Death or Glory: The Legacy of the Crimean War

by Robert B. Edgerton

Release Date: June, 2000

Edition: Paperback

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Fine Book.

Edgerton's book about the Crimean War does not just cover the battles. It covers the British society of that time who thought a war would be a fine thing because they hadn't had one in 40 years. It covers the stupidity of the British high command, both on the spot and in Britain, and the suffering that this stupidity caused those fine British soldiers who did their duty. Kipling would approve of this book.

Disasters of War

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.