Russia sought to have her share also in the appropriation of territory
and "spheres of influence." She and England were the only two European
Powers which had not been seriously shaken by the upheavals of 1848. It
seemed that they might almost divide between them the helpless Eastern
world. England having already begun operations, Russia assumed a sort of
protectorate over the Christians in Turkish lands, and proposed to
England that the entire Turkish Empire should be divided between the two
despoilers. The British Government refused the plan, mainly because it
would give Russia a broad highway to the sea and make her a dangerous
commercial rival. So Russia attempted to carry out her scheme
single-handed, and began seizing Turkish provinces. She destroyed the
Turkish fleet. Once before in 1828 the threat of a general European
alliance had checked the Russian bear at this same game; but Europe was
weaker now, the Czar stronger, and England far off and undecided.
Thus perhaps the Czar might have had his way but for Napoleon III. This
new Emperor had been permitted by Frenchmen to usurp his power largely
because of the military repute of his great namesake; and he felt that
to hold his place he must justify his reputation. Frenchmen resented
exceedingly the Czar's haughty assumption that only England was able to
oppose Russia; and Napoleon III promptly asserted himself in the _role_
of the former Napoleon as "dictator of Europe." The title so pleased the
insulted pride of his people that they followed him eagerly, and
remained blind to many failings through more wars than one. The
self-constituted dictator insisted that his whole desire was for peace
and the artistic beautifying of his country; yet if Russia persisted in
extending her power and ignoring France--. In 1854 he joined England in
the war of the Crimea against Russia.
It cannot be said that the allies achieved any great success against
their huge antagonist. Their fleets bombarded the Baltic fortresses with
small result. Their armies, hastening to protect Turkey, attacked the
Russians in the Crimea, gained the Battle of the Alma, and then for an
entire year besieged the fortifications of Sebastopol. [Footnote: See
_The Capture of Sebastopol_.] But distance and changeful climate proved
Russia's aids as they had in 1812. The allies' commissary and sanitary
departments could hardly be managed at all; their troops died by
thousands, and, though they finally stormed and captured Sebastopol, it
was a barren victory. Russia, not so much overcome as convinced of the
practical lack of profit in persistency, made terms of peace by which
she once more drew back from her feeble prey. English statesmen were
satisfied with the check administered to their great rival; and the
French were delighted at the successful interference of their "dictator
of Europe." He had rehabilitated the nation in its own eyes.