A note to the author's section on The Crimean War in his multi-part essay, "Mark Twain on the Crimean War." In-text citations refer to items in the bibliography. [Click on the preceding link to return to the main text.]
Ever since William Kinglake, the first historian of the war, wrote his magisterial account, the responsibility for the disastrous charge has traditionally been given to Cardigan and Lucan. "It was certainly Kinglake who first fully adumbrated the view that the cavalry had been doomed to destruction by the appointment of two aristocratic nincompoops, Lucan and Cardigan, and by the system which permitted them to hold their commands. It was a thesis which had been partially promulgated before but Kinglake's history was its classic statement" (Thomas, 321). Twain knew Kinglake personally, having met him in London in 1872.
Last modified 16 August 2005