Reason Why FROM OUR EDITORS
From Custer's Last Stand to Waterloo, military history is filled with stories of brave, disastrous defeats. Near the top of the list is the legendary tale of a British light cavalry brigade who, on September 20, 1854, knowing full well the folly of their orders, charged the heavily protected Russian line at Balaclava in the Crimea, losing more than two thirds of their contingent. Immortalized in a poem by Tennyson, the Charge of the Light Brigade became a watch word of the day and a symbol of war's "nobility." Cecil Woodham-Smith pieces together from letters, diaries, and official dispatches the real story of why more than 500 men lost their lives in "the valley of Death." It is a shameful story involving a disputed error in orders and the arrogance and incompetence of two officers: Lord Lucan who ordered the charge and Lord Cardigan who "led" it. At once a scathing biography of these two men and a powerful indictment of the British army's purchase system (a system by which wealthy, inexperienced men could buy commissions, promotions, and commands), this book also provides a vivid and dramatic account of the twenty-minute battle that stands as one of the most staggering debacles of all time.
FROM THE PUBLISHER
Cecil Woodham-Smith delves into the extraordinary story of the disastrous defeat of Britain's Light Cavalry Brigade on September 20, 1854, at the battle of Balaclava in the Crimea. From scores of previously unpublished letters and official communiques, she has unearthed devastating evidence about why more than 500 men rode to certain death in a valley occupied on three sides by enemy Russian artillery.
FROM THE CRITICS
AudioFile - Paul E. Ferrari
Tennyson single-mindedly immortalized the courage of Britain�s famous Light Cavalry Brigade as its members rode cannon to right of them, cannon to left of them . . . into the valley of death. But Woodham-Smith is more concerned with the tactical stupidity and sheer folly of that fateful charge in the Crimea. How could the successors of Wellington make such strategic mistakes just forty years after their brilliant victory at Waterloo? His answer spans two hundred years, eight tapes and two fascinating families the Brudnills and the Binghams detailing their rivalries, arrogance, foppishness, ignorance, shames and even a little glory. Stuart�s British reading captures the humor and subtle ironies in this painful period in history. Students of history will delight in this addition to the audio record. P.E.F. �AudioFile, Portland, Maine
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