The Misunderstood Order That Sent 660 British Light Cavalrymen Into the Wrong Valley at Balaclava on 25 October 1854 and Killed 110 of Them
At the Battle of Balaclava on 25 October 1854 the British Light Brigade — 660 cavalrymen — charged directly at a Russian artillery battery 1.5 miles down a valley. The order had been miscommunicated. 110 men were killed, 161 wounded, and 375 horses lost in approximately twenty minutes. Tennyson's poem appeared in print six weeks later. The French general Bosquet's verdict was "C'est magnifique, mais ce n'est pas la guerre."
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