
Crimea
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Narrated by:
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Malk Williams
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By:
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Orlando Figes
About this listen
The terrible conflict that dominated the mid-19th century, the Crimean War, killed at least 800,000 men and pitted Russia against a formidable coalition of Britain, France and the Ottoman Empire. It was a war for territory, provoked by fear that if the Ottoman Empire were to collapse then Russia could control a huge swathe of land from the Balkans to the Persian Gulf. But it was also a war of religion, driven by a fervent, populist and ever more ferocious belief by the Tsar and his ministers that it was Russia's task to rule all Orthodox Christians and control the Holy Land.
Orlando Figes' major new book reimagines this extraordinary war, in which the stakes could not have been higher and which was fought with a terrible mixture of ferocity and incompetence. It was both a recognisably modern conflict - the first to be extensively photographed, the first to employ the telegraph, the first 'newspaper war' - and a traditional one, with illiterate soldiers, amateur officers and huge casualties caused by disease. Drawing on a huge range of fascinating sources, Figes also gives the lived experience of the war, from that of the ordinary British soldier in his snow-filled trench to the haunted, gloomy, narrow figure of Tsar Nicholas himself as he vows to take on the whole world in his hunt for religious salvation.
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Solid Book on the Subject
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marvelous insight into this forgotten conflict
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Interesting but slow
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Amazing account of a forgotten war
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Excellent detailed history of a forgotten war
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recommended
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Very detailed account
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The reading is good, and I am delighted to recommend this wonderful book to anyone who would care to see how today is shaped by the past events. It is nothing short of a revealation to anyone with a modicum of curiosity, and such an illumination
cannot be achieved in a few pages, nor without offering the reader ample background material. I am very happy I bought this book, and shall read it many times.
A brilliant linking of great events.
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The narrator is quite good overall, but made an odd choice to read certain figures in a generic "not Western" accent, but one that is definitely not Russian or Turkish. I'm not sure that reading Russian leaders' writings with a Russian accent would have enriched the reading, but the miscellaneous one did not help.
Excellent and highly detailed reassessment
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The book perfectly sums up the motivations of the most influential figures of the parties involved and how disputes among these parties led to the Crimean War. The battles are so descriptive and immersive and gives you a nice window into military strategy and tactics of the time (mostly from British, French, and Russian accounts, with less information from the Ottoman and muslim Caucasian tribes of whom were also war participants, but with lesser documentation) and how advancements the British and French made in thise military tactics won the ultimate prize of peace by which the western powers would use to strengthen their global positions against a technologically backwards and now-defeated Russia.
Easy read for a first time history book.
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