Throughout the reading of Regarding the Pain of Others, one of the themes that is prevalent is the importance of photograph in our remembrance and understanding of history, specifically wars. I will be looking at one war in particular in the Crimean War. The Crimean War is a lesser known war that took place from 1853-1856 (History). The war was the result of Russia being in Turkey which caused fear in different European countries (History). The Crimean War was one of the first conflicts to be captured using photography, adding to the importance of the conflict. Photograph played a large role in the perception of the war. The use of photography is shown in the novel Regarding the Pain of Others when Sontag talks about the Father and Sonmemoir and quotes from this memoir with, “the declaration of war with Russia brough the first breath of outside life into our Calvinist cloister. My parents took in the daily newspaper, which they had never done before, and events in picturesque places, which my Father and I looked out on the map, were eagerly discussed.” (Sontag;53) This exemplifies that photograph in the newspaper opened the eyes to ordinary citizens for the first time and gave them a visual of what was actually happening around them.
Although photograph offered an insight to this war to the average citizen it was also the first use of propaganda by governments. When photographer Roger Fenton was sent to Crimean, he was under orders from the War Office not to photograph the dead, maimed, or ill. (Sontag;54) To add to this Prince Albert invited Fenton to go take photographs to give a more positive impression of the war which was already unpopular according to Sontag. This early use of propaganda evolved and was soon used as a weapon throughout the years (Cooke, 2014)
The Crimean War opened the door to the benefits of photography showing the world the battlefield, but it has also been weaponized. Ever since the Crimean War, photographing battles has advanced and it has even citizens a glance into the reality of war. Recently in class we have been looking at how immigrants have faced harder times due to the fact that their differences are unknown to people, in that way photograph can help show different cultures around the world and open people’s eyes and hears to people who are different. Photography has come so far since the Crimean War and hopefully the advancement continues to give insight to what’s happening around our planet.
Works Cited
Cooke, Ian. “Propaganda as a Weapon? Influencing International Opinion.” The British Library, The British Library, 23 Jan. 2014, www.bl.uk/world-war-one/articles/propaganda-as-a-weapon.
Hinder, David, et al. “Photographing Conflict: Roger Fenton and the Crimean War.” National Science and Media Museum Blog, 6 Apr. 2020, blog.scienceandmediamuseum.org.uk/remembrance-day-part-1-photographing-war-fenton-crimean/.
History.com Editors. “Crimean War.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 9 Nov. 2009, www.history.com/topics/british-history/crimean-war.
Sontag, Susan. Regarding the Pain of Others. Picador, 2003.