Om det er av interesse. Tolstoy ble dypt preget av sine opplevelser under en annen Krim-krig. Dengang kom vestmaktene til unnsettelse av det Ottomanske imperiet, da krig brøt ut mellom Russland og dette. (Kort etter lå de samme vestmaktene i krig med Ottomanerne, under 1. Store Slagsmål, men det er en annen fortelling.)
Dette er en god artikkel om Tolstoy og Krim-krigen.
The great Russian novelist was no war tourist.
newrepublic.com
Britene fikk Florence Nightingale og et godt dikt ut av krigen. (Det ble kluss i ordregiving og det førte til kavaleristorm av et kanonbatteri. Tennyson lette frem sin fjærpenn).
The Charge of the Light Brigade
BY
ALFRED, LORD TENNYSON
I
Half a league, half a league,
Half a league onward,
All in the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
“Forward, the Light Brigade!
Charge for the guns!” he said.
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
II
“Forward, the Light Brigade!”
Was there a man dismayed?
Not though the soldier knew
Someone had blundered.
Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do and die.
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
III
Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon in front of them
Volleyed and thundered;
Stormed at with shot and shell,
Boldly they rode and well,
Into the jaws of Death,
Into the mouth of hell
Rode the six hundred.
IV
Flashed all their sabres bare,
Flashed as they turned in air
Sabring the gunners there,
Charging an army, while
All the world wondered.
Plunged in the battery-smoke
Right through the line they broke;
Cossack and Russian
Reeled from the sabre stroke
Shattered and sundered.
Then they rode back, but not
Not the six hundred.
V
Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon behind them
Volleyed and thundered;
Stormed at with shot and shell,
While horse and hero fell.
They that had fought so well
Came through the jaws of Death,
Back from the mouth of hell,
All that was left of them,
Left of six hundred.
VI
When can their glory fade?
O the wild charge they made!
All the world wondered.
Honour the charge they made!
Honour the Light Brigade,
Noble six hundred!