Lessons in Leadership: The Battle of Balaklava, 1854
Military Review › Vol. 88 Nbr. 2, March 2008
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Summary
After failed attempts at diplomacy, Russia and Turkey went to war, with the Russian Navy inflicting a serious defeat on a Turkish flotilla at Sinope (November 1853), raising the possibility that Russia would overrun the declining Ottoman Empire and gain unchallenged access through the Bosphorus and Dardanelles into the Mediterranean Sea. [...] a party of the Chasseurs d'Afrique showed themselves menacingly [which] had the desired effect of turning the Cossacks from the purpose of launching attacks on the retreating Light Brigade.25 Lucan later wrote that had not the Chasseurs d'Afrique at this time silenced one of these batteries, it is my opinion that the Heavy Cavalry would have been destroyed.
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Lessons in Leadership: The Battle of Balaklava, 1854
THE CHARGE OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE took place on 25 October 1854, during the Battle of Balaklava in the Crimean War. The action has become a byword for stubborn heroism, devotion to duty, and steadfastness in the face of overwhelming odds-but also futility, waste, incompetence, and poor communication. We will examine the battle, the charge, and the behaviour of senior commanders as a study in leadership, using the criteria of "Eight Points of Good Leadership" from the Defence Leadership Management Centre based at the Defence Academy of the United Kingdom at Shrivenham. Those points are
1. Inspire confidence.2. Motivate others to follow.3. Raise the goals of others (at personal risk).4. Build a team.5. Provide a personal example of physical/or moral bravery, or both.6. Achieve the task.7. Instill and maintain discipline.8. Delegate authority.If the horses, colourful uniforms, swords, and lances of the Light Brigade seem far removed, it is worth remembering that the Crimean War marks the boundary between Napoleonic and modern warfare. The Crimean War saw the first use of military telecommunications, percussion rifles, railroads, and war correspondents. It was expeditionary warfare mounted by what might be termed, with only the slightest hint of irony, a "coalition of the wi...See the full content of this document
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