![]() ![]() Instead Bingham and his men held off for around forty five minutes, expecting the infantry to arrive later so they could proceed together. ![]() Unfortunately, due to lack of communication or some misunderstanding between Raglan and the commander of the Cavalry, George Bingham, Earl of Lucan, this was not carried out. Lord Raglan had conveyed this message with the expectation of immediate action by the cavalry, with the idea that the infantry would follow. The command given to the cavalry, made up of Heavy and Light Brigades, was to advance with the infantry. The decision taken by Lord Fitzroy Somerset Raglan who was the British commander-in-chief at Crimea, was to look towards the Causeway Heights, where it was believed the Russians were seizing artillery guns. This decision led to one of the most crucial parts of the battle, now known as the Charge of the Light Brigade. Once the Russian forces had been held off, the Allies decided recover their guns. Nevertheless, the Allies managed to group together and held on to Balaklava. Initially it looked as if a Russian victory was imminent as they gained control of some of the ridges surrounding the port, therefore controlling the Allied guns. On 25th October 1854 the Russian army led by Prince Menshikov launched an assault on the British base at Balaklava. The Allied forces decided to lay siege to the port of Sevastapol. The focal point of this confrontation was the important strategic naval base of Sevastopol. During the following year the Battle of Balaklava took place, beginning in September when Allied troops arrived in Crimea. The Crimean War was a conflict which broke out in October 1853 between the Russians on one side and an alliance of British, French, Ottoman and Sardinian troops on the other. The calamitous charge was to be remembered for both its bravery and tragedy. The order for the cavalry charge proved catastrophic for the British cavalrymen: a disastrous mistake riddled with misinformation and miscommunication. The charge against Russian forces was part of the Battle of Balaclava, a conflict making up a much larger series of events known as the Crimean War. These words were made famous by Alfred Lord Tennyson in his poem, ‘The Charge of the Light Brigade’, and refer to that fateful day on 25th October 1854 when around six hundred men led by Lord Cardigan rode into the unknown. ![]()
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