This view of 'diplomatic drift' as the cause of the war was first popularised by A. W, Kinglake, who portrayed the British <answer>as victims</answer> of newspaper sensationalism and duplicitous French and Ottoman diplomacy. More recently, the historians Andrew Lambert and Winfried Baumgart have argued that, first, Britain was following a geopolitical strategy in aiming to destroy a fledgling Russian Navy which might challenge the Royal Navy for control of the seas, and second that the war was a joint European response to a century of Russian expansion not just southwards but also into western Europe.
What did A.W Kinglake make the British out to be?
as victims