Russian foreign policy from 1856 to 1871 was there was a struggle for the abolition of some articles of the Paris Treaty, because Russia could not accept the fact that its Black Sea border remained unprotected and open to military attack. The security interests of the state, as well as economic and political ones, required the abolition of the neutral status of the Black Sea.

Conclusion

Crimean War 1853-1856 originally fought between the Russian and Ottoman empires for dominance in the Middle East. On the eve of the war, Nicholas I misjudged the international situation (regarding England, France and Austria). Nicholas I did not take into account the benefits for Napoleon III of diverting the attention of the French broad sections of the people from internal affairs to foreign policy, nor the economic interests of the French bourgeoisie in Turkey. The victories of the Russian troops at the beginning of the war, namely the defeat of the Turkish fleet in the Battle of Sinop, prompted England and France to intervene in the war on the side of the Ottoman Empire. In 1855, the Sardinian kingdom joined the warring coalition, which wanted to gain the status of a world power. Sweden and Austria, which were bound by the bonds of the “Holy Alliance” with Russia, were ready to join the allies. Military operations took place in the Baltic Sea, Kamchatka, the Caucasus, and the Danube principalities. The main actions took place in Crimea during the defense of Sevastopol from Allied troops.

As a result, through joint efforts, the united coalition won this war. Russia signed the Paris Peace Treaty with unfavorable conditions.

Russia's defeat can be explained by several groups of reasons: political, socio-economic and technical.

The political reason for Russia's defeat in the Crimean War was the unification of the leading European powers (England and France) against it. The socio-economic reason for the defeat was the preservation of serf labor, which hampered the economic development of the country and caused its technical backwardness. This resulted in limited industrial development. The technical reason for the defeat was the outdated weapons of the Russian army.

Military factories, which existed in small numbers, worked poorly due to primitive technology and unproductive serf labor. The main engines were water and horse traction. Before the Crimean War, Russia produced only 50-70 thousand rifles and pistols, 100-120 guns and 60-80 thousand pounds of gunpowder per year.

The Russian army suffered from a lack of weapons and ammunition. The weapons were outdated, and almost no new types of weapons were introduced.

The military training of the Russian troops was also low. Before the Crimean War, the Russian Military Ministry was headed by Prince A.I. Chernyshev, who prepared the army not for war, but for parades. For shooting training, 10 live rounds were allocated per soldier per year.

Transport and communications were also in poor condition, which negatively affected the combat effectiveness of the Russian army. There was not a single one from the center to the south of the country railway. The troops marched on foot, transporting weapons and ammunition on oxen. It was easier to deliver soldiers to Crimea from England or France than from the center of Russia.

The Russian Navy was third in the world, but inferior to the English and French. England and France had 454 warships, including 258 steamships, and Russia had 115 ships with 24 steamships.

I believe that the main reasons for Russia’s defeat in the Crimean War can be called:

an incorrect assessment of the international situation, which led to the diplomatic isolation of Russia and a war with not one, but several powerful opponents

backward military industry (based mainly on serf labor)

outdated weapons

lack of a developed road transport system

Defeat in the Crimean War (1853-1856) demonstrated that the country could finally lose its status as a great power.

The Crimean War was a strong impetus for the aggravation of the social crisis within the country, contributed to the development of mass peasant uprisings, accelerated the fall of serfdom and the implementation of bourgeois reforms.

The world-historical significance of the Crimean War lies in the fact that it clearly and convincingly drew the line of civilizational division between Russia and Europe.

Russia's defeat in the Crimean War led to its loss of the leadership role in Europe that it had played for forty years. In Europe, the so-called “Crimean system” developed, the basis of which was the Anglo-French bloc directed against Russia. The articles of the Paris Peace Treaty dealt a significant blow to the Russian Empire. The most difficult of them was the one that prohibited her from having a navy in the Black Sea and building coastal fortifications. However, by and large, Russia paid a much lower price for defeat than it could have, given more successful military actions on the part of the allies.

List of used literature

1. "Russian Imperial House". - Moscow, publishing house "OLMA Media Group", 2006

2. "Soviet Encyclopedic Dictionary". - Moscow, publishing house "Soviet Encyclopedia", 1981, p.669

3. Tarle E.V. "Crimean War". - Moscow, publishing house "AST", 2005 - http://webreading.ru/sci_/sci_history/evgeniy-tarle-krimskaya-voyna.html

4. Andreev A.R. "History of Crimea" - http://webreading.ru/sci_/sci_history/a-andreev-istoriya-krima.html

5. Zayonchkovsky A.M. "Eastern War, 1853-1856". - St. Petersburg, Polygon publishing house, 2002 - http://www.adjudant.ru/crimea/zai00. htm

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Crimean War.

Causes of the war: in 1850, a conflict began between France, the Ottoman Empire and Russia, the reason for which was disputes between the Catholic and Orthodox clergy regarding the rights to the Holy Places in Jerusalem and Bethlehem. Nicholas I was counting on the support of England and Austria, but he miscalculated.

Progress of the war: in 1853, Russian troops were introduced into Moldova and Wallachia, met with a negative reaction from Austria, which took a position of unfriendly neutrality, demanded the withdrawal of Russian troops and moved its army to the border with Russia. In October 1853, the Turkish Sultan declared war on Russia.

The first stage of the war - November 1853 - April 1854: Russian-Turkish campaign. November 1853 – Battle of Sinop. Admiral Nakhimov defeated the Turkish fleet, while Russian actions in the Caucasus continued in parallel. England and France declared war on Russia. The Anglo-French squadron bombarded Russian territories (Kronstadt, Sveaborg, Solovetsky Monastery, Kamchatka).

Second stage: April 1854 - February 1856 Russia against the coalition of European powers. September 1854 - the allies began landing in the Evpatoria area. Battles on the river Alma in September 1854, the Russians lost. Under the command of Menshikov, the Russians approached Bakhchisarai. Sevastopol (Kornilov and Nakhimov) was preparing for defense. October 1854 - the defense of Sevastopol began. The main part of the Russian army undertook diversionary operations (the battle of Inkerman in November 1854, the offensive at Yevpatoriya in February 1855, the battle on the Black River in August 1855), but they were not successful. August 1855 - Sevastopol was captured. At the same time, in Transcaucasia, Russian troops managed to take the strong Turkish fortress of Kars. Negotiations began. March 1856 - Paris peace. Part of Bessarabia was torn away from Russia; it lost the right to patronize Serbia, Moldova and Wallachia. The most important thing is the neutralization of the Black Sea: both Russia and Turkey were prohibited from keeping a navy in the Black Sea.

There is an acute internal political crisis in Russia, due to which reforms have begun.

39. Economic, socio-political development of Russia at the turn of the 50-60s. XiX century Peasant reform of 1861, its content and significance.

In the 50s, the need and hardships of the masses noticeably worsened, this happened under the influence of the consequences of the Crimean War, the increasing frequency of natural disasters (epidemics, crop failures and, as a consequence, famine), as well as the increasing oppression from the landowners and the state in the pre-reform period. Recruitment, which reduced the number of workers by 10%, and requisitions of food, horses and fodder had a particularly severe impact on the economy of the Russian village. The situation was aggravated by the arbitrariness of the landowners, who systematically reduced the size of peasant plots, transferred peasants to households (and thus deprived them of land), and resettled serfs to worse lands. These acts assumed such proportions that the government, shortly before the reform, was forced to impose a ban on such actions by special decrees.

The response to the worsening situation of the masses was the peasant movement, which in its intensity, scale and forms was noticeably different from the protests of previous decades and caused great concern in St. Petersburg.

This period was characterized by mass escapes of landowner peasants who wanted to enlist in the militia and thus hoped to gain freedom (1854-1855), unauthorized resettlement to war-ravaged Crimea (1856), a “sober” movement directed against the feudal system of wine farming (1858-1859 ), unrest and escapes of workers during the construction of railways (Moscow-Nizhny Novgorod, Volga-Don, 1859-1860). It was also restless on the outskirts of the empire. In 1858, Estonian peasants took up arms in their hands (“Machtra War”). Major peasant unrest broke out in 1857 in Western Georgia.

After the defeat in the Crimean War, in the context of a growing revolutionary upsurge, the crisis at the top intensified, manifested, in particular, in the intensification of the liberal opposition movement among part of the nobility, dissatisfied with military failures, the backwardness of Russia, who understood the need for political and social changes. “Sevastopol hit stagnant minds,” wrote the famous Russian historian V.O. Klyuchevsky about this time. The “censorship terror” introduced by Emperor Nicholas I after his death in February 1855 was virtually swept away by a wave of glasnost, which made it possible to openly discuss the most pressing problems facing the country.

There was no unity in government circles on the issue of the future fate of Russia. Two opposing groups formed here: the old conservative bureaucratic elite (head of the III department V.A. Dolgorukov, Minister of State Property M.N. Muravyov, etc.), which actively opposed the implementation of bourgeois reforms, and supporters of reforms (Minister of Internal Affairs S.S. Lanskoy, Ya.I. Rostovtsev, brothers N.A. and D.A. Milyutin).

The interests of the Russian peasantry were reflected in the ideology of the new generation of revolutionary intelligentsia.

In the 50s, two centers were formed that led the revolutionary democratic movement in the country. The first (emigrant) was headed by A.I. Herzen, who founded the “Free Russian Printing House” in London (1853). Since 1855, he began publishing the non-periodical collection “Polar Star”, and since 1857, together with N.P. Ogarev, the newspaper “Bell”, which enjoyed enormous popularity. Herzen's publications formulated a program of social transformation in Russia, which included the liberation of peasants from serfdom with land and for ransom. Initially, the publishers of Kolokol believed in the liberal intentions of the new Emperor Alexander II (1855-1881) and placed certain hopes on wisely carried out reforms “from above.” However, as projects for the abolition of serfdom were being prepared, illusions dissipated, and a call to fight for land and democracy was heard loudly on the pages of London publications.

The second center arose in St. Petersburg. It was headed by leading employees of the Sovremennik magazine N.G. Chernyshevsky and N.A. Dobrolyubov, around whom like-minded people from the revolutionary democratic camp rallied (M.L. Mikhailov, N.A. Serno-Solovyevich, N.V. Shelgunov and others). The censored articles of N.G. Chernyshevsky were not as frank as the publications of A.I. Herzen, but they were distinguished by their consistency. N.G. Chernyshevsky believed that when the peasants were liberated, the land should be transferred to them without ransom; the liquidation of autocracy in Russia would occur through revolutionary means.

On the eve of the abolition of serfdom, a demarcation emerged between the revolutionary-democratic and liberal camps. Liberals, who recognized the need for reforms “from above,” saw in them, first of all, an opportunity to prevent a revolutionary explosion in the country.

The Crimean War presented the government with a choice: either to preserve the serfdom that existed in the country and, as a consequence of this, ultimately, as a result of a political, financial and economic catastrophe, lose not only the prestige and position of a great power, but also threaten the existence of the autocracy in Russia, or to carry out bourgeois reforms, the primary of which was the abolition of serfdom.

Having chosen the second path, the government of Alexander II in January 1857 created a Secret Committee “to discuss measures to organize the life of the landowner peasants.” Somewhat earlier, in the summer of 1856, in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, comrade (deputy) minister A.I. Levshin developed a government program for peasant reform, which, although it gave serfs civil rights, retained all the land in the ownership of the landowner and provided the latter with patrimonial power on the estate. In this case, the peasants would receive allotment land for use, for which they would have to perform fixed duties. This program was set out in imperial rescripts (instructions), first addressed to the Vilna and St. Petersburg governors-general, and then sent to other provinces. In accordance with the rescripts, special committees began to be created in the provinces to consider the case locally, and the preparation of the reform became public. The Secret Committee was renamed the Main Committee for Peasant Affairs. The Zemstvo Department under the Ministry of Internal Affairs (N.A. Milyutin) began to play a significant role in preparing the reform.

Within the provincial committees there was a struggle between liberals and conservatives over the forms and extent of concessions to the peasantry. Reform projects prepared by K.D. Kavelin, A.I. Koshelev, M.P. Posen. Yu.F. Samarin, A.M. Unkovsky, differed in the political views of the authors and economic conditions. Thus, the landowners of the black earth provinces, who owned expensive land and kept peasants in corvee labor, wanted to retain the maximum possible amount of land and retain workers. In the industrial non-black earth obroch provinces, during the reform, landowners wanted to receive significant funds to rebuild their farms in a bourgeois manner.

The prepared proposals and programs were submitted for discussion to the so-called Editorial Commissions. The struggle over these proposals was carried out both in these commissions, and during the consideration of the project in the Main Committee and in State Council. But, despite the existing differences of opinion, in all these projects it was about carrying out peasant reform in the interests of the landowners by maintaining landownership and political dominance in the hands of the Russian nobility, “Everything that could be done to protect the benefits of the landowners has been done,” - Alexander II stated in the State Council. The final version of the reform project, which had undergone a number of changes, was signed by the emperor on February 19, 1861, and on March 5, the most important documents regulating the implementation of the reform were published: “Manifesto” and “General Provisions on Peasants Emerging from Serfdom.”

In accordance with these documents, peasants received personal freedom and could now freely dispose of their property, engage in commercial and industrial activities, buy and sell real estate, enter the service, receive an education, and conduct their family affairs.

The landowner still owned all the land, but part of it, usually a reduced land plot and the so-called “estate settlement” (a plot with a hut, outbuildings, vegetable gardens, etc.), he was obliged to transfer to the peasants for use. Thus, Russian peasants received liberation with land, but they could use this land for a certain fixed rent or serving corvee. The peasants could not give up these plots for 9 years. For complete liberation, they could buy the estate and, by agreement with the landowner, the allotment, after which they became peasant owners. Until this time, a “temporarily obligated position” was established.

The new sizes of allotments and payments of peasants were recorded in special documents, “statutory charters”. which were compiled for each village over a two-year period. The amounts of these duties and allotment land were determined by “Local Regulations”. Thus, according to the “Great Russian” local situation, the territory of 35 provinces was distributed into 3 stripes: non-chernozem, chernozem and steppe, which were divided into “localities”. In the first two stripes, depending on local conditions, “higher” and “lower” (1/3 of the “highest”) allotment sizes were established, and in the steppe zone - one “decreed” allotment. If the pre-reform size of the allotment exceeded the “highest” one, then pieces of land could be produced, but if the allotment was less than the “lowest” one, then the landowner had to either cut off the land or reduce duties. Cut-offs were also made in some other cases, for example, when the owner, as a result of allocating land to the peasants, had less than 1/3 of the total land of the estate left. Among the cut-off lands there were often the most valuable areas (forest, meadows, arable land); in some cases, landowners could demand that peasant estates be moved to new locations. As a result of post-reform land management, stripes became characteristic of the Russian village.

Statutory charters were usually concluded with an entire rural society, the “world” (community), which was supposed to ensure mutual responsibility for the payment of duties.

The “temporarily obligated” position of the peasants ceased after the transfer to redemption, which became mandatory only 20 years later (from 1883). The ransom was carried out with the assistance of the government. The basis for calculating redemption payments was not the market price of land, but the assessment of duties that were feudal in nature. When the deal was concluded, the peasants paid 20% of the amount, and the remaining 80% was paid to the landowners by the state. The peasants had to repay the loan provided by the state annually in the form of redemption payments for 49 years, while, of course, accrued interest was taken into account. Redemption payments placed a heavy burden on peasant farms. The cost of the purchased land significantly exceeded its market price. During the redemption operation, the government also tried to get back the huge sums that were provided to landowners in the pre-reform years on the security of land. If the estate was mortgaged, then the amount of the debt was deducted from the amounts provided to the landowner. The landowners received only a small part of the redemption amount in cash; special interest notes were issued for the rest.

It should be borne in mind that in modern historical literature, issues related to the implementation of the reform are not fully developed. There are different points of view about the degree of transformation during the reform of the system of peasant plots and payments (currently these studies are being carried out on a large scale using computers).

The reform of 1861 in the internal provinces was followed by the abolition of serfdom on the outskirts of the empire - in Georgia (1864-1871), Armenia and Azerbaijan (1870-1883), which was often carried out with even less consistency and with greater preservation of feudal remnants. Appanage peasants (owned royal family) received personal freedom based on decrees of 1858 and 1859. “Regulations of June 26, 1863.” the land structure and conditions for the transition to redemption in the appanage village were determined, which was carried out during 1863-1865. In 1866, a reform was carried out in the state village. The purchase of land by state peasants was completed only in 1886.

Thus, peasant reforms in Russia were actually canceled serfdom and marked the beginning of the development of the capitalist formation in Russia. However, while preserving landownership and feudal remnants in the countryside, they were unable to resolve all the contradictions, which ultimately led to a further intensification of the class struggle.

The response of the peasantry to the publication of the “Manifesto” was a massive explosion of discontent in the spring of 1861. The peasants protested against the continuation of the corvee system and the payment of dues and plots of land. The peasant movement acquired a particularly large scale in the Volga region, Ukraine and in the central black earth provinces.

Russian society was shocked by the events in the villages of Bezdna (Kazan province) and Kandeevka (Penza province) that took place in April 1863. Peasants outraged by the reform were shot there by military teams. In total, over 1,100 peasant unrest occurred in 1861. Only by drowning the protests in blood did the government manage to reduce the intensity of the struggle. The disunited, spontaneous and devoid of political consciousness protest of the peasants was doomed to failure. Already in 1862-1863. the scope of the movement was significantly reduced. In the following years it declined sharply (in 1864 there were fewer than 100 performances).

In 1861-1863 During the period of intensification of the class struggle in the countryside, the activity of democratic forces in the country intensified. After the suppression of peasant uprisings, the government, feeling more confident, attacked the democratic camp with repression.

Peasant reform of 1861, its content and significance.

The peasant reform of 1861, which abolished serfdom, marked the beginning of the capitalist formation in the country.

Main reason Peasant reform resulted in a crisis of the feudal-serf system. Crimean War 1853–1856 revealed the rottenness and impotence of serf Russia. In the context of peasant unrest, which especially intensified during the war, tsarism moved to abolish serfdom.

In January 1857 A Secret Committee was formed under the chairmanship of Emperor Alexander II “to discuss measures to organize the life of the landowner peasants,” which at the beginning of 1858. was reorganized into the Main Committee for Peasant Affairs. At the same time, provincial committees were formed, which began developing projects for peasant reform, considered by the Editorial Commissions.

February 19, 1861 In St. Petersburg, Alexander II signed the Manifesto on the abolition of serfdom and the “Regulations on peasants emerging from serfdom,” consisting of 17 legislative acts.

The main act is " General position about peasants emerging from serfdom" - contained the main conditions of the peasant reform:

1. peasants received personal freedom and the right to dispose of their property;

2. landowners retained ownership of all the lands they owned, but were obliged to provide the peasants with a “homestead residence” and a field allotment “to ensure their livelihood and to fulfill their duties to the government and the landowner”;

3. For the use of allotment land, peasants had to serve corvee or pay quitrent and did not have the right to refuse it for 9 years. The size of the field allotment and duties should have been recorded in the statutory charters of 1861, which were drawn up by landowners for each estate and verified by the peace intermediaries;

-peasants were given the right to buy out an estate and, by agreement with the landowner, a field allotment; until this was done, they were called temporarily obligated peasants.

The “general situation” determined the structure, rights and responsibilities of peasant public (rural and volost) government bodies and the court.

4 “Local Regulations” determined the size of land plots and the duties of peasants for their use in 44 provinces of European Russia. The first of them is “Great Russian”, for 29 Great Russian, 3 Novorossiysk (Ekaterinoslav, Tauride and Kherson), 2 Belarusian (Mogilev and part of Vitebsk) and part of Kharkov provinces. This entire territory was divided into three stripes (non-chernozem, chernozem and steppe), each of which consisted of “localities”.

In the first two bands, depending on the “locality,” the highest (from 3 to 7 dessiatines; from 2 3/4 to 6 dessiatines) and the lowest (1/3 of the highest) amounts of per capita taxes were established. For the steppe, one “decreed” allotment was determined (in the Great Russian provinces from 6 to 12 dessiatines; in Novorossiysk, from 3 to 6 1/5 dessiatines). The size of the government tithe was determined to be 1.09 hectares.

Allotment land was provided to the “rural community”, i.e. community, according to the number of souls (men only) at the time of drawing up the charter documents who had the right to the allotment.

From the land that was in the use of peasants before February 19, 1861, sections could be made if the peasants' per capita allotments exceeded the highest size established for a given “locality”, or if the landowners, while maintaining the existing peasant allotment, had less than 1/3 of the estate's land left. Allotments could be reduced by special agreements between peasants and landowners, as well as upon receipt of a gift allotment.

If peasants had plots of less than a small size, the landowner was obliged to cut off the missing land or reduce duties. For the highest spiritual allotment, a quitrent was established from 8 to 12 rubles per year or corvee - 40 men's and 30 women's working days per year. If the allotment was less than the highest, then the duties were reduced, but not proportionally.

The rest of the “Local Provisions” basically repeated the “Great Russian Provisions”, but taking into account the specifics of their regions.

The features of the peasant reform for certain categories of peasants and specific areas were determined by 8 “Additional Rules”: “Arrangement of peasants settled on the estates of small-scale owners, and on benefits to these owners”; “People of the Ministry of Finance assigned to private mining plants”; “Peasants and workers serving work at Perm private mining plants and salt mines”; “Peasant peasants serving work in landowner factories”; "The peasants and courtyard people in the Land of the Don Army"; "Peasant peasants and courtyard people in the Stavropol province"; "Peasant peasants and courtyard people in Siberia"; "People who emerged from serfdom in the Bessarabian region."

The Manifesto and “Regulations” were published on March 5 in Moscow and from March 7 to April 2 in St. Petersburg. Fearing the dissatisfaction of the peasants with the conditions of the reform, the government took a number of precautions: it redeployed troops, sent members of the imperial retinue to places, issued an appeal from the Synod, etc. However, the peasants, dissatisfied with the enslaving conditions of the reform, responded to it with mass unrest. The largest of them were the Bezdnensky and Kandeevsky peasant uprisings of 1861.

As of January 1, 1863, peasants refused to sign about 60% of the charters. The purchase price of the land significantly exceeded its market value at that time, in some areas -

2–3 times. In many regions, peasants sought to receive gift plots, thereby reducing allotment land use: in the Saratov province by 42.4%, Samara - 41.3%, Poltava - 37.4%, Ekaterinoslav - by 37.3%, etc. The lands cut off by the landowners were a means of enslaving the peasants, since they were vitally necessary for the peasant economy: watering place, pasture, haymaking, etc.

The peasants' transition to ransom lasted for several decades, on December 28, 1881. a law on compulsory redemption was issued on January 1, 1883, the transfer to which was completed by 1895. In total, by January 1, 1895, 124 thousand redemption transactions were approved, according to which 9,159 thousand souls in areas with communal farming and 110 thousand households in areas with household farming were transferred to redemption. About 80% of buyouts were mandatory.

As a result of the peasant reform (according to 1878), in the provinces of European Russia, 9860 thousand souls of peasants received an allotment of 33728 thousand dessiatines of land (on average 3.4 dessiatines per capita). U115 thousand. landowners were left with 69 million dessiatines (an average of 600 dessiatines per owner).

What did these “average” indicators look like after 3.5 decades? The political and economic power of the tsar rested on the nobles and landowners. According to the 1897 census in Russia there were 1 million 220 thousand hereditary nobles and more than 600 thousand personal nobles, to whom the title of nobility was given, but not inherited. All of them were owners of land plots.

Of these: about 60 thousand were small-scale nobles, each had 100 acres; 25.5 thousand - average landowners, had from 100 to 500 acres; 8 thousand large nobles, who had from 500 to 1000 acres: 6.5 thousand - the largest nobles, who had from 1000 to 5000 acres.

At the same time, there were 102 families in Russia: princes Yusupov, Golitsyn, Dolgorukov, counts Bobrinsky, Orlov, etc., whose holdings amounted to more than 50 thousand dessiatines, that is, about 30% of the landowners' land fund in Russia.

The largest owner in Russia was Tsar Nicholas I. He owned huge tracts of so-called cabinet and appanage lands. Gold, silver, lead, copper, and timber were mined there. He rented out a significant part of the land. The king's property was managed by a special ministry of the imperial court.

When filling out the questionnaire for the census, Nicholas II wrote in the column about profession: “Master of the Russian land.”

As for peasants, the average allotment of a peasant family, according to the census, was 7.5 dessiatines.

The significance of the peasant reform of 1861 was that it abolished feudal ownership of workers and created a market for cheap labor. The peasants were declared personally free, that is, they had the right to buy land, houses, and enter into various transactions in their own name. The reform was based on the principle of gradualism: within two years, statutory charters were to be drawn up, defining the specific conditions for the liberation of peasants, then the peasants were transferred to the position of “temporarily obligated” until the transition to redemption and in the subsequent 49-year period, paying the debt to the state that bought the land for peasants from landowners. Only after this should land plots become the full property of the peasants.

For the liberation of peasants from serfdom, Emperor Alexander II was called the “LIBERER” by the people. Judge for yourself, what was more here - truth or hypocrisy? Note that from total number peasant unrest that occurred throughout the country in 1857–1861, 1340 out of 2165 (62%) protests occurred after the announcement of the reform of 1861.

Thus, the peasant reform of 1861 was a bourgeois reform carried out by serf owners. This was a step towards turning Russia into a bourgeois monarchy. However, the peasant reform did not solve the socio-economic contradictions in Russia, preserved landownership and a number of other feudal-serf remnants, led to a further aggravation of the class struggle, and served as one of the main reasons for the social explosion of 1905–1907. XX century.

About the Crimean War in brief

Krymskaya voina (1853—1856)

The Crimean War, in short, was a confrontation between the Russian Empire and Turkey, supported by a coalition that included Great Britain, France and the Kingdom of Sardinia. The war took place from 1853 to 1856.

The main reason for the Crimean War, in short, was the clash of interests of all the countries participating in it in the Middle East and the Balkan Peninsula. To better understand the background to the conflict, we need to look at this situation more closely.

Prerequisites for military conflict
By the middle of the 19th century, the Ottoman Empire was in severe decline and found itself politically and economically dependent on Great Britain. Turkey had long had tense relations with the Russian Empire, and Nicholas I’s plans to secede her Balkan possessions populated by Christians only worsened them.

Great Britain, which had its own far-reaching plans for the Middle East, tried with all its might to squeeze Russia out of this region. First of all, this concerned the Black Sea coast - the Caucasus. In addition, she feared the increasing influence of the Russian Empire on Central Asia. At that time, for Great Britain, Russia was the largest and most dangerous geopolitical enemy that needed to be neutralized as soon as possible. To achieve these goals, England was ready to act by any means, even military. The plans were to take the Caucasus and Crimea from Russia and give them to Turkey.
The Emperor of France, Napoleon III, did not see a rival for himself in Russia, and did not seek to weaken her. The reasons for his entry into the war are an attempt to strengthen his political influence and revenge for the War of 1812.

Russia's goals remained the same, dating back to the time of the first conflicts with the Ottoman Empire: to secure its southern borders, take control of the Bosporus and Dardanelles straits in the Black Sea, and strengthen influence in the Balkans. All these goals were of great economic and military importance for the Russian Empire.
Interesting fact is that the population of England did not support the government's desire to participate in the war. After the first failures of the British army, a serious anti-war campaign began in the country. The population of France, on the contrary, supported Napoleon III's idea of ​​revenge for the lost war of 1812.

The main reason for the military conflict

The Crimean War, in short, owes its beginning to the hostile relationship between Nicholas I and Napoleon III. The Russian emperor considered the power of the French ruler illegitimate and in a congratulatory message he called him not his brother, as was customary, but only a “dear friend.” This was regarded by Napoleon III as an insult. These hostile relations led to a serious conflict over the right to control the holy sites that were in Turkish possession. It was about the Church of the Nativity, located in Bethlehem. Nicholas I supported in this matter Orthodox Church, and the Emperor of France took the side of the Catholic Church. Peacefully resolve controversial situation failed, and in October 1853 the Ottoman Empire declared war on Russia.

Stages of the war
Conventionally, the course of the war can be divided into several stages. In 1853, the war was between the Ottoman and Russian empires. The most important battle of this company was Sinop, during which the Russian fleet under the command of Admiral Nakhimov managed to completely destroy the Turkish naval forces. On land, the Russian army also won.

The victories of the Russian army forced Turkey's allies, England and France, to hastily begin military operations against Russia in March 1854. Sevastopol was chosen as the main attack site for the Allied forces. The blockade of the city began in September 1854. They hoped to capture it within a month, but the city heroically held out under the siege for almost a year. The defense was led by three famous Russian admirals: Kornilov, Istomin and Nakhimov. All three died in the battle for Sevastopol.