The Crimean War

by Charles McLeod

Home

How it all Started

Famous People

The Victorian Era

Our Lads

William Russell

Hi! I'm a pupil at St. Teresa's School in Birmingham. This is my Class 7 history project...

You can mail me with any comments or questions.

Keep coming back to my site to see what's new!

Reports and news stories about the war

In the Victorian times people had no televisions or radios and they often had to rely on the information they read in the newspaper for current affairs and details of how 'our boys' were coping in the battlefields so far away. One of the most famous news reporters who was to become known as the ' first war correspondent' was William Russell. He went to the Crimea from the start and he worked for 'The Times' newspaper. He exposed the muddle and mismanagement that made the war so terrible for the soldiers. The first reports and articles he sent back home were denied, but as more lists of causalities began to pour in, it showed that this war correspondent was telling the truth. He opened the British public's eyes to the suffering of the British troops:

Not only were they fading away from cholera, scurvy, gangrene, frost-bite and dysentery, but more recent arrivals were suffering equally. By the 6th of December, a month after landing, the 46th had lost 160 dead, only a handful being killed by the enemy.

A quote from Michael Barthops 'Heroes of the Crimea'.

So although this was the last war fought in bright colors it also had the first war correspondent.