The Crimean War

This remarkable work features the Crimean War as depicted by the late Victorian military writer James Grant. The material here was first published in 1894, only 40 years after the end of the Crimean War, at a time when many of the participants were still in their sixties. Grant therefore had access to the primary source interviews which are now lost forever. Originally published as part of the Cassell’s series “British Battles on Land and Sea”, it presents the reader with an intriguing insight into how contemporary writers addressed their subject. They say the past is another country and that is certainly true in this instance. The contrast between the contemporary Victorian view and the modern view reveals the huge gulf in attitudes. Mr. Grant’s work is clearly ‘of its time’ and reflects the attitudes of the day, which were unashamedly xenophobic, jingoistic and militaristic. It nonetheless repays the reader as it provides us with a unique window on the past and brings the long lost world of Victorian Imperialism into focus.