Charge of the Light Brigade - Essay Example

The details of the historical incident have been recorded fairly accurately since the communications and the events of the charge have been saved by historians of the time. The charge was conducted by the British cavalry Light Brigade which formed the Fourth Royal Irish Dragoon Guards in conjunction with the Heavy Brigade. At the battle, the total Cavalry force was commanded by the Earl of Lucan who received an order to charge from Lord Raglan who was present as the overall army commander. The order stated: "Lord Raglan wishes the cavalry to advance rapidly to the front, follow the enemy, and try to prevent the enemy carrying away the guns.

Horse artillery may accompany. French cavalry is on your left. Immediate. (Wikipedia.org, 2006, Pg. 1)." The order was delivered by Captain Louis Nolan who was killed in the action that followed the order. The action taken by Lord Cardigan was to take more than six hundred men straight into the valley where they faced twenty battalions of Russian infantry and more than fifty cannons pointed at them. The Russians had forced deployed on both sides of the valley where the British light cavalry was charging into (Bachrach, 1997).

From a military standpoint this situation can easily be understood as quite negatively stacked against the British. The Light Brigade was able to go through the cannon fire and attack the Russian forces to push them back. However, charging through the cannon fire cost the British heavily and the Light Brigade was forced to retire from battle. The Heavy Brigade failed to help the charge of the Light Brigade since they entered the mouth of the valley but did not come any further. The French (who were allied with the British in the Crimean War), were only able to provide cover for the few remaining soldiers of the Light Brigade at the end of the charge.

The charge was successful in meeting the objective given to