Thursday, October 25, 2007
This Day in the History of Heroic British Blunders
On this day in 1854, during the Crimean War, Lord Cardigan led 670 British cavalrymen on the "Charge of the Light Brigade" against heavily fortified Russian cannon emplacements at Balaclava, south of Sevastopol. With unclear orders, Cardigan led them off down the wrong valley, and the one person who knew, Captain Nolan, who could have redirected the charge down the right valley, to prevent Russian troops from taking away British cannons, was about the first casualty. C'est magnifique, mais ce n'est pas la guerre. Indeed.
These fellows above are the survivors of the charge.
Labels: Crimean War History; Light Brigade