Balkan War (Napoleonic Age)

The Balkan War was a major European conflict fought from 16 April 1851 to 6 December 1854, in which the Ottoman Empire was defeated to a pan-European alliance led by Napoléon II's French Empire. It was the first major European war since the War of the Seventh Coalition, fought almost 40 years previously in 1815. It was the first major instance of "modern" or "total" warfare, as telegraphs, modern medicine, rifles, railroads, and explosive naval shells were all used on a widespread scale by all involved parties. Napoléon II, leader of the European coalition, hammered out an eventual by very costly Allied victory. The Ottomans, resurgent and growing once again in power and influence since the early 1830s, was contained. The Emperor of the French, who traveled alongside the French army and commanded it in several battles, would later die of tuberculosis, which he contracted during the war.