The Thin Red Line: The Eyewitness History Of The Crimean War

‘Home in time for the pheasant season’ was the cheerful assumption of most British officers when the Army was shipped off to fight the Russians in 1854. But it was not to be. After landing in the Crimea and beating the Russians in open battle, the redcoats found themselves laying siege to the great naval base of Sebastopol. There, they endured a bitter winter in improvised positions, desperately short of supplies and with next to no medical care. Published to mark the 150th anniversary of the Crimean War, Julian Spilsbury’s narrative is drawn from the diaries and letters of soldiers of this most famous Victorian army. From the initial landings in an exotic land to the battles, the long months of siege and the final victorious assault, the story unfolds through the words of the men – and women – who were there.
We follow a cast of extraordinary characters who, one after another, fall, some to bounce back with almost superhuman resilience, others to die at the incompetent hands of the Army’s surgeons. The Army’s leading personalities are a collection of eccentrics; some were short-sighted, some downright criminal. But not one of them doubted the British would win, no matter how dire the odds – and this is why they ultimately prevailed.