The Baltic Theatre of the Crimean War

WYLD, James.

Wyld's Map of the Baltic or East Sea, including the Gulf of Finland and the Surrounding Countries, embracing the Present Seat of War.
London: Wyld, 1854. Lithographic map with original hand colour. Dissected and laid on linen, total 520 x 695mm.

Chart of the sea from the east coast of England to St Petersburg, with insets of the environs of St Petersburg and Russian territorial advances in Scandinavia.
This separate-issue map was published to illustrate the news accounts of the Anglo-French fleet that had been sent to blockade St Petersburg, Russia's only northern port open all year around, on the outbreak of the Crimean War in 1854. In two successive years the fleet blockaded the Gulf of Finland successfully and had a few minor victories, including the capture of the Russian garrison at Bomarsund and the bombardment of Sweaborg and Hogland. However the failure of the fleet to attack either Cronstad or St Petersburg meant that the action was stategically ineffective.


Stock ID : 15016