The Invasion of the Crimea: its origin, and an account of its progress down to the death of Lord Raglan

The Invasion of the Crimea: its origin, and an account of its progress down to the death of Lord Raglan

Kinglake, Alexander William

New York: Harper & Bros., 1863

HathiTrust

1863

George Eliot to John Blackwood, London, 7 February 1875. "Last night I finished reading aloud to Mr. Lewes the Inkerman volume, and we both thank you heartily for the valuable present. It is an admirable piece of writing. Such pure, lucid English is what one rarely gets to read. The masterly marshalling of the material is certainly in contrast with the movements described. To my non-military mind the Inkerman affair seems nothing but a brave blundering into victory. Great traits of valour -- Homeric moments -- but also a powerful lack of brains in the form of generalship. I cannot see that the ordering up of the two 18-pounder guns was a vast mental effort, unless the weight of the guns is to be counted in the order as well as the execution. But the grand fact of the thousands beaten by the hundreds remains under all interpretations. Why the Russians in their multitudinous mass should have chosen to retreat into Sebastopol, moving at their leisure and carrying off all their artillery, seems a mystery in spite of General Dannenberg's memorable answer to Mentschikoff." GEL 6: 122

Kinglake, Alexander William, The Invasion of the Crimea: its origin, and an account of its progress down to the death of Lord Raglan, George Eliot's Reading, George Eliot Archive, edited by Beverley Park Rilett. https://GeorgeEliotArchive.org, Accessed September 7, 2026. https://georgeeliotarchive.org/items/show/57087

https://georgeeliotarchive.org/files/original/266db2dde949256c0b89cc1e2d0c78dc.pdf