Battle of Inkerman - Prelude

Prelude

The allied armies of Britain, France, Sardinia, and the Ottoman Empire had landed in the Crimea on September 14, 1854, intending to capture the Russian naval base at Sevastopol. The allied armies fought off and defeated the Russian Army at the Battle of Alma, forcing them to retreat in some confusion toward the city. While the allies could have taken this opportunity to attack Sevastopol before it could be put into a proper state of defence, the allied commanders, British general Lord Raglan and the French commander Canrobert could not agree on a plan of attack.

Instead, they resolved to march around the city, and put it under siege. Before the siege began, the Russian commander Prince Menshikov had evacuated Sevastopol with his field army and left a garrison to defend the city. On October 25 a Russian force attacked the British base at Balaclava, and although the Russian attack was foiled before it could reach the base, the Russians were left holding a strong position north of the British line. Balaclava revealed the allied weakness; their siege lines were so thin they did not have sufficient troops to man them. Realising this, Menshikov launched an attack across the Tchernaya River.