The battle of the Alma on 20 September 1854 was the first in which new rifled muskets were used, although only by the British and French. In the event in took twelve months, three major land battles and countless actions between two large and well equipped armies deeply entrenched just outside the city. Sensing an opening for a useful diplomatic success France joined Britain in support of Turkey, which rejected the Tsar’s outrageous terms. He was mistaken, neither Britain nor Austria wanted to see Russia controlling the Dardanelles. Expecting support from Prussia, Austria and Britain, he planned to carve up the European part of Turkey.
Having established the Second Empire, (Louis) Napoleon III lost interest, but Nicholas decided to settle the ‘sick man of Europe’ once and for all. When Tsar Nicholas I of Russia retaliated, sending a mission to recover Greek Orthodox rights, the Turks simply gave way to both parties, and hoped the issue would go away. The new president of France, Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte, exploited Turkish weakness to secure concessions for the Catholic church in Palestine, hoping to gain conservative support for his planned coup d’etat. The initial problem was the weakness of the Ottoman-Turkish empire, and the opportunities this provided for European interference in support of the Christian populations. But eventually the Vienna system broke down. After the Treaty of Vienna the great powers enjoyed three decades of peace, years in which industrial, political, economic, social and nationalist pressures were suppressed or deflected.
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