Crimean War And French Foreign Policy

Crimea has always been a land of dispute since ancient times.It is located on the southern peninsula of Ukraine and the northern of the Black Sea,where Bosphorus Strait on its south,Romania on its west,and the hinterland of Russia on its north.Countless historical events have taken place here.In the middle of the nineteenth century,the crisis of the Ottoman Empire deepened and European countries stepped up their contest.On the Danube,Russia’s war against Turkey took place.With the joint participation of Britain and France in the war against Russia,the contradiction between Russia and Turkey evolved into a large-scale European war,the Crimean War,which has been controversial for a long time because of the differences in the positions and methodological constraints of the researchers and their different views on the origin of the war,the responsibility for the war,as well as the military and diplomacy during the war.As a result,the Crimean War has become an extremely complex puzzle.The Crimean War took place during the period of rapid development of the second industrial revolution in France.The international environment in France,as well as the domestic political,economic,and social conditions,has influenced the origin and development of the contest.France may not wish to welcome this war,but its initial mistake is to quarrel over the issue of holy land,and despite of a series of diplomatic efforts,it has not successfully avoided the deepening of the contradiction between Russia and Turkey.The changes in the relationship between Britain,France and Russia and mutual suspicion led Britain and France to eventually become alliances for different purposes.France has paid more "efforts" on the battlefield and in diplomacy than Britain,and has thus achieved a more impressive record than British Army.After the Crimean War,Russia turned to Central Asia and East Asia,posing a serious threat to the interests of Britain in India,China,and other places.At the same time,it also made France see the need for an alliance with Russia.Therefore,when Britain tried to further weaken the force of Russia,France decided to change its strategy and took the lead in reconciling with Russia.The signing of the Treaty of Paris contained the expansion of Russia in the Near East,which preserved the integrity of Turkey.Thus the Eastern question gradually became "European," and the Ottoman Empire,Russia,and the Habsburg Empire successively became part of the modern European international system.Although the end of the Crimean War did not completely solve the Eastern problem,it has a decisive significance in Europe.To truly understand the Crimean War,we must start from the perspective of history and reality and reexamine the war and diplomacy between France and other European countries during this period.The first chapter focuses on the historical background of the Crimean War,including the destruction of the first empire of France and the establishment of the Second Empire under the circumstance of the weakening Vienna system,the political,economic,and social aspects of the Second Empire before the war.Then we will have an analysis of the contradictions between Russia,Turkey,Britain,and France in Constantinople,and the source of the "Eastern problem" in this chapter.The second chapter mainly discusses the reasons for the outbreak of the Crimean War and the role that France played in the outbreak of the war.We will analyze the substantial issues of the Franco-Russian dispute behind the holy place problems,and briefly explore Louis Napoleon’s wave and its own influence on the war.Chapter three analyses the diplomatic activities of the Second Empire of France in Crimea and French activities on the battlefield,including the performance of French army and government in the early and late stages of the war,and discusses France’s combat plan and several important battles to understand the connection between war and diplomacy.Chapter four briefly discusses the main content of the Congress of Paris in 1856,and analyzes the main clauses signed after the war and its influence on the pattern of international relations.We will discuss the main roles that France played in this congress and in post-war European diplomatic arena,and evaluates the gains and losses of France in this war and the Treaty of Paris.