The Charge of the Light Brigade

The Battle of Balaclava:

 

Whose failure was this (well, it was a failure) that 664 or 668 men rode under cannonfire for 2000 yards then conquered the cannons and were driven back by the Russian cavalry because the Heavy Brigade didn't come to help? Of the English, 118 men killed, 127 wounded, and 362 horses lost.

 

Was it the fault of Captain Nolan who gave the wrong message to Cardigan, the Commander of the Light Brigade, to attack the Russian cannons?

 

Was it the fault of Cardigan, that he attacked and after cnoquering the outpost left the troops and retreated?

 

Was it the fault of Lord Lucan, the Commander of the Heavy Brigade, that he didn't go to help the Light Brigade, claiming that his orders were to wait for infantry?

 

Was it the fault of Lord Raglan and his wierd commands 'to prevent the guns from being carried away' and 'advance and let infantry come marching' or something like that?

Raglan was in command, the buck stops their to my mind.

 

He chose an unreliable messenger (Nolan) allowed a poor chief of staff to write the order (Airy) had full view of the disposition from the Balaklav heights and gave the order to a man (Lucan) who was unsited of the Russian guns without realising he needed to and clearly explaining to Lucan the dispositions in the order.

 

Cardigan also gets minor criticism for the route he took to charge the guns. Straight down the middle of the valley, not along the ridge. 

 

..hello everyone...

 

.....although Raglan was in overall charge his order was given to stop the Russians from removing abandoned British guns from the redoubts captured from the Turks......a reasonble and practical request...

 

....The order in my mind was clear and sound, Raglan wished ' the cavalry to advance rapidly to the front, follow the enemy and try to prevent the enemy carrying away the guns.'

 

....The order indicates that the Russians were moving artillery of some sort but it is maybe not clear who the guns belonged to. However, Captain Nolan delivered the order to Lord Lucan who could not see the redoubts from his position. The only guns in Lucan's sight, were the Don Battery which were clearly not being removed but had been trained on the Turkish troops....

 

...Lucan could see that an attack on these guns would be suicidal...he enquired about the attack to Nolan...'what attack, what guns?'...it seems that Nolan flung out his arms in the general direction of the Don Battery.....'there are your guns'....the first mistake of the day i think, a lack of direction, discipline on Nolan's part.....a response to being personally questioned and fear of a bullish commander Raglan maybe?

 

.....however, Lucan, a man of high position should have questioned still further  the exact nature of the order...but he did not...instead he passed on the vague order to Cardigan who did indeed question the nature of the order but was told by Lucan that this is what Lord Raglan wanted...'we have no choice but to obey'....Cardigan eventually carried out what he believed to be his 'exact' orders....

 

..at this point, any 'blame' appears to be carried by Nolan and his vagueness, and Lucan with his unsound battlefield judgement..??..

....however, the Heavy Brigade was halted by Lucan leaving the Light Brigade to carry on..this suggests that Lucan did eventually understand the true nature of the order and miscalculated the orders intentions....so again, blame can posibly be still laid upon Lucan's shoulders??..

 

.....it does seem a story of 'ifs' and 'but's' and 'maybe's', but ultimately it WAS a mistake and i think most of the blame, if indeed we do have to blame anybody, lies in my opinion with Lucan and Nolan...

I think your explanation of the events is excellent,

 

but just imagine it had been Napoleon or wellington commanding.

 

Napoleon memorised every single detail of his army to the minutest detail. It was said once he new if a bolt on a specific cannon needed tightening. Wellington simarly micromanaged his army too and famously rode to every minor action on the whole battlefield to supervise it personally.

 

Raglan sat high upon a hill and gave a vague order to an incompetant commander. Napoleon would have known Lucan's limitations and his unsighted position, worked out he couldn't have seen the guns and sent an ADC to solve the whole problem. Wellington would have ridden over to Lucan personally and handled the situation himself.

 

Raglan ordered a charge Niether Wellingotn nor Boney would have.

 

 

...your comparison to Wellington and Napoleon is a very good point Paul...and to some degree i suppose Raglan's assessemnt of his position, inlcuding the organisation of the 'original order' could have been carried out slightly better..

 

.....however, from what i can gather, Raglan was responding to events happening practically in front of him....ie the capture of the British guns from the Russians...therefore i can understand why his order was perhaps hurried, and yes maybe he could have chosen another messenger apart from Nolan...

 

...but i think Raglan's positon and action was responsible enough from a battlefield commander at the time....there were historical precedents as you have noticed, but i think, and this is my thought as i am writing, that, this was some years since the Napoleonic campaigns and i think modern military tactics was moving (if not had moved away) from the idea that Army Commanders should be so intimately connected to the battlefield actions?....i seem to recall that Raglan had chosen Nolan because of his superb horsemanship and given the urgency of the situation, i can find defence in Raglan's actions.... and afterall, Nolan WAS a captain and of suitable status to carry out such a command (as seen by Raglan)..depsite this, i believe that Nolan did not enjoy a good relationship with either Lucan or Cardigan and that may have contributed towards his 'dismissive' attitude when delivering the order?..however, given the urgency of the situation, Nolan should have behaved more professionally, althought it is all too easy to criticise from my comfy computer desk and a million miles away from what happned that day.....

 

....yes, Raglan could have been more explicit with his order and because he should maybe have realised the line of sight was different for all concerned...blame could be apportioned here, but i feel the order contained enough information and in addition, there was a line of command between Raglan and Cardigan where at any point the 'order' could have been challenged..

 

...it is interesting to note that Raglan blamed fully Lord Lucan...

'Lord Lucan,' he was supposed to have said, 'You were a lieutenant-general and should, therefore, have exercised your discretion and, not approving the charge, should not have caused it to be made"....maybe so...

 

...but it seems to me that the rash, almost over excited and hot headedness (not to mention the bravery given what happened later) of Nolan all contributed more to the disaster....Lucan and even Cardigan to a degree, must share some blame, so after all this, having been writing and thinking at the same time, i suppose my final conclusion would be that it was a collective 'guilt' that led to the Light Brigade suffering as it did.....

 

..more personally and more subjective,...i really did not want to use the word 'stupid' in connection to what the Light Brigade did, following orders, the charge must be one of the most bravest actions of any war.....even the Russian's, the French and the Turks all recognised the bravery and stout-heartedness of this fine brigade of cavalry....

 

I remember reading somewhere, MacDonald-Fraser, perhaps.

 

After the charge Russian dispaches were very dismissive of the light brigade charge, writing they were charged by a unit of 'drunk' british cavalry. Whereas to the POW's of the light brigade, the Russians did nothing but rave about the earlier charge of the heavy brigade as the greatest ever and ignore theirs.

 

 

 

I often wonder why the light brigade's charge is so famous when there were many equally worthy moments of madness by British cavalry in the Penninsular virtually unheard of. Such as the 13th Light Dragoons at Campo Mayor. Who did something equally stupid and just kept on and on doing it for mile after mile.

 

I think the difference was defeat and victory. With the light brigade there was a lot of Rorkes Drift style properganda, covering up a defeat. while Campo Mayor was a victory.

 

...yes, i do have to agree that the Charge of the Light Brigade has somehow 'captured' a moment in time that seems to have tapped into some form of 'romantic' notion, we can read descriptions of the charge and our picture of the event mutiplies its impact....the Rorkes Drift comparison is apt..a bit like the Spartan's and their legendary 'defeat' as well...

 

....i think such events appeal to certain kinds of people...we know that such episodesappear somewhat futile but there is something that maintains our 'interest'....it stays with the 'popular imagination'.....i suppose a good historian will try to get beyond such emotions and be objective with their strudy...but  a better historian will understand this 'popular' view while maintaining personal objectivity....its necessary to know this in order to develop context....

 

....for me personally, the Charge of the Light Brigade was something that affected me as a small boy....now as a reasonably 'mature' adult..and with some historical study under my belt, i can see 'objectivity' and 'historical passion' as something not totally in conflict.....

 

BTW.....apologies to those involved in this thread......i had a few more words to post on this matter but my pregnant partner went into the early stages of 'labour' earlier tonight and i was understandably distracted!!!!!!!...and now i have completely lost my main train of thought!!!!!....things are settled now but my writing may seem a bit at odds....!!!!....Charge of the Light Brigade?...baby boy on the way?....the excitement and anxiety is endless tonight!!!!!...

 

 

Well glad we got that sorted out....