119. Ending a war, replacing a government

119. Ending a war, replacing a government

Conditions in Crimea were appallingly bad, and all sides lost more men to disease than in combat. Britain did particularly badly in the first year, when the French performed rather better. However, in the second year (two years, note: the quick war the Allies had hoped to fight had transformed into a grind) the British did far better, and much of that was down to a radical change in healthcare. Next episode we’ll be looking at two people who played key roles in that process, Florence Nightingale and Mary Seacole.

With the slow siege of Sevastopol grinding on with little progress, while the cost in lives and treasure constantly climbing, the government eventually fell. The hunt for a new one revealed two striking facts: William Gladstone was an increasingly key figure in British politics, and the pressure propelling Palmerston onwards and upwards was finally going to get him into Downing Street.

He would be in charge in Britain as the war ended, with limited concessions from Russia, all of which would be reversed within 24 years. Leaving the question, was it all worth it? And wouldn’t the expenditure, seven times higher than relief for the Irish famine, have been far better spent there than on this bitter, costly and ultimately unproductive war in Crimea?

Illustration: Combat dans la Gorge de Malakoff by Adolphe Yvon: the French capture of the Malakoff,. Public Domain.

Music: Bach Partita #2c by J Bu licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives (aka Music Sharing) 3.0 International License.

Episoder(274)

273. From a humble address to a royal arrest

273. From a humble address to a royal arrest

Well, we’re living in curious times.For the first time in four centuries, a member of the British royal family has been arrested in connection with a criminal investigation. Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor...

22 Feb 14min

272. What a fine mess you've got us into

272. What a fine mess you've got us into

This is the last episode in this main series of A History of England. I may add others on specific topics – by all means use the comments to suggest any you’d like me to examine – or in response to in...

20 Des 202543min

271. Breaking records

271. Breaking records

Following the rather grim comedy of Boris Johnson, the Conservatives gave Britain the even more ridiculous spectacle of Liz Truss. She proceeded to push the British economy to the edge of the abyss, a...

7 Des 202514min

270. Phenomenal Boris

270. Phenomenal Boris

It’s the time of Boris. This episode tracks Boris Johnson’s character, starting with a less than complimentary report from his housemaster at Eton to this parents, through his time in the rich kids’ B...

30 Nov 202514min

269. Brexit

269. Brexit

In 2015, Cameron returned to office with a majority of his own even if it wasn’t particularly huge. At least it meant he no longer needed to be in a coalition with the Lib Dems, who’d taken a terrible...

23 Nov 202514min

268. The winners and the damned: peacetime coalition

268. The winners and the damned: peacetime coalition

It’s 2007, and Tony Blair is out. In his place is Gordon Brown, who’d proved his capacity as a Chancellor. Sadly, he was now to show that promotion to Prime Minister was one step too many , since he s...

16 Nov 202514min

267. Bliar

267. Bliar

As the title of this episode suggests, this is where we look at how Tony Blair’s reputation was wrecked by the growing awareness that he’d produced infamously bad justifications to launch Britain into...

9 Nov 202514min

266. A time of dodgy dossiers

266. A time of dodgy dossiers

When Tony Blair took Britain to war in Iraq in 2003, as part of a US-led and rather limited coalition of nations, it was against the will of large numbers of Brits expressed in possibly the biggest de...

2 Nov 202514min

Populært innen Historie

rss-dette-ma-aldri-skje-igjen
historier-som-endret-norge
rss-katastrofe
rss-benadet
historier-som-endret-verden
henrettelsespodden
aftenposten-historie
rss-nadelose-nordmenn-gestapo
sektledere
med-egne-oyne
rss-strid-de-norske-borgerkrigene
rss-frontkjemperne
taakeprat
rss-historiske-romanser-svik-drap-og-kjarlighet
rss-gamle-greier
historiepodden
rss-historier-fra-gudbrandsdalen
liberal-halvtime
historiepodden-ww2
rss-bisarr-historie