Russians wanted to get Crimea throughout history, and they had Crimea by pressing the bodies of Crimean Tatars.

The most famous of the military conflicts that occurred throughout history in the Crimea, is still the Crimean War. He has long fought not only in Crimea, but in fact decided there. Russia had 1853 attempts to annex areas of the weakened Ottoman Empire – particularly important to the Tsar appeared in control of the Turkish Straits. The attempt sparked a unexpectedly costly conflagration from: Great Britain, France and the Kingdom of Sardinia rushed to the Ottoman Empire for help – and finally conquered in 1855 the Crimean peninsula.

For Russia, the Crimea is a symbol-laden place. For centuries led Ukrainians, Russians and the West fierce clashes around the peninsula – and the Crimea was always a theater of war. The arguments of the past and present are similar sometimes striking.

History of Crimean Crisis:1853 Crimean War Russian – British – Ottomans

Now the Crimea determined so again the headlines. Of course, past crises such as the Crimean War of 1853 can not be compared with the present situation. The conditions are fundamentally different, and fortunately a diplomatic solution is by no means excluded. Yet patterns of argumentation and rhetoric resemble sometimes striking. A war, a spin-off, nothing seems impossible. Because the Crimea is significant not only because of the Russian naval base at Sevastopol. Even for less patriotic Russians, the peninsula is a pretty place loaded symbol. It stands for sacrifice and heroic deeds, but also for humiliating defeats and national self-doubt.

But how did it happen that the Crimean port city of Sevastopol and its always been a bone of contention between Russia , Ukraine and the West? Why was calculated , the former summer residence of the Tsars , famous for its mild climate, romantic beaches and magnificent castles , again and again to the scene of bloody conflicts?

In the beginning , now 360 years ago , was probably a big misunderstanding . On 18 January 1654 gathered in the church of the city Perejaslav southeast of Kiev Ukrainian Cossacks and representatives of the Russian Tsar Alexei I. The Cossack leaders contributed to the Tsar in the Treaty of Perejaslav the oath of allegiance , but the Tsar promised the Cossack military aid in the fight against the nobility Republic of Poland – Lithuania.

With the alliance of convenience , the subordination of Ukraine began under Russian rule : After 1654 , the areas were east of the river Dnieper to the protectorate of the Tsar. At that time , however , the Crimea was not about this: Only in 1783 she took Prince Grigory Potemkin for Empress Catherine II ” from now on for all time ” in possession. Thus Russia had finally fulfilled the long-cherished dream of a year-round ice-free port .

History Of Crimean Crisis:The belief in the “subjection” of Ukraine

The problem with the Treaty of Perejaslav from a later perspective : Ukrainian historians have reiterated that the Pact was an alliance of equals , which had also been considered only temporary. For Russian- nationalist perspective , however, the treaty text is early , the ” subjection ” of the Ukraine – and far beyond the time of addition in 1654 .

So it was a momentous historical stylization by the Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev: 1954 – exactly 300 years after the Treaty of Perejaslav – he raised the alliance later at an early act of fraternity between nations and pointed it even to ” reunification of the Ukraine with Russia” order . In gestures of patronizing Czar , Khrushchev gave the Crimea then the Ukrainian Soviet Republic. He could not know that the Soviet Union did not even collapse 40 years later and the donation after the independence of Ukraine should become a serious strategic problem.

Because the port city of Sevastopol had the Tsarist Empire and later the Soviet Union, the major access to the Black Sea offered – and from there via the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles connects to the Mediterranean . At least in theory . Because the Ottoman Empire controlled its straits suspicious and had no warships happen. As the Ottoman Empire in mid -19th Century shook and seemed to shatter , scented Tsar Nicholas I the chance to bring the Turkish Straits finally under Russian control . The Crimea should write world history.

Because the attempt of invasion resulted in a unimaginably costly conflagration , a first modern war of position with improved firearms : harbingers of horror later world wars. The troops of the Tsar had initially occupied more with ease the Danubian principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia and defeated the Ottoman Black Sea fleet off the port city of Sinope devastating.

These initial successes , however, threatened to move the carefully balanced equilibrium of the great powers permanently. Especially the commercial power of Great Britain had no interest in the competition by the Tsarist Empire in the Mediterranean. The governments in London and Paris were negotiating , they presented an ultimatum. The Tsar let it slip away. 1854 British and French eventually sent their fleets to where they could meet the Russian Empire the most sensitive : to Sevastopol in the Crimea.

However, from the expected quick victory was nothing . The port city was built up to the fortress . Bitterly fought for every meter , a reckless attack the British cavalry gained as a “death ride ” notoriety , epidemics snatched tens of thousands on both sides then. Only after almost a year of siege of Sevastopol fell . ” The destroyed Pompeii is in good condition compared to Sebastopol ,” the writer Mark Twain wrote while visiting the port city – ten years after the conflict.

History Of Crimean Crisis:”Sevastopol results not!”

Thus, the Crimean War was in fact decided . Russia had conceded a humiliating defeat and lost a total of perhaps up to half a million troops , most from hunger and lack of medical care. The great plan to extend the geopolitical influence , was not caught on: The Tsarist Empire was politically isolated , it felt betrayed by former partners such as Austria , and it had learned its industrial backwardness towards the West bitter.

It was , in a sense of consolation , the myth transfigured memory of the heroic defense of Sevastopol . Also may explain why the city was almost 90 years later defended particularly hartleibig again , this time against the hitherto so accustomed to success Wehrmacht.

While the Germans were removed only 100 kilometers from Moscow in the autumn of 1941 , Hitler’s offensive was firmly in the Crimea. Became famous later sung in many songs ” five sailors of Sevastopol ” , allegedly with their final hand grenades under the rolling German vehicles threw themselves – and so initially prevented a breakthrough to Sevastopol .

” Sevastopol is not just a city . It is the glory of Russia, the pride of the Soviet Union,” the Russian writer Ilya Ehrenburg wrote combative in June 1942. “We have seen how cities, famous fortresses States capitulated . Sevastopol But it does not follow . ”

History Of Crimean Crisis:Hitler’s dream of a “Gotenland”

248 days could actually keep the city , but then it was taken , again ” a shambles ” as it noted a German war diary laconically. Now Hitler wanted Germanise the Crimea, home of dozens of ethnic groups, radically . The peninsula should be connected by highway directly to the Reich. Sevastopol should future ” Theoderichhafen ” hot – named after the famous Gotenführer from the time of the migration – and the Crimea to ” Gotenland ” . But Hitler wanted to systematically South Tyrolean settle on the Black Sea .

But it never came . The Red Army drove the Wehrmacht in May 1944 again – material for further heroic myths and start further atrocities : Because a small part of the Crimean Tatars had collaborated with the German occupiers ( and although 60,000 Crimean Tatars had fought in the Red Army ) , Stalin had now a whole deport people to Central Asia. The fact that a majority of Crimean Tatars did not survive the journey in overcrowded cattle cars , was part of the calculus : The dictator distrusted the Crimean Tatars , and such an important place as the Crimea he would rather settle with the Russians.

Although the surviving Crimean Tatars and their descendants were able to return decades later to their home , but at the basic strategy of Moscow changed the little : Sevastopol remained the most important naval base , and the Crimea should be Russian dominated – what it is actually today: Nowhere in Ukraine is the distance to the west is truer than here.

History Of Crimean Crisis:A diplomatic affront

As the Ukraine after the collapse of the Soviet Union turned to the West and NATO membership was planning got an old constant of Russian politics falter. The Ukraine had ” an area without Russian military bases ,” Yulia Tymoshenko said in 2008 , then Prime Minister – and now again hope wearer. This was an affront . Although the Russian military presence in Sevastopol was guaranteed contractual agreement until 2017 . But Tymoshenko and President Yushchenko repeatedly threatened bluntly so as not to extend the agreement .

The rest is history . Yushchenko and Tymoshenko were voted out in 2010 , the pro-Russian Yanukovych became president and extended the contract to 2042. Now Yanukovych Ukrainians have chased away the inhabitants in the Crimea are deeply insecure , and Russia apparently tried again to obtain the peninsula under its control , may still be true to the dictum of Tsarist times – ” for all time ” .

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