The Thin Red Line

The Thin Red Line tells the story of the Crimean War through the testimony of the soldiers who fought it and the officers who commanded them. Julian Spilsbury follows the British army from the opening campaign to Alma, Balaclava, Inkerman and the long siege of Sevastopol, placing celebrated episodes such as the Charge of the Light Brigade beside the confusion, delay and miscommunication that shaped the wider war.

The book also examines the institutions behind the battlefield: an aristocratic command culture, an army strained by supply failures and disease, and a public at home receiving unusually rapid reports through newspapers and the telegraph. Letters, diaries and contemporary accounts reveal the ordinary routines and hardships of campaigning, making the Crimean army a close-up study of Victorian Britain under the pressure of modern war.