Too often historical writing on the Russian War of 1854-56 focuses narrowly on the land campaign fought in the Crimean peninsula in the Black Sea. The wider war waged at sea by the British and French navies against the Russians is ignored. The allied navies aimed to strike at Russian interests anywhere in the world where naval force could be brought to bear and as a result campaigns were waged in the Baltic, the Black Sea, the White Sea, on the Russian Pacific coast and in the Sea of Azoff. Yet it is the land campaign in the Crimea that shapes our understanding of events. In this graphic and original study, Peter Duckers seeks to set the record straight. He shows how these neglected naval campaigns were remarkably successful, in contrast to the wretched failures that beset the British army on land. Allied warships ranged across Russian waters sinking shipping, disrupting trade, raiding ports, bombarding fortresses, destroying vast quantities of stores and shelling coastal towns. The scale and intensity of the naval operations embarked upon during the war are astonishing, and little appreciated, and this new book offers the first overall survey of them. AUTHOR: Peter Duckers is a leading authority on nineteenth-century British military history. He has made a particular study of the campaigns, medals and military organization of the period, and he has previously written a detailed account of naval actions in the Sea of Azoff. Among his many books are The K.S.L.I. 1881-1968, Soldiers of Shropshire, On Service in India, Reward of Valor: The Indian Order of Merit 1914-18, British Campaign Medals 1815-1914, British Campaign Medals 1914-2000, British Gallantry Awards, 1855-2000, British Military Rifles, Egypt 1882, The British Indian Army 1860-1914, British Orders and Decorations and The Victoria Cross. SELLING POINTS: ? Graphic account of naval actions during the Crimean War ? Covers campaigns in the Baltic, Black Sea, White Sea, Pacific and Sea of Azoff and the deployment of naval forces ashore in the Crimea ? Insight into naval warfare in the transitional period between Trafalgar and Jutland ? Adds a fresh dimension to our understanding of the Crimean War ? Valuable record of the mid-nineteenth-century Royal Navy ILLUSTRATIONS: 30 illustrations *
