Crimean War - Leadership Flashcards
Battle of Balaclava
-25 October 1854
-Initial surprise attack of the Russians to capture the Causeway Heights
-Done in an attempt of the Russians to capture Balaclava port and drive the British troops into the sea and therefore relieve the siege of Sevastopol
-Russians pushed back to the Causeway Heights and into the North Valley
-Then there is the failed Charge of the Light Brigade
Charge of the Light Brigade
-25 October 1854
-Russians were towing away the previously British guns on the Causeway heights (the intended target)
-Instead the prepared Russian guns in the North valley which were flanked by guns on each of the heights were suicidally attacked
Captain Nolan
-Was Raglan’s dead aide-de-camp and was an experienced cavalrymen
-If Nolan was at fault then this must be in his receipt of the order from Raglan or in his delivery of the order to Lucan. It can also be seen by him dashing ahead of the brigade at an early stage of the charge
-Claimed that Nolan was blamed simply because he was dead and could not defend himself and it got everyone else off the hook
Lord Raglan
-Raglan was trying to stop the British guns being taken away as that would be a tarnish on his honour, thus it was not a sound decision to attack
–If Lord Raglan was at fault then his error must have been in his oral delivery of his order to General Airey as once Nolan left with the order it was out of his hands
-Orders are written in more of a spoken way than a literary way meaning it can be assumed that they were Raglan’s exact words
Captain Nolan not to blame - The Russell-Calthorpe Theory
-The orders could have been inadequately explained as Raglan was in a hurry to get him on his way
-flaw in theory - If Nolan believed the guns at the end of the valley were the correct target there would’ve been no need to attempt to change the direction of the brigade by dashing out in front of it
-flaw in theory - Nolan was experienced and knew better than most that the horses needed to be preserved over distance, so him dashing up ahead to try to pick up the pace seems unlikely
Captain Nolan to blame - The Russell-Calthorpe Theory
-When Lucan asked Nolan which guns he was supposed to attack, Nolan wrongly pointed toward the artillery at the end of the North Valley which were flanked by artillery on the heights on either side
-Calthorpe claims that Nolan completely misunderstood the orders, but he was Raglan’s nephew though
-May be that Nolan was nodding his assent before the words were half out as he was
Captain Nolan not to blame - The Kinglake Theory
-Kinglake contends that Nolan did properly understand Raglan’s order
-It was not until Cardigan set off in the wrong direction,, that Nolan attempted to change the direction of the brigade by dashing out ahead
-From where Lucan was it may have appeared that Nolan was pointing down the valley, especially as Lucan did not know of the movements of the guns on the Causeway Heights
Captain Nolan to blame - The Kinglake Theory
-If Nolan knew the guns intended in the orders were those on the heights then why did he point down the valley when Lucan asked him to elaborate on which guns he was supposed to attack
-Still his fault for carelessly throwing his arm out to point down the valley
Raglan not to blame - inherently unclear order
-Raglan claimed his 4th order ‘prevent the enemy carrying away the guns’ was a reiteration of his 3rd order; ‘to recover the Heights’
-as the only heights that had been lost and that could be recovered were the Causeway Heights where the Russians had occupied the British guns positioned there
-If the two orders are taken together, the objective of the advance was clearly the guns in the redoubts
Raglan to blame - inherently unclear order
-Raglan issued order to ‘follow the Enemy’ but at this point the Russians were not withdrawing and therefore there was nothing to follow
-Prevent the Russians ‘carrying away the guns’, yet did not indicate which guns, and from where Lucan was he couldn’t the Russians removing any guns
-Raglan’s 4th order of ‘follow the Enemy’ and ‘prevent the Enemy carrying away the guns’ which which suggested to Lucan that some part of the Russian force withdrawing, and taking guns with it. Neither of these events could be seen from Lucan’s position in the valley and Raglan should have realized that
Raglan not to blame - explaining orders to Nolan
-Calthorpe stated that Nolan was given ‘careful instruction’, though he was the nephew of Raglan and may have been disgruntled due to being passed up as rider for the order
Raglan to blame - explaining orders to Nolan
-Raglan decided, right before the order was sent, to send Nolan as he was the superior horseman when he was not next in line as messenger meaning he wouldn’t have been listening properly to Airey and Raglan talking
-It is uncertain whether Nolan was given some sort of explanation of the order
-Raglan shouted ‘Tell Lord Lucan the cavalry is to attack immediately’ as Nolan rode away which implied an urgent destruction of the enemy
Lord Lucan not to blame
-When Nolan quoted Raglan’s oral order to ‘attack immediately’, Lucan took this to mean with some urgency and thus overlook a full consideration of the consequences
-Nolan repeated Raglan’s shouted orders exactly and by long-established military tradition, the oral orders brought by an aide-de-camp were to be obeyed as if they had been spoken by the original speaker himself
-Sometimes in battle, the c-in-c is forced to send a particular unit into a seemingly senseless attack in order to prevent a greater ill from occurring elsewhere and the urgency with which Nolan delivered the order made it appear to be such an occasion
Lord Lucan to blame
-This means that Lucan focused on Nolan’s oral words, rather than the more cautious written orders
-Another well-established tradition was that it was Lucan’s discretion not to implement an order that he believed to be dangerously misconceived
-Lucan did not follow up after the Light Brigade and support it with the Heavy Brigade as he said he would
Lord Cardigan not to blame
-Cardigan objected to the orders on the grounds that his brigade would be exposed to flanking artillery
-Cardigan was told by Lucan that, nevertheless, the order must be obeyed
-Cardigan properly protested and then followed his orders when forced to, thus he is not at fault
