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Title: Crimea: The Great Crimean War, 1854-1856
Author: Trevor Royle
Genre: History, 19th C European
Thingummies: 4.5
Synopsis: Wow, the Crimean War really was a debacle, wasn't it?
Thingummies: This is a really excellent popular history book. Nicely balanced between covering the political aspects, the military maneuvers, and the personal histories.
About all I knew about this war were the Charge of the Light Brigade and Florence Nightingale. This...was even more screwed up than I'd realized. Did you know that a massive conflict involving most of Europe and nearly dragging in America started over who got to have the keys to the grotto of the Nativity? That's it. That's what thousands of people died for. (Well, actually, no, they died because Europe was overeager to dismember the carcass of the dying Ottoman Empire. Also, practically all of the casualties were to disease.) The entire thing is a clusterfuck from beginning to end, from underhanded diplomatic maneuverings to incredibly badly organized logistics to boneheaded military mistakes. Oy, people.
The author tries a bit too hard to establish that this war caused all the wars of the 20th century: I've heard similar arguments made for Napoleon, the Congress of Vienna, colonialism, and the Franco-Prussian War. Really, World War I was kicked off because of the incredibly complicated web of alliances and resentments that had been set up over the course of the preceding century, so it's silly to declare that any one war is responsible. But it's still a pretty good explanation of a lot of attitudes and circumstances for the rest of the century.
Author: Trevor Royle
Genre: History, 19th C European
Thingummies: 4.5
Synopsis: Wow, the Crimean War really was a debacle, wasn't it?
Thingummies: This is a really excellent popular history book. Nicely balanced between covering the political aspects, the military maneuvers, and the personal histories.
About all I knew about this war were the Charge of the Light Brigade and Florence Nightingale. This...was even more screwed up than I'd realized. Did you know that a massive conflict involving most of Europe and nearly dragging in America started over who got to have the keys to the grotto of the Nativity? That's it. That's what thousands of people died for. (Well, actually, no, they died because Europe was overeager to dismember the carcass of the dying Ottoman Empire. Also, practically all of the casualties were to disease.) The entire thing is a clusterfuck from beginning to end, from underhanded diplomatic maneuverings to incredibly badly organized logistics to boneheaded military mistakes. Oy, people.
The author tries a bit too hard to establish that this war caused all the wars of the 20th century: I've heard similar arguments made for Napoleon, the Congress of Vienna, colonialism, and the Franco-Prussian War. Really, World War I was kicked off because of the incredibly complicated web of alliances and resentments that had been set up over the course of the preceding century, so it's silly to declare that any one war is responsible. But it's still a pretty good explanation of a lot of attitudes and circumstances for the rest of the century.
