A WAR OF NATIONS OR GENDERS? A LIFE TO REMEMBER: FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE AND THE CRIMEAN WAR

“?Every historical fact needs to be explained in human terms.”-Leo Tolstoy In 1853, Tsar Nicholas I stated his views regarding the state of the Ottoman Empire saying: “We have a sick man on our hands, a man gravely ill, it will be a great misfortuneif one of these days he slips through our hands especially before the neccessary arrangements are made” (14). The same year Russia occupied Danube, Moldavia and Wallachia, the region North of the Danube. On October 5th, the Turks declared war against Russia. The Russians were “using explosive shells for the first time in history” (reference 21). The battle of Sinop caused great havoc in British press; which called it “a massacre”. Finally, France and England decided to declare war against Russia on the 28th of March, 1854. Most of the war took place in Crimea, the southern tip of Ukraine. In 1856, both Russia and Ottoman Empire came to an agreement concerning the cessation of all military activity on the Black Sea and thus the war came to an end.