RUSSIAN HUSSARS - CRIMEAN WAR

The Crimean War, fought in 1853-1856, is an armed conflict between Russia and Turkey, and later also France and Great Britain. The main cause of the conflict was the desire of Tsar Nicholas I of Russia of the Romanov dynasty to acquire territorial acquisitions at the expense of Turkey - primarily the capture of the Black Sea Straits. At the beginning of the war, the Russian army (in regular units) numbered about 678,000 people. Its cavalry (without Guard units) consisted of 8 cuirassier regiments, 9 dragoons regiments, 18 lancer regiments and 14 hussar regiments. The latter were divided during the Crimean War into 4 divisions, 2 squadrons each, and the number of full-time members was about 1,380 people. However, it should be remembered that as a result of difficult service conditions, poor health care and combat losses, the facts often differed significantly from the full-time ones. For example, the 11th and 12th hussars regiments, after a short time of fighting in Crimea, had only about 800 people! It is worth adding that even before the start of the Crimean War, the Russian cavalry was formed into divisions and corps. The uniforms of the Russian hussars during the Crimean War were still relatively impressive and consisted of, among others, shaka, dolman and mantik. Unfortunately, like almost the entire Russian army, the hussar units were poorly trained, and the parade drill played an equally important role in their training as the acquisition of real skills, important on the battlefield.