-18. CRIMEAN WAR
The Crimean War was named after the Crimean peninsula, in what is now Ukraine, which was the main site of the war. The immediate cause of the war was a religious quarrel. In 1853 Czar Nicholas I of Russia demanded the right to protect Christian shrines in Jerusalem, then part of the Ottoman empire. As a first step, his troops moved into the Turkish Balkans. The Turkish sultan, counting on the support of Great Britain and France, refused the czar's demands. Great Britain feared its route to India would be cut off if Russia took Constantinople. Napoleon III, emperor of France, was eager to show that he was the true successor to his uncle, Napoleon I. War finally began in March 1854. By August, Turkey, with the help of Britain, France, and Sardinia, had driven the Russian forces out of the Balkans. In order to bring the war to a decisive end, the allied fleets proceeded to the Crimean peninsula. There their troops landed on September 16, 1854, and laid siege to the Russian fortress of Sevastopol'. Severe battles were fought in the Crimea at the Alma River, at Balaklava — immortalised in Tennyson's poem 'The Charge of the Light Brigade' — and at Inkerman. During the siege of Sevastopol', disease took a dreadful toll of French and British troops. Florence Nightingale's heroic work as head of the hospital service did much to improve conditions. Not until September 1855 was the smoking ruin of Sevastopol' in allied hands.
From the details about the siege of Sevastopol' in the passage, it is clear that ......... .
Russia won a decisive victory crushing the allied troops
many troops lost their lives through sickness
Russia cut off the British's route to India
Sevastopol' was located in the Turkish Balkans
Napoleon III led the 'Charge of the Light Brigade'
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