On October 4, 1853, the Ottoman Empire declared war on the Russian Empire, marking the beginning of the Crimean War. The decision came after the refusal of the Russian Emperor Nicholas I to withdraw his troops from Moldavia and Wallachia - Danubian principalities, which were then under Ottoman suzerainty. In the Russian calendar, the date is October 16.
Russian units entered the principalities in July 1853. Nicholas I presented the actions as pressure to guarantee the rights of Orthodox Christians in the Ottoman Empire. For Sultan Abdulmecid I and his government, however, the presence of a Russian army in Ottoman territories was a violation of the existing order and a threat to the independence of the state.
The failure of diplomatic attempts
The war came after months of negotiations. Great Britain, France, Austria and Prussia tried to mediate through the so-called Vienna Note, but the changes introduced by the Ottoman Empire were rejected by Russia. Thus, the compromise failed to end the dispute over the status of the Sultan's Orthodox subjects and Russian influence in the Balkans.
The Ottoman declaration defined Russia's refusal to liberate the principalities as a reason for war. The document also provided for a 15-day period for withdrawal after the notification was delivered. In a separate part of the text it is said:
„The Sublime Porte does not consider it fair to impose an embargo on Russian merchant ships.“Thus the Ottoman authorities stated that they wanted to limit their actions to military forces, and not to affect Russian trade.
The conflict becomes a European war
The first battles were fought on the Danube and in the Caucasus. On November 30, 1853, the Russian fleet destroyed an Ottoman squadron in the port of Sinop. The attack provoked a strong reaction in Great Britain and France and accelerated their involvement in the war. The two countries declared war on Russia in March 1854 to stop the expansion of Russian influence and support the Ottoman Empire.
The main theater of hostilities gradually shifted to the Crimean Peninsula. Allied forces besieged Sevastopol, the main Russian naval base on the Black Sea. British and French troops also participated in the conflict, and in 1855 the Kingdom of Sardinia joined the coalition.
Consequences of the war
The Crimean War ended with the Treaty of Paris of March 30, 1856. Russia renounced its special rights over the Danubian principalities, and the Black Sea was declared neutral and the maintenance of a military fleet by Russia and the Ottoman Empire was prohibited. The Danube is opened to international shipping.
The war temporarily preserved the territorial integrity of the Ottoman Empire, but did not eliminate the rivalry between the great powers for influence in the Balkans. Moldavia and Wallachia later united, and in 1859 they laid the foundation for the state that would become the Kingdom of Romania.
Sources: History.com