Review
Ever since it took place during the Battle of Balaklava in 1854, the 'Charge of the Light Brigade' has fascinated us, due to the strange mixture of heroism and incompetence that brought it about. In this new history to mark the 150th anniversary of the Charge, Terry Brighton, a leading Crimean War historian, reassesses this most notorious incident in British military history. Using the accounts of participants and eyewitnesses, he carefully reconstructs the events of the Charge, and sheds fresh light on the controversies surrounding it. Some myths are challenged, but the incompetence of the officer class, and the heroism of the ordinary cavalrymen, emerge as clearly as they did in 1854. Brighton also looks at how the Charge entered national mythology, through the famous poem by Tennyson, and at the fate of the survivors. A fascinating read, this book could become the definitive history of this controversial and inspiring event. (Kirkus UK)

Sunday Times
'Terry Brighton has tracked down...written testaments left by survivors to give us a radical interpretation of the controversial charge'

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Dull battle, good book (but too long), 10 Feb 2008

By	Andrew Walker "andrewwalker66" (Scotland) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I wonder how many military actions there have been in the last couple of hundred years that lasted about 30 minutes and cost around 400 lives (around 200 British and presumably about the same on the Russian side)? Several hundred, I'd guess, maybe more, but The Charge of the Light Brigade (actually it was more of a trot until the last few yards) still holds the attention of the British public, and as I bought this book I can hardly stand above that! In my defence it is the first "Charge" book I have read, but how does an author make so little action last for 364 pages? That's nearly twelve pages per minute of actual action!

The answer is, by dividing the book into four parts.
The first part is probably the best and that is a very colourful and fast-moving account of the origins of the war, the politics involved, the preparations, voyage and landfall in Turkey, then Russia. If this sounds dull (it would have done to me) then don't be put off. The author writes with confidence but with a light touch; the level of detail is enough to understand and the colourful yet loathsome characters of Lucan and Cardigan give plenty of colour.
The second part of the book, bizarrely, is the actual charge/trot itself, told by editing together the first-hand accounts of the survivors and told minute-by-minute. This is ok, but the survivors' accounts are very similar to each other and I was left feeling if I had read one of them and maybe two I wouldn't have had to read the rest. Unlike, say, Waterloo, every man involved was on the same part of the field and experienced very similar things. I was also left slightly puzzled to be only halfway through the book with the main event already over.
The third part is a description of life for the cavalry after the charge and again for a novice like myself this was very interesting - although quite distressing if you have any love for horses (or humans, I suppose).
The final part of the book is devoted to a series of `controversies'. The most interesting is who was to blame (read it for yourself - I disagreed). Other `controversies' include whether Florence Nightingale was a better nurse than Mary Seacole, who sounded the charge, and murder. In other words it feels a lot like either self-indulgence on the part of the author or space-filling.

The maps were generally clear and helpful. Set against this I was really irritated by the title "Hell Riders" and the persistence with which the term "hell" was used, not because I am prudish or think it is blasphemous, but because the casualty rate really doesn't justify it. The pictures were fairly interesting but I would have been very interested to see some modern pictures of the ground. (There are one or two on the Flickr website, but nobody seems to quite know where the charge took place and it certainly looks very shallow for a valley.)

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5 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Definitive account of a great military myth, 3 Jan 2005

By	Withnail67 (UK) - See all my reviews

Despite being off my usual period I think this book would have a great deal to offer WW1 and other military enthusiasts.

Not only is the book eloquent, fluent, clear and with a pleasing turn of wit on occasion, it is also an excellent example of how to resolve conflicting accounts of complex battles and events. Brighton makes sure that the core of his book are first hand accounts by men who participated.

He covers controversies such as who was to blame, as well as examining the genesis of Tennyson's poem, which came to dominate popular perceptions of the event - an occurence to be repeated in the Great War.

The book is reinforced by an excellent set of appendices, including a roll of the nearly 700 (rather than 600) men who participated in the Charge.

A great read and a model for popular, authoritative military research. Recommended

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