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In March 1854 Britain and France declared war on Russia, in support of Turkey whose navy had suffered a severe defeat at the hands of the Russian fleet in the Black Sea off Sinope.
Lord Raglan, in command of the British force encamped at Varna on the Western shore of the Black Sea, received instructions from Her Majesty's Government "to concert measures for the Siege of Sebastopol, unless, with the information in your possession but at present unknown in this country, you should be decidedly of the opinion that it could not be undertaken with a reasonable prospect of success".
Despite having little information about Russian strength in the Crimea, Lord Raglan felt it his duty to obey this instruction, and so preparations went ahead to invade the peninsula. In September, the British and French armies landed on a beach north of Sebastopol, and began the march southwards to their objective.
The electric telegraph had been invented many years earlier, and already interconnected the cities of Europe. A telegraph station existed at Varna, and when the allies occupied Balaclava a submarine cable was laid across the Black Sea from Varna to Balaclava, a distance of 340 miles, thus connecting the Commanders-in-Chief with London and Paris. It was not always popular with the Military.
The French Commander-in-Chief was continually addressed by his monarch, Napoleon III, who took a close interest in the campaign.
The British Commander Lieutenant General Sir James Simpson, who had succeeded Lord Raglan, was pestered with minor administrative queries from Whitehall without an adequate staff to deal with them. 'The confounded telegraph has ruined everything" he commented.
To carry the cable forward on land, Lieutenant Stopford, RE, and 25 Sappers, were provided with two telegraph wagons, a cable cart and plough, and 24 miles of copper wire, insulated with thick Gutta-percha. Throughout the winter of 1854/55 the siege of Sebastopol dragged on, but the cable could not be buried until the ground had thawed in February, for a start to be made. By the end of the campaign, in September 1855, 21 miles of the cable had been laid, and eight telegraph offices were in circuit.
The envelope date stamp commemorates the capture of Kerch on 25 May 1855. In order to prevent the allies from entering the straits of Kerch the Russians had erected powerful gun batteries on the Crimean shore of the straits. The allies decided to take the batteries by a 'coup de main', and this was successfully achieved by a combined British and French force, including the Highland Brigade Royal Marines, and some companies of the Rifle Brigade.
Sebastopol finally fell to the allied armies on September 8th 1855, after savage fighting; this event being duly reported by the telegraph to London and Paris. | 
