Historical Context

Crimean War

The war of 1853 to 1856 between Russia and an alliance of Britain, France, the Ottoman Empire and Sardinia, fought mainly in the Crimea around the siege of Sevastopol. It was the first war of the rifle-musket and the Minie ball, and the gap between the allies' rifles and Russia's smoothbore muskets at the Alma and Inkerman drove the military reforms that followed.

• Model 1845 musket

  The Model 1845 was the standard infantry musket of the Russian army in the Crimean War. A 7-line (17.8 mm) smoothbore fired by a percussion… Continued…

• Pattern 1853 Enfield

  The Pattern 1853 Enfield was the British Army's .577 caliber percussion rifle-musket, adopted in 1853 and made at the Royal Small Arms… Continued…