were loud explosions, caused by the blowing up of magazines where the Russians had immense stores of ammunition which they were unable to remove. The city was set on fire in many places, and when the Allies took possession on the 9th they found little more than a mass of ruins. Several of the Russian ships had been destroyed during the bombardment, and such as remained were burned or sunk during the night of the evacuation.
The Allies never made any serious attempt to disturb the Russian forces on the north side, and their communications with the interior were not interrupted. The two armies confronted each other for some time, but there was never any fighting of consequence after the fall of Sebastopol. Other warlike operations were conducted along the Russian shores of the Black Sea. Proposals of peace were made by Austria with the consent of the Allies, and finally, on the 30th of March, 1856, the treaty of peace was signed at Paris. The Allies had begun the destruction of the docks at Sebastopol, but so extensive were those works that with all the engineering skill at their command they were not through with it until July 9th, when they evacuated the Crimea.
According to English authorities the British loss during the Crimean war was about 27,000 men. The loss of the French was said to be 63,000, and that of the Russians nearly half a million. The English killed in action or died of wounds were about 3,500, died of cholera 4,244, and of other diseases 16,000. The remainder of the 27,000 were permanently disabled. Exact figures of the Russian losses have never been published.
By the treaty of Paris Russia was required to surrender the city and citadel of Kars to the Sultan, and at the same time the allied powers were to evacuate all the positions they occupied in the Crimea. Turkey was admitted to a place among the powers of Europe; the signatory powers at the conference agreed to respect the
