The Battle of the Alma was fought on 20 September 1854 when an Allied force of British, French and Ottoman troops advancing on Sevastopol defeated a Russian attempt to block them at the River Alma.

The work was produced while the war was still being fought and was considered the only unambiguous French victory during the campaign so far which meant the regime of Napoleon III placed great emphasis on it.

Other prominent French artists Horace Vernet and Hippolyte Bellangé also received commissions to paint the battle.

[3] The painting featured at the Salon of 1855, held that year as part of the Exposition Universelle and was acquired by the French government for five thousand francs.

It is now in the collection of the Palace of Versailles, having previously been at the Musée du Luxembourg and the Louvre.