The Crimean War

A Clash of Empires

By: Thomas Vaughan

Narrated by: Thomas Vaughan

Length: 3 hrs and 24 mins

Publisher's summary

In the years between 1854 and 1856, Britain fought its only European war between the ending of the Napoleonic conflict in 1815 and the opening of the Great War in 1914. Although eventually victorious, this was a hard war fought with little skill and filled with great loss.

Indeed the Crimean War became infamously known for military and logistical incompetence, perhaps most aptly epitomised by the near annihilation of the British Light Brigade. Arguably the only bright light in this sorry tale was the work of Florence Nightingale, a nurse who almost single-handedly drastically cut mortality rates for the British wounded.

The Crimean War had begun as a quarrel between Russian Orthodox monks and French Catholics over who had precedence at the holy sites in Jerusalem and Nazareth, but soon turned into a full scale "Clash of Empires". Celebrated historian Thomas Vaughan expertly tells this compelling story and reports on the lessons to be learned.

Also included is the acclaimed documentary Wellington's Last Parade: The Paths Glory

This audiobook is based on the DVD of the same name.

©2005 Green Umbrella (P)2008 G2 Entertainment Ltd

Awful - waste of $

I imagine the audio might work well with a video on a DVD, but I have a lot of doubts. This is just a bunch of worthless fluff. Very little content about the Crimean War. Stay away from this if you are truly interested.

A well researched history

The Crimean War is well researched and authentic and gives the listener a fine feel for the politics of the time. The advertised length is a little deceptive as the recording is padded out with martial music, and the last 30 minutes are given over to a detailed description of Wellington's funeral.

I had to stop listening after the first few pages

the pronunciation of the names and places is terrible it's ruins what I had hoped would be an interesting interpretation of the Crime war.