The Crimean WarThe Crimean War began because France and Russia wanted control of the Middle East and surrounding areas. The war lasted from 1856 to 1858, just under two years. The most important parts of the war are the causes and events leading up to it, the Battle of the Alma, the naval wars of various seas and Sevastopol, the heavily fortified base of the Russian fleet. MLV Ffrench Blake states that the main cause of the war was "Russia's desire for territorial expansion, particularly towards a port in the Mediterranean". (Blake 1). He also believes that the inevitable drift in the war was aggravated by the back-and-forth nature of the rulers of the opposing countries and bad diplomacy. The immediate excuses of the war were the protection of oppressed minorities and retaliation for the deaths of nationalists in religious uprisings. Philip Warner believes that the main cause of the war was that Britain and Russia were both large countries and only one of them would be able to prevail. At the time, Britain was a country that stretched all the way to India and could not afford to cut the line of communication across the Middle East. Russia covered eight million square miles. “However, the weakness and backwardness of their territories did not prevent the Russians from wanting to extend their influence.” (Warner 5). Albert Seaton believes that Tsar Nicholas did not want war, but it was part of his political strategy to bring Europe to the brink of hostilities to intimidate those who opposed him. "He certainly would have taken even greater risks if only France and Turkey had been involved, but he was concerned about the narrow interest of the British in the Middle East, since the islanders already openly valued the armed forces there and did not hide their low opinion of the value of Black Sea Fleet." (Seaton 42). Philip Warner believes that the Battle of Alma occurred because Sevastopol, Russia's heavily fortified base, did not have adequate defenses and it was decided that part of the Russian army would be sent to completely stop or at least slow down the Allied Army at Alma. Both the Russians and the Allies organized very planned and strategic formations, but ended up attacking each other head-on. For some reason Menschikov, the commander of the Russian army, did not bring his reserves with him.