The Crimean War took place from 1853 to 1856 between Russia on one side and an alliance of Britain, France, the Ottoman Empire and Sardinia on the other. At the Battle of Balaclava in 1854, a famous but disastrous cavalry charge known as the Charge of the Light Brigade occurred after a misunderstood order led to over 600 British troops charging straight into heavy Russian fire, suffering over 40% casualties. The failed attack prompted the French Marshal Bosquet's comment that "It is magnificent, but it is not war...it is madness."

1. Crimean War 1853-1856 Franz Roubaud. Detail of his panoramic painting The Siege of Sevastopol (1904).

4. TELEGRAPH MAP 1854 : These two maps show the extent of the electric telegraph throughout Europe in 1854, just before the start of the Crimean War between Britain, France, Turkey and Sardinia, and Russia. In contrast with the effective electrical coverage of England (as opposed to Wales, Scotland and Ireland), France, Prussia, Bavaria, Austria (as opposed to Hungary, in the east of their empire) and Savoy in north Italy, are the bare, unwired territories of Spain, and the Russian and Ottoman empires. Source: Distant Writing [website] http://distantwriting.co.uk/telegraphmap.aspx

5. Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte of France (L) and Tsar Nicolas I of Russia (R)

6. Battle of Balaclava October 25, 1854 Army camp at Balaklava in the Crimean War, 1855. Photo: James Robertson (1813-1888) & Felice Beato (1833 or 1834 - c.1907).

7. Allied march to Sevastopol. Crimean War, September 1854 . Based on map in R. L. V. Ffrench Blake's The Crimean War

10. James Brudenell, 7th Earl of Cardigan

11. Overall command of the cavalry resided with Lieutenant General the Earl of Lucan. In the British parliamentary inquest following the battle, Lucan was blamed by Raglan for misinterpreting his orders and commanding Cardigan to charge. George Bingham, 3rd Earl of Lucan

12. Cardigan and Lucan were brothers-in-law with a passionate dislike for one another The Charge of the Light Brigade at Balaklava by William Simpson, 1855. From Simpson's The Seat of War in the East, second series.

13. The British Army Commander in the Crimea was General, Lord Raglan. FitzRoy Somerset, 1st Baron Raglan Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, Roger Fenton Crimean War Photographs. "Lord Raglan wishes the cavalry to advance rapidly to the front, follow the enemy, and try to prevent the enemy carrying away the guns. Horse artillery may accompany. French cavalry is on your left. Immediate."

18. Charge of the Light Brigade. Painting by Richard Caton Woodville (1825-1855)

20. The brigade was not completely destroyed, but did suffer terribly, with 118 men killed, 127 wounded. Survivors: Officers and men of the 13th Light Dragoons, British Army, Crimea. Rostrum photograph of Roger Fenton original print (1855), uncropped and without color correction . Library of Congress

23. The "Valley of Death" in which the Charge of the Light Brigade was fought (2005) . The charge of the Light Brigade continues to be studied by modern military historians and students as an example of what can go wrong when accurate military intelligence is lacking and orders are unclear.