The United Kingdom And The Crimean War

This dissertation deals with Great Britain and British foreign policy during the Crimean War period (1853-1856). Crimean War has long been controversial. Many scholars argue about how and why the war broke out and ended. The war happened in the period when the First Industrial Revolution had just finished in Britain, in the era of change. British political, ecomic, and social conditions had important influnce on the war. Britain drifted toward war in a slow process. There were serious differences of opinions whin the Anglo-French alliance. And what’s more, the British army was much smaller than that of France. Britain had to cooperate with France to defeat Russia, and France had a strong influence on the alliance. The death toll of the Crimean War was almost500000, but it was only a limited war.The full text is divided into four chapters besides preface and conclusion.Chapter One analyses the backgrounds under which Crimean War broke out, including the backgrounds of the times, the reform of Parliament in1930s, the revolution of1848and economic development in Britiain. At the same time, it tries to survey how and why the Near East policy of Great Britain changed gradually in18-19th century.Chapter Two discusses the causes of the Crimean War and what role Great Britain played in the outbreak of the Crimean War. It begins with the history of Eastern Question and the Holy Places dispute between France and Russia. It explains why Great Britain entered into the war under the complex diplomatic environment, and figures out how public opinion influences the policy of British government. Meanwhile it inspects the influence of some specific persons and events, for example, the role of Stratford who was British ambassador to Turkey, the Russophobia in Great Britain and the Sinope Affair. Then it examine s the reason why diplomatic negotiation was replaced by war.Chapter Three investigates military activities of the British army and navy in the war, the diplomatic war and economic war against Russia, and then discusses the relationship between war and diplomacy. Great Britain tried her best to en, to win every battle for gaining advantage in the diplomacy negotiations. Also there were other battle fields, including White Sea, Baltic Sea and so on. In the end, the Western Alliance won the Crimean War.Chapter Four analyses the Peace Congress of1856in Paris. To investigate The Treaty of Paris of1856, its aftermath, its influence and what Britain got and lost from it. Through a limited war, Britain realized its war aim, protected her interest in the Near East from Russian. Turkish independence and integrity was guaranteed by European great powers, Turkish Empire was thereafter admitted to the Concert of Europe.