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Siege of Sevastopol (1854–1855)

siege during the Crimean War which lasted from September 1854 until September 1855

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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 31, 2026
Entity authorityQ815216 ↗
Source-derived summary

The Siege of Sevastopol (at the time called in English the Siege of Sebastopol) lasted from October 1854 until September 1855, during the Crimean War. The allies (French, Sardinian, Ottoman, and British) landed at Eupatoria on 14 September 1854, intending to make a triumphal march to Sevastopol, the capital of the Crimea, with 50,000 men. Major battles along the way were Alma (September 1854), Balaklava (October 1854), Inkerman (November 1854), Tchernaya (August 1855), Redan (September 1855), and, finally, Malakoff (September 1855). During the siege, the allied navy undertook six bombardments of the capital, on 17 October 1854; and on 9 April, 6 June, 17 June, 17 August, and 5 September 1855.

The siege of Sevastopol is one of the last classic sieges in history. The city of Sevastopol was the home of the tsar's Black Sea Fleet, which threatened the Mediterranean. The Russian field army withdrew before the allies could encircle it. The siege was the culminating struggle for the strategic Russian port in 1854–55 and was the final episode in the Crimean War.

During the Victorian Era, these battles were repeatedly memorialized. The siege of Sevastopol was the subject of Crimean soldier Leo Tolstoy's Sebastopol Sketches and the subject of the first Russian feature film, Defence of Sevastopol.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Siege of Sevastopol (1854–1855)” as siege during the Crimean War which lasted from September 1854 until September 1855. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA strong contextual entry point for chronology, institutions and public events when official records are distinguished from later interpretation. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1854, 1855—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. The account is most persuasive where Siege, Sevastopol and siege can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the history & society register because the source frames it as siege during the Crimean War which lasted from September 1854 until September 1855. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

Contemporary correspondence, administrative files and participant testimony can test how later narratives organized the event or institution. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 31, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q815216. The Library of Congress control number is sh95001952. Authority coordinates are 44.617, 33.517. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1854 and 1855.

Critical limits

Official terminology may obscure informal participation, dissent or communities documented only indirectly. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Compare institutional narratives with records created by participants and affected communities. Dates and formal titles are useful anchors, but not substitutes for context.

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  • Institutional context
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  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Siege of Sevastopol (1854–1855)”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Siege of Sevastopol (1854–1855) primary sources, Siege of Sevastopol (1854–1855) archive and Siege research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Siege of Sevastopol (1854–1855)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.