mount and blade napoleonic wars regiments

During October 1854, reinforcements came in to Menshikov’s army from elsewhere in the Crimea and further afield in Russia, until his army was larger than that of the allies. The allies were thereby left with two tasks the siege of the city and holding off Menshikov’s army. The Russian commander, Prince Menshikov, marched his army out of Sevastopol to the north-east, leaving a garrison to conduct the defence of the city. Once the march was completed, the French established their base at Kamiesh, on the south-western tip of the Crimea, south of Sevastopol, while the British took Balaclava as their base, fifteen miles along the coast to the east.

Lord Raglan and Marshal St Arnaud, the two commanders-in-chief, resolved to march around the inland side of Sevastopol and begin siege operations against the city from the south. It would take the rest of the century for field tactics to catch up with the effects of the modern weapons coming into service.īritish cavalry in the Crimea: Battle of Balaclava on 25th October 1854 in the Crimean War: picture by Orlando Norie The new rifle was sighted up to 1,000 yards, as against the old Brown Bess, wholly inaccurate beyond 100 yards. This weapon was quickly replaced by the more efficient British Enfield Rifle. The British infantry fought with the Brown Bess musket in some form from the beginning of the 18 th Century.Īs the Crimean War broke out, the British Army’s infantry was being equipped with the new French Minié Rifle, a muzzle loading rifle fired by a cap (all the British divisions, other than the Fourth, arriving in the Crimea with this weapon). They were however on the verge of substantial change, brought about by developments in firearms.

Uniforms, arms and equipment at the Battle of Balaclava: The armies that fought in the Crimean War for Russia, Britain and France were in organisation little different from the armies that fought the Napoleonic wars at the beginning of the century. Officers of the French Chasseurs d’Afrique: Battle of Balaclava on 25th October 1854 in the Crimean War

Mount and blade napoleonic wars regiments