Rodric Braithwaite

The Crimean War spelt the end of hymns to heroism and glory

Writing from opposite sides, Leo Tolstoy and William Howard Russell exposed the horror of conditions in a quagmire war which seemed to have no meaning

Photograph of Sir William Russell Howard in the Crimea by Roger Fenton, 1855. [GHI/Universal Images/Getty Images]
  • Comments

  • Crimean Quagmire: Tolstoy, Russell and the Birth of Modern Warfare

    Gregory Carleton

    Hurst, pp. 264, £27

Already a subscriber? Log in

This article is for subscribers only

Get a free bottle of Johnnie Walker Black Label when you subscribe to The Spectator for just £12 in our Black Friday sale

  • Free bottle of Johnnie Walker Black Label whisky, worth £30
  • Unlimited access to our website and app
  • Enjoy Spectator newsletters and podcasts
  • Explore our online archive, going back to 1828

Read next

Trending

Arabella Byrne

Revenge of the rural Barbour

From Spectator Life
Time was, a Barbour meant one thing: the classic Beaufort model that stank of wax, wet dog, and had pockets stuffed with cartridges from a shoot. Naturally, the late Queen Elizabeth modelled it best, standing at Balmoral in hers with her trademark neckerchief. There is an apocryphal tale that, like all die-hard Barbour devotees, the

More on 19th-century history

Also by Rodric Braithwaite

Latest

Comments

Black Friday sale: Get 10 weeks for just $1

Unlimited access to the The Spectator, online and via the app

Already a subscriber? Log in