How did the Crimean war change British society?
score:11
Two major events of the Crimean War that had an impact on British society, and on later wars were the "Charge of the Light Brigade" and Florence Nightingale.
The "Charge of the Light Brigade" is nowadays considered an exercise in heroic futility, but at the time it was treated as an epic. It succeeded on its own terms, the Brigade overran the guns, but charged the wrong ones. It was held up as an example of British heroism that led to mindless (infantry) charges in the First World War, at least up to Passchendaele.
The Crimean war was perhaps the first war to the be "reported" to the public, through new inventions such as the telegraph and the photography. The heavy (and well publicized) cost of the Crimean War led to the introduction of the Victoria Cross for valor in battle, which, unlike earlier decorations, was awarded to both officers and men, beginning the "democratization" of British society.
Florence Nightingale is considered the pioneer of "nursing," or at least military nursing. She was from a wealthy reforming family that pushed for rudimentary health care and sanitation measures in the British army. Up to that time, more soldiers died of disease than of battlefield casualties. Following the reforms that she wrought, the disease rate for both the military, and civilians, went down sharply.
Another, political, change was Anglo-French collaboration. Prior to the post Napoleonic period, these two countries had been bitter enemies. In the Crimean war, they fought side by side in order to maintain a European balance of power (to prevent Russia from crushing Turkey, and thereby dominate eastern Europe). This presaged Anglo-French cooperation in the World War I, about half a century later, against a rising and aggressive German power that threatened to dominate central and eastern Europe.
Upvote:5
In addition to the other two excellent answers, this was the first "telegraph war": the governments in London and Paris could communicate with the field commander in (almost) real time and the newspapers received communications in real time too.
Think about it:
- Something happens in the field.
- Reporters telegraph it to The Times.
- The public is outraged (because the outrageous news sell better).
- The government reacts - telegraphs to the commander in the field a micromanaging order.
- The field commander has to do damage control instead of actually leading the troops.
- The Russian diplomats and/or spies in London (and neutral capitals which subscribe to the Times feed) read the paper too and telegraph to St Petersburg the valuable intelligence.
This lead to attempts to censor the papers which only exacerbated the tensions.
Upvote:11
The Crimean War was one of the very first wars where there was an immediate journalistic presence (instead of relying on military reporting) - William Howard Russell (a reporter) and Roger Fenton (a photographer) sent back reports and images that were then printed in The Times newspaper. As such, the public of Britain received "direct" reporting from a war for the first time.
The various blunders through the war, of which the infamous "Charge of the Light Brigade" is the most well known, ended up leading the public to question the leadership and led to various protests and riots - including the Snowball Riots in Trafalgar Square.
When parliament passed a bill requesting a full accounting of the men and materiel lost through the war, the prime minister (the Earl of Aberdeen) resigned - taking the passing of the bill as a loss of "no confidence".
Tom has already covered the reforms to nursing through Florence Nightingale.
The last major change from the war was the eventual abolition of the Army's sale of commissions - meaning that any person with reasonable income or wealth could purchase themselves a commission in the Army (including the ranks of Captain, Major, and even Lieutenant Colonel). Not all commissioned positions were filled via purchase as officers could and would be promoted to fill positions left by wounded or dead men (especially during times like the Napoleonic Wars), but the Crimean War was after a long period of relative peace, and so much of the officer corps of the infantry and cavalry were filled by such purchased commissions. By removing the practice, the British Army took another big step into professionalisation (although, social background rather than ability continued to be a major factor in advancement well into the 20th century).
More post
- 📝 What kinds of goods were commonly smuggled in the Roman Empire up to the end of the 3rd century AD?
- 📝 How common was it for USAAF aircrews to swap airplanes?
- 📝 What's this antique coin?
- 📝 Did Japan use reconnaissance balloons in WWII?
- 📝 Why did Burgers' Transvaal try to build rail east?
- 📝 Why did the later Crusades seemingly focus more on naval traversal?
- 📝 Why did South Carolina continue to select their Presidential Electors by legislative choice until after the Civil War?
- 📝 To what extent is the Catholic church responsible for historical Antisemitism in Europe?
- 📝 Why does the first decade of the 21st century start with 2000?
- 📝 Was there a rule against non-Muslims wearing the colour green in the Ottoman empire?
- 📝 Does anyone have a concrete example of the British Empire using revolution to gain control over foreign resources, governments?
- 📝 Is there a known society without cult of love?
- 📝 What are tanks for?
- 📝 Finding reviews of academic books?
- 📝 What is the relevance of the Confession of Augsburg to the Colloquy at Poissy?
- 📝 Medieval Saharan Caravan Navigation
- 📝 Was Tajmahal Tejo Mahal?
- 📝 What "other property" was considered for representation at the Constitutional Convention?
- 📝 What was the relationship between Indian caste system and martial skills?
- 📝 How did ancient cultures identify a new moon when it can never be seen?
- 📝 Why are Arabian Nights set mostly in Persia?
- 📝 Is the first visually recorded use of anti-cavalry defences on the Bayeux Tapestry?
- 📝 In the Film Master and Commander, why do they start towing their rowboats after they beat to quarters?
- 📝 Was the use of captured tanks an effective strategy for Germany?
- 📝 In the French Empire, what was the difference between french colonies éphémèras and comptoirs français?
- 📝 Did Karl Marx Fight in the Second Schleswig War?
- 📝 How many recorded incidents are there of attacks on Australian soil?
- 📝 Was it common for unmarried couples to live in the same hotel room in Europe of the 1930es?
- 📝 When did countries begin making up a pretext before starting a war?
- 📝 Were Draco’s laws particularly “draconian” at the time they were enacted?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 How did the Crimean war change British society?
- 📝 How did the British Army unit size and structure in WWI change from 1915 to 1918?
- 📝 How did life change for the average American as a result of the end of World War 1?
- 📝 How did the primary means of communication between the British government in Delhi and UK change during WW2?
- 📝 How did such a relatively minor event as the assassination of an archduke start World War I?
- 📝 How did the Nazis plan to defeat America during World War II?
- 📝 How did the American Civil War help the U.S economy recover from the Panic of 1857 given that civil wars are extremely destructive?
- 📝 How did the British Navy pass orders to its fleet before radio?
- 📝 How did the Allies communicate during World War II?
- 📝 How did Napoleon evade the British fleet and return to France?
- 📝 How did the Japanese treat captured "Flying Tigers" in World War II?
- 📝 How did the British keep Enigma 'snatches' secret?
- 📝 When and how did the idea of a "class-less" society originate in the United States?
- 📝 Why did the British have so few destroyers going into World War II?
- 📝 How did the Tutsis win the civil war in Rwanda after 70% of them had been killed?
- 📝 How much tax revenue did the British Empire receive from its colonies in a given year?
- 📝 How did the elite maintain the status quo throughout the British Colonies of North America?
- 📝 How did Egypt become a protectorate of the British empire?
- 📝 How did diplomats of the Axis powers travel and communicate among themselves in World War II
- 📝 How strong a land force did Germany need for a conquest of the British Isles in the summer of 1940?
- 📝 How did the Swedish army deal with prisoners of war in the Thirty Years War?
- 📝 How did the English Civil War affect the American Colonies policy-wise?
- 📝 How did American colonial rights and conditions compare to those within the British Isles?
- 📝 How Did Modern Weapons Change the Dynamics of City Fighting?
- 📝 How much firepower did the British navy represent in 1940?
- 📝 How did one's statistical chance of survival as a hidden Jew change during the course of the Nazi occupation of northern France?
- 📝 How did agricultural productivity change in Italy with the fall of the Roman Empire and through the early Middle Ages?
- 📝 How many British prisoners of war were taken by the Wehrmacht and how many died?
- 📝 How did society regard identical twins in the 17th century in Europe?
- 📝 How did East Indies oil lose its "top billing" in the Pacific War as the war went on?
