Battle of Malakoff

Battle context

The Battle of Malakoff encompassed a series of French assaults on the Malakoff redoubt during the siege of Sevastopol, a centerpiece of the Crimean War. The initial attack on 18 June 1855 failed, but the successful storming on 8 September 1855 proved decisive. MacMahon's forces seized the redoubt while a simultaneous British assault on the Redan to the south was repulsed, making the French effort the single action that broke Russian resistance. The symbolic moment came when French zouave Eugène Libaut raised the French flag atop the redoubt. The fall of the Malakoff directly triggered the fall of Sevastopol on 9 September, ending an eleven-month siege and delivering the war's most consequential territorial result. The capture of Sevastopol effectively determined the outcome of the Crimean War, forcing Russia toward the peace settlement that followed.