THE DUKE of Wellington once described the British cavalry as being inferior to the French because of "a want of order". The cavalry's problem was that it could not resist charging at every opportunity. The routine tasks of scouting and patrolling were of little interest to the British cavalry. What they relished was the glory of the charge - and the greater the odds against them, the greater the chance of glory. Nothing could epitomise this more than the charge of the Light Brigade at Balaklava in 1854 and the charge of the 2nd Cavalry Brigade at Elouges in August 1914. In neither case was it the intention of the person giving the orders that the cavalry would charge the enemy guns, yet off dashed the cavalry without hesitation. I have walked the fields outside Elouges and John has picked his way through the vineyards that now cover the Balaklava plain. There is surprisingly little difference in the nature of the terrain over which the two brigades charged. In both cases it is open ground and the enemy, his view unimpaired, found the cavalry an easy target.
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