Though to many people, the Battle
of Balaclava is synonymous with 
the Charge of the Light Brigade, 
that action was in reality only 
the fourth and final phase of a 
much larger battle.  The Battle 
of Balaclava, part of the Crimean
War, occurred on October 25th, 
1854.

In the first phase of the battle,
the Russian attack seemed to be 
working as planned.  The four 
redoubts along the Causeway 
Heights were taken and the 
Turkish defenders were forced to 
flee.  After that, the only 
sizeable force between the 
Russians and the Allied supply 
base at Balaclava was the 93rd 
Sutherland Highlanders and one 
Turkish battalion - a mere 1,500 
men.

The Russian commander sent 2,300 
cavalry to dislodge the Allies 
and clear the way for his 
infantry.  The Turks fled, 
leaving 700 British Highhlanders 
to stop the attacking Russians.  
The "Thin Red Line" fired two 
volleys at the attacking force - 
the Russians broke and fled -
leaving the Scots in control of 
the field.

In the third phase, the remainder
of the Russian cavalry was 
confronted by the British Heavy 
Cavalry Brigade.  Their formation
was broken by terrain, and the 
British force could only hit the 
Russians in piecemeal.  This 
actually worked to the Allies' 
advantage when two of the five 
regiments hit the enemy in the 
flank.  The Russians broke and 
fled.

Now came the most noble but most 
wasteful phase of the battle.  
Lord Raglan, commander of the 
British army, sent orders to the 
commander of the British Cavalry 
Division.  The Light Brigade was 
to  "prevent the enemy carrying 
away the guns."  Raglan meant by 
this order that the Light Cavalry
was to prevent the Russians from 
carrying away the guns from 
captured redoubts along the 
Causeway Heights.  Lucan could 
not see the the redoubts from his 
position; instead, he took the 
orders to mean that he was to 
attack the Russians batteries at 
the far end of the North Valley.

Russian fire from the Causeway 
Heights on the right, the 
Fedioukine Hills on the left, 
and the batteries at the eastern 
end of North Valley inflicted 
casualties on the Light Brigade 
all along their advance.  After 
reaching the batteries and 
putting them out of commision, 
the survivors faced the problem 
of marching back down the valley.
The French Chasseurs d'Afrique 
rode to their aid by attacking 
the batteries and infantry on 
the Fedioukine Hills.  The 
straggling cavalrymen made their
way individually and in small 
groups down the north side of 
the valley, avoiding any 
further casualties.  Of the 
original 600 men in the Light 
Brigade, 475 were casualties.

The allies won the day in the 
Battle of Balaclava, but at a 
high price.