Crimea Medal

 

The Crimean War 1854 - 1856.

 

Further relevant historical context can be found at the foot of this entry.

 

 

The Crimea Medal was a British Empire campaign medal presented for service during the Crimean War. The medal was instituted in 1854 and was awarded to officers and men of British units (land and naval) which fought on the Crimean peninsular against Russia.

 

This medal was also presented to certain members of allied French forces. These medals, in addition to the five British clasps, were often issued with unauthorised French bars; 'Traktir', 'Tchernaia', 'Mer d'Azoff', and 'Malakof'.

 

It should be noted, that this was the first campaign medal to be awarded whilst the country was still at war. Queen Victoria presented the first medals at a ceremony held at Horse Guards Parade on the 18 May 1855.

 

 

The medal is circular, 36mm in diameter and was struck in silver. The obverse of this medal bears the head of Queen Victoria and the inscription; 'VICTORIA REGINA' and the date; '1854'.

 

The reverse depicts the standing figure of a Roman warrior with a shield and short sword being crowned with laurel by the winged figure of Victory and the inscription; 'CRIMEA'.

 

The engravers signatures; 'W. Wyon RA' (on the obverse) is on the bust truncation, and; 'B. Wyon SC' (on the reverse) is within the exergue - although a second type is also encountered with the reverse signature omitted.

 

The ribbon suspender is an ornate floriated swivelling style which is unique to the Crimea Medal, attached to the medal by a claw mount.

 

Due to a requirement to issue these medals as quickly as possible, the majority of these medals were issued un-named, but could be returned to the mint for naming.

 

Those returned for naming were impressed in a style similar to the Military General Service Medal 1793 - 1814. This style is referred to as 'officially impressed.'

 

The majority of the medals to fatal casualties and to four ship of the Royal Navy that were involved in the campaign are said to have been issued officially impressed. A large number of recipients chose not to return their medal but have them privately engraved by jewellers or similar and hence turn up in a variety of engraved styles.

 

A third option is termed 'Regimentally' or 'Depot' impressed in which some degree of organisation appears to have been created to get men's medals impressed.

 

A variety of depot styles exist, often with a common pattern to a specific regiment.

In describing this, the following summary is used:-

 

Officially Impressed - neat uniform Roman capitals similar to the Military General Service Medal 1793 - 1814.

 

Regimentally Impressed - various different letter dies were used. Patterns emerge to some units/regiments.

 

Engraved - various, done by military tailors, jewellers and watch makers, running script style common.

 

 

 

The ribbon is 27mm wide and is light blue in colour with a narrow yellow stripe along either edge.

 

 

This medal was issued with the following clasps:-

 

 

NB: The medal is notable for its extremely ornate clasps, being in the form of an oak leaf with an acorn at each extremity, a style never again used on a British medal.

 

Five bars were authorised, the maximum awarded to one man was four. Azoff was only issued to Naval and Marine personnel.

 

The medal was issued without a clasp to those who were present in the Crimea, but not present at any of the qualifying actions.

 

Further relevant historical context can be found at the foot of this entry.

 

 

 

* It should be noted that the values quoted above reflect the average price that a medal dealer may expect to sell this medal for - please see the ‘things you should know’ web page for more details about valuing medals.

 

** The individual medal price will vary considerably based on the recipient’s details.

 

*** Medals named to a confirm member of the Light Brigade, Heavy Brigade or 93rd Foot command an impressive premium.

 

 

This section contains information on:-

 

- The Crimean War.

- The Battle Of The Alma.

- The Siege Of Sevastopol.

- The Battle Of Balaclava.

- The Charge Of The Light Brigade.

- The Battle Of Inkerman.

- The Azov Naval Campaign.

 

The Crimean War - The Crimean War was a conflict in which Russia lost to an alliance of France, Britain, the Ottoman Empire, and Sardinia. While neutral, Austria played a role in stopping the Russians.

 

The immediate issue involved the rights of Christians in the Holy Land, which was controlled by the Ottoman Empire. The French promoted the rights of Catholics, while Russia promoted those of the Orthodox. The longer-term causes involved the decline of the Ottoman Empire, and the unwillingness of Britain and France to allow Russia to gain territory and power at Ottoman expense. Russia lost and the Ottomans gained a twenty-year respite from Russian pressure. The Christians were granted a degree of official equality and the Orthodox gained control of the Christian churches in dispute.

 

Russia survived, gained a new appreciation for its religious diversity, and launched a reform program with far-reaching consequences. According to Shepard Clough, professor of history at Columbia University, the war:

 

'…was not the result of a calculated plan, nor even of hasty last-minute decisions made under stress. It was the consequence of more than two years of fatal blundering in slow-motion by inept statesmen who had months to reflect upon the actions they took. It arose from Napoleon's search for prestige; Nicholas’s quest for control over the Straits; his naïve miscalculation of the probable reactions of the European powers; the failure of those powers to make their positions clear; and the pressure of public opinion in Britain and Constantinople at crucial moments…'

 

Russia and the Ottoman Empire went to war in October 1853 over Russia's rights to protect Orthodox Christians. Russia gained the upper hand after destroying the Ottoman fleet at the Black Sea port of Sinope; to stop Russia's conquest France and Britain entered in March 1854. Most of the fighting took place for control of the Black Sea, with land battles on the Crimean peninsula in southern Russia.

 

The Russians held their great fortress at Sevastopol for over a year. After it fell, peace became possible, and was arranged at Paris in March 1856. The religion issue had already been resolved. The main results were that the Black Sea was neutralised - Russia would not have any warships there - and the two provinces of Wallachia and Moldavia became largely independent under nominal Ottoman rule.

 

There were smaller campaigns in eastern Anatolia, Caucasus, the Baltic Sea, the Pacific Ocean and the White Sea. In Russia, this war is also known as the 'Eastern War'.

 

The war transformed the region. Because of battles, population exchanges, and nationalist movements incited by the war, the present-day states of Ukraine, Moldova, Bulgaria, Romania, Greece, Turkey, Armenia, Georgia, and regions such as Crimea and the Caucasus all changed in small or large ways due to this conflict.

 

The Crimean War is notorious for logistical, medical and tactical failure on both sides. The naval side saw both a successful Allied campaign which eliminated most of the ships of the Russian Navy in the Black Sea, and a successful blockade by the Royal Navy in the Baltic. It was one of the first 'modern' wars because it saw the first use of major technologies, such as railways and telegraphs. It is also famous for the work of Florence Nightingale and Mary Seacole, who pioneered contrasting modern medical practices while treating the wounded.

 

This information was taken from ‘Wikipedia’. The original article and details of the authors can be found here. It is reproduced on this web-site under the ‘creative commons’ licence which can be found here.

 

The Battle Of The Alma - The Battle of the Alma (20 September 1854), which is usually considered the first battle of the Crimean War (1853–1856), took place just south of the River Alma in the Crimea. An Anglo-French force under General St. Arnaud and Lord Raglan defeated General Menshikov's Russian army, which lost around 6,000 troops.

 

This information was taken from ‘Wikipedia’. The original article and details of the authors can be found here. It is reproduced on this web-site under the ‘creative commons’ licence which can be found here.

 

The Siege Of Sevastopol - The Siege of Sevastopol lasted from September 1854 until September 1855, during the Crimean War. The allies (French, Ottoman, and British) landed at Eupatoria on 14 September 1854, intending to make a triumphal march to Sevastopol, the capital of the Crimea, with 50,000 men.

 

During the siege, the allied navy undertook six bombardments of the capital, on 17 October 1854; and on 9 April, 6 June, 17 June, 17 August, and 5 September 1855.

 

Sevastopol is one of the classic sieges of all time. The city of Sevastopol was the home of the Tsar's Black Sea Fleet, which threatened the Mediterranean. The Russian field army withdrew before the allies could encircle it. The siege was the culminating struggle for the strategic Russian port in 1854–1855 and was the final episode in the Crimean War.

 

This information was taken from ‘Wikipedia’. The original article and details of the authors can be found here. It is reproduced on this web-site under the ‘creative commons’ licence which can be found here.

 

The Battle Of Balaclava - The Battle of Balaclava, fought on 25 October 1854 during the Crimean War, was part of the Anglo-French-Turkish campaign to capture the port and fortress of Sevastopol, Russia's principal naval base on the Black Sea. The engagement followed the earlier Allied victory in September at the Battle of the Alma, where the Russian General Menshikov had positioned his army in an attempt to stop the Allies progressing south towards their strategic goal.

 

Alma was the first major encounter fought in the Crimea since the Allied landings at Kalamita Bay on 14 September, and was a clear battlefield success; but a tardy pursuit by the Allies failed to gain a decisive victory, allowing the Russians to regroup, recover and prepare their defence.

 

The Allies decided against an immediate assault on Sevastopol and instead prepared for a protracted siege. The British, under the command of Lord Raglan, and the French, under Canrobert, positioned their troops to the south of the port on the Chersonese Peninsula: the French Army occupied Kamiesh on the west coast whilst the British moved to the southern port of Balaclava. However, this position committed the British to the defence of the right flank of the Allied siege operations, for which Raglan had insufficient troops.

 

Taking advantage of this exposure, the Russian General Liprandi, with some 25,000 men, prepared to attack the defences in and around Balaclava, hoping to disrupt the supply chain between the British base and their siege lines.

 

The battle began with a Russian artillery and infantry attack on the Ottoman redoubts that formed Balaclava's first line of defence. The Ottoman forces initially resisted the Russian assaults, but lacking support they were eventually forced to retreat. When the redoubts fell, the Russian cavalry moved to engage the second defensive line held by the Ottoman and the Scottish 93rd Highland Regiment in what came to be known as the 'Thin Red Line'.

 

This line held and repulsed the attack; as did General James Scarlett's British Heavy Brigade who charged and defeated the greater proportion of the cavalry advance, forcing the Russians onto the defensive. However, a final Allied cavalry charge, stemming from a misinterpreted order from Raglan, led to one of the most famous and ill-fated events in British military history – the Charge of the Light Brigade.

 

This information was taken from ‘Wikipedia’. The original article and details of the authors can be found here. It is reproduced on this web-site under the ‘creative commons’ licence which can be found here.

 

The Charge Of The Light Brigade - The Charge of the Light Brigade was a charge of British light cavalry led by Lord Cardigan against Russian forces during the Battle of Balaclava on 25 October 1854 in the Crimean War. Lord Raglan, overall commander of the British forces, had intended to send the Light Brigade to pursue and harry a retreating Russian artillery battery, a task well suited to light cavalry.

 

Due to miscommunication in the chain of command, the Light Brigade was instead sent on a frontal assault against a different artillery battery, one well-prepared with excellent fields of defensive fire.

 

Although the Light Brigade reached the battery under withering direct fire and scattered some of the gunners, the badly-mauled brigade was forced to retreat immediately. Thus, the assault ended with very high British casualties and no decisive gains.

 

The events are best remembered as the subject of the poem 'The Charge of the Light Brigade' by Alfred, Lord Tennyson. Published just six weeks after the event, its lines emphasize the valour of the cavalry in bravely carrying out their orders, regardless of the obvious outcome. Blame for the miscommunication has remained controversial, as the original order from Raglan itself was vague.

 

This information was taken from ‘Wikipedia’. The original article and details of the authors can be found here. It is reproduced on this web-site under the ‘creative commons’ licence which can be found here.

 

The Battle Of Inkerman - The Battle of Inkerman was fought during the Crimean War on 5 November 1854 between the allied armies of Britain, France and Ottoman Empire against the Imperial Russian Army.

 

The battle broke the will of the Russian Army to defeat the allies in the field, and was followed by the Siege of Sevastopol. The role of troops fighting mostly on their own initiative due to the foggy conditions during the battle has earned the engagement the name: 'The Soldier's Battle'.

 

This information was taken from ‘Wikipedia’. The original article and details of the authors can be found here. It is reproduced on this web-site under the ‘creative commons’ licence which can be found here.

 

The Azov Naval Campaign - During the Crimean War (1853–1856), a naval campaign was fought in the Sea of Azov between the Royal Navy and the French Navy against the Russian Navy between 25 May-22 November 1855. British and French warships struck at every vestige of Russian power along the coast of the Sea of Azov.

 

Except for Rostov and Azov, no town, depot, building or fortification was immune from attack and Russian naval power ceased to exist almost overnight. Contrary to established images of the Russian War, here was a campaign which was well-planned, dynamically led and overwhelmingly successful.

 

he British authorities, significantly, issued the bar 'Azoff' to the British Crimean War Medal, thus acknowledging the services of those who waged the most successful operations against the Russians during the war of 1854-1856.

 

The bar was awarded only to the Royal Navy, together with units of the Royal Marines present during the campaign. The unauthorised French clasp, reading Mer d'Azoff , was worn by sailors of the French Navy.

 

This information was taken from ‘Wikipedia’. The original article and details of the authors can be found here. It is reproduced on this web-site under the ‘creative commons’ licence which can be found here.