Sevastopol is not Moscow - A Crimean War ATL

Germaniac

Donor
I have, for quite some time, been considering writing a TL on a topic in Russian History. My First attempt was a POD where Alexander survived a few more months, but it failed to really take of for me. It's been a while for me now and I have decided to try again. The POD is that Alexander refuses to end the war immediately and Cracks begin to form in the alliance. Any comments or Complaints are Extremely welcome as it is my first TL be utterly destructive as it will help with further attempts

Prologue
The Fall of Sevastopol

“Thank God there were no women or brandy left in the Town.” - Captain Henry Clifford

Alexander II: The Last Great Autocrat

“Sevastopol is not Moscow, and even after Moscow was taken, we later got to Paris.” Alexander II told his nation. However he knew continuing the war much longer, against all three allies, would be suicidal. He simply did not have the necessary forces or effective lines of communication to launch any kind of significant counter-attack to retake Sevastopol, and who would want to wast resources on retaking what amounted to a pile of rubble and dead bodies. There was little Alexander could due, but resolved to not begin his reign with a surrender he bided his time.

The War in the Crimea

Never had the Alliance, throughout the war, have been strained as now. Napoleon had significant financial difficulties during the Fall of 1855 and while, much better than the Russian, the condition of the French fighting force was waning. By the time the siege of Sevastopol was ended the French were in need of an end to the war. The French Medical support was showing it's inability to deal with the growing typhus and and general bad conditions plaguing the French troops. The comparison between our two armies was growing more and more in our favor every day. And above all the French people were tired of war, and ready to welcome home their army.

Alexander II: The Last Great Autocrat

Alexander knew that is would be near impossible to run a war with such a rotted and bloated system. He knew he would soon need peace, but in no way was he going to declare defeat. Understanding the French wanted the war to end, he began to send diplomats to Paris to see if a separate peace could be reached. The Russian were very much afraid Vienna would hear of these, as the tense relations were there and Austria wanted to at least have a hand in the peace. The Austrians never heard a word of the negotiations in St. Petersburg and Paris. While in public Napoleon announced his intention to see the war through with his ally Britain in private he was nearing closer and closer to an agreement with Alexander. While the Austrians did not get word of these talks, Britain did.

Crimea: The Great Crimean War

The British were not calling for the end of the war, unlike their cross-channel partners. Britain wanted to put Russia in its place, secure the Ottoman Empire, and make India impenetrable to the Tsar all in one conflict. For Britain the Crimean War was that conflict, and they were going to see it through. Knowing of France's growing problems and hopes for peace, the British decided that it was in their best interest to antagonize any attempts at peace until they felt that the British had the best possible seat at the negotiation table. The British needed a major victory and that could only come with another front, whether that be in the Crimean or the Baltic.

The Russians had won a major victory at the Ottoman stronghold of Kars and it did not seem that the Russians were in fact as finished as the British might have thought. While the Ottoman coast was secure, the Russians could not launch an attack against Terbizond. The Tsar decided that with the French looking for a peace, he needed another victory against the Ottomans to push the British to join the negotiations. He ordered that the city of Erzerum to be taken. Now that the siege of Kars was complete the Russians had the forces needed to undertake such an attack. While the Russian army marched to the city, the demoralized and under prepared defenders. While Selim Pasha had brought an army to Erzerum from Trebizond and once arriving and hearing of the fall of Kars the army turned back because apparently their mission was to relieve the city of Kars only and not to defend the city of Erzerum. By the time the Russians began preparing for the siege, the defenders were already ready to admit defeat.

The War in the Crimea

The French were the most disturbed by the sudden revival of the Russian forces in Asia Minor. They in no way wanted the Russians gaining any more diplomatic capital, and a capture of Erzerum would most certainly be just that. Napoleon broke his word, in the face of growing unrest at home and worsening conditions for his soldiers in the war, and officially the French made a separate peace with the Russians. Even with this betrayal we were in no way ready to end the conflict and while France lacked the stomach to face the Russians any longer, we would not back down.
 
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Very interesting. A Russia that isn't pushed down for the billionth time in history might make for a very different 20th century. Looking forward to the continuation.
 

Germaniac

Donor
Very interesting. A Russia that isn't pushed down for the billionth time in history might make for a very different 20th century. Looking forward to the continuation.

Well, just wait. I never said that Russia will get any better or worse from this, hell it might be a worse peace for them.
 

Germaniac

Donor
Chapter One
A Separate Peace


The French Betrayal
Napoleon III's signing of the treaty with Russia sealed his fate with the British. When weighing his options his needs for end the war trumped the needs for continuing cultivation of the British. What he saw as a separate but equal peace the British saw as a betrayal of their Alliance and their growing friendship. Napoleon was setting the pieces for a conflict which would haunt him until the day he died.
… Alexander II had no reason not to be happy with the peace he made. He not only was able to send one of the members of the Alliance home, but was also able to make that peace without many concessions. In the end Alexander, unlike his father, was not going to fight over the protection right of the Ottoman Christians and recognized the French authority in those matters. Alexander also had to recognize the authority of the Ottomans over the Straights, however the treaty was not party to the other allies so France would be alone in stopping the Russians. The Russians also had to open the Crimea to French trade.


The Russian War
British politicians and admirals agreed, even with the French withdrawal, that further operations were needed to bring the war to a successful close. The Russians held a powerful position on the Crimean even with the loss of Sevastopol. The main Russian army had pulled out of the city, but only into the near impenetrable northern side of the harbor. The Baltic was still open to the British, however any assault would take months to reduce Kronstadt in order to launch a successful invasion of the Russian Capital, which would then in all likelihood be moved to Moscow...
...The British decided on a continued Black Sea Campaign, unless their attempts to sway the Swedes to their cause were successful. The choice of location was far less of an easy decision. The decision was made to leave a small contingent of British troops, along with a large number of Turkish and Egyptian troops, in Sevastopol and launch to assaults in the Black sea. The first would be a landing in Sukhumi, and the second would reinforce the Turks in Batum. The mission of these detachments would be to cut off the support of the Russian army in Asia Minor, the only theater which the Russians had any success. The choice of Sukhumi was made due to the internal war the Russians were fighting against the regions non-Russian ethnic groups.


The Reforms of Alexander II


To which the Tsar's General said, 'If you need to put a date on it, we can hold out till the afternoon.”


Alexander paced in his study, contemplating the new of todays events. A message from the great German Powers, of which Alexander assumed were friendly, had arrived. However both messages were very blunt, With fears of a Polish uprising the German powers of Prussia and Austria demanded the cessation of conflict and the immediate acceptance of the British terms of the war or face open conflict....

Alexander hoped in vain to hold off against the British and Turks in the south and this was most shown in an infamous meeting with his commander of the Crimean front, Gorchakov, where Alexander asked him how long the Russian Army in the Crimea and can hold, to which he replied “we can hold out till the afternoon”. With the threats of Sweden to the north and the Germans to the west, he was left with little choice... The British were open to a diplomatic solution, however only on their terms...Unlike before the British could now dictate the terms of any agreement. The British wanted to see the Russians finally out of the great game, no more a threat to the Mediterranean, and a humiliation which would show the Russians that they were no longer the greatest power in Europe.


The Peace of Vienna: The Shifting balance of power.


The Russians were beaten and the there was no way around it. Without the French to somewhat counter-balance the British the Russians had no hope at reaching an admirable peace. Alexander saw this and concluded that “my greatest mistake may have been my first”. While the British indeed had gained the upper hand the Prussian King, in an attempt to mend fences with Alexander, fell to the Russian side of the fence during the negotiations and was able to guarantee the original four points for Russia.

  • guarantee of Ottoman sovereignty and territorial integrity
  • general European (not exclusively Russian) protection of the Ottoman Christians
  • opening of the mouth of the Danube
  • Demilitarization of the Black Sea, to be overseen by British inspectors, and demilitarization of the Aland Islands.


… From this treaty the new establishment of Europe began to take shape. Britain moved, after seeing itself able to take on Russia alone, farther away from the alliance system of Europe; France, isolated from Britain after the war, moved closer towards Italy and Austria; while a united Russia and Prussia began to take shape.


*** Right now the Biggest changes are the lineup cards of Europe. With France Isolated from Britain look for more tension between the two, a Russian backed Prussia, and France Choosing sides between Austria or Italy.
 
This could have interesting butterflies in North America. By my understanding, by the time of the POD some form of American civil war was almost inevitable. In OTL ACW it was assumed that Britain and France would act in unison regarding it. Now there is an obvious and explicit split between Britain and France,

Given France's interest in securing influence in the America's could they support the analogue-CSA in it's attempted secession instead of attempting to turn Mexico into an effective protectorate? If this did happen, would Britain also support analogue-CSA or would it rather back the USA to maintain the balance of power? I can see factions developing supporting both stances within the British establishment along with one favouring strict neutrality

interesting
 
Likely there is no Treaty of London, where Britain, Spain , & France agree to act in Concert, to Deal with Mexico's Bankruptcy.
A separate France-Spain agreement, could have interesting results several years down the line.
 

Germaniac

Donor

Unfortunately This is the one book I was trying and failing to find, I started using Google books for bits and pieces and tried to peice together a strategy without France, I decided that it really wasn't the focus of What I was trying to do, so I didn't go with continueing the war (After looking through facts and figure of the Russians at the time I realized even with the Tsar's approval the war could not be sustained, even a consistantly retreating one)
 

Germaniac

Donor
I am currently polishing off two different chapter twos, trying to figure out which one would work better in the placing. The First is on France in the immediate years after the war, facing isolation from Great Britain, the rise of a united Italy and its tensions with France's pseudo-ally Austria, about 1858 until the US civil war

OR

I do one focused on Russia and Alexander's attempts to stabilize the nation and the first seeds of reform. Also goes until the Civil War but has very little if any information on OTL's
 
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Germaniac

Donor
I haven't gotten to Alaska as of yet, and I'm considering rewriting the Prologue to add more to it and elaborate more on the British and the end of the war. I also am not sure about the style, with the books and all.
 
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