Charge of the Light Brigade

This article is about the military manoeuvre. For the poem, see The Charge of the Light Brigade (poem). For other uses, see Charge of the Light Brigade (disambiguation).

Charge of the Light Brigade
Part of Battle of Balaclava, Crimean War

The Charge of the Light Brigade at Balaklava by William Simpson (1855), illustrating the Light Brigade's charge into the "Valley of Death" from the Russian perspective.
Date25 October 1854
Location
44°32′16″N 33°37′27″E / 44.53778°N 33.62417°E / 44.53778; 33.62417
Result Russian victory
Belligerents
 United Kingdom
 France		  Russia
Commanders and leaders
United Kingdom James Brudenell, 7th Earl of Cardigan
Armand-Octave-Marie d'Allonville		 Russia Pavel Liprandi
Strength
About 670 (Adkin: 668; Brighton: "at least" 666) Unknown
Casualties and losses
~110 killed
~161 wounded		 Unknown

The Charge of the Light Brigade was a military action undertaken by British light cavalry against Russian forces during the Battle of Balaclava in the Crimean War, resulting in many casualties to the cavalry. On 25 October 1854, the Light Brigade, led by Lord Cardigan, mounted a frontal assault against a Russian artillery battery which was well-prepared with excellent fields of defensive fire. The charge was the result of a misunderstood order from the commander-in-chief, Lord Raglan, who had intended the Light Brigade to attack a different objective for which light cavalry was better suited, to prevent the Russians from removing captured guns from overrun Turkish positions. The Light Brigade made its charge under withering direct fire and reached its target, scattering some of the gunners, but was forced to retreat immediately.

The events were the subject of Alfred, Lord Tennyson's narrative poem "The Charge of the Light Brigade" (1854), published six weeks after the event. Its lines emphasise the valour of the cavalry in carrying out their orders regardless of the risk. Responsibility for the miscommunication is disputed, as the order was vague and Captain Louis Nolan, who delivered the written orders with some oral interpretation, was killed in the first minute of the assault.