Crimean War
War over Ottoman decline and Russian power, fought chiefly around the Black Sea and Crimea.
Historical overview
Overview adapted from a Wikipedia summary and stored locally on May 11, 2026.
The Crimean War was fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the Ottoman Empire, the Second French Empire, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont from October 1853 to February 1856. Geopolitical causes of the war included the Eastern question, expansion of Imperial Russia in the preceding Russo-Turkish wars, and the British and French preference to preserve the Ottoman Empire to maintain the balance of power in the Concert of Europe.
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National unification and civil wars
Civil wars, imperial rebellions and European unification wars transform the United States, China, Italy and Germany.
German unification redraws Central Europe. The American Civil War preserves the United States and ends legal slavery.