Wakati mwingine vita hiyo imeitwa "vita ya kisasa" ya kwanza, kwa sababu ya matumizi ya silaha, pamoja na mikakati, ambayo hayakuwa kawaida hadi sasa na ikaendelea kuathiri vita zilizofuata.[1] Ilikuwa pia vita vya kwanza iliyoripotiwa moja kwa moja kwa njia ya telegrafu na kuchapishwa kwenye magazeti ya Ulaya. Habari hizo zilionyesha mara ya kwanza mateso ya wajeruhiwa na vifo vyao kutokana na maandalizi mabaya ya uongozi wa kijeshi na kusababisha mbinu mpya za tiba ya kijeshi. [2] Matumizi ya telegrafu yaliwawezesha viongozi wa kijeshi kupeana habari haraka na kuwasiliana na serikali zao. Silaha mpya zilitumiwa mara ya kwanza vitani kama vile mabomu ya kutega baharini, manowari za ubao zilizofunikwa kwa mabamba ya chuma na kuendeshwa kwa injini za mvuke; bunduki za askari zilizotengenezwa kiwandani na risasi mpya zilizoruhusu kipiga haraka zaidi na kulenga kwa umbali mkubwa. Uharibifu mkubwa uliosababishwa na silaha mpya ulilazimisha mikakati mipya ya kijeshi, kama vile matumizi ya handaki badala ya mapigano ya wazi. Matumizi ya reli yaliwapa Waingereza na Wafaransa faida kubwa, na ukosefu wake upande wa Urusi uliongeza matatizo yao.
Baada ya vita hiyo ilieleweka kwamba uchumi wa taifa na tekinolojia vinaweza kuwa na umuhimu mkubwa kuliko idadi ya askari.
Nguvu ya Milki ya Osmani ilikuwa ikipungua katika karne ya 19. Sultani alipaswa kukubali uhuru wa Ugiriki na Serbia; Misri iliwahi kutangaza uhuru wake chini ya Muhamad Ali Pasha hadi kuvamia Uturuki mnamo 1833. Nchi za Ulaya zilingilia kati na kuokoa Waosmani. Wakati huohuo, nguvu ya Urusi ilikuwa ikiongezeka na katika mfululizo wa vita kadhaa Urusi ilitwaa milima ya Kaukazi, ufuko wa kaskazini ya Bahari Nyeusi na maeneo kadhaa ya Balkani yaliyowahi kutawaliwa na Waosmani. Uingereza ilihofia kuenea kwa Urusi hadi Bahari ya Mediteranea hivyo ikaona afadhali kusimama upande wa Waosmani.
Ugomvi ulioleta vita ya krimea ulianza kutokana na mashindano kati ya Urusi na Ufaransa kuhusu kipaumbele kama mlinzi wa maslahi ya Wakristo katika Yerusalemu ya Kiosmani na hasa kuhusu Kanisa la Kuzaliwa kwa Kristo mjini Bethlehemu ambako kila upande ulidai nafasi ya kwanza. [3]
Sultani wa Waosmani alitishiwa kutambua mara Urusi, mara Ufaransa kama "mlinzi wa Wakristo" katika nchi takatifu. Tsar (mfalme) Aleksander wa Urusi alikasirika akatuma jeshi lake kwenda majimbo mawili ya Kiosmani huko Romania ya leo; Wafaransa na Waingereza walituma manowari kwenye Bahari ya Aegaean karibu na Dardaneli kama onyo.
Nchi jirani Austria na Prussia ziliamua kutoshiriki katika vita.
Serikali ya sultani ilitaka Warusi waondoke tena katika majimbo ya Balkani lakini Warusi walikataa. Hivyo, baada ya kushauriana na Uingereza na Ufaransa, Milki ya Osmani ilitangaza vita dhidi ya Urusi.
Kwenye mapigano ya kwanza Warusi walishindwa lakini manowari zao zilifaulu kwenye Novemba 1853 kuzamisha jeshi la majini la Waosmani kwenye Bahari Nyeusi. Uingereza na Ufaransa zilituma manowari zao kupitia mlango wa Bosporus hadi Bahari Nyeusi. Baada ya majadiliano kati ya mabalozi hayakufikia popote, nchi hizo mbili zilitangaza vita dhidi ya Urusi kwenye Machi 1854.
Mapigano yaliendelea kwa muda mrefu; Waingereza na Wafaransa pamoja na vikosi vya Waosmani na Waitalia walishambulia mji wa Sevastopol kwa zaidi ya mwaka moja hadi kuiteka tarehe 8 Septemba 1855; hawakufaulu kushinda Warusi kwenye bahari Baltiki wala kwenye huko Kamchatka. Warusi waliweza kutetea maeneo yao katika Kaukazi na kuteka maeneo ya Kiosmani katika Anatolia.
Hatimaye serikali ya Urusi ilipaswa kukubali amani; mapatano yalifikiwa 30 Machi 1856[4].
Pande zote zilichoka kutokana na gharama za vita na vifo vya wanajeshi wengi. Kuna makadirio tofauti sana kuhusu idadi ya vifo hivyo, kati ya 165,000[5] na 600,000 au zaidi[6] hutajwa. Kwa namna yoyote, wataalamu wanakubaliana kwamba asilimia kubwa kabisa hawakufa kwenye mapigano lakini waliuawa na magonjwa ya kuambukizana, pamoja na kukosa huduma baada ya kujeruhiwa, halafu kwa kukosa chakula au maji au nguo za kutosha wakati wa miezi baridi. Namba halisi zinapatikana kuhusu Waingereza; walituma askari 107,000; kati hao waliuawa 2,755 kwenye mapigano, 1,847 walikufa kutokana na majeraha na 17,580 walikufa shauri ya magonjwa. Wafaransa walituma askari lakhi 3; takriban theluthi 1 walikufa.[7]
Walioathiriwa vibaya zaidi walikuwa Warusi; hatimaye waliweza kujitetea na kuchosha maadui lakini walikuwa na vifo vingi kabisa.
Katika mapatano ya amani Urusi ilirudishwa rasi ya Krim pamoja na mji wa Sevastopol; kwa ilipaswa kuondoka tena katika Anatolia ya Mashariki na kurudisha maeneo kadhaa kwenye Balkani kwa Milki ya Osmani.
Urusi na Milki ya Osmani hawakuruhusiwa tena kuwa na jeshi la majini kwenye Bahari Nyesusi; kila moja aliweza kuwa na manowari ndogo wasiozidi 10. [8]
Nchini Urusi Tsar Aleksander II alitambua kamba nchi yake ilibaki nyuma ya nchi za Ulaya Magharibi. Bunduki za Waingereza zilikuwa bora kuliko gobori za jeshi lake. Alichukua hatua za kumaliza uhadimu wa wakulima alioona kama kizuizi kupata wanajeshi wa kutosha. Urusi ilianza kujenga njia za reli na kuagiza ng'ambo viwanda vya kutengenza silaha za kisasa.
Washiriki wote wa vita walifanya jitihada kuboresha huduma ya afya kwa ajili ya askari na wajeruhiwa baada ya kutambua kwamba idadi kubwa ya vifo ilisababishwa na mpangilio mbaya wa huduma hizo.
Hooker, Richard (1999 [last update]). "The Ottomans: European Imperialism and Crisis". Washington State University. Ilihifadhiwa kwenye nyaraka kutoka chanzo mnamo January 4, 2011. Iliwekwa mnamo April 9, 2011.{{cite web}}: Check date values in: |year= (help)
Clodfelter, M. (2017). Warfare and Armed Conflicts: A Statistical Encyclopedia of Casualty and Other Figures, 1492-2015 (4th ed.). Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland. ISBN 978-0786474707.
Arnold, Guy. Historical dictionary of the Crimean War (Scarecrow Press, 2002)
Badem, Candan (2010). The Ottoman Crimean War (1853–1856). Leiden: Brill. ISBN978-90-04-18205-9.
Bridge and Bullen, The Great Powers and the European States System 1814–1914, (Pearson Education: London), 2005
Baumgart, Winfried The Crimean War, 1853–1856 (2002) Arnold Publishers isbn=0-340-61465-X}}
Clodfelter, M. (2017). Warfare and Armed Conflicts: A Statistical Encyclopedia of Casualty and Other Figures, 1492-2015 (toleo la 4th). Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland. ISBN978-0786474707.
Cox, Michael, and John Lenton. Crimean War Basics: Organisation and Uniforms: Russia and Turkey (1997)
Curtiss, John Shelton. Russia's Crimean War (1979) isbn=0-8223-0374-4}}
Figes, Orlando, Crimea: The Last Crusade (2010) Allen Lane. isbn=978-0-7139-9704-0}}; the standard scholarly study; American edition published as The Crimean War: A History (2010)
Goldfrank, David M. The Origins of the Crimean War (1993)
Gorizontov, Leonid E (2012). "The Crimean War as a Test of Russia's Imperial Durability". Russian Studies in History. 51 (1): 65–94. doi:10.2753/rsh1061-1983510103. S2CID153718909.
Hoppen, K. Theodore. The Mid-Victorian Generation, 1846–1886 (1998) pp.167–83; summary of British policy onlineArchived 8 Machi 2016 at the Wayback Machine.
Lambert, Andrew (1989). "Preparing for the Russian War: British Strategic Planning, March, 1853 – March 1854". War & Society. 7 (2): 15–39. doi:10.1179/106980489790305605.
Ramm, Agatha, and B. H. Sumner. "The Crimean War." in J.P.T. Bury, ed., The New Cambridge Modern History: Volume 10: The Zenith of European Power, 1830–1870 (1960) pp.468–92, short survey online
Rath, Andrew C. The Crimean War in Imperial Context, 1854–1856 (Palgrave Macmillan, 2015).
Rich, Norman Why the Crimean War: A Cautionary Tale (1985) McGraw-Hill isbn=0-07-052255-3}}
Ridley, Jasper. Lord Palmerston (1970) pp.425–54
Royle, Trevor Crimea: The Great Crimean War, 1854–1856 (2000) Palgrave Macmillan isbn=1-4039-6416-5}}
Schroeder, Paul W. Austria, Great Britain, and the Crimean War: The Destruction of the European Concert (Cornell Up, 1972) onlineArchived 9 Machi 2016 at the Wayback Machine.
Taylor, A.J.P. The Struggle for Mastery in Europe: 1848–1918 (1954) pp.62–82.
Temperley, Harold W. V. England and the Near East: The Crimea (1936) online
Trager, Robert F. "Long-term consequences of aggressive diplomacy: European relations after Austrian Crimean War threats." Security Studies 21.2 (2012): 232–265. OnlineArchived 7 Machi 2021 at the Wayback Machine.
Troubetzkoy, Alexis S. (2006). A Brief History of the Crimean War. London: Constable & Robinson. ISBN978-1-84529-420-5.
Wetzel, David The Crimean War: A Diplomatic History (1985) Columbia University Press isbn=0-88033-086-4}}
Zayonchkovski, Andrei (2002) [1908–1913]. Восточная война 1853–1856[Eastern War 1853–1856]. Великие противостояния (kwa Kirusi). St Petersburg: Poligon. ISBN978-5-89173-157-8.
Historiografia na Kumbukumbu
Benn, David Wedgwood. "The Crimean War and its lessons for today." International Affairs 88.2 (2012): 387-391
Gooch, Brison D. "A Century of Historiography on the Origins of the Crimean War", American Historical Review 62#1 (1956), pp.33–58 in JSTOR
Gooch, Brison D. "The Crimean War in Selected Documents and Secondary Works since 1940." Victorian Studies 1.3 (1958): 271-279 online.
Gooch, Brison D. ed. The origins of the Crimean War (Heath 1969), essays by experts
Edgerton, Robert B. Death or Glory: The Legacy of the Crimean War (1999) onlineArchived 8 Septemba 2015 at the Wayback Machine.
Hopf, Ted. "‘Crimea is ours’: A discursive history." International Relations 30.2 (2016): 227-255.
Kozelsky, Mara. "The Crimean War, 1853–56," Kritika (2012) 13#4
Lambert, Albert (2003). "Crimean War 1853–1856," in David Loades, ed". Reader's Guide to British History. 1: 318–19.
Lambert, Andrew. The Crimean War: British Grand Strategy Against Russia, 1853–56 (2nd ed. Ashgate, 2011) the 2nd edition has a detailed summary of the historiography, pp.1–20
Markovits, Stefanie. The Crimean War in the British Imagination (Cambridge University Press: 2009) 287 pp. isbn=0-521-11237-0}}
Russell, William Howard, The Crimean War: As Seen by Those Who Reported It (Louisiana State University Press, 2009) isbn=978-0-8071-3445-0}}
Small, Hugh. "Sebastopol Besieged," History Today (2014) 64#4 pp.20–21.
Young, Peter. "Historiography of the Origins of the Crimean War" International History: Diplomatic and Military History since the Middle Ages (2012) online