Death Or Glory: The Legacy Of The Crimean War [Paperback]

Robert Edgerton (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 19, 2000

In 1853, the Crimean War began as an intensely romantic affair, with officers and soldiers alike taking to the fray with phrases like “death or glory” on their tongues and in their hearts. Nothing stands out more starkly than the toughness of the soldiers who fought so savagely, seldom complained, and only rarely collapsed under war’s terrible and relentless stresses. Acts of astonishing bravery, many of them by doctors, women, and children, were commonplace. But so was callousness and brutality. The war soon became an impersonal, long-range killing match that resembled, far in advance, the trench warfare of World War I. It became a showcase for bad generalship and bureaucratic bungling. Men, women, and children died of hunger, cold, and disease many times more often than they were killed by rifles or the most massive artillery barrages the world have ever seen.Death or Glory is not a mere battle chronology; rather, it is a narrative immersion into conditions during what became arguably the most tragically botched military campaign, from all sides, in modern European history—and the most immediate precedent to the American Civil War. Edgerton paints a vivid picture of the war, from the Charge of the Light Brigade and the heroics of Florence Nightingale to the British soldiers who, simply unable to take the misery, starvation, and cholera any longer, took their own lives. He describes how leaders failed their men again and again; how women and children became unseen heroes; how the universally despised Turks fought their own war; and, finally and perhaps most importantly, why so many fought so bravely in what seemed a futile cause. By comparing these experiences with those of Northern and Southern soldiers during the more well-documented American Civil War, Edgerton contributes a new perspective on how soldiers in the mid-19th century experienced war, death, and glory.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

"The Crimean War," writes Robert Edgerton, "was a showcase for bad generalship, bureaucratic bungling, and inept medical care." Officers knowingly sent columns of soldiers to certain death, while diplomats ignored opportunities to make an honorable peace. The war cost more lives than any war in pre-20th-century history, with many times more men (and women) dead from illness, hunger, and cold than were killed in actual fighting. Yet for all its blood-soaked significance, the war remains little studied. Most of us can recall a catch phrase or two from Alfred Lord Tennyson's "Charge of the Light Brigade," but far fewer know the causes of the conflict, rooted in the great rivalry between England and Russia to control both the Mediterranean Sea and the Indian Ocean.

Edgerton, an anthropologist, is interested in exploring cultural differences among the combatants--how a Sardinian soldier might have responded, for instance, to the smell of gunpowder differently from a Turkish or Russian or French trooper, or what soldiers on all sides thought as they prayed to their gods for safekeeping and deliverance. Those anthropological explorations, along with other intriguing asides (for instance, on the customary drunkenness of Florence Nightingale's nurses), add to the best part of Edgerton's narrative, which is a straightforward history of the Crimean War itself. He turns in a lively, well-researched account of a conflict that merits better understanding. --Gregory McNamee --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

The Crimean War, which began in 1853 and ended just five years before the American Civil War, is remembered today as the setting for Tennyson's poem "The Charge of the Light Brigade" and perhaps for the heroism of Florence Nightingale. Edgerton (anthropology & psychiatry, UCLA; Warriors of the Rising Sun, LJ 8/97) has chosen this conflict for an examination of the human experience of war. People of five different nationalitiesARussian, Turkish, French, British, and Sardinian (Northern Italian)Aparticipated in this conflict, and Edgerton examines the record of their experience to see if cultural conditioning influenced their perceptions of the war. In this richly anecdotal account, Edgerton presents an appalling picture of wretched generalship, criminal bureaucracies, and inadequate medical care. He concludes that the horrors of this war transcended any national cultural conditioning. This vivid account should be of interest to the general reader as well as to students and is recommended for public and academic libraries.ARobert J. Andrews, Duluth P.L., MN
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Basic Books (May 19, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0813337895
• ISBN-13: 978-0813337890
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.9 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #390,460 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #60 in Books > History > Europe > Ukraine

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Disasters of War, April 17, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Death Or Glory: The Legacy Of The Crimean War (Hardcover)

Death or Glory contained so many errors that I found it difficult to read. Edgerton's discussion of the Ottoman Turkish involvement in the war proved abysmal. He glossed over and distorted the accounts of British and French officers and soldiers who served in the Ottoman army. In addition, he paid no attention to Polish and Ottoman sources relating to the Ottoman part in the war. Edgerton informs us that the staffs of the Bodleian Library, Oxford and the Public Record Office translated all works in French and other languages for him. Since he could not read in French himself, he missed many crucial points. Distressingly, Edgerton has misunderstood Victorian English. William Howard Russell's "rapine" [meaning pillaging, looting] at Kertch became "rape" for Edgerton - a fabulous misinterpretation that led to the incorrect conclusion that allied troops raped innumerable women. On another occasion, Edgerton totally dismissed the major scandals surrounding the Ottoman Turkish generals at Kars in 1855 - publicized at great length in published English sources by Lake, Williams, and Sandwith - with the facile comment that the Ottoman Turkish general was only too glad to turn command of the Ottoman Turkish army over to General Williams. It didn't quite happen that way! By far the worst conclusion in this book was Edgerton's unwillingness to find post-traumatic stress disorder in the various letters, diaries, and memoirs of soldiers in the war! He simply did not look. Perhaps his inability to understand Victorian English prevented him. Death or Glory is a HUGE disappointment. Anyone attempting to find out about the war's realities will merely end in unknowing and confusion.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars The Legacy of the Crimean War, April 16, 2009

By 

Joseph W. Turner (Atascadero, Ca. USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Death Or Glory: The Legacy Of The Crimean War (Paperback)

A rather disjointed recounting of the gore and hazards of war. It seems that the legacy was not covered as well as what begat the legacy. Could have been a little more organized. Some interesting facts were included but read like a rehash of known information.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars General McCellan saw the meat grinder with his own eyes, May 17, 2011

By 

Margot (new york, new york United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Death Or Glory: The Legacy Of The Crimean War (Hardcover)

This vivid description of the Crimean War could have prevented the American Civil War. The Crimean war was modern
battle at its worst. It's not pure history. But, an excellent read nevertheless. It remains one of the most riveting
books on the war. The writing is excellent. His interweaving the Crimean War and the Civil War provides a different but
refreshing analysis. This book should be reissued on this 150th anniversary of the Civil War. So few pople know about the
events in the Crimea that foretold the slaughter of the Civil War and WWI. Oh, why didn't they learn. Buy it and read it.