William Howard Russell the first special correspondent of the Manchester Guardian John Black Atkins. http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/24/the-special-correspondent/?_r=0' http://spartacus-educational.com/Jrussell.htm' William Howard Russell Sir William Howard Russell (28 March 1820, Tallaght, County Dublin, Ireland – 11 February 1907, London, England) was an Irish reporter with "The Times", and is considered to have been one of the first modern war correspondents. He spent 22 months covering the Crimean War, including the Siege of Sevastopol and the Charge of the Light Brigade. He later covered events during the Indian Rebellion of 1857, the American Civil War, the Austro-Prussian War, and the Franco-Prussian War. As a young reporter, Russell reported
Crimean War of Balaclava, which saw the ill-fated Charge of the Light Brigade. This scrutiny later led to the abolition of the sale of commissions. The Crimean War was a contributing factor in the Russian abolition of serfdom in 1861: Tsar Alexander II (Nicholas I's son and successor) saw the military defeat of the Russian serf-army by free troops from Britain and France as proof of the need for emancipation. The Crimean War also led to the realisation by the Russian government of its technological inferiority, in military practices as well as weapons. Meanwhile, Russian military medicine saw dramatic progress: N. I.