(1856) Conference in Paris to produce the treaty that ended the Crimean War .
The treaty was signed between Russia on one side and France, Britain, Sardinia-Piedmont, and Turkey on the other. It guaranteed the independence and territorial integrity of Turkey. Russia was forced to surrender Bessarabia to Moldavia, warships of all nations were barred from the Black Sea, and the Danube River was opened to shipping of all countries. The congress also adopted the first codified law of the sea, which banned privateering and defined a legal naval blockade.