Charge of the Light Brigade

The Charge of the Light Brigade was an ill-advised cavalry charge which occurred during the Battle of Balaclava on October 25, 1854 during the Crimean War. It is the subject of a famous poem entitled "The Charge of the Light Brigade" by Alfred Tennyson.

The charge was made by the Light Brigade of the British cavalry. Made up of the 4th and 13th Light Dragoons, 17th Lancers, and the 8th and 11th Hussars. It was commanded by Major General the Earl of Cardigan. together with the Heavy Brigade (the Royal Dragoon Guards and the Scots Greys) it was the main British cavalry force at the battle, overall command of the cavalry was with the Earl of Lucan[?].

Lucan was delivered an order from the army commmander Lord Raglan stating that "Lord Raglan wishes the cavalry to advance rapidly to the front and to prevent the enemy carrying away the guns. Horse Artillery may accompany. French cavalry is on your left. Immediate." The order was drafted by Brigadier Airey and was carried by Captain Lewis Nolan, who may have carried further oral instructions, but he was killed during the charge so that is conjecture.

In response to the order Cardigan led 673 (or 661) cavalry men straight into the valley made between the Fediukhine Heights and the Causeway Heights. The Russian forces, under Pavel Liprandi[?], on the sides of the valley and at the end included over fifty artillery pieces and around 20 battalions of infantry. It appears that the order was interpreted to refer to the mass of Russian guns in a redoubt at the end of the valley, around a mile away. The brigade reached the end of the valley and forced the Russian forces from the redoubt but suffered heavy casualties and were soon forced back. Lucan failed to provide any support for Cardigan and may have been motivated by personal emnity with his brother-in-law - the troops of the Heavy Brigade entered the mouth of the valley but did not advance further. The French cavalry, the Chasseurs d'Afrique was more effective, they broke the Russian line on the Fediukhine Heights and later covered the remains of the Light Brigade as they withdrew.

When the Light Brigade was regrouped there were only 195 men still with horses. The brigade had lost 118 men killed and 127 wounded, 362 horses were killed. The stupidity of the action and its reckless bravery, prompted Marshal Pierre Bosquet[?] to state "C'est magnifique, mais ce n'est pas la guerre." Initially the Russian commanders believed the British soldiers must have been drunk and it measurably improved the reputation of British cavalry during the rest of the conflict.

Tennyson praises the Brigade, "When can their glory fade? O the wild charge they made!", while mourning the appalling futility of the charge: "Not tho' the soldier knew, someone had blunder'd... Charging an army, while all the world wonder'd."

Books which analyse the events leading up to the event offer insight into British military history[?] and also into the baleful consequences which can result from courage coupled with lack of insight.

Quotation

Half a league half a league

Half a league onward

All in the valley of Death

Rode the six hundred:

`Forward the Light Brigade

Charge for the guns' he said

Into the valley of Death

Rode the six hundred

First stanza, "Charge of the Light Brigade"

The event has twice been made into a film, first in 1936 by Michael Curtiz and starring Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland and David Niven. The second film was in 1968, directed by Tony Richardson it starred John Gielgud and Trevor Howard. Each film followed a distinctly different historical interpretation of the events, the 1936 film was heroic while the second was based more on the revisionist book by Woodham-Smith.

Further Reading

• The Reason Why, Story of the Fatal Charge of the Light Brigade, Cecil Woodham-Smith, Penguin Books, ISBN 014139031X, first published in 1953 by McGraw-Hill.