<Li> 1914--18 </Li> <Tr> <Td_colspan="2"> Russo - Crimean Wars </Td> </Tr> <P> The Crimean War (French: Guerre de Crimée; Russian: Кры́мская война́, translit . Krymskaya voina or Russian: Восто́чная война́, translit . Vostochnaya voina, lit .' Eastern War'; Turkish: Kırım Savaşı; Italian: Guerra di Crimea) was a military conflict fought from October 1853 to February 1856 in which the Russian Empire lost to an alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, Britain and Sardinia . The immediate cause involved the rights of Christian minorities in the Holy Land, which was a part of the Ottoman Empire . The French promoted the rights of Roman Catholics, while Russia promoted those of the Eastern Orthodox Church . The longer - term causes involved the decline of the Ottoman Empire and the unwillingness of Britain and France to allow Russia to gain territory and power at Ottoman expense . It has widely been noted that the causes, in one case involving an argument over a key, have never revealed a "greater confusion of purpose", yet led to a war noted for its "notoriously incompetent international butchery". </P> <P> While the churches worked out their differences and came to an agreement, Nicholas I of Russia and the French Emperor Napoleon III refused to back down . Nicholas issued an ultimatum that the Orthodox subjects of the Empire be placed under his protection . Britain attempted to mediate and arranged a compromise that Nicholas agreed to . When the Ottomans demanded changes, Nicholas refused and prepared for war . Having obtained promises of support from France and Britain, the Ottomans declared war on Russia in October 1853 . </P>

The root cause of the crimean war was