Ian Fletcher - The Battle of the Alma 1854: First Blood to the Allies in the Crimea

First published in Great Britain in 2008 by
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Copyright Ian Fletcher and Natalia Ishchenko, 2008

PRINT ISBN 9781844156726
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Contents

List of Illustrations

List of Maps

Introduction

On the afternoon of 20 September 1854, around 100,000 British, French, Russian and Turkish soldiers came together to fight what was the first real battle on European soil for almost forty years. Turkey declared war on Russia in 1853, and when Britain and France did the same the following year the long peace which had existed in Europe since the Battle of Waterloo in 1815 finally came to an end. The Battle of the Alma was not the first battle of the Crimean War. Indeed, the Turks and Russians had been at each others throats along the Danube even before Britain and France entered the fray. But it was, however, the first battle to be fought on the Crimean peninsula, and, for the British Army at least, was its first since that memorable day back in June 1815.

On 20 September 2004, the 150th anniversary of the battle, we sat on the stone wall close to the site of the Great Redoubt on the battlefield of the Alma and looked out across the fields that sloped away towards the river Alma itself. It was difficult to imagine the scene that would have met our eyes if we had sat on the same spot 150 years earlier. In 2004 the day was hot and sunny, and isolated groups of tourists strolled aimlessly around in the sun. How different it was on the same day in 1854, when the ground would have been strewn with the bodies of dead, dying and wounded British infantry, their red coats ripped aside by Russian shot fired from the redoubt.

It was a pity that no large-scale commemorative event took place on the anniversary of the Battle of the Alma, although this was understandable given the very high-profile events that were to take place just over four weeks later at Balaklava on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of what must surely be one of the most famous episodes in British military history. It was a shame that the anniversary of the Battle of the Alma appeared to have passed by unnoticed, as did that of Inkerman, as these were the two bloodiest battles fought by the British Army in Europe between Waterloo and the First World War. It was especially so with the Alma since it proved to be the only pitched battle in the Crimea fought in the open field, unlike Inkerman, which, although far bloodier, was effectively the parrying of a Russian strike against the Allied siege lines.

By coincidence, 2004 was not only the 150th anniversary of the Battle of the Alma. It saw the 300th anniversary of the Battle of Blenheim, fought on 13 August 1704, and we could not but reflect on the fact that, had the Duke of Marlborough been present at the Alma, he would have been perfectly capable of commanding the British troops as they advanced towards the Russian positions in their long red lines. The other great duke, Wellington, would have had no problem either. Indeed, the British Army was commanded by one of his old lieutenants, Lord Raglan, whilst many other senior commanders had also served under him. The point is that though many historians consider the Crimean War to have been the first of the modern wars, there is little doubt in our minds that, whilst this is partly true, it was certainly the last of the old wars, for the Battle of the Alma was fought in the same manner that scores of battles had been fought over the previous century and a half. So, we have ample scope to discuss a period in military history when, in many ways, the old gave way to the new.

There has been much written before about the Battle of the Alma, not least in the general histories of the Crimean War. In Britain, Kinglakes epic Invasion of the Crimea covered the battle in great depth, whilst other contemporary works did so to a lesser extent. There have also been several Russian and French accounts of the war which contain chapters on the battle. But works dedicated solely to the Battle of the Alma have certainly been surprisingly few and far between. The same can be said about Inkerman, the real bloodbath of the Crimean War. Only the battle at Balaklava has ever been tackled on a regular basis. Hence the idea of a new history of the battle, one that is told from both sides, Allied and Russian.

Perhaps the most enjoyable part of our research was visiting the battlefield itself, something which we have done on numerous occasions, in both summer and winter. Indeed, we have stood in the Great Redoubt in sweltering heat. We have also visited the battlefield in temperatures well below zero, when it has been covered with deep snow. We have walked the entire length of the field, from the mouth of the river Alma at the coast, as far as the extreme right flank of the Russian position. Only by doing this can you really get a feel for what it was like for the men on both sides on that memorable September day.

A feature of our version of the battle is the number of eyewitness accounts, for only the Russian, British and French soldiers who survived the battle really knew what happened there. In telling their story we have retained original spellings, and have kept the translations of Russian and French accounts as raw as possible and have not attempted to polish them too smoothly so as to detract from their immediacy. Only dates have been changed, at least those in the Russian accounts, for they were still using the old calendar, which was twelve days adrift of that used throughout the rest of Europe. For example, the battle invariably appears in Russian accounts as taking place on 8 September. This is the only real alteration made to the Russian accounts.

The Crimean War has certainly enjoyed something of a revival during the last few years following the 150th anniversary events, but it still continues to give off bad vibes, to use the words of one major British publisher who refused to have anything to do with the Crimean War. This, of course, has much to do with the conditions during the terrible winter of 18545, and with the widespread disenchantment in Britain, and indeed within the army at the Crimea, at the management of the campaign. All of this was yet to come, however, when the Battle of the Alma was fought on a warm, sunny day in the autumn of 1854.

Ian Fletcher and Natalia Ishchenko

Chapter 1

A Rupture with the Russians

The Crimean War is almost unique in that it has provided generations of historians with a rich source of material on how wars begin. It also demonstrates to political historians how wars can and should be avoided, for it was a war that was a long time in coming. For almost four years politicians around Europe, and particularly in Britain, France, Russia and Turkey, could see the conflict looming on the horizon but they appear to have been helpless in stopping the slow drift towards war, which seemed inevitable once France decided to revive its ancient rights in the Holy Land in 1850. The war is also possibly unique in that not only were negotiations going on prior to the outbreak of war, as politicians and diplomats sought to find a way of avoiding the conflict, but conferences and peace talks were ongoing throughout the war, from the very beginning in 1854 right up to the early days of 1856. Indeed, one might say that the war is unique in having been fought out simultaneously in two very different theatres: in atrocious conditions in the Crimea itself and around various comfortable conference tables throughout Europe. As a result there are literally thousands of documents which provide a wonderful insight into the causes of the tragedy that was the Crimean War. Needless to say, we have no intention of going into too much detail.