Wednesday, October 25, 2006

The Battle of Balaklava was fought on this day in 1854. During this key moment in the Crimean War, the British Light Brigade, apparently due to a misunderstood or poorly delivered order, charged up a valley and were decimated by Russian gunfire. Once through the gunfire, they found their only option was to turn around and ride back through the gunfire a second time, sustaining even greater losses. Though hundreds of soldiers died in the battle, it wasn't a total loss, as Tennyson's famous poem, Charge Of The Light Brigade was written in response to the unbelievable events. While the actual charge was a horiffic, tragic blunder, the courage of the soldiers to follow the order despite the obvious risk to themselves has been remembered throughout the years.