Battle of Inkermann

Battle of Inkermann
Part of the Crimean War
The 20th Foot at the Battle of Inkerman, by David Rowlands
Date 5 November 1854 Location Inkerman, Taurida Governorate, Russian Empire (present day Inkerman, Crimea) Result Allied victory
Belligerents
British Empire French Empire	Russian Empire
Commanders and leaders
Lord Raglan François Canrobert	Alexander Menshikov
Strength
Total: 13,239 soldiers & 56 guns engaged 9,482 soldiers & 38 guns engaged 3,757 soldiers engaged & 18 guns (5,344 arrived after fighting ended)	67,979 soldiers & 235 guns
Casualties and losses
Total: 4,676 killed & wounded 597 killed & 2,163 wounded 229 killed & 1,551 wounded	Total: 11,959 killed & wounded 3,286 killed & 8,673 wounded

Total: 13,239 soldiers & 56 guns engaged

Total: 4,676 killed & wounded

Total: 11,959 killed & wounded

The Battle of Inkerman was fought during the Crimean War on 5 November 1854 between the allied armies of Britain, France and Ottoman Empire against the Imperial Russian Army. The battle broke the will of the Russian Army to defeat the allies in the field, and was followed by the Siege of Sevastopol. The role of troops fighting mostly on their own initiative due to the foggy conditions during the battle has earned the engagement the name "The Soldier's Battle".

The allied armies of Britain, France, Sardinia, and the Ottoman Empire had landed on the west coast of Crimea on 14 September 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 River Kacha. While the allies could have taken this opportunity to attack Sevastopol before Sevastopol could be put into a proper state of defence, the allied commanders, British general FitzRoy Somerset, 1st Baron Raglan and the French commander François Certain Canrobert could not agree on a plan of attack.

Instead, they resolved to march around the city, and put Sevastopol under siege. Toward this end the allies marched to the southern coast of the Crimean peninsula and established a supply port at the city of Balaclava. However, before the siege of Sevastopol began, the Russian commander Prince Menshikov evacuated Sevastopol with the major portion of his field army, leaving only a garrison to defend the city. On 25 October 1854, a superior 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 long they did not have sufficient troops to man them. Realising this, Menshikov launched an attack across the Tchernaya River on 4 November 1854.

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