Posted on 01/24/2022 9:53:00 PM PST by jcon40
On Oct. 16, 1853, the Ottoman Empire declared war on the Russian Empire. France, the U.K., and Piedmont-Sardinia, the wealthiest polity on the Italian peninsula, quickly joined the Ottomans in their war against Russia. (This weekend’s “Top 10” is a global history of the Crimean War, so stay tuned!)
The United States stayed neutral during the war, but it was hardly inactive. The press and the general public were particularly pro-Russian, though there were exceptions (to be discussed below). Washington sent food and material goods to Russia and helped the Imperial Navy by building its warships in New York’s massive shipyards. American doctors flocked to Crimea, where most of the world’s press focused its attention, in order to help the overwhelmed medical establishment of the Russian Empire.
America’s relationship to Russia had been mostly nonexistent in 1853 (with the notable exception of American engineers essentially building Russia’s railroad system in the 1840s). While Alexis de Tocqueville had made his famous 1835 prediction about America and Russia one day competing with each other for global dominance, in 1853 the two transcontinental polities were still figuring out how to govern their vast, newly-acquired territories. So their lack of a relationship had less to do with perceived antagonisms and more to do with a lack of personnel resources.
The two future superpower rivals had more in common than mere future greatness, though. Both were expanding rapidly, gobbling up huge swaths of territory at the expense of isolated polities like the Khiva Khanate and the Sioux confederacy, and hapless autocracies like Mexico and the Ottoman Empire. Russia and the United States also shared common foes - France and the U.K. - due mostly to the fact that American and Russian expansion was beginning to step on French and British toes.
(Excerpt) Read more at realclearhistory.com ...
Russia even sold Alaska to us. Can you imagine if that didn’t happen?
Oops, I posted the date of the article incorrectly.
Should be Oct 15, 2018.
I had thought it an interesting read even though 3-1/2 years old.
"While in St. Petersburg, Clay won the support of Russia for the Union cause and convinced Tsar Alexander II to threaten worldwide war with England and France to keep them from intervening on the side of the Confederacy, with whom they both sympathized.
The Russian Baltic Fleet arrived in New York harbor in in September 1863 and the Russian Far East Fleet arrived in San Francisco that October. The Tsar ordered his Navy to be under Lincoln’s command if war broke out."
https://www.wearethemighty.com/popular/time-russia-guaranteed-civil-war-union-clay/
Yes. Forgot which year Russia and US closed deal, looked it up. 1867.
Not quite 17.5% of the land mass of the country of America.
25% of the oil produced.
If it did not happen, we would live differently, most likely.
In fact, European countries sided with the Turks to deny Russian access to the Crimea and ports. A bit of history might be helpful with today’s liberal chicken hawks in DC; but then again they dont listen.
The Crimean war was the first major conflict prominently featuring use of the Minié ball, which was what gave muzzle-loading rifles a rate of fire to match the smoothbore musket.
The US Secretary of War visited the conflict and noted the efficacy of the Minié ball and brought the idea back to America with him.
The US Secretary of War’s name was Jefferson Davis.
George Washington Whistler, the father of the painter James McNeill Whistler, was one of those engineers.
Russia did have civil engineers of their own who also participated in building the railroads. There's no need to diminish that.
It’s not safe to diminish Russians /s
I’ve read more on the American RxR actions during WW1 w the Trans Siberian railway. A fascinating series of events but with little to show for America in the end.
Another swing and a miss by Woodrow Wilson. I have no problem dominating him.
The Russian Baltic Fleet arrived in New York harbor in in September 1863
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I had forgotten that. Oh the games countries play and the money that’s made and lost. Of course the money is far more important than the lives lost /s
Did not know that. Interesting.
Florence Nightingale got her notoriety there too.
And they say we live in interesting times.
Another version isn’t as altruistic. The other version claims the Russian fleet went to the US to hide in case the Polish crisis caused a war with Britain and France.
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