Few places are as brim-full with military history as Sevastopol. Built as a naval base when Russia first took over Crimea in the late 18th Century, it has been an important strategic point ever since. In the Crimean War, fought in the 1850s between Britain, France, the Ottoman Empire and Sardinia on one side, and Russia on the other, Sevastopol was besieged for almost a year, before it finally fell. The Russian defenders scuttled their ships across the mouth of the bay to block the entry of the British navy. In 1920, Sevastopol was one of the last hold-outs of the retreating White armies. And in World War II the city was again subjected to a long siege, before falling to the Germans in July 1942. It was recaptured by the Soviets in 1944, an almost completely ruined city. Sevastopol was declared one of the Soviet Union’s ‘Hero Cities’, which is commemorated by a huge monument in the pugnacious Socialist Realism style.
Almost everywhere you go in central Sevastopol are monuments to this military past. To a British visitor, this was an unfamiliar experience of visiting a city whose monuments portray a heroic defence against a British onslaught. To most in Britain, the Crimean War is mainly associated with the futile Charge of the Light Brigade commemorated in Tennyson’s poem. It is a military venture whose purpose seems hard to comprehend from a modern perspective. Yet at the time, Russia was seen as Britain’s main rival, and a threat to Britain’s empire in India. Propping up the ailing Ottomans against persistent Russian encroachments was regarded as a key interest. For the native Tartar population of Crimea, the participation of Ottoman troops must have excited hopes of liberation from Russian rule.
As well as statues commemorating the defenders of Sevastopol, the Panorama of Sevastopol’s Defence, a large circular building whose interior wall is covered with a vast painting depicting the climax of the siege is a centrepiece of the city’s war memorials. The Black Sea Fleet Museum portrays the war primarily, though not exclusively, from a Russian perspective. It was interesting to find that Russia had its equivalents of Florence Nightingale.
The strategic importance of Sevastopol has continued to cause controversy more recently. Following the breakup of the Soviet Union, the position of Crimea, and especially of Sevastopol, in newly independent Ukraine was disputed by Russia and by the predominantly Russian local population. Crimea had been a full republic of the Soviet Union until Krushchev, himself Ukrainian, handed it to Ukraine in the 1950s. Sevastopol was of particular importance as the base of the Soviet, now Russian Black Sea Fleet. In 1997, a treaty was signed between Russia and Ukraine. Crimea was recognised as part of Ukraine (although as an autonomous republic), while Ukraine agreed to lease the naval base to Russia for 20 years. In 2010, the new, more pro-Russian government in Ukraine agreed to extend the lease for a further 25 years. This agreement provoked intense opposition in some quarters, including a brawl in Ukraine’s parliament.
So why is Sevastopol so important to Russia? In an age when airpower and missiles can strike anywhere, its attractiveness as a natural harbour looks less valuable. Looking at the ageing ships in the bay, the Black Sea Fleet does not appear especially impressive. In Soviet times, with NATO member Turkey just across the water, one could imagine why it was important. Probably it is partly a matter of national pride. For a city so steeped in Russian history, it is simply difficult to face up to the fact that it is no longer Russia. The proliferation of Russian flags in the city, including on many public buildings, make clear where the hearts of many of its residents lie. Is part of the motivation for Moscow now also to maintain a toehold in Ukraine, to retain leverage, and to undermine its independence? There has been a similar pattern in some other Soviet successor states in Russia’s ‘near abroad’, with separatist territories supported by Moscow in Georgia and Moldova.
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