1854 | Political Events
Political Events
The Crimean War that begins March 28 will continue until 1856 (see 1853). British and French fleets have entered the Black Sea January 3, Russia has broken off relations with both nations February 6, the czar has ignored a February 7 Anglo-French ultimatum to evacuate the Danube principalities by April 30, but Sir Charles Napier, now 67 and commander of the Royal Navy's Baltic Fleet has refused to attack the Russian naval base at Kronsthstadt, claiming that he lacked sufficient firepower. London and Paris have made an alliance with Constantinople March 12, Russian troops have crossed the Danube March 20, and Britain and France declare war March 28.
Austria gives Russia an ultimatum June 3 not to carry the war across the Balkan mountains and signs a treaty June 14 with Constantinople, agreeing to intervene in Bosnia, Albania, or Montenegro should any disturbance break out there. Turkish forces defeat a Russian army under the command of Ivan Fyodorovich Paskevich at Silistria June 8; Paskevich, now 72, is relieved of his post, the Russians evacuate the Danube principalities August 8, and Austria occupies them with Turkish consent August 22. Allied troops land on the Crimean Peninsula of the Ukraine in mid-September and defeat an inferior Russian force September 20 at the Battle of the Alma River, 15 miles north of Sevastapol. Field Marshal Fitzroy (James Henry) Somerset, 66, Baron Raglan of Raglan, has 27,000 men; the 58-year-old Marshal Jacques Leroy de Saint Arnaud 25,000; and the Turks 8,000 to throw against the 37,000-man army of Russia's Prince Aleksandr Sergeivich Menshikov, 65. The Russians lose 1,800 killed, 3,700 wounded; the British 362 killed, 1,621 wounded; the French only about 500 killed and wounded, but Saint Arnaud dies at sea September 29 en route home to France as the Allies lay siege to Sevastopol.
Greece's prime minister Aléxandros Mavrokordátos appoints nationalist Dimitríos Kallérgis to his cabinet, but the king will force him to resign in October of next year (see 1848; 1863).
The Battle of Balaklava (or Balaclava) October 25 ends indecisively after a costly cavalry charge by Britain's Light Brigade. Russian forces occupy the Fedyukhini and Vorontsov heights, but when their cavalry advance on the town of Balaklava about five miles outside Sevastapol, they encounter heavy resistance from the 93rd Highlanders of Sir Colin Campbell and the Heavy Brigade of cavalry officer Gen. Sir James Yorke Scarlett. Baron Raglan and his staff officers on the heights above Sevastopol observe the Russians removing guns from captured positions on the Vorontsov heights, Raglan sends orders through an aide-de-camp to have cavalry forces thwart the removal, and two regiments of Scarlett's Heavy Brigade attack the stronger of the two Russian positions, routing the enemy's main cavalry force. Cavalry commander George Charles Bingham, 54, 3rd earl of Lucan, receives orders from Raglan to stop the Russians from towing away captured guns; he mistakenly sends his brother-in-law James Thomas Brudenell, 57, 7th earl of Cardigan, down a mile-long valley protected by the Russian and Ottoman artillery. Cardigan has made a career of purchasing military commissions, fighting duels, and womanizing, he is the first man to reach the lines and emerges unscathed, but the Russian guns cut down 503 of his 673 men (Lucan sustains a leg wound). The name of Lord Cardigan will survive in the cardigan sweater; that of his commanding officer in the raglan-sleeve coat.
The Battle of Inkerman November 5 gives the allies another major victory. A Russian force of 55,000 under the command of Prince Menshikov has tried to break the siege of Sevastopol, but a French division arrives to support Lord Raglan, and the combined siege force of about 20,000 men throws back the Russians in bitter hand-to-hand fighting, killing 4,400 and wounding 7,500 while sustaining 2,573 British and 1,743 French casualties (see 1855).
The British withdraw from territory north of South Africa's Orange River in accordance with the Convention of Bloemfontein signed February 17 with the Boers. Boer settlers organize the Orange Free State (see 1852; Pretorius, 1856).
Egypt's Ottoman viceroy (khedive) Abbas I is assassinated in his palace at Banha July 13 at age 41 on orders from enemies in his court, who have paid two servants to strangle him. Dead after a 6-year reign in which he has curtailed government spending, reduced taxes, turned from the French to the British for support against the Ottoman Turks, and cut back on compulsory labor and army conscription, Abbas is succeeded by his uncle Muhammad Said, 32, the fourth son of the late viceroy Muhammad Ali, who will reign until 1863 as Said.
The Treaty of Kanagawa signed March 31 opens the Japanese ports Hakodate and Shimoda to U.S. trade, makes provision for shipwrecked sailors, and establishes friendly relations (see 1853). Commodore Perry said last July that he would return in the spring but has returned in February with 10 ships and all sorts of things never before seen in Japan, including a camera and a miniature locomotive. The new shōgun Iesada Tokugawa decides that Japan needs a defense force, and he asks that the emperor order Buddhist temples to contribute their great bells for gun metal.
Filipino insurgent José Cuesta leads a revolt against Spanish rule, but Captain General Manuel Pavía y Lacy, 39, crushes the rebels.
The Hawaiian king Kamehameha III dies at Honolulu December 15 at age 40 after a 29-year reign (see 1843). He is succeeded by his 20-year-old nephew and adopted son Alexander Liholiho, who will reign until his death in 1863 as Kamehameha IV.
The Republican Party organized February 28 at Ripon, Wisconsin, by former Whigs and disaffected Democrats opposes the extension of slavery (see human rights [Wilmot Proviso], 1846). Led by men who include prominently Sen. William Pitt Fessenden, 49, of Maine and Indiana abolitionist George Washington Julian, 38, they take the name Republican from the party founded by Thomas Jefferson, which became known as the Democratic-Republican Party but dropped the last part of its name in 1828. The House of Representatives approves the Kansas-Nebraska Act May 8, and Rep. Israel Washburn, 40, of Maine calls a meeting May 9 of some 30 anti-slavery representatives, who meet in the rooms at Washington, D.C., of two Massachusetts congressmen and take further steps toward organizing the new party. The Kansas-Nebraska Act approved by the Senate May 20 repeals the Missouri Compromise of 1820, opens Nebraska country to settlement on the basis of popular sovereignty, provides for the organization of Kansas and Nebraska territories, undoes the sectional truce of 1850, and effectively destroys the Whig Party, whose northern members join the new Republican Party, a name used by Rep. Washburn soon afterward in a speech at Bangor.
The Elgin Treaty signed June 5 establishes reciprocity between Canada and the United States. Governor General James Bruce, 43, 8th earl of Elgin, has concluded the treaty with help from Irish-born Canadian journalist and co-prime minister Francis Hincks, now 46.
Rhode Island constitutional reformer Thomas Wilson Dorr dies at his native Providence December 27 at age 49.
Mexico's La Reforma period begins with the issuance of the Plan de Ayutla, which calls for the ouster of the dictator Antonio López de Santa Anna (see 1853). Santa Anna has tried to secure direct control of Guerrero, whose governor Juan Alvarez, 64, begins a rebellion at Ayutla and joins with the liberals, some of them in exile, who issue the plan (see 1855).