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Historical Moments On this day

Joseph Cosgrove

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The Charge of the Light Brigade, a Brave and Foolish Tale​

Charge of the Light Brigade by Richard Caton Woodville, Jr.
Charge of the Light Brigade by Richard Caton Woodville, Jr.

October 25, 1854 — The Charge of the Light Brigade is infamous as an act of bravery in the face all insurmountable odds. On the 25th October 1854 members of the British light cavalry led a charge by mistake into the heart of the Russian Imperial army. 110 soldiers died in the charge, 161 were injured and 475 horses killed. The British Poet Laureate Alfred Tennyson would go on to immortalize the event in his poem “The Charge of the Light Brigade”.
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 dismay’d?
Not tho’ the soldier knew
Someone had blunder’d:
Their’s not to make reply,
Their’s not to reason why,
Their’s but to do and die:

The events of that day reveal more than just bravery, they portray a Victorian army and society on the verge of change. They show an army, still largely controlled by aristocratic officers, long used to influence as their birthright, whose personal vendettas and infighting often led to incompetence on the field.

The Battle of Balaclava, during the Crimean War, of which The Charge of the Light Brigade was one event, was led on the British side by Lord Raglan, commander of the British Forces. Lord Lucan, led the British cavalry, made up of the Heavy Brigade, with its larger armed horses, and the Light Brigade, which was more suited to skirmishes and reconnaissance. Its riders were armed with sabres and lances.

Lord Lucan, an ancestor of the 20th century peer who mysteriously disappeared, was known as the “Exterminator” and for evicting villages during the Irish famine of 1840s. He was brother-in-law to the Earl of Cardigan, who led the Light Brigade. The two hated each other, Lord Cardigan reputedly for Lord Lucan’s treatment of his sister.

The battle began with the Russian army attacking the British position, The British Heavy Cavalry Brigade counterattacked and held off the initial attack. The 93rd Highlanders, war correspondent William Russell’s “thin red line” held off a separate Russian attempt to take the British base of Balaclava. When the Russian cavalry then made a move to capture British guns already taken from the Russians, Lord Raglan and his staff looked to send the Light Brigade to harry their flank. They sent Captain Louis Edward Nolan to carry the order and to give verbal instructions from Lord Raglan to Lord Lucan. Nolan also appears to have held Lord Lucan in contempt and seems to have compounded the hastily and badly written orders by indicating not the guns and cavalry meant by Lord Raglan but the main Russian army 20,000 strong and their guns. Lord Lucan ordered Lord Cardigan to charge, the two figures open hostility prevented any true questioning of the orders.

Lord Cardigan led the charge just after 11am. Lord Raglan and his staff watched in horror from their elevated position. Nolan seems to have tried to head Lord Cardigan off, belatedly realising the mistake but was killed by fire almost immediately.

The Light Brigade charged for a mile and a quarter till they reached the Russian guns who started firing on them as soon as they came in range. They then, if they could, returned the way they had come.

Lord Cardigan himself became separated from his troops and was one of the first to return. He then seems to have left the battlefield completely for his personal yacht moored off the coast where he retired to enjoy a champagne dinner that night..

The battle was a strategic defeat for the British and their French and Turkish allies. It was reported in vivid and dramatic detail by one of the very first war correspondents, Irishman William Howard Russell, who had been sent to the front by British newspaper The Times. Its coverage created a sensation in Britain. It was one of the first times the general public could follow far flung battles almost as they happened .

Lord Raglan blamed Lord Lucan for the loss, Lord Lucan in turn blamed Lord Raglan and Nolan. Lord Lucan made a speech defending his actions in House of Lords on 19th March 1855. Although he was eventually promoted to lieutenant general in 1858 and later general and field marshal, he never again saw active duty.

Lord Cardigan returned home to initial acclaim for his bravery. He made a speech in his hometown of Northampton, claiming he had camped in a tent on the field with his troops and personally rallied his forces after the charge to harry the enemy. The popularity of the cardigan, the knitted garment stems from this date as a popular response, supposedly based on the knitted waistcoat Lord Cardigan wore into battle. However later reports by other returning officers revealed a different turn of events and turned public opinion turned against him.

The debacle of the charge of the Light Brigade had long-term consequences for the British army. A Royal Commission was set up in 1858 after the war to investigate the way the army was run during the Crimean War. A lack of supplies and medical treatment were other issues. The Cardwell Reforms were eventually implemented in 1868-70 by William Gladstone’s government. They would abolish officer-purchased positions once and for all, increase the size of the army and put it on the road to professionalism.

Lord Alfred Tennyson’s poem “The Charge of the Light Brigade” was published 6 weeks after the event after the poet read reports of the battle in The Times. Copies of the poem reached the British troops who apparently approved of the poet’s telling of the event.

Please note: the poem does say theirs is not to reason why and not ours...
One other thing that some people get mixed up with, the charge of light the light brigade is NOT where the expression 'don't kill the messenger' originates from.
It was actually from the Bard in Henry IV, part 2.
(just in case anyone was wondering
;):whistle:)
 

dusaboss

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And also on the 19th of July 1922,
American swimmer Johnny Weissmuller first to break 1 minute barrier for 100m freestyle; swims 58.6s at Alameda, CA.
Did you know that he always swam with his head out of the water ?
View attachment 7002
The name rings a bell, but I can't recall from where? n apart from the fact that he won five Olympic gold medals across two Olympic games, 1924 and 1928.
Actually he is born in Serbia not far from where I'm living.
 

Joseph Cosgrove

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Please note: the poem does say theirs is not to reason why and not ours...
One other thing that some people get mixed up with, the charge of light the light brigade is NOT where the expression 'don't kill the messenger' originates from.
It was actually from the Bard in Henry IV, part 2.
(just in case anyone was wondering
;):whistle:)
I watched the film "The Queen" yesterday,
They too quoted The Bard from Henry IV. part two: “Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown"
 

Perun

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I watched the film "The Queen" yesterday,
They too quoted The Bard from Henry IV. part two: “Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown"
We have an expression here: "to be a king without a crown". Meaning, having everything but without the burden or responsibility of a leader / ruler.
Power and privileges are appealing, that figurative sword above "your" head is not.
🤔🙄😜
 
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Anniversary 28th October 1664.

Foundation of the current Royal Marines from the trained bands of London.
From Sea Soldiers to a Special Force.
Currently representing 4% of the total current British Armed Forces they
provide 41% of all badged SF.
 
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The Charge of the Light Brigade, a Brave and Foolish Tale​

Charge of the Light Brigade by Richard Caton Woodville, Jr.
Charge of the Light Brigade by Richard Caton Woodville, Jr.

October 25, 1854 — The Charge of the Light Brigade is infamous as an act of bravery in the face all insurmountable odds. On the 25th October 1854 members of the British light cavalry led a charge by mistake into the heart of the Russian Imperial army. 110 soldiers died in the charge, 161 were injured and 475 horses killed. The British Poet Laureate Alfred Tennyson would go on to immortalize the event in his poem “The Charge of the Light Brigade”.


The events of that day reveal more than just bravery, they portray a Victorian army and society on the verge of change. They show an army, still largely controlled by aristocratic officers, long used to influence as their birthright, whose personal vendettas and infighting often led to incompetence on the field.

The Battle of Balaclava, during the Crimean War, of which The Charge of the Light Brigade was one event, was led on the British side by Lord Raglan, commander of the British Forces. Lord Lucan, led the British cavalry, made up of the Heavy Brigade, with its larger armed horses, and the Light Brigade, which was more suited to skirmishes and reconnaissance. Its riders were armed with sabres and lances.

Lord Lucan, an ancestor of the 20th century peer who mysteriously disappeared, was known as the “Exterminator” and for evicting villages during the Irish famine of 1840s. He was brother-in-law to the Earl of Cardigan, who led the Light Brigade. The two hated each other, Lord Cardigan reputedly for Lord Lucan’s treatment of his sister.

The battle began with the Russian army attacking the British position, The British Heavy Cavalry Brigade counterattacked and held off the initial attack. The 93rd Highlanders, war correspondent William Russell’s “thin red line” held off a separate Russian attempt to take the British base of Balaclava. When the Russian cavalry then made a move to capture British guns already taken from the Russians, Lord Raglan and his staff looked to send the Light Brigade to harry their flank. They sent Captain Louis Edward Nolan to carry the order and to give verbal instructions from Lord Raglan to Lord Lucan. Nolan also appears to have held Lord Lucan in contempt and seems to have compounded the hastily and badly written orders by indicating not the guns and cavalry meant by Lord Raglan but the main Russian army 20,000 strong and their guns. Lord Lucan ordered Lord Cardigan to charge, the two figures open hostility prevented any true questioning of the orders.

Lord Cardigan led the charge just after 11am. Lord Raglan and his staff watched in horror from their elevated position. Nolan seems to have tried to head Lord Cardigan off, belatedly realising the mistake but was killed by fire almost immediately.

The Light Brigade charged for a mile and a quarter till they reached the Russian guns who started firing on them as soon as they came in range. They then, if they could, returned the way they had come.

Lord Cardigan himself became separated from his troops and was one of the first to return. He then seems to have left the battlefield completely for his personal yacht moored off the coast where he retired to enjoy a champagne dinner that night..

The battle was a strategic defeat for the British and their French and Turkish allies. It was reported in vivid and dramatic detail by one of the very first war correspondents, Irishman William Howard Russell, who had been sent to the front by British newspaper The Times. Its coverage created a sensation in Britain. It was one of the first times the general public could follow far flung battles almost as they happened .

Lord Raglan blamed Lord Lucan for the loss, Lord Lucan in turn blamed Lord Raglan and Nolan. Lord Lucan made a speech defending his actions in House of Lords on 19th March 1855. Although he was eventually promoted to lieutenant general in 1858 and later general and field marshal, he never again saw active duty.

Lord Cardigan returned home to initial acclaim for his bravery. He made a speech in his hometown of Northampton, claiming he had camped in a tent on the field with his troops and personally rallied his forces after the charge to harry the enemy. The popularity of the cardigan, the knitted garment stems from this date as a popular response, supposedly based on the knitted waistcoat Lord Cardigan wore into battle. However later reports by other returning officers revealed a different turn of events and turned public opinion turned against him.

The debacle of the charge of the Light Brigade had long-term consequences for the British army. A Royal Commission was set up in 1858 after the war to investigate the way the army was run during the Crimean War. A lack of supplies and medical treatment were other issues. The Cardwell Reforms were eventually implemented in 1868-70 by William Gladstone’s government. They would abolish officer-purchased positions once and for all, increase the size of the army and put it on the road to professionalism.

Lord Alfred Tennyson’s poem “The Charge of the Light Brigade” was published 6 weeks after the event after the poet read reports of the battle in The Times. Copies of the poem reached the British troops who apparently approved of the poet’s telling of the event.

Please note: the poem does say theirs is not to reason why and not ours...
One other thing that some people get mixed up with, the charge of light the light brigade is NOT where the expression 'don't kill the messenger' originates from.
It was actually from the Bard in Henry IV, part 2.
(just in case anyone was wondering
;):whistle:)
A fascinating part of military history. I have a personal connection to the war in that my cousins great great Grandfather, was given his Earldom 40 years after the war ended as a reward for running guns for the British in Crimea amongst other very naughty things via his steel works and exports whilst sitting as a cabinet minister in the making lol true story. The mercenary line runs deep it seem's. He's uncle is the current Earl of Cranbrook, Gathorne Gathorne-Hardy, 5th Earl of Cranbrook. Today we have BAE systems doing the same lol. Brilliant.
 

Kronenberg

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80th Anniversary of the Attack on Pearl Harbour, a date which will live in infamy.

Don't want to sound like a party pooper, but this was created through arrogance and complacency on the part of the US, skulduggery on the part of the Brits (Churchill knew it was going to happen according to all accounts), and massive balls on the part of the Japs.

Like we all know, it's the skinniest, ugliest f@ucker that's always first over the top, and in this case that counted.

That doesn't justify the loss of life of course, but the world was at war.

~2300 US soldiers died at Pearl Harbour. ~80 million died between 39 and 45 including 6m Jews and 5m prisoners of war.

Things need to be kept in perspective.
 

SnafuSmite

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Don't want to sound like a party pooper, but this was created through arrogance and complacency on the part of the US, skulduggery on the part of the Brits (Churchill knew it was going to happen according to all accounts), and massive balls on the part of the Japs.

Like we all know, it's the skinniest, ugliest f@ucker that's always first over the top, and in this case that counted.

That doesn't justify the loss of life of course, but the world was at war.

~2300 US soldiers died at Pearl Harbour. ~80 million died between 39 and 45 including 6m Jews and 5m prisoners of war.

Things need to be kept in perspective.
100% agree, but I doubt very much the yanks would've jumped into WW2 if it wasn't for the attack.
 

Joseph Cosgrove

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Worth the read.;)
December 7, 1941 — This day is “a date which will live in infamy,” according to President Franklin D. Roosevelt. He was referring, of course, to the shock attack by Japan on the American Navy base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii.


Apart from the resulting substantial damage and heavy loss of life, Roosevelt was particularly incensed because the early morning attack happened without a declaration of war and without explicit warning.

Nevertheless, military analysts consider the raid to have been one of the best-planned and best-prepared operations of the Second World War, involving as it did the secret passage of an entire fleet – including six aircraft carriers, two battleships and three cruisers – over 3,700 miles across the North Pacific.

In the late 1930s, America firmly supported China as the main plank of its foreign policy in the Pacific. Any aggression against that country by a territory-expanding Japan would bring the Japanese into conflict with the United States.

Beginning in the summer of 1940, as tensions between the two countries mounted, America began to restrict the export to Japan of materials useful in war.

By July 1941 the Japanese had entered into an alliance with Hitler’s Germany and Mussolino’s Italy and had occupied all of Indochina. America responded by cutting all commercial and financial relations with Japan, freezing its assets and banning shipments to the country of oil and other vital war materials.

At the same time, American aid to China was stepped up.

Militarists in Tokyo bitterly resented all this and the government of Prime Minister Tōjō Hideki decided on war. At the heart of their plans was an attack on the American Pacific fleet at Pearl Harbor – an operation that had been planned with great care by Admiral Yamamoto Isoroku, the commander in chief of Japan’s Combined Fleet.

It was reasoned that by destroying the American fleet, nothing could then stop a Japanese conquest of all of Southeast Asia and the Indonesian archipelago.

So on November 16, 1941 Japan’s task force began to assemble at the Kuril Islands in the North Pacific Ocean, 5,600km from Hawaii.
From there, using six aircraft carriers, the devastating attack on Pearl Harbor was launched in two waves, half an hour apart. The Japanese used 353 planes including fighters, level and dive bombers and torpedo bombers.

In the raid which lasted two hours and 20 minutes, 19 US Navy ships, including eight battleships, were destroyed or damaged. A total of 188 US aircraft were blown up; 2,403 Americans were killed and 1,178 others were wounded.

By contrast, the Japanese lost only 29 aircraft and five midget submarines. About 130 of their men were killed.

Judged on its long-term repercussions, however, the attack can only be regarded as a failure. Because of the shallow water all but one ship – USS Arizona – were later raised. Six were returned to service and went on to fight in the war.

And the next day, President Roosevelt told Congress:

“Yesterday, December 7, 1941– a date that will live in infamy – the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.

“No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people will, through their righteous might, win through to absolute victory. . . With confidence in our armed forces, with the unbounded determination of our people, we will gain the inevitable triumph, so help us God.

“I ask that the Congress declare that since the unprovoked and dastardly attack by Japan on Sunday, December 7, 1941, a state of war has existed between the United States and the Japanese Empire.”

The President’s request was granted as Japan formally declared war against the United States. On December 11, war was also formally declared between America and the Axis powers of Germany and Italy.

In London, Prime Minister Winston Churchill was bowled over by the news. He later wrote: “To have the United States at our side was to me the greatest joy. Now I knew the US was in the war, up to the neck and in it to the death. So we had won after all! Hitler's fate was sealed. Mussolini's fate was sealed. As for the Japanese, they would be ground to powder.”

Reflecting on the attack, Admiral Yamamoto has often been quoted as saying: “I feel all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with terrible resolve.”

The sombre and perceptive quote was said at the end of the 1970 film, Tora! Tora! Tora! and repeated in the 2001 movie, Pearl Harbor. Unfortunately, there is no evidence that Yamamoto ever said those words and it is yet to be verified that the now famous quote is anything more than a line from a script.
 

SnafuSmite

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The biggest mistake by the Japs was not hitting the Submarine section of the base and not whacking the carriers, sure the yanks would have rebuilt them in short time. But all their big dockyards capable of building the big Ships were on the East Coast and had to either go through the Panama Canal or around South America. Japan could've easily controlled those two areas and dominated the Pacific, Yank manufacturing would have prevailed but only by 1944 at the soonest for carriers etc. But by 1942 the yanks were already on the offensive in the naval space. The Japs would've been in a much better position to negotiate on their terms and probably kept the Yanks out of Europe/North Africa for at least another year or two as well, as they would be scrambling everything to reinforce their Western coast.
 

Le petit caporal

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Japs only surrenderd to the USA, even after the 2 nukes, because the USA gave a promise to the Japs to let them keep their Emperor...
It was that or surrender to the Soviets who had taken the Manchurie (SP)
Aristocracy is a fkn insult to the hard working tosser...ask Dusan ?
 
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William was crowned on 25 December 1066 and reigned until 1087. The conquest introduced the Norman language to England, eliminated the English elite, changes to governance and the formal elimination of slavery.
View attachment 5455
Harold's death scene from the Bayeux tapestry
The “Norman” language didn’t really change the structure of English, but it did introduce a new massive vocabulary that was added onto the English vocabulary. There’s often two different words for every word in English, because it retains most of our native Anglo-Saxon Germanic words, but also all of the French Latin words. When people claim that French was spoken in the courts of England for a few centuries after the conquest, it wasn’t the French we know today, but more akin to modern English. The peasantry kept speaking a language more like Anglo-Saxon, while the Nobility spoke a version of English with tons of French vocabulary that the English peasants just assumed was French. Many of the Normans also married into the English elite, and were more than often related to them already. William was Harold’s cousin. Government changed big time though, as Normans introduced feudalism to England. Many small land owners lost their lands on paper, but continued to live and work them in largely the same ways they had. William banned private cemeteries so as to ensure land couldn’t be claimed by one’s ancestors being buried on it. The proto “democratic” Witten was abolished, as were the Thing Assemblies in all the Shires to end the custom of electing local Shire Reeves(Sheriffs). As for slavery(Thralldom), it was replaced by serfdom. Thralls in Germanic societies weren’t like the slaves of the antebellum south, nor those of Greece or Rome. They often worked more like indentured servants, and weren’t bound for life. It wasn’t much different than serfdom, except that maybe their were less thralls than there were serfs. Normans were a very cool and adventurous people though, and they were essential in modernizing England into the Middle Ages....despite all the frustrations my professors have towards them for “polluting” Common Law and the English language lol. I can only say these last nice things cause my mother’s side are Normans if you go back far enough.
 
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