Siege of Sevastopol ( 1854 – 55 ) The Siege of Sevastopol lasted from September 1854 until September 1855 , during the Crimean War . The allies ( French , Ottoman , and British ) landed at Eupatoria on 14 September 1854 , intending to make a triumphal march to Sevastopol , the capital of the Crimea , with 50 , 000 men . The traverse took a year of fighting against the Russians . Major battles along the way were Alma ( September 1854 ) , Balaklava ( October 1854 ) , Inkerman ( November 1854 ) , Tchernaya ( August 1855 ) , Redan ( September 1855 ) , and , finally , Sevastopol ( September 1855 ) . During the siege , the allied navy undertook six bombardments of the capital , on 17 October 1854 ; and on 9 April , 6 June , 17 June , 17 August , and 5 September 1855 . Sevastopol is one of the classic sieges of all time . The city of Sevastopol was the home of the Tsar ' s Black Sea Fleet , which threatened the Mediterranean . The Russian field army withdrew before the allies could encircle it . The siege was the culminating struggle for the strategic Russian port in 1854 – 1855 and was the final episode in the Crimean War . During the Victorian Era , these battles were repeatedly memorialized . The Siege of Sevastopol was the subject of Crimean soldier Leo Tolstoy ' s " Sebastopol Sketches " and the subject of the first Russian feature film , " Defence of Sevastopol " . The Battle of Balaklava was made famous by Alfred , Lord Tennyson ' s poem " The Charge of the Light Brigade " and Robert Gibb ' s painting " The Thin Red Line " , as well as by a panorama of the siege painted by Franz Roubaud . Treating the wounded from these battles was celebrated English nurses Mary Seacole and Florence Nightingale . Description . The allies ( French , Ottoman , and British ) landed at Eupatoria on 14 September 1854 . The Battle of the Alma ( 20 September 1854 ) , which is usually considered the first battle of the Crimean War ( 1853 – 1856 ) , took place just south of the River Alma in the Crimea . An Anglo - French force under Jacques Leroy de Saint Arnaud and FitzRoy Somerset , 1st Baron Raglan defeated General Alexander Sergeyevich Menshikov ' s Russian army , which lost around 6 , 000 troops . Moving from their base at Balaklava at the start of October , French and British engineers began to direct the building of siege lines along the Chersonese uplands to the south of Sevastopol . The troops prepared redoubt s , gun batteries , and trenches . With the Russian army and its commander Prince Menshikov gone , the defence of Sevastopol was led by Vice Admirals Vladimir Alexeyevich Kornilov and Pavel Nakhimov , assisted by Menshikov ' s chief engineer , Lieutenant Colonel Eduard Totleben . The military forces available to defend the city were 4 , 500 militia , 2 , 700 gunners , 4 , 400 marines , 18 , 500 naval seamen , and 5 , 000 workmen , totalling just over 35 , 000 men . The Russians began by scuttling their ships to protect the harbour , then used their naval cannon as additional artillery and the ships ' crews as marines . Those ships deliberately sunk by the end of 1855 included " Grand Duke Constantine " , " City of Paris " ( both with 120 guns ) , " Brave " , " Empress Maria " , " Chesme " , " Yagondeid " ( 84 guns ) , " Kavarna " ( 60 guns ) , " Konlephy " ( 54 guns ) , steam frigate " Vladimir " , steamboats " Thunderer " , " Bessarabia " , " Danube " , " Odessa " , " Elbrose " , and " Krein " . By mid - October 1854 , the Allies had some 120 guns ready to fire on Sevastopol ; the Russians had about three times as many . On 17 October 1854 ( old style date , 29 October new style ) the artillery battle began . The Russian artillery first destroyed a French magazine , silencing their guns . British fire then set off the magazine in the Malakoff redoubt , killing Admiral Kornilov , silencing most of the Russian guns there , and leaving a gap in the city ' s defences . However , the British and French withheld their planned infantry attack , and a possible opportunity for an early end to the siege was missed . At the same time , the Allies ' ships pounded the Russian defences , taking damage and inflicting little in return . The bombardment resumed the following day , but the Russians had worked through the night and repaired the damage . This pattern would be repeated throughout the siege . During October and November 1854 , the battles of Balaclava and Inkerman took place beyond the siege lines . Balaclava gave the Russians a morale boost and convinced them that the allied lines were thinly spread out and undermanned . But after their defeat at Inkerman , the Russians saw that the siege of Sevastopol would not be lifted by a battle in the field , so instead they moved troops into the city to aid the defenders . Toward the end of November , a winter storm ruined the Allies ' camps and supply lines . Men and horses sickened and starved in the poor conditions . While Totleben extended the fortifications around the Redan bastion and the Malakoff redoubt , British chief engineer John Fox Burgoyne sought to take the Malakoff , which he saw as the key to Sevastopol . Siege works were begun to bring the Allied troops nearer to the Malakoff ; in response , Totleben dug rifle pits from which Russian troops could snipe at the besiegers . In a foretaste of the trench warfare that became the hallmark of the First World War , the trenches became the focus of Allied assaults . The Allies were able to restore many supply routes when winter ended . The new Grand Crimean Central Railway , built by the contractors Thomas Brassey and Samuel Morton Peto , which had been completed at the end of March 1855 was now in use bringing supplies from Balaclava to the siege lines . The railroad delivered more than five hundred guns and plentiful ammunition . The Allies resumed their bombardment on 8 April 1855 ( Easter Sunday ) . On 28 June ( 10 July ) , Admiral Nakhimov died from a head wound inflicted by an Allied sniper . On 24 August ( 5 September ) the Allies started their sixth and the most severe bombardment of the fortress . Three hundred and seven cannon fired 150 , 000 rounds , with the Russians suffering 2 , 000 to 3 , 000 casualties daily . On 27 August ( 8 September ) , thirteen Allied divisions and one Allied brigade ( total strength 60 , 000 ) began the last assault . The British assault on the Great Redan failed , but the French , under General Patrice de Mac - Mahon , Duke of Magenta , managed to seize the Malakoff redoubt and the Little Redan , making the Russian defensive position untenable . By the morning of 28 August ( 9 September ) , the Russian forces had abandoned the southern side of Sevastopol . Although defended heroically and at the cost of heavy Allied casualties , the fall of Sevastopol would lead to the Russian defeat in the Crimean War . Most of the Russian casualties were buried in Brotherhood cemetery in over 400 collective graves . The three main commanders ( Nakhimov , Kornilov , and Istomin ) were interred in the purpose - built Admirals ' Burial Vault . Fate of Sevastopol cannon . The British sent a pair of cannon seized at Sevastopol to each of several important cities in the Empire . Additionally , several were sent to the Royal Military College Sandhurst and the Royal Military Academy Woolwich . These cannon now all reside at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst ( renamed after the closing of RMA Woolwich shortly after the Second World War ) and are displayed in front of Old College next to cannon from Waterloo and other battles . The cascabel ( the large ball at the rear of old muzzle - loaded guns ) of several cannon captured during the siege have been used to make the British Victoria Cross , the highest award for gallantry in the British Armed Forces . The metal from these cascabels will soon be exhausted , and there is some uncertainty as to what metal will be used once this occurs . There is some doubt as to the origin of the metal used in some of the medals awarded during the First World War .