On Light Brigades and Historical Fictions

In today's New York Times, columnist Bill Kristol commends his conservative colleagues for sticking with the small government argument, even when it isn't working. I'll not comment on that for now.* Instead, I want to focus on a reference he uses in the final paragraph:

I can’t help but admire some of my fellow conservatives’ loyalty to the small-government cause. It reminds me of the nobility of Tennyson’s Light Brigade, as it charges into battle: “Theirs but to do and die.” Maybe it would be better, though, first to reason why.

The "Light Brigade" to which he refers is the famous poem "The Charge of the Light Brigade." It's usually taken as championing fighting on for a lost cause in the face of terrible odds. The emphasis, at least in popular culture, is on bravery, patriotism, and the horror of war. But the most interesting part of the poem usually gets forgotten:

Forward, the Light Brigade!"
Was there a man dismay'd?
Not tho' the soldier knew
Some one had blunder'd.

Come again? What's blundering got to do with such a noble pursuit?

The real charge of the Light Brigade was part of the Battle of Balaclava during the Crimean War. It was an attempt by the Russians to break the siege of the port city of Sevastopol, which was controlled by an alliance of Great Britain, France, and the Ottoman Empire. At the end of the day, the siege stood, while several hundred men lay dead or dying.

The Light Brigade was a cavalry unit that was part of the allied defense force. During the battle, the allied Heavy Brigade drove a Russian cavalry column back to its artillery line. The Light Brigade was ordered to "prevent the enemy carrying away the guns," but didn't specify which particular guns. The captain who delivered the order pointed out the wrong set of guns and the Light Brigade set off.

The guns pointed out by the captain were at the end of a long valley that would become known as the Valley of Death. Russian artillery and infantry were deployed along both sides of the valley. In spite of the withering fire from both sides of the valley, the Light Brigade actually made it to the guns at the other end, but were quickly forced to retreat. Of the 600 men in the brigade, almost half were killed and wounded.

So, far from being a glorious hail-mary type attack that should serve as an example of gallantry and bravery, the Charge of the Light Brigade is, in fact, a complete and total fuck up (one French Marshal said "It is magnificent, but it is not war"). On second thought, maybe that's a more apt description of the modern GOP than I thought. Perhaps Kristol is onto something.

Interesting historical note: Tennyson had a bona fide hit with "The Charge of the Light Brigade." It was so popular that it was printed up and distributed to British troops in the Crimea. A few years later, he did another poem, this one about the Heavy Brigade, the one that actually achieved and objective. It was a flop. What that says about human nature, I'm not sure.

* People like it when government does things for them and does it competently. Who knew?!