From 12, Victoria avenue
To 9, Saint-Denis boulevard
Length 1332 m (4370 ft)
Completion 1854
Denomination 1855
Old name Boulevard du centre
Sebastopol boulevard (Boulevard de Sébastopol) is one of the most important routes that Haussmann made during the transformation work in Paris. It constitutes an important element of the new major north-south axis that crosses the center of Paris and constitutes the access axis to the Gare de l'Est station.
It is 1,332 meters long and 30 meters wide and starts from the Place du Châtelet and continues north with the boulevard de Strasbourg. It is first a thoroughfare with three automobile lanes and a bus lane.
In 1854, it was declared that this Street was opened for public utility. Initially called "Boulevard du Centre", it was renamed "Boulevard de Sébastopol" a few days after the victory won on September 8, 1855, by the troops of Napoleon III.
The boulevard was inaugurated in 1858.
View of the Sebastopol Boulevard from the square of Châtelet
Another view of the Sebastopol Boulevard
The Réaumur - Sébastopol bus station is on the Sebastopol boulevard.
Réaumur - Sébastopol bus station
Sebastopol is a city in the south-west of the Crimean Peninsula.
Caption
SEBASTOPOL SIEGE
The Sebastopol siege is the main episode of the Crimean War. It lasted eleven months, from October 9, 1854 to September 11, 1855. Cholera, scurvy and other infectious diseases caused many deaths.
In September 1854, the Allied troops (British, French, Ottoman and Sardinian) reached Crimea and began the siege of Sebastopol, the home port of the Imperial Russian Navy on the Black Sea whose fleet threatened the Mediterranean sea.
After the Russian army and its commander Prince Alexander Menschikoff left, the defense of Sebastopol had been entrusted to vice-admirals Vladimir Alexeyevich Kornilov and Pavel Nakhimov, assisted by the chief engineer of Menschikoff, lieutenant-colonel Edward Totleben. The military forces available to defend the city were 4.500 militiamen, 2.700 artillerymen, 4.400 sailors, 18.500 crewmen and 5.000 workers, for a total of about 35.000 men.
The battle began on October 17, 1854. The Allies had 120 guns ready to fire on Sevastopol ; the Russians had about three times more to defend themselves from infantry attacks. At the same time, the Allied ships shelled the Russian defenses, with disappointing results. From October to November 1854, the battles of Balaklava and Inkerman took place on the other side of the siege line. After Inkerman, the Russians gradually transferred their troops into the city to help the defenders. Towards the end of November, the weather deteriorated and allied camps and their food reserves were devasted in winter. Men and horses fell ill and suffered from hunger in these difficult conditions.
Once the winter passed, the Allies were able to restore their supply routes. A railway was used to bring more than 500 guns and ammunition from Balaklava to the front. Beginning on April 8, 1855, the Allies resumed bombing Russian defenses. On April 11, General Michel Bizot was shot by a Russian bullet and lost his life a few days later (April 15). On September 8, the French army managed to seize the fortified position of Malakoff through a perfectly coordinated assault. The fortress then became untenable and the Russians evacuated it after having destroyed its fortifications. Three days later, the city of Sebastopol finally surrendered.
Although Sebastopol was heroically defended and its attack claimed the lives of many Allies, its fall would mark the beginning of the Russian defeat in the Crimean War.
