The True Events of the Charge of the Light Brigade During the Crimean War

Sometimes, the events of history can prove enormously inspirational to poets. War in particular has been a favorite theme for poets for thousands of years. It continues today, although modern war poetry often deals with the horrors or futility of war. For most of human history, however, poets have glorified the heroic actions of brave warriors. One such poet was Alfred Lord Tennyson who glorified the action of Britain’s Light Brigade in his famous Charge of the Light Brigade.

The poem is based upon the real events of the siege of Sebastopol during the Crimean War which has become the most famous battle of the Crimean war thanks to the poem. Although the British easily defeated the Russians in the war, they lost the conflict discussed in the poem because of a colossal mistake. Apparently, the captain in charge of the Light Brigade, either by accident or on purpose, misunderstood his orders to attack a vastly superior Russian force. It is the determination of the Light Brigade to obey their orders in the face of almost certain death that probably inspired Tennyson to write his memorable poem.

On October 25, 1854, the vastly outnumbered British Light Brigade, consisting of 607 men armed only with sabers, attacked a Russian force consisting of six divisions or cavalry, six divisions of infantry, and thirty cannon. The Light Brigade charged the Russians in two lines and started receiving fire from the Russians from over half a mile away. The British had already lost many men by the time they reached the Russian forces and once they were there, they had only their sabers with which to attack.

Perhaps the Russians were afraid of the great courage that they had just witnessed because the Light Brigade attacked quite successfully for a time. They killed or routed all of the artillery gunners and then killed or routed an entire division of infantry. Soon, however, the Light Brigade was trapped between Russian calvary on one side and Russian guns on the other. Undaunted, they continued fighting and were about to make their fight their way through another group of enemy soldiers when the Russians began firing grapeshot (a type of cannon fire that produces a shotgun effect) at the Light Brigade. In so doing, the Russians killed many of their own men, but they prevented the Light Brigade from destroying yet more cannoneers.

Just twenty five minutes into the battle, the fighting was over when the Russian commanders made the fateful decision to sacrifice some of their own men for victory. Of the 607 men who had obeyed that doomed order, only 198 returned to the British lines. The rest were killed in a seemingly futile attempt to win an impossible battle. Their sacrifice and their courage has long been remembered, especially since it was immortalized in Tennyson’s famous poem.