Introduction

Alfred, Lord Tennyson's poem "The Charge of the Light Brigade" is one of the most frequently quoted and most controversial poems of the nineteenth century. The poem is the original source of the famous lines: "Their's not to make reply, / Their's not to reason why, / Their's but to do and die," and is often cited as the quintessential tribute to soldiers fighting in any war. The poem was inspired by an event that occurred on October 25, 1854, during the Crimean War: the attack by the British Light Cavalry Brigade—a force of fewer than seven hundred men—against more than twenty-five thousand Russian soldiers. This incident is commonly acknowledged as one of the most catastrophic moments in military history.

Some historians wonder why this event has...