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Worst or Most Relavent British Defeat in History?

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Mad_Monkey59
I can't remember what the war was... but it had a poem written about it.

'Cannon to the left of them, Cannon to the right of them...'

It was about the charge of the light cavalry against lots of heavy guns...

sorry for the lack of info but i have tried to forget A-level history as much as possible.



Tennyson - Charge of the Light Brigade, i did Tennyson for A2, but not that poem unfortunately, it has a great rhythm to it
Reply 61
Avatar for Weejimmie
Weejimmie
1
Mad_Monkey59
I can't remember what the war was... but it had a poem written about it.

'Cannon to the left of them, Cannon to the right of them...'

It was about the charge of the light cavalry against lots of heavy guns...

sorry for the lack of info but i have tried to forget A-level history as much as possible.

The battle- Balaclava- was a victory, however.
Weejimmie
The battle- Balaclava- was a victory, however.



lol, only because of the French cavalry
yeah we lost basically the whole of our cavalry.
Reply 64
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Weejimmie
1
Mad_Monkey59
yeah we lost basically the whole of our cavalry.

?Charge of the Heavy Brigade was a complete success. Tennyson wrote an even worse poem about it.
i was refering to the lite cavalry... my bad
Reply 66
Avatar for Sire
Sire
10
PhilipsCDRW
But we still won. In the long-term it delayed the end of the war and killed a few more thousand young men, but it hasn't had huge repercussions for Blighty, surely?

Although maybe it got France even more angry and vengeful at Versailles, precipitating WW2.


True, but I was only thinking in terms of a single act. I'd also have to add to the list the loss of the Renown and the Repulse, two British battleships, that were sunk by Japanese aircraft. Relevant simply because it proved the vulnerability of capital ships to air attack. Also a relevant defeat for Britain because she didn't have nearly enough aircraft carriers to provide the required air cover to protect these powerul and much needed vessels. It must be remembered that those two ships were supposed to put a stop to Japanese troop movements from island to island and also to knock out the forward Japanese airfields. This failure to do so, because they were now sleeping with the fishes, led to the disaster of the surrender at Port Morseby by Lieutenant General uhmm Percival I think his name was. Thoughts anyone?
Reply 67
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canuck
1
well, the far east campaigne was a failure from the beggining.

The British wanted thier colonies to be protected, but failed have the motivation to do so. Hong kong was stupid. The British sent 2 untrained canadian battalions to fight a undefendable island.

Singapore is more pathetic. So many men lost in such a short period. ignorance was the problem with british commanders.

Im pretty sure the british lost a navel battle against the japaneese off the coast of columbo, ingorace had a part in that too.

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