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part two is available now as a fierce battle rages around them the light brigade of the british cavalry
is preparing to charge though their orders were vague at best shouted over the din of gun and
cannon fire the men are ready to ride forth but unfortunately for these brave soldiers their charge
will not be wholly remembered as a noble and triumphant action instead it will go down in history as
a monument to the chaos and foolishness of the crimean war hi i'm griffin johnson the armchair
historian in today's video we will be re-examining a topic which we covered in one of the first ever
videos on this channel the crimean war one of the largest and bloodiest european conflicts in the
19th century the war is remembered primarily for the disastrous incompetence of the commanders
on both sides and the ultimate futility of the conflict but while the immediate consequences were
insignificant the long-term effects of this conflict altered the course of european history and set in
motion events that would one day lead to the first world war the armchair historian channel is made
possible by our sponsors supporting them is the best way to support us this video is brought to you
by march of empires a free medieval mmo strategy title that lets you build an empire and wage war
while enjoying various historical narratives and events play as a russian czar eastern sultan or
highland noble and fight battles in pursuit of total realm dominance the game just released a major
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description below [Music] ever since its foundation in the early 1700s imperial russia had sought
control over the warm water ports on the black sea an area traditionally under the influence of the
ottoman empire [Music] although once considered the menace of all christian europe by the 19th
century the ottomans were in a rapid decline a decline which russia was eager to exploit but after
the tumultuous shake-up of the napoleonic wars most other great powers of europe desperately
wanted to avoid any more disruptions to the balance of power creating tension between them and
the expansionist russians this tension finally boiled over in 1853 sparked by of all things a dispute
over the rights of christians in the ottoman empire in an effort to project power in the middle east
france declared itself the protector of all christians in the holy land and convinced the ottoman
sultan abdul majjid the first to issue a decree that the catholic church had sole authority over all
churches holy sites and christian citizens in palestine this irritated the eastern orthodox church in
russia which had previously held control over most of these churches of course neither france nor
russia really cared about the religious rights of christians in palestine controlling churches meant
projecting power and influence in the middle east a strategic goal of both nations the french
emperor had challenged russia to a game of chicken and the ottoman empire was unlucky enough
to find itself right in the middle of it not one to back down the russian tsar nicholas the first
promptly sent an ambassador to the ottomans in hope of changing the sultan's mind this effort
succeeded and the sultan promptly restored authority over the churches to the orthodox church in
russia expectedly the highly ambitious french emperor napoleon iii escalated the situation by
sending a warship into the black sea as a show of force which prompted abdul majid to flip flop
once again and proclaim his eternal respect for the authority of the catholic church further
negotiations proved fruitless with the british ambassador to the ottoman empire stepping in to
support the sultan against russian retaliation neither side was willing to pack down and so in may of
1853 two russian armies crossed the proof river and invaded the balkan provinces of the ottoman
empire left with no other choice the ottomans declared war in response and sent forces to check
the russian advance at the danube river arriving in september the ottoman empire quickly moved to
establish strongholds along the danube under the leadership of the skilled general omar pacha the
first battle of the war took place in early november when the ottomans crossed the river and
recaptured the occupied town of altonitza in modern day romania the russians launched a counter-
attack to reclaim the town resulting in a bloody and indecisive battle which ended with both sides
withdrawing to their previous positions fighting in the balkans would continue in much the same way
for the rest of 1853 with neither side managing to gain a decisive advantage tsar nicholas was
hoping for an announcement of support from austria his long-term ally in order to break this
stalemate but the austrians were reluctant to get involved instead they hoped to settle things with
the mighty pen and hosted a conference in vienna with representatives from france britain and
prussia with the goal of drafting a treaty to end the war while these talks were ongoing russian
warships chanced upon an ottoman fleet near the port of cena hoping to disrupt their enemy's
supply lines the russian ships opened fire initiating battle this engagement saw the first ever use of
explosive shells in naval combat which completely devastated the wooden holes of the ottoman
ships inflicting over three thousand casualties and destroying their entire fleet the events at cenop
alarmed the other great powers and the representatives at vienna quickly finalized a proposed
peace treaty which they presented to sultan abdul majit and tsar nicholas in december nicholas was
willing to accept the terms offered but the sultan objected and diplomatic talks soon completely
broke down fighting continued and in february of 1854 britain and france presented an ultimatum to
russia withdraw from the balkans or they would join the war but now russia refused to back down
and the british and french declared their own war in march of 1854 having made no further gains
and fearing the intervention of a dubiously neutral austria nicholas ordered his forces to withdraw
from the balkan provinces in july russia at this time was one of austria's most important allies and so
by not supporting the russians they found themselves isolated diplomatically all throughout the 19th
century [Music] with hostilities temporarily ceased the war could have ended there but britain and
france spurred on by pro-war public opinion and eager to put an end to further russian expansion
chose to continue the fighting launching a full invasion of the crimean peninsula seizing this
peninsula would russia's naval power in the black sea greatly reducing their influence in the middle
east and balkans the allied forces landed at a beach north of the city of sevastopol in september
and their troubles began almost immediately the landing of the invasion force was badly
mismanaged for starters there was no equipment for the unloading of cargo forcing the soldiers to
steal carts and wagons from nearby tartar farms during this piecemeal unloading process the
soldiers were forced to sleep outside in the rain and heat due to the lack of tents and camping
supplies to make matters even worse there was not enough food or water to go around nor enough
medicine to treat the many men who came down with cholera and other diseases after four days the
invasion force finally overcame this comedy of errors and set out for sevastopol on the first day of
their march the allied forces got their first glimpse of the russian army assembled on a hill on the
other side of the alma river the next morning they crossed the river and attacked the russians
beginning the battle of alma the defenders were outnumbered with 37 500 men standing against
the 56 500 strong invasion force but the russians held a strong defensive position on a steep hill
they held out against three hours of repeated assaults by the ottomans british and french before
withdrawing however the allied forces were unable to pursue them due to their lack of cavalry
following the battle the invading army marched southeast to the coast encircling sevastopol and
establishing temporary ports at the towns of balaclava and camish to bring in supplies in october
they began to besiege the city with cannon brought in by sea although further widespread
outbreaks of cholera weakened the british army emboldening the defenders to launch several
probing attacks on october 25th the russians attempted a large-scale assault on the british position
at balaclava sending 25 000 men to disrupt the allies supply chain between their ports and these
siege lines the first line of defenses at the verontsov heights manned by the ottomans was quickly
overwhelmed and the russian cavalry then swept down the hill toward the second defensive line in
the valley to the south there a combined force of ottoman and british infantry managed to hold the
line against the enemy cavalry charge in a defense that would come to be known as the thin red line
on the northern side of the hill the british cavalry's light brigade was sent to intercept russian forces
attempting to withdraw after seizing ottoman artillery guns captured on the heights but this order
relayed verbally through multiple sources in something like a game of telephone was ultimately
misinterpreted by the light brigades commanders who sent the light cavalry charging down the
valley straight into the teeth of a dug in russian artillery regiment the resulting charge of the light
brigade was a complete failure and left over a third of the brigade soldiers killed wounded or
captured and over a half of its horses dead shortly thereafter the russian forces pulled back to their
newly captured defensive positions at the varanza of heights and the battle came to an end while
the siege of sevastopol would continue the russians had won a tactical and morale boosting victory
at balaklava in large part thanks to the disorganization of their enemies this disorganization and
incompetence at the command level would continue to plague the allied forces for the rest of the
war preventing them from gaining significant ground to watch the rest of this bloody stalemate play
out head over to the part 2 of this video available right now through the link in the description below
thanks again to march of empires for sponsoring this video click their link below to show your
support [Music] [Music] you
[Music] spring 1898 the destitute province of chantal following war with foreign powers droughts
and disasters poverty has soared in the region as a result many idle youths have turned to banditry
bringing down the economy even further in the village of liuenton young impoverished villages look
with contempt on the chinese christian converts of the village many of them are bandits who have
converted to evade the law as the foreigners have had their faith officially protected by the imperial
authorities in addition the christian community has taken over the old temple of the emperor of jade
a supreme authority of chinese traditional mythology and made it into their church young local men
with no future feel their culture tainted by traitors and are disgusted at the weakness of the tsing
dynasty devout practitioners of mystical spirituality and martial arts for the most part these young
men form groups in the whole region one local leader sandor organizes a massive gathering in
charlotte drive village calling others to join the effort over ten thousand resentful men answer the
call ready to launch an uprising and reclaim their culture by force they take the name of her tren the
fists of harmony and justice those who would soon be called the boxers are born by late 1898 the
situation in china was tense after the murder of two german missionaries by locals a year earlier the
german empire seized the strategic jourdal bay in shandong province this event triggered a
scramble for concessions as other western powers rushed to gain influence and privileges in the
imperial nation britain obtained an extension of its hong kong colony an area called the new
territories in addition it gained the city of way highway as a naval base france received the
guangzhou territory as well as strong influence in yunnan province the russian empire who already
controlled the recently built chinese eastern railway in manchuria obtained the city of dalian finally
the japanese who had acquired taiwan three years earlier gained several concessions in different
cities especially in tianjin this city in the imperial domain already hosted several foreign settlements
which would be of prime importance in events soon to come as the foreign power's influence grew
more and more impoverished and idle youths of the countryside flocked towards the bands of
boxers armed with spears swords and a few hunting rifles with the intent of restoring chinese
domination and culture in addition popular support for the boxes developed exponentially especially
in shandong and julie provinces with their mystical rituals they believed themselves invulnerable to
firearms and as such their eagerness to fight skyrocketed their target was first and foremost the
christian foreigners and secondly the converted chinese whom they perceived as traitors initially
their attitude towards that seeing imperial authorities was ambiguous as the boxers were a very
heterogeneous group some supported that singh while others aimed to overthrow them entirely on
the other side the teen authorities were equally puzzled on how to handle this sudden popular
movement the imperial court was officially under the control of empress dowager zlussie emperor
guayshu's art who had overthrown him and taken control of the nation she was head of the
conservative faction of the court who overall believed the boxers could be used as an asset to fight
the foreign powers and return to tradition other cliques believe the movement should be rapidly
suppressed meanwhile violence against foreigners and christians developed more and more
subsequently foreign powers especially the french who presented themselves as guardians of
catholicism in china pressured the imperial authorities to defend the christian communities the
imperial court conceded which only strengthened the boxer's resentment in the summer of 1899
trouble would shake shanlong province's county of pinyuan repeated attacks against christians led
the local magistrates to request soldiers and crack down on the unrest however each act of
repression only strengthened the motivation of the boxers and by the 18th of october 1899 over a
thousand armed boxers assembled the magistrate marched 500 imperial troops to fight against the
small army that had settled next to san lord chinese temple initially the singh forces were defeated
and retreated which greatly boosted pro-box's sentiment within the population the qing however
rallied and crushed the local boxes executing many of their leaders and the most fanatical figures
the battle of san luis temple would mark a turning point boxers and local authorities alike despising
the west came to agree they could join forces and cooperate to drive out foreign influence as a
result the retrend fists of harmony and justice was renamed the militia united in righteousness
openly separating themselves from bandits and appearing as a legitimate chinese force a new
slogan would also appear on their banners support the qing destroy the foreigners in the following
weeks the boxer movement kept developing in northern china and began distributing anti-foreign
and anti-christian propaganda to the local population seeing general yuan shukai who controlled the
most modernized army in china was appointed as governor of shandong in late 1899 although loyal
to conservative empress dowager tsushi yuan shukhai favored western methods and despised the
boxes he would always be hostile to them which encouraged the militias to move up north li
hongjong the most prominent han chinese official and admirer of modernization was appointed as
viceroy of lianghuang much like shokai he had nothing but contempt for the boxes and their mystical
rituals far from the trouble he would nonetheless keep a keen eye on the events in the north by now
the boxer issue had become a frequent subject in the imperial court advised by dagi prince duan
one of the most conservative officials of the court empress dowager zushi officially showed her
support for the boxers in january 1900 this event further fueled the boxer momentum and tens of
thousands of militias started moving towards the foreign influence city of tianjin and towards beijing
the imperial capital of the celestial empire on their way they murdered chinese christians and
unfortunate foreigners and burnt or tore down western buildings and churches beijing had over one
million inhabitants divided into several quarters including the chinese city the imperial city and the
forbidden city the capital also hosted the international legations quarter where many foreign powers
had embassies for diplomatic affairs with china this area was established following the second
opium war in 1860 and had been since greatly expanded and strengthened in 1900 it was over five
square kilometers wide with around half a thousand foreign citizens in addition to the foreign
power's actual diplomats the atmosphere in the international legations was getting more and more
tense the residents had caught word of the box's massacre of christians and realized the militias
were now heading over to beijing edwin conger the american minister to china contacted the united
states saying situation becoming serious the whole country is swarming with hungry discontented
hopeless idlers fearing for the safety of delegation's inhabitants he suggested military forces should
be ready to intervene british minister to china sir claude maxwell macdonald growing nervous
himself petitioned the imperial court for permission to garrison soldiers inside delegation's quarter
after consideration the request was met consequently over 400 naval troops of different nations
were disembarked from the many foreign warships stationed off the border coast using the recently
built railway system they were transported by train from tianjin to beijing and garrisoned in the
legation's quarter during the following days determined boxer militias grew closer and closer to the
capital preparing for a potential attack the mobilized soldiers in the international legations quarter
swiftly set up barricades and perimeters to protect the area three factions were now in the region
the boxes organized in militia regiments and armed mostly with speeds and sort the approximately
400-man strong foreign garrison inside delegation's quarter of beijing well-drilled and ready to
defend an attack and most importantly the xing dynasty's imperial forces a great number of imperial
troops who concentrated in the metropolitan area the oldest division was the peking field force
established in 1862 which mainly operated as a police force it was armed with european rifles and
some artillery and commanded by moderate official yi kwang princetin secondly beijing hosted a
seasoned division of muslim soldiers named the gansu braves and led by general dongfoxiang this
was the main force that had been mobilized to beijing to overthrow the guanxi emperor in favour of
emperor's daughter sushi they were armed with german mauser rifles and modern artillery the
gansu braves were part of the way corps also known as the gods army under the general command
of general rong the champion and rumored lover of empress dawaj at sushi finally zayi prince dwan
fervent supporter of the boxers had assembled his own ten thousand man strong wushang or tiger
spirit division for the moment the imperial troops were nonetheless neutral in the conflict however
with these three forces in the area tensions were high and foreign inhabitants of the legations
quarter nervously waited for the next event on the 5th of june 1900 the boxes destroyed the railway
connecting tiente into beijing consequently the legations were cut off and isolated in an increasingly
hostile environment four days later british minister to china sir claude maxwell macdonald feeling a
trap closing in requested further military assistance he directly addressed vice admiral edward
seymour commander-in-chief of the china station the british royal navy's formation in the local
waters consequently vice admiral seymour concerted with other foreign troops and managed to
assemble within a day a force of western and japanese sailors and marines with the intent of coming
to the defense of delegations in addition to his own 916 british sailors seymour recruited 455
german 326 russian 158 french 112 americans 54 japanese 41 italian and 26 austro-hungarian
marines and sailors in an over 2 000 strong regiment under his command the eight nation alliance
was born this force known as the seymour expedition left the foreign settlements of tianjin on the
10th of june unaware that the railway had been cut off they departed by train on the way they
passed anti-boxer yet anti-foreign seeing general nier xiu chong and his thousands of imperial
soldiers who were also part of the wu wei corps on the general ron lu due to the massive confusion
of the events near xiujiang let the seymour expedition pass on a post he instead focused his troops
on suppressing roaming groups of boxers in the area the seymour expedition soon arrived at
lanfang where the railway had been destroyed with that much of a choice its engineers began
repairing the tracks a task that would take several days the foreign force was unaware that the
situation in beijing was about to degenerate on the 11th of june japanese diplomat sugiyama akira
was murdered in the streets by a group of general don fusiang's xenophobic gansu braves the
following day german soldiers under the orders of german minister to china clemens von keteler
captured an isolated suspected boxer boy and beat him to death in retaliation this single event
would ignite incredible violence for the months to follow outraged about this murder thousands of
boxers poured into baiting ransacked and burnt churches murdering chinese christians and foreign
priests alike the consul braves of general don fusion joined in the chaos taking part in the massacre
about 3 000 chinese christians took refuge in the legation's quarter the others either fled or
perished meanwhile although unaware of the beijing events several ships of the eight nation alights
stationed in the gulf of borja decided to act led by the imperial russian navy a decision was made to
occupy the dargul forts guarding the imperial domain until the boxer issue was settled by consent or
by force they sent an ultimatum for a surrender of the local team garrison by 2am of the 17th of june
and deployed their 10 warships manned by a total of 900 men in front of the forts unfazed the teen
garrison's answer was rapid over an hour before the ultimatum would end every single cannon of
the dargol forts opened fire on the allied ships the fourth battle of dargor had begun in addition to
their artillery that singh possessed four modern cruisers these were however promptly bordered
and captured by two british destroyers during the whole night the allied foreign ships and their team
forts exchanged fire gradually the allies coordinated assaults under several forts successfully
conquering them one after the other by 6 30 am the battle was over although it had sustained about
20 casualties the eight nation alliance had won a strategic victory which would be of great
importance in the events to follow when the tsing imperial court learnt of the battle of dagu it
considered the attack an act of war and was convinced to officially side with the boxes in their anti-
foreign violence their first target would be the seymour expedition the allied force was still stuck at
lanfang since its engineers had not quite finished repairing the railway the seymour expedition had
been attacked twice by boxer regiments but had successfully repelled them suffering minor losses
the imperial court wished to drive out or destroy this foreign force with the help of the boxers
however local general nijang had spent the last weeks violently suppressing the boxes and it was
clear that his force would not cooperate with them he was subsequently set to tianzin to assault the
foreign settlements there instead and replaced by pro-boxer general dongfoo general
dongfosyang's braves counted about 3 000 well-equipped soldiers seasoned and ready to fight the
team forces coordinated the pincer attack with the help of over 2 000 boxer militias on the seymour
expedition overwhelmed and under supply vice admiral seymour and the allied officers decided to
withdraw back the tianjin after a short battle realizing they could no longer advance on beijing the
following day empress dawaj at sushi ordered all the foreigners in the legations quarter of beijing to
leave the city within the day and go back to tianjin after discussing the matter between themselves
the diplomats realized that travelling over 17 miles escorted by only 400 soldiers in such a hostile
climate would mean certain death they decided to challenge the decision and continue negotiations
with the court on the morning of the 20th of june german minister to china clermont von ketiller
headed to the tsing dynasty's ministry for foreign affairs the tsung li yaman along the way he was
however attacked by the pro-boxer troops of the horsham the tiger spirit division and assassinated
in the street the message was clear there would be no talking their way out of the situation unaware
that the seymour expedition had been repelled the shock legations expected the relief force to
arrive soon in the meantime they organized themselves for a siege having served in the british army
sir claude maxwell macdonald assumed command of the defense food and water supplies were
registered and rationed about a hundred civilians volunteered to defend the area reinforcing the
400 multinational soldiers the international legations were unaware that they were about to enter 55
days of chaos thank you for watching my video i hope you enjoyed it if so please leave a like and
subscribe to the channel part 2 will be available shortly if you have any questions or requests feel
free to leave them in the comments section below you