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What was the Crimean War?

The Crimean War (1853–56) was fought to stop Russian expansion into the Black Sea region. Russian forces opposed the allied armies of Great Britain, France, the Ottoman Empire (present-day Turkey), and Sardinia (part of present-day Italy) in battles mainly on the Crimean Peninsula, which juts out into the Black Sea (today it is part of Ukraine). If Russia had won control of the Black Sea region, it would have gained military and commercial advantages. But Russia was unable to equal the strength of the powerful alliance formed by the European countries and the Ottoman Empire. The war ended with the signing of the Treaty of Paris (1856), which required Russia to surrender lands it had taken from the Ottoman Empire. The treaty also abolished the Russian naval and military presence in the Black Sea region. During the Crimean War newspaper reporters covered action at the battlefront for the first time in...

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1. Norman Conquest