Negotiating the Peace

John Leech. Cartoon. Punch.

September 21, 1855

The Split Crow in the CrimeaAfter a year-long siege by the French and British armies, the Russians abandoned the naval port of Sebastopol on September 11, 1855. Here, two allied soldiers have the Russian split crow wounded and on the run.

Honoré Daumier. Actualités, no. 256. Le Charivari.

December 22, 1855

Between War and PeaceLD 2733.

“Between war and peace.”

Czar Alexander II stands between a soldier who wants war and a politician who wants peace. The Treaty of Paris, then in discussion, would bring an end to the Crimean War.

John Leech. Cartoon. Punch.

January 19, 1856

Negotiations. Peace if you like -- but no tricks this time.Czar Alexander II offers olive branches to French and British commanders, who are skeptical, given Russia’s expansionist tendencies. Nonetheless, the Treaty of Paris was signed on March 30, 1856. The Treaty lacked any mention of the Holy Places, which originally served as the supposed rationale for the war.