The Charge Of The Light Brigade | Crimean War

the charge of the lights brigade on the 25th of october 1854 took place during the battle of balaclava in the crimean war when just over 600 british cavalrymen launched a near suicidal charge on entrenched russian artillery it's become a byline for military blunders incompetence and miscommunication it is remembered in one of britain's most popular poems the charge of the light brigade by alfred lord tennyson but it is also a story of incredible bravery and heroism by ordinary soldiers against incredible odds this is the story of the charge of the light brigade the crimean war was fought between the russian empire and the combined forces of britain france and the ottoman empire turkey between 1854 and 1856 in fact i'm thinking about doing a talk all about the war itself and the various battles so please comment below if you're interested in that in the meantime here is a very quick synopsis that gives a little bit of background to the charge that leads us to the charge of the light brigade the three allies sent an expeditionary force to the crimean peninsula part of the russian empire and laid siege to the russian naval base at sebastopol the british force consisted of 26 000 men including regiments from the cavalry at this stage britain's cavalry was divided into two brigades that the heavy brigade and the light brigade originally the two brigades had very different roles on the battlefield but by the 1850s those separate roles had sort of blurred but there were still two different brigades the light brigade in the crimea consisted of the 4th and 13th light dragoons the 8th and 11th huzzahs and the 17th lancers a force of just over 600 men the british army that went to the crimea suffered from poor leadership victoria's army relied on the outdated system of officers buying their commission and then buying promotions so in other words seniority in the british army was far less to do with ability and a lot more to do with wealth and birth the commander-in-chief lord raglan was a case in point now age 65 he'd spent most of his 50-year military career in desk jobs including serving his great hero the duke of wellington in fact in all that time in his 50 years he'd never commanded more than a battalion reporting into lord raglan was lord lucan commanding the cavalry and reporting to him was the commander of the light brigade lord cardigan unfortunately the two men lucan and cardigan had a personal feud which were which went back about 30 years both these senior officers had purchased their commissions and neither of them had led troops into battle lucam was willing to suffer the same hardships as his troops whilst cardigan commanded the light brigade from his personal yacht which was anchored just offshore whilst cardigan was to prove personally brave as we're going to find out thinking laterally or questioning orders were not traits that either he or luken possessed raglan had decided to supply his forces besieging sebastopol via the port at balaclava about 10 miles southeast of the russian naval base balaclava was on the far right hand of the british line with a road running up from the port through a valley and onwards to a high plateau from which the british were organizing their siege of the the naval port below to protect this route through the valley the allies had constructed six redoubt uh redoubts of forts on the causeway heights just to the south of that valley on the morning of the 25th of october 1854 just over a month after the allies had landed in the crimea the russians launched their attack to capture balaclava and cut the british off from future surprise supplies again the battle of balaclava deserves its own video so here is a quick sort of 10-15 second summary four of the six redoubts on the causeway heights were swiftly captured by the russians who now are descended towards balaclava itself the russian advance was halted by the 93rd highland regiment of foot the so-called thin red line and then turned back by a charge from the heavy brigade leaving the russians still in possession of the four redoubts that they captured and indeed the british naval guns that have been placed inside them the russian cavalry masked behind 12 artillery guns at the far east end of the northern valley above the causeway heights more russian troops position themselves on the slopes to the north of that valley so any british force stupid enough to attack the russian with the russia the russian cavalry would face withering fire from three different directions which brings us to the charge of the lights brigade british commander raglan was observing the battle from far up on the heights to the west of the valley and late that morning he sent an order to lucan which read quote cavalry to advance and take advantage of any opportunity to recover the heights they will be supported by infantry which have been ordered advance on two fronts a simple order up there on the plateau but down at ground level lucan was confused firstly he was being ordered to use cavalry to recover the heights which were manned by infantry and captured guns secondly there was no sign of this infantry support that had been promised and finally he was confused by the term take advantage of any opportunity which was sort of indicative of his lack of out of the box thinking lucan refused to move until the promised infantry arrived the minutes ticked away in fact over 30 minutes ticked away raglan grew more perplexed and frustrated especially as it now looked like the russians were attempting to remove the captured british guns from those redoubts the loss of a gun was sort of akin to an infantry regiment losing their colours and raglan was well aware that his great hero the duke of wellington had never lost a gun in his entire career the commander now sent a further order to lucan lord raglan wishes the cavalry to advance rapidly to the front follow the enemy and try to prevent the enemy carrying away the guns troop horse artillery may accompany french cavalry is on your left immediate a cavalry officer captain louis edward nolan volunteered to rush the order down to lucan a talented horseman and passionate cavalryman nolan had utter contempt for luken as the cavalry commander a contempt that had groaned as lukan had failed to use the cavalry and in particular the light brigade at either the battle of alma about a month beforehand or in the battle of balaclava that very morning and he wasn't alone in this disdain of lucan's lack of action many in the british army had nicknamed lord lucan lord lookout as nolan raced off raglan shouted after him tell lord lucan the cavalry is to attack immediately nolan showed his horsemanship skills by descending the 700 foot escarpment from the plateau in double quick time and racing across the floor of valley to lord lucam luke had read the order from his superior and was once again perplexed whilst raglan up on the plateau had this sort of panoramic view of both the north valley and the south valley lucan could not see a single russian soldier from his position and indeed he hadn't sent out any scouting parties to ascertain what the heck was going on in front of him he thought the order was slightly absurd nolan's frustration with lord lookout finally boiled over and he shouted lord ragland orders are that they the cavalry should attack immediately lucam is totally confused attack sir attack what what gun sir nolan swept his arm behind him there my lord is your enemy there are your guns the wide theatrical sweep of his arm pointed not towards the causeway heights but towards the end of the valley where the russian guns were entrenched without seeking clarification or questioning the messenger about this slightly bizarre order lucan now rode over and gave the order to cardigan in person cardigan pointed out that he was being asked to charge the light brigade against artillery guns entrenched at the end of the valley i can't help that replied lucam it is lord raglan's positive order that the light brigade is to attack the enemy neither of these bitter rivals stopped for a moment to discuss the meaning of the order and with that the fate of the lights brigade was sealed cardigan decided to lead this mad charge towards the guns from the very front but as he rode forward he was hurt to mutter very loudly here goes the last of the brutals the brutal nels were his family name behind cardigan would be the 17th lancers the 13th flight dragoons and the 11th huzars whilst behind them would be the eighth hussars and the fourth light dragoons in support cardigan rode over to the commander of the fourth flight dragoons lord george padgett now if lukeman cardigan's rivalry wasn't damaging enough in this chain of command it's worth noting that paget's brother had unsuccessfully sued cardigan for sleeping with his wife and now cardigan was expecting him to support the attack in fact he said i expect your best support mind your best support the irritated paget replied of course my lord you should have my best support and it was at this stage that lucan couldn't resist meddling in his old rivals command and he ordered that the eleventh huzzahs which was cardigan's old regiment be withdrawn from the honor of being in that front line of the attack whilst lucan's old regiment the 17th lancers would remain in it seething with anger cardigan was forced to move the eleventh results behind the front line and him and be ended and before the fourth dragoons and eight who's ours so we had two one two formation dressed in the uniform of his old regiment they're now relegated eleventh is ours cardigan struck a commanding figure at the front of the light brigade in his blue and gold tunic his red trousers and his fur buzzbury hat mounted on his chestnut thoroughbred named roland cardigan ordered the light infantry to advance down the valley he never looked back and as tennyson wrote into the valley of death wrote the 600. both the british commanders on the plateau and the russians facing them believe that the light brigade were advancing down the valley before wheeling right to attack the causeway redoubts indeed the russian defenders of the redoubts have now formed squares to receive the expected cavalry charge but the light brigade didn't wheel right cardigan kept heading straight up the valley towards the entrenched guns never looking behind raglan was incredulous almost as incredulous as the russians who are now facing this tiny force coming towards them the light brigade advanced almost in silence as everything and everyone in the valley seemed to pause even up on the plateau they could clearly hear the clink of the cavalry moving forward and then the eerie silence was shattered by the crash of the russian guns suddenly cardigan was aware of nolan riding out across the advancing light brigade towards him waving his sword nolan shouted but above the roar of the russian guns cardigan could not understand what an earth he was saying to the aging cardigan it seemed like the hot-headed nolan was somehow trying to lead the charge and he shouted at the young captain get back into line could it have been that nolan had suddenly realized that raglan's orders had been fatally misunderstood and he was trying to redirect cardigan towards the redoubts well we'll never know because at that moment a shell landed between the two men and nolan uttered a terrifying shriek a piece of shrapnel had embedded itself into his chest and pierced his heart his horse now gallop back into the advancing light brigade and captain nolan slowly slipped off onto the valley floor he was probably the first casualty in the charge of the light to brigade onwards road cardigan livid that nolan had in his mind tried to take lead of the charge in perfect order as if they're on a parade ground the light brigade rode into a barrage of cannon and rifle fire coming from three sides as tennyson wrote in his poem cannon to the right of them cannon to the left of them cannon in front of them follied and thundered stormed at with shot and shell boldly they rode and well into the jaws of death into the mouth of hell wrote the 600. to those watching it was both a magnificent charge and heartbreaking at the same time the lights brigades were now halfway down the the just a mile and a quarter valley head with the russian guns now obscured by smoke their blood was up and suddenly cheering and yelling they broke into a gallop padgett's fourth lights dragoons raced up alongside the eleventh huzzahs leaving the eighth hussails in their wake his men were now not only being hit by russian cannon shot and rifle fire but were having to negotiate the fallen horses and bodies of their comrades strewn across the valley floor in front of them all whilst at the gallop riderless horses wide-eyed with terror were colliding with them dazed and wounded cavalrymen staggering to their feet were knocked down by the charge and still cardigan led from the front still livid with nolan as they raced into the jaws of death officers and ncos were urging the surviving men to close in close in as they bore down on the russians it was just eight minutes since the light brigade had began their advance just over a mile down the valley and now they were just yards from the russian guns suddenly there was a flash of flames aurora the ground shook the russian cannon all 12 of them had fired at point-blank range the first line of the attacking light brigade simply ceased to exist looking from above raglan witnessed an eerie sight down in the valley the russian guns had suddenly fallen silent and what remained of the light brigade had vanished into a silent cloud of gunsmoke meanwhile down at the russian guns it was anything but silent as the light brigade fought the gun crews in a light that survivors have said was more like twilight because of the gunsmoke an almost a medieval battle was taking place swords on swords even bare fists as the british cavalry finally got to grips with their russian enemy while some russians took cover from the fury of the light brigade under their gun carriages others valiantly tried to hitch up their cannons and take them to safety to the russians losing the cannons was just as humiliating as it was to raglan and then suddenly the light brigade or what remained of it were through the smoke and found themselves facing thousands of russian cavalry and cossacks exactly who's more surprised is anyone's guess but what happened next certainly surprised the mass ranks of the russian cavalry without breaking their stride that small group of the light brigade charged already shaken from their encounter with the heavy brigade just a couple of hours earlier and now with some complete crazies chasing them the russian cavalry panicked and fled into a congested bottleneck at the far end of the valley and it was here that either self-preservation or some sort of order kicked in and like cornered animals they turned to face their attackers and now is the turn of the hunters to become the hunted as the russian cavalry charged the tiny british force retreating rapidly towards the rush back towards the russian guns lord padgett now suddenly became aware of a new danger some 500 russian lancers have descended from the hill to the north of the valley and were now aiming to cut off their retreat with the same mad courage that had carried them down the valley towards the russian guns the light brigade now galloped at those russian lancers and disconcerted the russian lancers hesitated and the survivors were through them but even now they weren't safe because the firing started from both slopes once again and it was at this vital moment that the french cavalry who had been on lucan's left mounted an attack on those northern slopes saving the remnants of the lights brigade from a withering russian crossfire painfully slowly the light brigade made their way back to where they'd started just 25 minutes beforehand out of the 673 men who'd started the charge of the lights brigade 113 have been killed and 134 wounded 475 horses had been killed or had to be put down and what of cardigan well amazingly he rode straight through the russian guns unscathed and turning his horse around he trotted back down the valley job done he didn't stop to see how his men were getting on in the melee around the guns he didn't take in the carnage that of his that have befallen his brigade down the valley in fact he was still smarting from his belief that nolan had attempted to lead the charge cardigan then retired to his yacht to enjoy a champagne dinner victoria crosses were awarded to the participants in the charge of the light brigade they and their commanding officer cardigan were lionized as heroes by the british public but ever since 1854 military historians and the general public have debated exactly who was to blame for the blunder that led to the charge of the light brigade at the time lord lucam was blamed for not interpreting the orders correctly and he certainly acted as the scapegoat certainly both he and cardigan didn't question the written order or indeed the verbal report from nolan as tennyson wrote ours is not the reason why ours is but to do and die nolan's theatrical and ill-judged gesture towards the enemy and the guns certainly didn't help when you were faced with a commander like luken who seemed to have to lack any idea of thinking outside of the box and taking everything literally and indeed his failure to provide verbal clarification to the written orders was a key role of a messenger and nolan mainly because of his contempt for luken didn't bother with that on the other hand lord raglan himself can't escape blame either his bird-like view up on the plateau was not the view of the commanders on the ground and he took no account of that he shouted command to nolan as he galloped away down the escarpment lacked any form of precision and whilst his order to capture the guns was misinterpreted by lucan and need by cardigan ragland's actual strategy of the cavalry attacking uphill against entrenched infantry and possibly guns on the causeway heights was nearly as suicidal as the charge that was led by cardigan whoever was to blame for the destruction of the light brigade the confusion of the charge epitomized the leadership incompetence of the senior british military commanders who had purchased rather than earned their positions but the charge of the light brigade also highlighted the bravery and endurance of ordinary british soldiers and indeed their immediate officers 637 men had charged over a mile towards entrenched russian guns whilst being fired at from three sides they'd reached the guns and then had gone on to charge the russian cavalry they had ridden to according to tennyson into the jewels of death into the mouth of hell when the russians questioned some of the light brigade whom they'd captured as to how much alcohol they'd had to make such a mad reckless charge they were shocked when they were given the answer none they'd carried out their orders and more victorian soldiers of the mid 19th century were a plucky and hardy bunch of men as ever those wonderful men lionized heroes as they were were not looked after as they after they left the army many fell on hard times indeed just like the victoria cross winners at places like rorke's drift incidentally i'm going to be telling the rocks drift vc's after the battle story very soon so make sure you subscribe so you don't miss that one that would be a great one the last survivor of the light brigade william henry pennington of the 11th hussars died in 1927 aged 96 but the final words with the charge of the light brigade rest with alfred lord tennyson when can their glory fade oh the wild charge they made all the world wondered honor the charge big they made honor the light brigade noble 600. thanks for joining me today i hope you enjoyed that and if you did subscribe so you don't miss any future videos until my next video keep well and i'll see you very soon [Music] you

Channel: The History Chap

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Keywords: british history, the history chap, the charge of the light brigade, the charge of the light brigade 1854, charge of the light brigade, history of the charge of the light brigade, charge of the light brigade 1854, balaclava 1854 the charge of the light brigade, crimean war, battle of balaclava, the battle of balaclava, alfred lord tennyson, military history, lord cardigan, lord raglan, why did the charge of the light brigade happen, military blunders in history

Id: KJmTOEDguHU

Length: 22min 47sec (1367 seconds)

Published: Thu May 19 2022