Don’t Repeat The Crimean WarFailing to remember history, President Biden appears condemned to repeat it.
By R. Jordan Prescott
February 19, 2022
The last time Western powers engaged in a major military conflict with Russia was the Crimean War from 1853 to 1856, pitting Great Britain, France, and the Islamic Ottoman Turk Empire against Russia. The Western allies achieved victory but nothing meaningful; the war had no impact on the allies’ security or that period’s great power competition.
Given this precedent, why is the West risking another meaningless war in the same territory?
The Crimean War was caused by competing claims to protect Christians in the Ottoman Empire and the broader integrity of the Ottoman Empire. In summer 1853, Russia occupied two Ottoman provinces on the Balkan Peninsula, prompting the British and French to ally with the Ottomans. British and French naval forces entered the Black Sea the next January and the two countries declared war on Russia in March 1854.
Military engagements occurred in the Black Sea as well as the Baltics, Caucasus, and Russian Arctic, but the main theater was Crimea in southern Ukraine. After a costly 11-month siege that ended in September 1855, Russia signed a treaty in March 1856 demilitarizing the Black Sea and guaranteeing the integrity of the Ottoman Empire.
As was true in 1853, our current crisis involves Russian forces on the move. The West is once again concerned with the fate of allies in the region, namely the beleaguered democrats leading the pro-Western government in Kyiv. Since becoming independent in 1991, Ukraine has been reliably tied to Russia. However, a pro-Western, pro-democratic revolution in 2014 replaced a Russia-friendly regime with a government seeking tighter integration with Europe, including membership in NATO. Russia vehemently opposed the new government’s efforts and responded by annexing Crimea and militarily supporting separatists in eastern Ukraine.
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Source:
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/the-west-should-avoid-a-repeat-of-the-crimean-war/
