The Thin Red Line described an episode of the Battle of Balaclava on 25 October 1854, during the Crimean War.[3] In the incident, around 500 men of the 93rd Sutherland Highlanders led by Sir Colin Campbell, aided by a small force of 100 walking wounded, 40 detached Guardsmen, and supported by a substantial force of Turkish infantrymen, formed a line of fire against the Russiancavalry. Previously, Campbell's Highland Brigade had taken part in actions at the Battle of Alma and the Siege of Sevastopol. There were more Victoria Crosses presented to the Highland soldiers at that time than at any other.[citation needed] The event was lionised in the British press and became an icon of the qualities of the British soldier in a war that was arguably poorly managed and increasingly unpopular.
A Russian cavalry force of 2,500, commanded by General Ryzhov, was advancing on the camp of the British cavalry. About 400 Russians were involved in the incident.[4] It was early morning, and the only troops between the oncoming cavalry and Balaklava was the 93rd Regiment.[5]
Colin Campbell, 1st Baron Clyde, is said to have told his men, "There is no retreat from here, men. You must die where you stand."[6] Sir Colin's aide John Scott is said to have replied, "Aye, Sir Colin. If needs be, we'll do that." Campbell felt he had insufficiently trained men to form square, and arranged the 93rd into a line two deep—the "thin red line", though convention prescribed a line four deep, to meet the cavalry charge. As the Russian cavalry approached, the Turks on the flanks broke and fled. The 93rd discharged two volleys, at 800 and 500 yards (730 and 460m). They did not get a chance to discharge one at point-blank range as the Russians turned away. Accounts of the Highlanders state that they started forward for a counter-charge before the final volley, but Sir Colin stopped them with a cry of "93rd, damn you Highlanders for all that eagerness!"[7]
Canadian historian George T. Denison, in his book A History of Cavalry from the Earliest Times, With Lessons for the Future, wrote "... the Russian squadrons had no intention whatever of charging, but were simply at the time making demonstrations to oblige the allied troops to display their arrangements, and that when the 93rd showed their line upon the hill, the object was gained, and the cavalry withdrew."[8][dubious–discuss]
The Times correspondent, William H. Russell, wrote that he could see nothing between the charging Russians and the British regiment's base of operations at Balaklava but the "thin red streak tipped with a line of steel" of the 93rd;[9] in his later accounts, he changed the phrase to "thin red line".[10]
The Thin Red Line has become an English language figure of speech for any thinly spread military unit holding firm against attack. The phrase has also taken on the metaphorical meaning of the barrier which the relatively limited armed forces of a country present to potential attackers.[citation needed]
Rudyard Kipling wrote in the poem Tommy: "Then it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' Tommy, 'ow's yer soul? / But it's 'Thin red line of 'eroes' when the drums begin to roll," – "Tommy Atkins" being slang for a common British soldier.
In the 1968 film Carry On... Up the Khyber, a soldier played by Charles Hawtrey draws a thin red line on the ground with paint and brush, arguing that the enemy will not dare to cross it.
The term was adopted as a reference to the fire brigade, via the derived "thin blue line" referring to police. Such uses are common in the US on bumper stickers expressing membership or support of police and fire departments.[citation needed]
The action was the origin of the now-traditional Scottish song, "A Scottish Soldier (The Green Hills of Tyrol)".[citation needed] "The Green Hills of Tyrol" is one of the best known tunes played by pipe bands today. It was originally from the opera William Tell by Rossini, but was transcribed to the pipes in 1854 by Pipe Major John MacLeod after he heard it played by a Sardinian military band when serving in the Crimean War with his regiment, the 93rd Sutherland Highlanders.
Stanley Hawley composed a recitation accompanied by piano in 1896, with a libretto by Alice MacDonell. It was published by Bosworth.[11]
Kenneth Alford (also known as Major Fredrick Joseph Ricketts) wrote his march The Thin Red Line in 1908 (published in 1925) to commemorate the "thin red line".
The battle is referenced by English metal band Saxon in the song "The Thin Red Line" on their 1997 album Unleash the Beast
↑ This original Russian cavalry force divided itself into two smaller groups, and only about 400 of them were involved in the "Thin Red Line" incident. These 400 Russians were the Cossacks of 1st Urals Cossack Regiment, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Horoshihin. Russian cavalry was part of General Pavel Liprandi's 23,000 strong army at Balaklava. (Crimea: The Great Crimean War, 1854–56, by Trevor Royle, pp. 266–268)
↑ The 93rd Highlanders involved in the "Thin Red Line" incident probably numbered no more than a few hundred infantrymen. This was part of the British, French and Turkish forces at Balaclava which totaled approximately 21,000 strong.
The Crimean War was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between the Russian Empire and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom, and Sardinia-Piedmont.
The Battle of the Alma took place during the Crimean War between an allied expeditionary force and Russian forces defending the Crimean Peninsula on 20September 1854. The allies had made a surprise landing in Crimea on 14September. The allied commanders, Maréchal Jacques Leroy de Saint-Arnaud and Lord Raglan, then marched toward the strategically important port city of Sevastopol, 45 km away. Russian commander Prince Alexander Sergeyevich Menshikov rushed his available forces to the last natural defensive position before the city, the Alma Heights, south of the Alma River.
The Battle of Balaclava, fought on 25 October 1854 during the Crimean War, was part of the Siege of Sevastopol (1854–55), an Allied attempt to capture the port and fortress of Sevastopol, Russia's principal naval base on the Black Sea. The engagement followed the earlier Allied victory in September at the Battle of the Alma, where the Russian General Menshikov had positioned his army in an attempt to stop the Allies progressing south towards their strategic goal. Alma was the first major encounter fought in the Crimean Peninsula since the Allied landings at Kalamita Bay on 14 September, and was a clear battlefield success; but a tardy pursuit by the Allies failed to gain a decisive victory, allowing the Russians to regroup, recover and prepare their defence.
Field Marshal Colin Campbell, 1st Baron Clyde,, was a British Army officer. After serving in the Peninsular War and the War of 1812, he commanded the 98th Regiment of Foot during the First Opium War and then commanded a brigade during the Second Anglo-Sikh War. He went on to command the Highland Brigade at the Battle of Alma and with his "thin red line of Highlanders" he repulsed the Russian attack on Balaclava during the Crimean War. At an early stage of the Indian Mutiny, he became Commander-in-Chief, India and, in that role, he relieved and then evacuated Lucknow and, after attacking and decisively defeating Tatya Tope at the Second Battle of Cawnpore, captured Lucknow again. Whilst still commander-in-chief he dealt with the "White Mutiny" among East India Company troops, and organised the army sent east in the Second Opium War.
Balaklava is a settlement on the Crimean Peninsula and part of the city of Sevastopol. It is an administrative center of Balaklavsky District that used to be part of the Crimean Oblast before it was transferred to Sevastopol Municipality. Population: 18,649 .
The sporran, a traditional part of male Scottish Highland dress, is a pouch that functions as a pocket for the kilt. Made of leather or fur, the ornamentation of the sporran is chosen to complement the formality of dress worn with it. The sporran is worn on a leather strap or chain, conventionally positioned in front of the groin of the wearer.
The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders (Princess Louise's) is a light infantry company (designated as Balaklava Company, 5th Battalion, Royal Regiment of Scotland) and was a line infantry regiment of the British Army that existed from 1881 until amalgamation into the Royal Regiment of Scotland on 28 March 2006.
Major-General William McBean was a Scottish recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.
John Paton VC was a Scottish recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.
Samuel Parkes VC was an English recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. Parkes was awarded his VC for his actions during the Charge of the Light Brigade.
William George Drummond Stewart, VC was a British Army officer and a recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.
General Sir James Yorke Scarlett was a British Army officer and hero of the Crimean War who led the Charge of the Heavy Brigade during the Battle of Balaclava on 25 October 1854.
The Highland Brigade is a historical unit of the British Army, which has been formed and reformed a number of times. It recruited men from the Highlands of Scotland.
Kadikoi in the 19th century was a village on the Crimean peninsula, in Ukraine, about one mile north of Balaklava. The Battle of Balaclava was fought on the hills and valleys to the north of Kadikoi in 1854. The village was later known as Kadykovka (Кадыковка), and Pryhorodne (Пригородне). Currently it's merged into Balaklava city, and is known as microdistrict Kadykovka. Its original Crimean Tatar name means literally "village of a judge".
The 93rd Regiment of Foot was a Line Infantry Regiment of the British Army, raised in 1799. Under the Childers Reforms, it amalgamated with the 91st Regiment of Foot to form the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders.
The Sebastopol Monument is a triumphal arch that is located in the Old Burial Ground, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. The arch commemorates the Siege of Sevastopol (1854–1855), which is one of the last classic sieges of all time. This arch is the 4th oldest war monument in Canada (1860). It is the only monument to the Crimean War in North America. The arch and lion were built in 1860 by stone sculptor George Lang to commemorate British victory in the Crimean war and the Nova Scotians who had fought in the war.
Events from the year 1854 in Scotland.
The red line, or "to cross the red line", is a phrase used worldwide to mean a figurative point of no return or line in the sand, or "the fastest, farthest, or highest point or degree considered safe."
The Thin Red Line is an 1881 oil-on-canvas painting by Robert Gibb depicting the 93rd Regiment of Foot at the Battle of Balaclava on 25 October 1854, during the Crimean War. In an incident which became known as "The Thin Red Line", a two-deep line of around 500 red-coated Scottish infantry from the Highland Brigade – with support from around 1,000 Royal Marines and Turkish infantry along with six guns of field artillery – stood firm against a force of around 2,500 Russian cavalrymen. The incident was a small one, in the context of the battle and the war as a whole, but became the focus for celebrating the stoicism and steadfastness of the British Army after Gibb's painting was exhibited.
General Sir John Alexander Ewart GCB was a 19th-century British military leader who commanded the Gordon Highlanders and several other important British regiments. A hero of the Siege of Lucknow he spent the second half of his life without his left arm. A favourite of Queen Victoria he served as her official aide-de-camp.
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