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50 free Crimean War trivia questions with answers — history quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
The Crimean War (1853–1856) set Russia against the Ottoman Empire, France, Britain and, late on, Sardinia-Piedmont. It began over who protected Christians in the Holy Land, was inflamed by the destruction of an Ottoman squadron at Sinop, and ended after an eleven-month siege of Sevastopol and a treaty that banned Russian warships from the Black Sea. Along the way it produced the Thin Red Line, the Charge of the Light Brigade, the first war photographs, telegraph dispatches that toppled a government, and the nursing reforms of Florence Nightingale and Mary Seacole. This quiz covers the causes and the Four Points, the battles on the Alma, at Balaclava and Inkerman, the forgotten Baltic, White Sea and Pacific theatres, the siege of Kars, Immanuel Nobel's naval mines, the snowball riot in Trafalgar Square, the fall of Lord Aberdeen, and long-run consequences from the emancipation of the serfs to the sale of Alaska. There is even a question about a tortoise. Fifty questions, four options each, with a short explanation after every answer. Play on your phone or print it for a history quiz night.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which empire fought alone against Britain, France, the Ottomans and Sardinia in the Crimean War?
Russia
The war ran from October 1853 to February 1856; Russia was diplomatically isolated by the end and sued for peace.
Q 02Which tsar's demand to protect the Ottoman Empire's Orthodox subjects was the war's proximate cause?
Nicholas I
After the Sublime Porte refused, Russian troops occupied the Danubian Principalities in July 1853.
Q 03Outrage over the destruction of an Ottoman squadron at which port drew Britain and France into war?
Sinop
The press called it 'the massacre of Sinope', though the two empires were already at war and no atrocities were proven.
Q 04Allied forces landed in Crimea in September 1854 to capture which Russian naval base?
Sevastopol
The siege lasted eleven months and 337 days before the city fell in September 1855.
Q 05The allies' first victory in Crimea, on 20 September 1854, was fought on the banks of which river?
Alma
The Russians later admitted that had the allies pressed south that day, they could have walked into Sevastopol.
Q 06Which Italian state joined the allies in 1855 with 15,000 troops under General La Marmora?
Kingdom of Sardinia
Cavour wanted a seat at the peace table to raise the Italian question with the great powers.
Q 07The French assault that finally broke the besieged city in September 1855 took which redoubt?
Malakoff
The British assault on the Great Redan the same day remains disputed; the Russians blew their magazines and withdrew north.
Q 08Which agreement, signed on 30 March 1856, ended the Crimean War?
Treaty of Paris
It forbade Russia from basing warships in the Black Sea, a clause Russia renounced in 1870 after France fell to Prussia.
Q 09Which reform, five years after the war, is counted among its consequences for the losing side?
Abolition of serfdom
Alexander II read the defeat of a serf army by free British and French troops as proof that emancipation was needed.
Q 10Which nurse gained worldwide attention for pioneering modern nursing during the war?
Florence Nightingale
A Jamaican nurse, Mary Seacole, also won praise from The Times correspondent for her skill with the wounded.
Q 11Which historian argued that 'mutual fear, not mutual aggression' caused the Crimean War?
A. J. P. Taylor
Taylor held that none of Nicholas I, Napoleon III or the British government could retreat once the crisis was launched.
Q 12Which French emperor's bid for Catholic support over the Holy Places set off the chain of events?
Napoleon III
He sent the ship of the line Charlemagne into the Black Sea, breaching the London Straits Convention.
Q 13Which abrasive Russian envoy was sent to the Sublime Porte in February 1853 with sweeping demands?
Prince Menshikov
He demanded a protectorate over all 12 million Orthodox Christians in the Ottoman Empire; the Sultan refused the most sweeping terms.
Q 21Which neutral power occupied the Danubian Principalities after the Russians withdrew in 1854?
Austria
Austria's abandonment of its old Russian alliance left it isolated and cost it dearly in 1859 and 1866.
Q 22On which Black Sea coast city did the allied expeditionary force land in June 1854 before Crimea?
Varna
Karl Marx quipped that 'the French doing nothing and the British helping them as fast as possible'.
Q 23How many ships sailed for Crimea in September 1854, each steamer towing two sailing ships?
360
They anchored first at Yevpatoria, which surrendered, then landed at Kalamita Bay, surprising Russians expecting Katcha.
Q 14Which British ambassador, nicknamed 'the Great Elchi', had a direct hand in Ottoman policy?
Stratford Canning
Nicholas fumed at 'the infernal dictatorship of this Redcliffe'; Disraeli blamed him and Aberdeen for making war inevitable.
Q 15Which British prime minister's government fell on 30 January 1855 over the war's mismanagement?
Lord Aberdeen
Parliament voted 305 to 148 to investigate the war; the veteran Palmerston replaced him and took a harder line.
Q 16Russian ships of the line assaulted the Ottoman fleet at Sinop on 30 November of which year?
1853
Six Russian ships of the line and five smaller warships destroyed eleven anchored Ottoman vessels, mostly frigates.
Q 17Which Russian admiral, victor of the 1853 naval battle, fell in the siege in June 1855?
Pavel Nakhimov
Lord Raglan, the British commander, died two days before him.
Q 18Russian troops crossed which river in 1853 to occupy Moldavia and Wallachia?
Prut
Fewer than half of the 80,000 men who crossed survived, almost all dying of sickness rather than combat.
Q 19The Russian siege of which Danube fortress was lifted on 23 June 1854?
Silistra
Some 60,000 Russians faced 15,000 defenders; Austrian pressure forced the Russians to abandon the principalities.
Q 20Which Ottoman general crossed the Danube at Vidin and captured Calafat in October 1853?
Omar Pasha
He later landed in Georgia in 1855 in a failed bid to relieve the besieged fortress of Kars.
Q 24The allies landed on the sandy beaches of which Crimean bay on 14 September 1854?
Kalamita Bay
The Russians had expected a landing at Katcha; the last-minute switch showed Russia knew the original plan.
Q 25Which engineer advisor recommended attacking the besieged city from the south, not the north?
Sir John Burgoyne
He had earlier surveyed the Dardanelles and persuaded Napoleon III to prepare a land expedition.
Q 26The British established their port facilities for the siege at which harbour?
Balaclava
The French used Kamiesch; the British had the longer, more exposed supply line to the east.
Q 27Sir Colin Campbell's 93rd Highlanders met Russian cavalry in what formation?
A single line two men deep
Campbell trusted the new Minié rifles; William Howard Russell's 'thin red streak' became the Thin Red Line.
Q 28Which Times correspondent coined the phrase behind the 'Thin Red Line'?
William Howard Russell
He wrote of a 'thin red streak topped with steel'; his dispatches are credited with helping bring down the Aberdeen government.
Q 29Which aide-de-camp delivered the confused order that launched the Charge of the Light Brigade?
Captain Louis Nolan
Asked which guns, he allegedly pointed at the wrong battery and said 'There is your enemy, there are your guns'.
Q 30Who led the Light Brigade's charge down the valley?
Earl of Cardigan
The charge caused 278 casualties in the 700-man unit, but it also unnerved the Russian cavalry into flight.