The generals of the English, French and Turkish armies held a counsel at Varna in July and resolved upon the campaign. On the 14th of September five hundred ships landed the expeditionary troops, and on the 20th the battle of Alma was fought, in which the Russians were defeated and the way to Sebastopol was opened.
This was a shock to Russia. Since the ill-fated expedition of Napoleon to Moscow in 1812 no enemy had ever set foot on her soil. The Crimea, protected by the formidable fleet, impregnable fortresses and a large army, had been deemed secure from all attack. Now the army was beaten, the Black Sea fleet which had retreated to the harbor of Sebastopol served only to obstruct the channel. Sebastopol itself was so badly protected and armed that undoubtedly the allies could have stormed it immediately upon their arrival, but their delay gave time for its fortification. The Russians set to work soldiers, sailors and citizens and in a few days reared a rampart of earthworks with a marvelous exhibition of skill and activity. The redoubts and ramparts of the Center of the Mast, of the two Redans, and of the Malakof, afterwards celebrated in history, all rose as if by magic, bristling with guns taken from the useless fleet. Fourteen or fifteen thousand sailors came to reinforce the garrison. The three Russian admirals, all destined to die on the bastion of the Malakof, directed the defence.
Previous article Next article
From General Nelson A. Miles
Thrilling Stories of The Russian-Japanese War, 1904
