In September of 1854, the 
Russian and combined Allied 
forces were in the midst of 
the Crimean War.  After an 
unopposed landing at Calamita 
Bay and easy capture of the 
Crimean village of Eupatoria, 
the combined armies of Britain,
France, and Turkey advanced 
towards the port of Sevastopol.

Since most of Sevastopol, 
including the dockyard lay 
on the southern shore of 
Sevastopol Bay, the armies 
were forced to march around 
the western end of the bay 
in order to attack the city 
from the south.This route lay 
along the post road from 
Eupatoria to Sevastopol.

The Russian commander, Prince 
Menshikov, anticipated this 
plan of attack and set up two 
redoubts (the larger on the 
east side) to anchor the 
Russian defensive position.

As the allies advanced, the 
British took up on the left 
flank with the French on the 
right.  The British advanced 
with two divisions in formation
while the French advanced in 
column.  The Turks held the 
rear of the army.

The British ran into several 
problems during their advance.
Russians set fire to the 
village of Bourliouk, 
splitting the British Light 
Division and disordering the 
advance.  At the same time, 
the Second Division was forced 
to march through vineyards 
and farm enclosures, resulting 
in further disorder.  

The other major problem for 
the British was inexperience - 
the Divisional and Brigade 
commanders were so new to 
their positions that they were 
unable to coordinate their 
actions once their parade 
ground formations were ruined.
Batallions joined up with 
whichever force seemed in 
best position, leading to an 
unsuccessful attempt at the 
larger of the two redoubts.  
The Russians held tenuously to 
their positions.

Meanwhile, the French column's 
charge against the Lesser 
Redoubt had stalled.  Repulsed 
by the Russian fire, the French
attempted to re-form; as they 
did so, the French sent their 
artillery around the Russian 
left.  Once the assault begain 
anew, the combined fire power 
of the artillery and the re-
formed infantry broke the 
Russian forces from their 
positions.  A Russian withdrawl
soon turned into a full fledged
retreat.

This retreat was fortunate for 
the Allies, as it coincided 
with the second British assault
on the larger redoubt.  Seeing 
their companions in the smaller
redoubt begin to fall back, 
the Russian forces in the 
larger redoubt broke and ran 
before the English had launched
their full attack.  

The Battle of the Alma was over
and the Allies had won.
