Hamely and Sir Evelyn
Wood
This is the most famous event of the Crimean War, in which Russian power
was pitted against the allied forces of Turkey, France, Great Britain,
and Sardinia. The war grew out of rival demands concerning a
protectorate in Turkey. In 1852 Napoleon III asked for the restoration
of the protectorate of the Holy Places in the Ottoman Empire to the
Latin Church. Supported by Russia, the Greek Church had virtually
supplanted the Latin Church in Turkish dominions, and Russia now put
forward a demand for a protectorate over the Greek subjects of the
Sultan. Turkey had no interest in the religious questions at issue, and
she pursued a wavering course between the disputing powers, fearing to
offend either of them. Russia at last began openly to threaten Turkey,
and, finding vacillation and diplomacy no longer availing for a
postponement of the conflict, the Sultan declared war, October 4, 1853.
In the early engagements of the war the Turks gained some successes over
Russian troops, but the first important event was the destruction of a
part of the Turkish fleet at Sinope, November 30, 1853.
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