This war was fought with an alliance between Britain, France, the Ottoman Empire (Turkey) and Sardinia against Russia. A long term cause of the war was that the Ottoman Empire was in decline and Russia wanted to expand into the Ottoman territory. Britain and France didn't want Russia to gain anymore territory, as with territory came power. Britain and France didn't want Russia to have more power as this could influence things like their trading. The Crimean War also had a short term cause of religious differences between Catholic France and Orthodox Russia. The tension between the two contributed towards the Crimean War.
France and Britain went to war in the Crimea region of Russia aiming to destroy the Russian navy based at Sebastopol and maintain their dominance in Europe. The British Empire was very powerful at this time and they couldn't let anyone jeopardize this. Britain's aristocratic leadership believed it would be a short war and as such, weren't prepared. The troops for instance were not properly equipped for a winter conflict and this was bad for them when the Russian winter of 1854 - 1855 came.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crimean_War#The_immediate_causes_of_the_war
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/battles/crimea/
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