Siege of Sevastopol (1854)
Date
October 17, 1854-
September 11, 1855
Location Sevastopol, current Ukraine
Issue Franco-British victory
Belligerents
France
United Kingdom Russia
Commanders
General François Canrobert (replaced by General Pélissier
Lord Raglan Admiral Vladimir Kornilov (replaced by Admiral Pavel Nakhimov)
Lt. Col. Eduard Todleben
Strengths present
55,000 men 35,000 men
Loss
50,000 dead and wounded 20,000 dead and wounded
The siege of Sevastopol is the main episode of the Crimean War, it lasted from September 1854 to September 1855. In his Tales of Sevastopol (1855-1856), Leo Tolstoy detailed the siege with a style mixing reportage and fiction.
In September 1854, Allied troops (British, French and Sardinian) reached Crimea and began the siege of Sevastopol, home port of the Imperial Russian Navy on the Black Sea whose fleet threatened the Mediterranean. But before the city was surrounded, the Russian Imperial Army managed to escape from the city.
At the beginning of October, French and British engineers, arriving from their base at Balaclava, began to direct the construction of a siege line around the heights of Kherson south of Sevastopol. The troops dug shelters, dug trenches and set up their guns.
With the Russian army and its commander Prince Menshikov gone, the defense of Sevastopol had been entrusted to Vice-Admirals Vladimir Kornilov and Pavel Nakhimov, assisted by Menshikov's chief engineer, Lieutenant-Colonel Eduard Todleben. The military forces available to defend the city were 4,500 militia, 2,700 gunners, 4,400 sailors, 18,500 crew and 5,000 workers, making a total of about 35,000 men.
The Russians began by scuttling their ships to protect the harbor, they used their sea cannons as artillery and the ships' crews as soldiers. These intentionally sunk ships in 1855 included Grand-Duc Constantin, Ville de Paris (120 guns each), Brave, Empress Maria, Chesme, Yagondeid (84 guns), Kavarna (60 guns), the Konlephy (54 guns), the steam frigate Vladimir, the steamers Thunderer, Bessarabia, Danube, Odessa, Elbrose and Krein.
By mid-October 1854, the allies had 120 guns ready to fire on Sevastopol; the Russians had about three times as many to retaliate and defend against infantry attacks.
On October 17, 1854, the battle began. Russian artillery destroyed a French ammunition depot forcing their guns to silence. British fire on the Russian depot in the Malakoff redoubt, killing Admiral Kornilov, and depriving the Russian guns of ammunition and breaching the town's defences. However, the French and British did not send their infantry to storm the city and a quick exit from the siege was probably missed.
At the same time, Allied ships pounded the Russian defences, but the results were disappointing, with the ships inflicting more damage than they were causing the Russians. The bombardments continued on the following days, but, by working at night, the Russians managed to repair the damage caused. The same situation would repeat itself throughout the siege.
From October to November 1854, the battles of Balaklava and Inkerman took place on the other side of the line of siege. After Inkerman, the Russians understood that the siege of Sevastapol would not be lifted through a traditional battle, so they transferred their troops little by little into the city to help the defenders. Towards the end of November, the weather deteriorated and winter devastated the Allied encampments and their food supplies. Men and horses fell ill and suffered from hunger in these harsh conditions.
While Totleben was having the fortifications extended around Redan, British Chief Engineer John Burgoyne sought a solution to take Malakoff, which he thought was essential to take Sevastopol. Work was undertaken to bring Malakoff's allies closer together; in response, Totleben had ditches dug from which the Russians could fire on their besiegers. This heralding the beginnings of the trench warfare that was emblematic of the First World War, these trenches became the primary objective of the Allies.
Once the winter passed, the Allies were able to re-establish their supply routes. A rail line was used to bring supplies from Balaclava to the front, delivering over 500 guns and ammunition. From April 8, 1855 (Easter Sunday), the Allies resumed their bombardment of the Russian defences. On June 30, Admiral Nakhimov died of a head wound inflicted by an Allied sniper. On September 8, the French succeeded in seizing the fortified position of Malakoff thanks to a perfectly coordinated assault. The fortress then becomes untenable and the Russians evacuate it after having destroyed its fortifications. Three days later, the city of Sevastopol finally surrendered.
Although defended heroically and costing the lives of many Allies, the fall of Sevastopol would mark the beginning of Russian defeat in the Crimean War.