Battle of Balaclava 1854
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Date | 25 October 1854 | Wikidata |
|---|---|---|
| Year | 1854 | Wikidata P585 (point in time) |
| Era | 19th century (1800–1913) | derived from year |
| Location | Ukraine | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | Europe | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | Crimean War, Siege of Sevastopol | Wikidata P361 |
| Participants | Ottoman Empire, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland | Wikidata P710 |
| Coordinates | 44.5718, 33.5731 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The Battle of Balaclava, fought on 25 October 1854 during the Crimean War, was part of the Siege of Sevastopol (1854–55), an attempt by the British, French and Ottoman allies 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 Crimean Peninsula 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 Russians split their forces. Defending within the allied siege lines was primarily the Navy manning the considerable static defenses of the city and threatening the allies from without was the mobile Army under General Menshikov.
The Allies decided against a fast assault on Sevastopol and instead prepared for a protracted siege.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Battle of Balaclava (revision 1373774434), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; shortened by selecting paragraphs and trimming at a sentence boundary; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
Nearby battles
- Battle of Inkerman 1854 · 2 km
- Battle of Malakoff 1855 · 4 km
- Siege of Sevastopol (1941–1942) 1941 · 4 km
- Charge of the Light Brigade 1854 · 6 km
- Thin Red Line (Battle of Balaclava) 1854 · 6 km
- Siege of Sevastopol (1854–1855) 1854 · 7 km
Other battles of the Crimean War
- Battle of Cetate 1853
- Battle of Oltenița 1853
- Battle of Sinop 1853
- Battle of Bomarsund 1854
- Battle of Inkerman 1854
- Battle of the Alma 1854
- Siege of Petropavlovsk 1854
- Siege of Sevastopol (1854–1855) 1854
- Siege of Silistria (1854) 1854
- Battle of Eupatoria 1855
All 18 battles of the Crimean War →
Browse more: battles in Ukraine · Europe · 19th century battles