Its capture or destruction would cripple Russia’s ability to continue the war. The stronghold was Russia’s principal naval base in the Black Sea. Britain and France decided to attack the Russian base at Sevastopol, on the southern coast of the Crimea. On March 28, 1854, the European powers declared war on Russia. Two months later an Anglo-French naval force entered the Black Sea. The Turks held their own on land, but in November 1853 a squadron of Russian warships destroyed a Turkish squadron at Sinope in northern Anatolia. The Crimean War see-sawed back and forth in its first year. ![]() The Charge of the Light Brigade would go down in history and verse, but the ill-fated attack was only one act of bravery and determination that would occur on the morning of October 25, 1854. It was a spectacle as foolhardy and pointless as it was courageous and heroic. Some distance behind and to their right, the Heavy Brigade trailed them. Without a trumpet call, he urged his horse forward and the brigade followed at a trot. Despite his faults, he did not lack courage. He took position in front of his brigade. James Brudenell, Lord Cardigan, an English nobleman with a reputation as a bad-tempered, impulsive man. They clutched their lances and swords and eyed in the distance the Russian guns that they were ordered to capture.Īt their head sat Maj. The 674 men and officers looked resplendent in their blue and red uniforms, trimmed in gold around the chest and shoulders. Spread across the valley floor were thin lines of horsemen belonging to Great Britain’s Light Brigade. ![]() The other end was in the hands of the British Army. ![]() They occupied three sides of the valley, looking down on it. Six battalions of Russian infantry, 30 cannons, and a cavalry force deployed in the North Valley east of Sevastopol near the town of Balaclava.
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