The Crimean War was the denning conflict of the nineteenth century and one of the fiercest battles in Russia`s history: pitting its empire against an alliance of Britain, France and Turkey, killing at least 800,000 men and completely redrawing the map of Europe. It was the first conflict to use photography, the telegraph and newspapers, - the original "total war". Orlando Figes` vivid new book reinterprets this extraordinary conflict. Bringing to life ordinary soldiers in snow-filled trenches, surgeons on the battlefield and the haunted, fanatical figure of Tsar Nicholas himself, Crimea tells the human story of a tragic war.