Introduction
In 1853, Britain, France and Turkey went to war with Russia. On October 25th, 1854, during the Battle of Balaclava in the Crimea, Lord Raglan ordered a cavalry brigade to raid some small hill-top gun emplacements. Somehow the orders got garbled. What Lord Cardigan read was an order to lead 670 lightly-armed horsemen straight at the main body of the Russian army.
Half a league, half a league,*
Half a league onward,
All in the valley of Death*
Rode the six hundred.
“Forward, the Light Brigade!
Charge for the guns!” he said.
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
“Forward, the Light Brigade!”
Was there a man dismayed?
Not though the soldier knew
Someone had blundered.*
Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do and die.
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon in front of them
Volleyed and thundered;
Stormed at with shot and shell,
Boldly they rode and well,
Into the jaws of Death,
Into the mouth of hell
Rode the six hundred.
* An English league is a now rarely-used measure of distance equivalent to three miles.
* The ‘valley of Death’ was Tennyson’s name for the vale lying between the Fedyukhin Heights to the north and Causeway Heights to the south, both commanded by Russian artillery. The battle took place just north of Balaclava, now a district of the enlarged city of Sevastopol on the southern tip of the Crimean Peninsula in Russia. The British and French forces were gathered at the western end of the vale. At the eastern end were the main artillery and cavalry troops of the Russian Army. See also The Crimean War.
* The charge was led by James Brudenell (1797-1868), 7th Earl of Cardigan, at the head of the 4th and 13th Light Dragoons, the 17th Lancers, and the 8th and 11th Hussars. The ploy was devised by Lord Raglan, who wanted the lightly armed, swift cavalry brigade to prevent the Russians withdrawing guns from some redoubts (small fortifications) they had occupied on the the Causeway Heights, off to the right. When the order reached Cardigan, after passing through several hands, the target was entirely different. It appeared to indicate the Russian troops straight ahead, at the far end of the valley formed by the Causeway Heights to the south (right) and the Fedyukhin Heights to the north (left). These were not minor forts each with a few guns and their crews. They were the Russians’ main artillery and over five thousand cavalry.
Précis
Tennyson’s famous poem throws us headlong into the famous cavalry charge during the Battle of Balaclava on October 25th, 1854. Over six hundred British cavalrymen galloped along a valley in the Crimea toward the Russian line under fire from left and right, vaguely conscious that some mistake must have been made but determined to see the action through. (58 / 60 words)
Tennyson’s famous poem throws us headlong into the famous cavalry charge during the Battle of Balaclava on October 25th, 1854. Over six hundred British cavalrymen galloped along a valley in the Crimea toward the Russian line under fire from left and right, vaguely conscious that some mistake must have been made but determined to see the action through.
Variations: 1.increase the length of this precis to exactly 65 words. 2.reduce the length of this precis to exactly 55 words. 3.introduce one of the following words into the precis: about, if, just, may, not, otherwise, unless, whether.
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