Charge of the Light Brigade

[APSTTGTO]

Didn't Lord Cardigan fart causing his horse to bolt and the brigade charged off following him?

[Acme633]

Someone had blundered.

[gymrachel]

My ancestor led this infamous battle, Lord Cardigan, James Thomas Brudenell

[nedland20]

Fantasic reading of this great epic poem.

[pdogone1]

the british and french were not after territory. the whole war was fought to keep the russian navy bottled up in the black sea...they captured sevastopol and that ensured the tzar would remain out of the med where he could threaten the life line of the empire

[theWall0719]

I believe they did take the guns though, despite the fact that it was an overall disaster.

[lochangopalan]

nice one

[mikelheron20]

Difficult to read it well because it's such a bad poem. However, compared to Tennyson's Charge of the Heavy Brigade it's a work of genius,

[NPSF3000]

Little more passion, practise the timing a little more. Some bits a bit slow, few bad pauses.

Not to bad C+

[TheGermanItalianGuy2]

britain didnt deserve that territory anyway it was russian

[emilyvamp122]

That may be true, but those 588 men didn't deserve to die either. Only 12 made it back alive

[MarcusBritish]

Incorrect. In reality 673 cavalry charged, resulting in 156 killed and missing (of which 118 dead, 38 prisoners), 122 wounded. 335 horses killed. Only 195 men actually managed to stay mounted following the charge.

Source: Wikipedia

[theWall0719]

Wasn't Britain just trying to defend its supply and trade routes?

[Sycsta]

Yep. If Russia had taken the land they were fighting over from turkey, British trade routes would have been in danger.

[weldermarshall]

Anybody who wants to know the truth about the charge should read the book Hell Riders, it will open your eyes

[spooky767]

fucked up battles that comes to mind are pickets charge, suvla bay, the whole concept of "trench warfare",Battle of Tsushima,maginot line, battle of midway,battle of longewala,little bighorn. they go on and on. shit happens people fuck up

[spooky767]

it was a simple case of miscommunication.

they were ordered to take the guns,

"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"

they went after the wrong guns.

[RabCGiblet]

wanted to make his name ahead of his regiment.

[RabCGiblet]

Cardigan could of saved the brigade by acting decisively earlier on when the guns were first been taken. He was well ready to charge the occupied redoubt and rescue the guns therefore avoiding the charge alltogether, but he was so bloodyminded on receiving orders, which questioned his ability to command.

Nolan also must take a portion of blame for not passing on the instruction that the guns broke off from the valley, should of made that clear when he passed the order. But he was another that

[innit27]

If the Heavy Brigade had followd up they would have taken the Russian guns and perhaps routed the Russian cavalry. It still would not have made a great difference to the ultimate objective which was to take Sevastapol.

Its thought even if Raglans orders were to take the guns on the heights not at the end of the valley, they still would have suffered high casualties as it was uphill against entrenched guns and infantry. All for the sake of a few British guns being carried off. Raglan = idiot.

[batalion666]

english army didnt have problems just with Zulu people

[BlackCountryLad]

Great stuff.

[HWKTheDrake]

Well read, thanks.

[ike1950]

For those interested: 666 riders took part: Killed - 110: Wounded/returned - 129: Wounded/captured 32: Total casualties - 271: Fatalities - 17%. Horses killed - 375 (56%). Honours: 7 Victoria Crosses (1 officer 5 troopers 1 surgeon): Valley of Death - 1.25 miles: Cavalry Regulations: Walk 4mph: Trot 8.5mph Gallop: 11mph. Charge flat out at speed of slowest horse. Gallop 250 yards from enemy: Charge at 50 yards. Ageing survivors appeared with Buffalo Bill 1903. Last survivor died 1927 aged 96.

[Blargman57]

this is one of the biggest military mistakes in history... stupid generals...

[peppermintjohn666]

the guy commanding them was 80 and thought he was fighting the french, he was told to retreve the artillery the russians were stealing, and he thought he was meant to take the rifles the russians were pointing at him XD

[a0e0roberts]

Peppermintjohn: Reglan, Lucan and Cardigan were a bunch a fools, and they hated each other. But it was the only really bright person there, Captain Nolan, who sent the Light Brigade off in the wrong direction. He was, of course, the first to die. Ironic.

[mitchverr]

Don't forget that it was the Turks fault the brigade had to go off out like that, damn Turk cowardliness there was so great that British and french armies wouldn't ever let the Turks fight along side again.

[MathewGSmith]

Wrong. The Turks were routed as the English officers showed up, after holding off the entire Russian army for two hours in close quarters fighting. The guns the Turks had abandoned, the intended objective of the charge, was actually a soft target by the time the order was given.

[mitchverr]

The turks didnt hold as well as they should have, if they routed from extreme disadvantage why would british and french generals only ever allow turk support in the supply lines from there on? Not 1 turk went into a fight after this you know.

[MathewGSmith]

The allied generals only saw the route, not the two hour stand.

As for no Turk going to a fight after this, you are wrong. The Turks regained their reputation at the battle of Eupatoria, although as you say British and French commanders still refused to make use of Turkish units. The valiant, but ultimately failed, Turkish defense of Kars was the last major battle of the war.

Incidentally, there was a Turkish battalion along with the 93rd Highlanders in the famed "thin red line" at balaclava.

[britflik]

No the Turkish guarding the flanks of Campbells Highlanders fled well before the Russian cavalry even made contact. They didnt hold AT ALL and fled all the way to the beach abandoning the guns CAUSING the charge of the light brigade indirectly. Read Keegan,Kennedy,Rose or Edge; also you fail to mention the Turkish cowardice which is slightly odd.

[muratheblack]

@britflik Turkish Cowardice is very good example of a well-known figure of speech that is OXYMORON... Die to be immortal!

[LittleDrinkies]

MatthewGSmith all due respect,concerning the Turks that fought with the 93rd "thin red line" at balaklava were not battalion strength. From what i have read a majority of the turks (not all) ran towards the sea. But there was a few turks that stood. But there was also a company of royal marines present also.

[ike1950]

Not at all true. There are much, much bigger blunders costing many tens of thousands of lives. And it's worth considering that modern blunders are even more indifferent to death. This charge was a mistake. But the men were quite remarkable... even Cardigan who otherwise was a spoiled, pompous, prig. But you couldn't doubt their courage. Outnumbered 20-1 they all but routed the Cossack cavalry AFTER charging the guns. Genuinely magnificent.

[xpo50]

@ike1950 Not to mention that the subsequent charge of the Heavy Brigade was extremely successful.

[AmericanPyro]

Very nice. Good job.

[Fronarch]

sorry but this voice is simply not enough for an epic poem like this

1/5

[ProudViking88]

hey dudes if some one would tell me it is not for u to reason why but for u to do and die he would have a bullet between his eyes :D

[fracturedminds]

that is exactly why no one will ever write a classic about you and why no one will remember your name!

[Dementedhighlander]

Robert hardy reads the poem at the national army museum in chelsea much better than this version. He sounds like hes reading it off a card.

[maikvanrijsoort]

which he probably did:p

still, nice vid

[CRRENFY]

thank you this is my first comment but I think that Tennyson deserve more than this!!

[GreenVI]

Appolo8472, did you recite this poem in this video?

Put more enthusiasm into it!

You can avoid running out of energy by recording parts of the poem at a time and then editing them together.

[whatsup098765]

yeah agreed with (AssBandito) haha funny profile name...Sean Bean would have been good for this reading.. This reading didn't do the poem any justice .. but thanks for reading it...

[kykdaar]

I trust this poem was read by a high school student; otherwise I'm sorry to say ... but this is a very poor reading of this historical poem ...

[kingnord]

nice video

[Attila16]

nice video =)