And the The Welcome to Russian History Retold, episode 142, the Crimean War Part 3. Last time we began to describe the ramping up of tensions between Russia, Britain, France, Sardinia, and the dying Ottoman Empire.

Today we're going to continue with the story of how this war, which easily could have been stopped, came about.

We will also cover the opening volleys in a conflict that would change the world.

But before we start, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that today, as I'm recording this

podcast, it marks the fourth anniversary of the beginning of the Russian rulers history podcast.

As I've mentioned before, my plan was to go for about a year and do about 50 or so episodes

before moving on. But here we are four years later on April 30, 2014, and we're still

going strong. My thanks to all my wonderful listeners who continue to urge me on to give you

my take on Russian history.

One correction I have to make from the last podcast is how I pronounce the name of the author of the book the Crimean War a history. I was mistaken when I called

him Professor Orlando Fijs or Fijis but it is pronounced Orlando Fijis.

Sorry for that. Now on with the show.

One area of contention that I did not discuss last time

was the issue of the Greeks

who were suffering under the thumb of the Ottoman Turks.

Ever since the sacking of Constantinople in 1453 by Ottoman Sultan Mehmed second, the Greek population in the region were under control of the Turks.

When they rebelled in 1821 in Moldavia, they fully expected to have Russian backing.

But this was not to be the case,

as Tsar Alexander the first felt that his sticking to the Holy Alliance

with Austrian Prussia, which was formed in 1815

to prevent revolutions in Europe, was far more important

and supporting his fellow Orthodox Christians.

...