My next book. Once Upon a Spy, takes place in January 1854, just a couple of months before England declares war on Russia in what we Americans refer to as the Crimean War. As with all wars, the reasons behind the Crimean War were complex. The influence of the Ottoman Empire was in decline, and this created a power vacuum Russia tried to exploit by occupying that region of the world.
As with all wars, the reasons behind the Crimean War were complex. The influence of the Ottoman Empire was in decline, and this created a power vacuum Russia moved to exploit by occupying that region of the world.
The inciting incident came when the newly proclaimed Emperor Napoleon insisted that France should act as the sovereign authority over the Christian population in the region and he declared war on Russia in order to promote this agenda.
In addition, there was a global concern regarding control of the Black Sea. Neither England nor France wanted to see Russia wrest control of it from the Ottoman Empire. Russia hoped to gain access to the warm-water ports there whereas other countries wanted to limit Russia’s access to those ports in order to restrict Tsar Nicolas’s power.
In researching the time period, I came across photos taken by Roger Fenton. His images show a sanitized version of war. He avoids graphic images, and there are no mid-battle images since they were impossible to take at the time due to the photographic process. Nevertheless, these photos provide a view of wartime that would otherwise never be seen by the people of the world.