The Crimean War was part of a long-running contest between the major European powers for influence over territories of the declining Ottoman Empire. Most of the conflict took place on the Crimean Peninsula, but there were smaller campaigns in western Turkey, the Baltic Sea, the Pacific Ocean and the White Sea.
The Crimean War is notorious for the logistical and tactical mistakes that plagued both sides. Nonetheless, the War is sometimes considered to be the first "modern" conflict as it "introduced technical changes which affected the future course of warfare," including the first tactical use of railways and the telegraph. It is also famous for the work of Florence Nightingale, who pioneered modern nursing practices while caring for wounded British soldiers. The Crimean War was the first war to be extensively documented in photographs.
