At the end of January, 1855, the French force was seventy-five thousand men and ten thousand horses. Up to the same time, the English had sent fifty-four thousand men to the Crimea, but only fifteen thousand were alive, present, and fit for duty.
February 4, the French numbered eighty-five thousand; the English, twenty-five thousand fit for duty; the Turks, twenty-five thousand.
May 8, 1855, General La Marmora arrived at Balaklava with fifteen thousand Sardinians.
In the latter part of May, an expedition of sixteen thousand men was sent to Kertch.
In August, the French force at Sebastopol had risen to one hundred and twenty thousand men.
September 8, the final assault took place, which resulted in the evacuation of the place by the Russians. The allies had then in battery more than eight hundred pieces of artillery.
The fleet which co-operated with the land-forces in the artillery attack of October 17, 1854, consisted of twenty-five ships. There were present and prepared to attack in September, 1855, thirty-four ships.
October, 1855, an expeditionary force of nine thousand men was sent to Kinburn, which place was captured.
Marshal Vaillant, in his report, as Minister of War, to the French emperor, says there were sent from France and Algeria three hundred and ten thousand men and forty thousand horses, of which two hundred and twenty-seven thousand men returned to France and Algeria.
The marshal's report gives the following striking facts, (he refers only to French operations:-)