It was called the Last Crusade, the War of Technology: the world’s most powerful nations fought against each other against the backdrop of the decline of some and the rise of others. They fought in front of the Black Sea, a transitional land where Europe and Asia meet and whose control has global implications. It was the Crimean War in the 19th century.

170 years ago, Russian armies marched south, specifically into the landscapes of today’s republics of Romania and Moldova, to subdue local authorities that were under the rule of the Ottoman Empire (today’s Turkey). The justification was taking care of the Russian-speaking population and including them in the protection of Moscow. Another purpose was to support the Orthodox believers who managed the holy places of Christianity under the rule of the Turkish sultan.

limits of power

Western European powers interpreted the imperial deployment as an attempt to expand Russian territories into the Mediterranean. The Austrians stood in solidarity with the Ottomans and fought successfully at the mouth of the Danube, while the Anglo-French forces also joined the battles against Moscow, first west of the Black Sea and then in Crimea, a peninsula now disputed by Ukraine .. and Russia, the same one which the Europeans won in that war and returned to Russia after the peace agreement, which ended its war badly. The most advanced technology and science of industrial civilization were deployed in that conflict which saw the return of France as a military power after the failed Napoleonic adventures, cemented the alliance of London and Paris that remains in force to this day, and produced an international order that lasted for almost 60 years.

The 19th century was marked by the multipolar architecture of the international system. Several countries contested each other’s primacy in the context of a constant threat. The British Empire was the most powerful country in the world, but not the only one. Russia had the largest military on the planet, the United States was expanding, and almost all the modern nations of Europe, as well as Japan, had the ability to project their interests beyond their borders. The international order at that time constantly confronted states, and strategic conflicts were resolved with weapons.

Multipolarity has not offered guarantees of security, stability or validity of sovereignty to any country in the past. The colonial expansion of Europe took place in multipolar scenarios, as did the control of the United States over Latin American countries or the invasion of Asia by Japan. This does not mean that bipolarity or unipolarity are better alternatives, but simply that the way in which international power is distributed, when asymmetrical, does not eliminate relations of dominance or subordination. To believe otherwise is naive. (OR)