The Charge of the Light Brigade was a doomed British military assault conducted during the Crimean War. More than the facts of the assault itself, however, was its inspiration for a poem of the same name written by Alfred Lord Tennyson. As literature, it has come to embody the duality of war: its heroism and its senseless waste in equal measures. The specifics of the battle itself shed light on the poem, but you don't need to know about the actual charge to appreciate the power of Tennyson's words.
Background
The Light Brigade itself consisted of 5 units: the 8th and 11th Hussars, the 4th and 13th Light Dragoons and the 17th Lancers. They were light cavalry units, designed to use the speed of horses to make quick, devastating strikes. The Crimean War was the first major conflict to signal the eventual obsolescence of such warfare, as technological advances such as artillery were beginning to nullify their effectiveness.
The Charge
The charge itself took place during the Battle of Balaclava on October 25, 1854. The Light Brigade was ordered into "the Valley of Death," a stretch of land between Causeway Heights and Fedyukhin Heights. The high ground was ringed with Russian cannon and a large infantry force was stationed on the far end. Due to a miscommunication, the Brigade's commander misinterpreted an attack order aimed at units on the other side of Causeway Heights to mean the units at the far end of the valley. More than 600 men participated in the charge. They reached their objective on the far side of the valley, but they were crippled by cannon fire and forced to retreat. Of the 600-plus men, some 275 were killed or wounded in the engagement, along with more than 300 horses.
The News
News of the attack didn't reach England until November 1854. (Communications of the era were exceedingly slow.) The "London Gazette" published transcripts of the commanders' order on November 12, which set off a firestorm of controversy as to who was to blame.
Tennyson's Poem
Alfred Lord Tennyson was England's Poet Laureate at the time of the attack. When word reached him, he penned a poem recounting the charge, which was published in the "London Examiner" on December 9, 1854. The poem's refrain is a familiar one: It praises the courage and loyalty of the men who participated in the Charge while excoriating the foolish orders which led to such tragic waste.
Impact
The poem proved exceedingly popular in England, capturing the prevailing public opinion of the event. Pamphlets containing the poem were printed and sent to the soldiers in the Crimea as well. Long after the war ended, its potent imagery and balanced meditation on the nature of battle stirred the imagination, cementing its place as a masterpiece of late Romantic-era poetry.