Crimea: The Great Crimean War, 1854-1856

The Crimean War, one of history's most compelling subjects, encompassed human suffering, woeful leadership and misadministration on a grand scale. It created a heroic myth out of the disastrous Charge of the Light Brigade and, in Florence Nightingale, it produced one of history's great heroes. The war was a watershed in world history and pointed the way to what mass warfare would be like in the twentieth century. New weapons were introduced; trench combat became a fact of daily warfare outside Sebastopol; medical innovation saved countless soldiers' lives that would otherwise have been lost. Ultimately, by failing to solve the Eastern Question, the war paved the way for the greater conflagration which broke out in 1914 and greatly prefigured the current situation in Eastern Europe.

“Trevor Royle, a very well-respected military historian, has written a new and up to date account of [the Crimean] war, giving proper attention to the Russian side. His book is gripping . . .” —Norman Stone

“Thorough and informative, this scholarly book will interest readers of history and military history alike; for the present, it also stands as the definitive treatment of the Crimean War.” —Publishers Weekly

“Trevor Royle's achievement is to have skillfully encompassed and explained the complexities of his subject in a single volume of no excessive length.” —New York Review of Books

“a well-written, thorough study of what can be considered the first modern war.” —New York Times Book Review

“...a sound and solid description of the Crimean War.” —Victorian Studies