Crimea

The Crimean War one of the fiercest battles in Russia`s history, killing nearly a million men and completely redrawing the map of Europe. Pitting the Tsar`s empire against an alliance of Britain, France and the Ottoman Empire, it was the first conflict to use photography, the telegraph and newspapers; a war over territory, from the Balkans to the Persian Gulf; a war of religion, driven by a fervent, populistbelief by the Tsar and his ministers that it was Russia`s task to rule all Orthodox Christians and control the Holy Land; it was the original `total war`. Orlando Figes` vivid new book reinterprets this extraordinary conflict. Bringing to life ordinary soldiers in snow-filled trenches, surgeons on the battlefield and the haunted, fanatical figure of Tsar Nicholas himself, Crimea tells the human story of a tragic war.