The Crimean War was the first 'modern' war for the British forces: journalists reported home via the telegraph, a device that also tempted the government to micro-manage the war from the comfort of Whitehall.
It is most famous for the charge of the Light Brigade, celebrated in poetry and film as a classic British military disaster. It also gave us 'The Thin Red Line', when a handful of British infantry saw off a horde of Russian cavalry. It was the first war in which ordinary British soldiers recorded their experiences - and Julian Spilsbury brings their story to life, together with the...