The Malakoff Tower (actually:Malakhov) is a defense of the city of Sevastopol in Crimea
It was erected at the top of a hill facing the ramparts to defend the city against a possible attack by the English and the newly allied French, in the early 1850s. It was named after a former Russian captain whose memory remained attached instead, Vladimir I. Malakhov.
Ten meters high and equipped with powerful cannons, the tower was a formidable and central defense.
During the Crimean War, during the siege of Sebastopol, the allied generals (French, English and Turkish) being discouraged, a council of war was held on October 19, 1854.
At this advice, Lord Raglan recommended scattering the fires (shots), instead of concentrating them, and added:"You should begin your work of approach directing them towards the Malakoff tower, because, sooner or later, c This is where you will be forced to make your final attack." It was only five or six months later, when the Russians were seen gathering all their resistance forces around the tower, that it was realized that the key to the position was there.
On September 8, 1855, during the battle of Malakoff, the Malakoff tower fell into the hands of the French, led by Marshal Patrice de Mac-Mahon, who became famous in particular for this victory during which he pronounced his famous "I am there ! I stay there! », leading to the fall of the city. Its capture by the Zouaves of the French army led to the fall of Sevastopol on September 8, 1855 in the hands of the allies and marked the end of the Crimean War. The feat was celebrated throughout Europe. In France, Alexandre Chauvelot reconstructed the tower to the south of Paris, in the heart of his new garden nicknamed the new California and which shortly after took the very name, Frenchified, of Malakoff.