Afghan Wars; Crimean War, 1853-1856; Egypt -- History -- British occupation, 1882-1936; India -- History -- Sepoy Rebellion, 1857-1858
It will be well to consider briefly some of the great events which
had occurred during the period of his command, as illustrative of his
conduct and character during the campaign. In the first place, it
must always be remembered that we entered into a war against a great
Power after a peace in Europe of nearly forty years, when we had with
difficulty collected about 30,000 men for the purpose; and when even
these were inadequately provided with commissariat and transport, and
there were no reserves existent to replace casualties as they arose.
Again, the order to proceed to the Crimea came from home, without any
specific knowledge of the resources and preparations of the Russians;
it was given at a late season, and when the troops were physically
weak; and as the Government did not anticipate a winter campaign, no
provision had been made to meet it. In view of these circumstances
Marshal Saint-Arnaud, as I have shown, hesitated at the last moment. It
is true that he was then very ill--in fact, a dying man--but this must
have added greatly to Lord Raglan's responsibilities at a critical time.
When the siege of Sebastopol commenced, the failure of the first
bombardment was due in a measure to the weakness of the French siege
train, and to the unfortunate explosion of some of their magazines.
In the three great battles of Alma, Balaclava, and Inkerman, the
English lost about 5,000 men, and as the winter came on, and found
the allies with open trenches, it was evident not only that great
sickness and suffering must ensue, but that our numbers and means
were quite inadequate. In short, the English and French Governments
entered into the war apparently under the impression that with a force
of 60,000 men they could crush an empire, and that Sebastopol would
fall by a _coup-de-main_. As regards the events which followed, I have
quoted official documents which prove that General Canrobert, brave
and good soldier as he was, still allowed himself to be constantly
controlled and over-influenced by secret orders from Paris, which
practically set at naught the plans of the allied generals and at
last brought matters to a dead lock; and it is important to bear in
mind also that, steadfast as Lord Raglan was in his opinions, yet so
loyal was he to his colleague, and so magnanimous, that no word in
his public despatches gave a hint of the enormous difficulties caused
by the circumstance I have described. He submitted to great personal
injustice, rather than say or do anything to weaken the _entente
cordiale_ between the two Powers, or to attach blame to others. Again,
when the allies landed in the Crimea their numbers were approximately
equal, but, as the English had no reserves to replenish their rapidly
diminishing ranks, the equality soon disappeared, and early in 1855 the
French forces were at least three times greater than ours; and this
disparity, whilst it gave increased authority to their views, must have
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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