On the 3rd of July, 1853, Nicholas set out in earnest on this scheme of Russian aggrandizement, his army crossing the frontier. England and France gathered their fleets in the vicinity of Constantinople and awaited results. Turkey brought matters to a crisis by demanding that Russia evacuate the Danubian Principalities, and precipitated war. On November 30, 1853, the destruction of the Turkish fleet by the Russian Admiral at Sinope destroyed all hope of localizing the war, and the French and English fleets having entered the Bosphorus, now sailed into the Black Sea and obliged the Russian warships to withdraw into ports. The superiority of the navy of the Allies enabled them to attack Russia in all her seas. In the Black Sea they bombarded the Port of Odessa in April, 1854, and in the Baltic they blockaded Cronstadt, and, disembarking, took the Fortress of Bomarsund in August. In 1855 they made hostile demonstrations in the White Sea, and on the Pacific they blockaded the Siberian ports and threatened the position of the Russians on the River Amur. Austria and Prussia likewise made an alliance, offensive and defensive, and the former concentrated an army along the Russian frontier. Thus Nicholas found himself practically face to face with the rest of Europe.
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From General Nelson A. Miles
Thrilling Stories of The Russian-Japanese War, 1904
