1/ The drive to war with Russia bears an eerie likeness to the 1850s Crimean War, when Tsar Nicholas was lured by Britain into a Black Sea trap. (Key difference: cannon shells not nuclear bombs were the destructive weapons) Excrpts of N. Rich, “The Age of Nationalism and Reform”
2/ “As long as Russia was economically technically backward, containment by the smaller states of Europe remained feasible. But were this backwardness overcome, Russia, with great natural resources and a large population, might prove more than a match….”
3/ “Curiously it was Great Britain, farthest away and least menaced, that was to become the most rabid opponent of Russia in Europe…”
4/ “The tsar retaliated by demanding new concessions for Russia. When the Turks, on the advice of Britain, rejected Russian demands, the tsar occupied the Turkish provinces of Moldavia and Walachia… to back up his claims.”
5/ “After complicated negotiations, the tsar promised to evacuate Moldavia and Walachia and to refrain from direct intervention in Turkey; he insisted only that Russia’s existing treaty rights… be observed.”
6/ “The Russian proposal was rejected, and at the end of September 1853, the British fleet was ordered to Constantinople…”
7/ “As it was, the most important result of [the early phases of Russia’s war with Turkey] was its effect on British public opinion… British newspapers called for war again the ‘inhuman’ Russians…”
8/ “The French reaction was more restrained, but Napoleon could not afford to neglect this opportunity to move against Russia in alliance with Britain.”
9/ “The Russian medical department estimated the nation’s losses at a half a million men… The drain on the Russian economy was on a comparable scale. The defense of Sevastopol bled the country white…”
10/ “The one significant result of the Crimean War was that it permanently destroyed the Concert of Europe…” leading to a series of other wars. The historian might have added that it gave a powerful impulse to the revolutionary movement in Europe and Russia.
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