Crimean War (1853–1856)

The collection is dedicated to the causes, course and results of the Crimean War. It includes a whole range of historical evidence: research studies, memoirs, compilations, reports (of the Tauride Scientific Archival Commission and the Commission for Inquiry on Abuses in the Quartermaster), essays, works of art, archival documents, collections of marine periodicals, cartographic, visual, multimedia materials. The confrontation between Russia and several European states led by the British Empire during the Russo-Turkish conflict in the middle of the 19th century was predetermined by the historical super-task – the liberation of the Orthodox Balkan peoples from the Muslim Porte. It is precisely this goal of the Russian monarchy that explains the introduction of imperial troops into Wallachia and Principality of Moldavia, which were under the protectorate of the Russian Empire, which caused a negative attitude from not only Turkey, but Great Britain and France as well. The war was declared on October 4 (16), 1853 by the Ottoman Porte. After the defeat of the Turkish fleet in the Battle of Sinop, Britain and France entered the war against Russia, preventing the intensification of its international influence, as well as strengthening its positions in the Balkans and Transcaucasia. The main fighting developed on the Black, Baltic, White Seas, and in the Far East. Therefore, the war is traditionally called “Eastern” in European literature. The collection includes the memories of the French participants, evidence of the bombing of the Solovetsky Monastery by the British, the archival files of the Vladivostok Port Archive about the attack of the Anglo-French squadron on Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, notes of the Amur Branch of the Russian Geographical Society, and other materials. The war is remembered in the Russian historiography as the Crimean War, and the heroic 349-day defence of Sevastopol (September 13 (25), 1854 – August 28 (September 8) 1855) is considered its central event. The capture of the Crimean Peninsula and Sevastopol as the most important Russian naval base in the Black Sea was the main strategic goal of the joint Anglo-French command. The documents featured in the collection describe in detail the alignment of forces – these are reports, dispositions, orders, statements, lists of regiments and batteries, magazines with accurate data on the number of shots, spent gunpowder and cartridges; letters and rescripts of Emperor Nicholas I – evidence of constant interaction with the commanders-in-chief of the Southern and Crimean armies, Prince Alexander Mikhailovich Gorchakov and Prince Alexander Sergeyevich Menshikov. Numerous letters from gunners, sappers, priests serve as proof of the well-established work of the postal service. Letters, diaries, memories of eyewitnesses tell about the heroes who led the defence – Vladimir Alexeyevich Kornilov, Pavel Stepanovich Nakhimov, Vladimir Ivanovich Istomin, and other defenders of the city. The contribution of medical workers led by professors of the St. Petersburg Medical and Surgical Academy, Nikolai Ivanovich Pirogov and von Pobbenet, who were in field dressing stations from Balaklava to Sevastopol, as evidenced by reports and archival files, is invaluable. The feat of Sevastopol in the confrontation with the enemy that outnumbered it is immortalized in various works of literature and art; a special documentary and artistic evidence is the “Sevastopol Stories” written by a young participant in the defence, Leo Nikolayevich Tolstoy, in which he described the actions of the sailor Peter Koshka, who became a national hero. The collection also includes poems, songs, descriptions of anniversary celebrations, amateur performances glorifying the heroes of defence. The war ended with the signing of the Treaty of Paris on March 18 (30), 1856, which predetermined the vector of development of Russia’s foreign policy in the second half of the 19th century.