Crimean War

American  

noun

1. a war between Great Britain, France, Turkey, and Sardinia on one side, and Russia on the other, fought chiefly in the Crimea 1853–56.

---

Crimean War British  

noun

1. the war fought mainly in the Crimea between Russia on one side and Turkey, France, Sardinia, and Britain on the other (1853-56)

---

Crimean War Cultural  

1. A war fought in the middle of the nineteenth century between Russia on one side and Turkey, Britain, and France on the other. Russia was defeated, and the independence of Turkey was guaranteed.

---

Discover More

Florence Nightingale came to prominence through her nursing service during the Crimean War. The poem “The Charge of the Light Brigade,” by Alfred, Lord Tennyson, describes a battle in that war.

Example Sentences

Russia, economically weakened after losing the Crimean War, sold Alaska to the U.S. in 1867 for just $7.2 million.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 24, 2026

Analisa Lamola plays four parts including civil rights activist Rosa Parks, pioneering pilot Amelia Earhart and Mary Seacole, the Jamaican-born Crimean War nurse.

From BBC • Jul. 18, 2024

Roman Vilfand, the head of Russia’s national meteorological service, told RIA Novosti that a similar storm hit the region in November 1854 during the Crimean War and sank at least 30 ships.

From Seattle Times • Nov. 27, 2023

Similar reforms were also underway in hospitals thanks, in part, to the crusading work of Florence Nightingale, the British nurse who was stationed at a filthy military hospital during the Crimean War in 1854.

From New York Times • Jun. 17, 2023

It begins with incidents afloat during the Crimean War, when their grandfathers were boys themselves, and brings the story down to a year or two ago, with the startling adventure at Spithead of Submarine 64.

From Held by Chinese Brigands by Strang, Herbert