|
Bomarsund Fortress
The Battle of Bomarsund, in August 1854, took place during the Åland War, which was part of the Crimean War, when an Anglo-French expeditionary force attacked a Russian fortress. It was the only major action of the war to take place at Bomarsund in the Baltic Sea. Background Bomarsund was a 19th-century fortress, the construction of which had started in 1832 by Russia in Sund, Åland, in the Baltic Sea. Bomarsund had not been completed (only two towers of the planned twelve subsidiary towers had been completed). When the war broke out the fortress remained vulnerable especially against forces attacking over land. Designers of the fortress had also assumed that narrow sea passages near the fortress would not be passable for large naval ships; while this assumption had held true during the time of sailing ships, it was possible for steam powered ships to reach weakly defended sections of the fortress. First battle On 21 June 1854, three British ships bombarded the Bomars ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Åland War
The Åland War ( fi, Oolannin sota, sv, Åländska kriget) is the Finnish term for the operations of a British-French naval force against military and civilian facilities on the coast of the Grand Duchy of Finland in 1854–1856, during the Crimean War between the Russian Empire and the allied France and Britain. The war is named after the Battle of Bomarsund in Åland. Although the name of the war refers to Åland, skirmishes were also fought in other coastal towns of Finland in the Gulf of Bothnia and the Gulf of Finland. The Russian Empire, advancing on the Romanian front, had provoked the Ottoman Empire to declare war on 4 October, 1853, and Britain and France decided to support the Ottomans. The purpose of the Åland War was to sever Russia's service routes and foreign trade and force it to sue for peace, and to involve Sweden in the war against Russia. The blockade was to be carried out in such a way as to render the Russian navy in the Baltic Sea inoperable by destr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Helsinki
Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the capital, primate, and most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of Uusimaa in southern Finland, and has a population of . The city's urban area has a population of , making it by far the most populous urban area in Finland as well as the country's most important center for politics, education, finance, culture, and research; while Tampere in the Pirkanmaa region, located to the north from Helsinki, is the second largest urban area in Finland. Helsinki is located north of Tallinn, Estonia, east of Stockholm, Sweden, and west of Saint Petersburg, Russia. It has close historical ties with these three cities. Together with the cities of Espoo, Vantaa, and Kauniainen (and surrounding commuter towns, including the eastern neighboring municipality of Sipoo), Helsinki forms the Greater Helsinki metropolitan area, which has a population of over 1.5 million. Of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vyborg Castle
Vyborg Castle (russian: Выборгский замок, fi, Viipurin linna, sv, Viborgs slott) is a Swedish-built medieval fortress around which the town of Vyborg (today in Russia) evolved. The castle became the stronghold of the Swedish realm in the Karelian region. Throughout the centuries, it was the first defence of the kingdom against Russians. Its military and strategic status in the late Middle Ages was second only to the fortified capital Stockholm. Currently it serves as the site of Vyborg Regional Museum. General Vyborg Castle was one of the three major castles of Finland, the three being the castles of Turku ( in Swedish) and Hämeenlinna (), and Vyborg (). It was built as the easternmost outpost of the medieval Kingdom of Sweden: it is located on the Karelian Isthmus, on a little islet in the innermost corner of the Gulf of Finland, in a tight strait which connects Suomenvedenpohja to the Bay of Viipuri. It was originally constructed in the 1290s on the sit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Ingouville
George Henry Ingouville, (7 October 1826 – 13 January 1869) was a sailor in the Royal Navy and a recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. Victoria Cross George Ingouville was born at St. Saviour, Jersey Channel Islands. He was 28 years old, and a Captain of the Mast in the Royal Navy during the Crimean War. On 13 July 1855 at the Fort of Viborg in the Gulf of Finland, while the boats of were engaged with the enemy, her second cutter was swamped by the blowing up of her magazine and drifted inshore under enemy guns. Captain of the Mast Ingouville, although wounded, jumped overboard, swam round to the boat's bows, took hold of the painter and tried to turn the cutter out to sea. A lieutenant of the Royal Marine Artillery (George Dare Dowell) came to his assistance, when with three volunteers, he took off the crew from the cutter, rescued Ingouville from the water and then to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Johnstone (VC)
William Johnstone VC (6 August 1823 – 20 August 1857) was a Royal Navy sailor and a recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. He enlisted and served as John Johnstone. He is listed as being born in Hanover and served on four ships; the St. Vincent, a ship transporting people to Australia and Tasmania (1845-1849), HMS Reynard (1849-1852) which operated in the China Seas, fighting pirates and was shipwrecked near Pratas Island in the South China Sea on 31 May 1851. The whole crew survived the sinking when HMS Pilot rescued them. There was no hope for the Reynard. After that, he moved on to HMS Arrogant and then HMS Brunswick. Victoria Cross He was 31 years old, and a stoker in the Royal Navy during the Crimean War when the following deed took place for which he was awarded the VC. On 9 August 1854 in the Baltic, Leading Stoker Johnstone and a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Bythesea
Rear-Admiral John Bythesea (15 June 1827 – 18 May 1906) was an officer of the Royal Navy. He was an English recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. He was awarded the Victoria Cross for his actions in 1854 during the Crimean War. However, in 1872 he ruined his career when he put his battleship aground at Pantellaria, resulting in his dismissal from his ship; he was never employed at sea again. Early life John Bythesea was born on 15 June 1827 in Freshford, Somerset, the son of Rev. George Bythesea. He entered the Royal Navy in 1841, and was promoted to lieutenant on 12 June 1849. On 22 June 1850, he was posted to the 46-gun screw-frigate commanded by Captain Robert Spencer Robinson, Lisbon. He stayed with ''Arrogant'' when she was recommissioned at Portsmouth by Captain Stephen Greville Fremantle on 27 September 1852. Fremantle was succeeded ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prästö, Åland
Prästö is an island in the municipality of Sund in Åland, Finland. It is connected to the Åland Mainland by the Bomarsund Bridge crossing the narrow Bomarsund Strait. Prästö is located next to the ruins of the Bomarsund Fortress, the place of the 1856 Crimean War Battle of Bomarsund. The island is known of its rich military history, especially of the six Russian military cemeteries established in the 19th Century. Because of the graveyards, Prästö was once known as the ″Island of the Dead″. The island hosts a campsite and two museums showing the history of Prästö and the Bomarsund Fortress. History Cemeteries As the Bomarsund Fortress was operating, all the deceased military and civil personnel, as well as the prisoners of war, were buried on Prästö island. The first Greek-Catholic graveyard was opened in the 1810s, as the Russian military had settled Bomarsund. It was used until 1846 and then replaced by a new cemetery which had separate sections for the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bomarsund Bridge
The Bomarsund Bridge ( sv, Bomarsunds bro) connects Bomarsund with the Prästö island in the Sund municipality of Åland Åland ( fi, Ahvenanmaa: ; ; ) is an autonomous and demilitarised region of Finland since 1920 by a decision of the League of Nations. It is the smallest region of Finland by area and population, with a size of 1,580 km2, and a populat .... Bridges in Åland {{Finland-bridge-struct-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Treaty Of Paris (1856)
The Treaty of Paris of 1856 brought an end to the Crimean War between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the Ottoman Empire, the United Kingdom, the Second French Empire and the Kingdom of Sardinia. The treaty, signed on 30 March 1856 at the Congress of Paris, made the Black Sea neutral territory, closing it to all warships and prohibiting fortifications and the presence of armaments on its shores. The treaty diminished Russian influence in the region. Conditions for the return of Sevastopol and other towns and cities in the south of Crimea to Russia were severe since no naval or military arsenal could be established by Russia on the coast of the Black Sea. Summary The Treaty of Paris was signed on 30 March 1856 at the Congress of Paris with Russia on one side of the negotiating table and France, Britain, the Ottoman Empire and the Kingdom of Sardinia on the other side. The treaty came about to resolve the Crimean War, which had begun on 23 October 1853, when the Ottoma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prisoners Of War
A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of war in custody for a range of legitimate and illegitimate reasons, such as isolating them from the enemy combatants still in the field (releasing and repatriating them in an orderly manner after hostilities), demonstrating military victory, punishing them, prosecuting them for war crimes, exploiting them for their labour, recruiting or even conscripting them as their own combatants, collecting military and political intelligence from them, or indoctrinating them in new political or religious beliefs. Ancient times For most of human history, depending on the culture of the victors, enemy fighters on the losing side in a battle who had surrendered and been taken as prisoners of war could expect to be either slaughtered or enslaved. Ea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Russian Memorial, Lewes
The Russian Memorial is an obelisk in the churchyard of St John sub Castro in Lewes, the county town of East Sussex, England (). It was erected in 1877 at the behest of Alexander II, Emperor of Russia, in memory of 28 Finnish soldiers of the Russian Army of the Crimean War who died while prisoners of war in Lewes between 1854 and 1856. It has been designated by English Heritage as a Grade II listed building. Background What became known as the Crimean War was declared in March 1854. In June, concerned at the possible threat posed to Britain by the Russian Baltic Fleet, the Royal Navy attacked the fortress of Bomarsund, in Åland off the coast of Finland during the Åland War. That attack was repulsed, but a further attack by British and French forces in August proved successful. The fortress was destroyed and prisoners taken to Britain and France. Some 340 members of the Fusilier Grenadiers were taken to Lewes, in Sussex. The officers were Russian, but the men were mostly Finn ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lewes
Lewes () is the county town of East Sussex, England. It is the police and judicial centre for all of Sussex and is home to Sussex Police, East Sussex Fire & Rescue Service, Lewes Crown Court and HMP Lewes. The civil parish is the centre of the Lewes local government district and the seat of East Sussex County Council at East Sussex County Hall. A traditional market town and centre of communications, in 1264 it was the site of the Battle of Lewes. The town's landmarks include Lewes Castle, Lewes Priory, Bull House (the former home of Thomas Paine), Southover Grange and public gardens, and a 16th-century timber-framed Wealden hall house known as Anne of Cleves House. Other notable features of the area include the Glyndebourne festival, the Lewes Bonfire celebrations and the Lewes Pound. Etymology The place-name 'Lewes' is first attested in an Anglo-Saxon charter circa 961 AD, where it appears as ''Læwe''. It appears as ''Lewes'' in the Domesday Book of 1086. The addi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
