<P> The Crimean War ( French : Guerre de Crimée ; Russian : Кры́мская война́ , translit . Krymskaya voina or Russian : Восто́чная война́ , translit . Vostochnaya voina , lit . ' Eastern War ' ; Turkish : Kırım Savaşı ; Italian : Guerra di Crimea ) was a military conflict fought from October 1853 to February 1856 in which the Russian Empire lost to an alliance of the Ottoman Empire , France , Britain and Sardinia . The immediate cause involved the rights of Christian minorities in the Holy Land , which was a part of the Ottoman Empire . The French promoted the rights of Roman Catholics , while Russia promoted those of the Eastern Orthodox Church . The longer - term causes involved the decline of the Ottoman Empire and the unwillingness of Britain and France to allow Russia to gain territory and power at Ottoman expense . It has widely been noted that the causes , in one case involving an argument over a key , have never revealed a `` greater confusion of purpose '' , yet led to a war noted for its `` notoriously incompetent international butchery '' . </P>
<P> The Crimean War ( French : Guerre de Crimée ; Russian : Кры́мская война́ , translit . Krymskaya voina or Russian : Восто́чная война́ , translit . Vostochnaya voina , lit . ' Eastern War ' ; Turkish : Kırım Savaşı ; Italian : Guerra di Crimea ) was a military conflict fought from October 1853 to February 1856 in which the Russian Empire lost to an alliance of the Ottoman Empire , France , Britain and Sardinia . The immediate cause involved the rights of Christian minorities in the Holy Land , which was a part of the Ottoman Empire . The French promoted the rights of Roman Catholics , while Russia promoted those of the Eastern Orthodox Church . The longer - term causes involved the decline of the Ottoman Empire and the unwillingness of Britain and France to allow Russia to gain territory and power at Ottoman expense . It has widely been noted that the causes , in one case involving an argument over a key , have never revealed a `` greater confusion of purpose '' , yet led to a war noted for its `` notoriously incompetent international butchery '' . </P>
the root cause of the crimean war was
the root cause of the crimean war was
the rights of Christian minorities in the Holy Land , which was a part of the Ottoman Empire
the rights of Christian minorities in the Holy Land , which was a part of the Ottoman Empire