William Howard Russell 1850. Initially sent by editor John Delane to Malta to cover British support for the Ottoman Empire against Russia in 1854, Russell despised the term "war correspondent" but his coverage of the conflict brought him international renown, and Florence Nightingale later credited her entry into wartime nursing to his reports. The Crimean medical care, shelter and protection of all ranks by Mary Seacole was also publicised by Russell and by other contemporary journalists, rescuing her from bankruptcy. Russell was described by one of the soldiers on the frontlines thus: "a vulgar low Irishman, [who] sings a good song, drinks anyone's
Sardinian Expeditionary Corps in the Crimean War and 126 naval guns. Combat ships: Transport ships: Sardinian Expeditionary Corps in the Crimean War During the Crimean War (October 1853 – February 1856) between Russia and the alliance of France, the United Kingdom, the Ottoman Empire, and Sardinia, the latter sent an expeditionary force to the Crimean peninsula in the Black Sea. The prime minister of the Kingdom of Sardinia Count Camillo di Cavour and the king Victor Emmanuel II decided to side with France and the United Kingdom to strengthen then French-Sardinian alliance. A total of 18,000 Sardinian troops under Lieutenant General Alfonso Ferrero La Marmora were committed