Tuesday, April 08, 2008
TAINTED HEROICS?
In the year 1854 Alfred Lord Tennyson wrote an epic poem called “The Charge of the Light Brigade.” Many of us studied this in school, and some of us have reviewed it from time to time, enjoying the words, rhyme, and meter, while pondering the bittersweet tragedy of misdirected valor. Let us recall a few excerpts from that wonderful piece.
“Forward the Light Brigade!
Charge the guns,” he said;
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
“Forward the Light Brigade!”
Was there a man dismayed?
Not tho’ the soldier knew
Someone had blundered;
Their’s not to make reply,
Their’s not to reason why,
Their’s but to do and die;
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
This poem came around the end of the Crimean War. Most scholars now question the wisdom of that war. It began as a dispute between the western Catholic Church and the Russian Orthodox Church over control of holy sites in Palestine, a territory of the Ottoman Empire. Then came France and Russia championing opposite religious causes. The resultant war extended to the British and the Turks. The British landed forces on the Crimean peninsula in the Black Sea bent upon capturing the Russian seaport of Sevastopol. The charge of the Light Brigade was a skirmish in that conflict.
The Crimean War accomplished little except to change administration of the holy sites to the Catholics, but it set the stage for the emergence of Florence Nightingale as the heroine establishing of the great humanitarian profession of nursing. But of the Light Brigade, Tennyson writes on:
Back from the mouth of Hell,
All that was left of them,
Left of the six hundred.
When can their glory fade?
Honor the charge they made,
Honor the Light Brigade,
Noble six hundred.
Somebody blundered, the poet tells us, and the soldiers knew it. Yet they charged into the mouths of the cannon, and their ranks were decimated – needlessly. They followed orders, not reasoning why, and bravely they died. Tennyson extols their glory, albeit in a futile action.
Although the glamour of war has been discounted in this last century, the question still arises: “Is there honor in bravery in a foolhardy action?”
In an American tragedy, the Confederate army under General Lee had advanced northward into Pennsylvania in 1863 with a momentum toward an early decisive victory which would bring a negotiated peace leaving the South separate. At Gettysburg Generals Lee and Longstreet ordered General Pickett’s division to charge up Cemetery Hill into the face of furious fire from established Union positions. The charge almost succeeded, but after huge casualties it was beaten back.
General Pickett lost half of his 12,500 man division in just two hours that day in what has since been termed as a strategic blunder by General Longstreet and the legend of the South, General Robert E. Lee.
The question arises: “Does the strategic error of the tactic diminish the heroism of the men in Pickett’s charge?
In the present time we are faced with similar human tragedies in the conduct of an unpopular war. Although more than 60% of our people favored that war in the light of what we were told by our leaders at the beginning, more than 60% of us now regard the war as a gross mistake by our nation’s leaders.
We are experiencing the return of soldiers from this war, some maimed physically and some mentally. We are experiencing the return of some in caskets, four thousand of them. We feel the sorrow of families, because we have experienced the same tragedies ourselves in previous wars.
Now the question arises: “Are these men who served, who suffered, and who died, deserving of honor, although their duties were performed in a war of which most of us disapprove?”
The answer to all of our questions is, of course, a resounding: “Yes!”
If we have issues about the justification for a war, then we take that up with those who made that decision. If we have issues about the foolhardiness or futility of a battle tactic, then we take that up with those who planned and directed that strategy. Our high regard for those who serve is not diminished by the mistakes of their leaders.
But the converse is also true. Our high regard for those who serve, and for those who suffer, does not extend to support for leaders in what we see as a mistaken war. Don’t ask us to behave as though we do. We shudder at the sight of such. We are not unpatriotic if we don’t!
The futile, but brave charge of the Light Brigade brought no honor to their officers or to the government that sent them there. The bravery of Pickett’s men brought no honor to their generals, or to the questionable cause of the Confederate government.
The sense of duty demonstrated by those who are assigned for long months in Iraq under hazardous conditions reflects honor upon them, but none to government that sent them there.
Dr. Edwin E. Vineyard, AKA The Militant Moderate
“Forward the Light Brigade!
Charge the guns,” he said;
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
“Forward the Light Brigade!”
Was there a man dismayed?
Not tho’ the soldier knew
Someone had blundered;
Their’s not to make reply,
Their’s not to reason why,
Their’s but to do and die;
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
This poem came around the end of the Crimean War. Most scholars now question the wisdom of that war. It began as a dispute between the western Catholic Church and the Russian Orthodox Church over control of holy sites in Palestine, a territory of the Ottoman Empire. Then came France and Russia championing opposite religious causes. The resultant war extended to the British and the Turks. The British landed forces on the Crimean peninsula in the Black Sea bent upon capturing the Russian seaport of Sevastopol. The charge of the Light Brigade was a skirmish in that conflict.
The Crimean War accomplished little except to change administration of the holy sites to the Catholics, but it set the stage for the emergence of Florence Nightingale as the heroine establishing of the great humanitarian profession of nursing. But of the Light Brigade, Tennyson writes on:
Back from the mouth of Hell,
All that was left of them,
Left of the six hundred.
When can their glory fade?
Honor the charge they made,
Honor the Light Brigade,
Noble six hundred.
Somebody blundered, the poet tells us, and the soldiers knew it. Yet they charged into the mouths of the cannon, and their ranks were decimated – needlessly. They followed orders, not reasoning why, and bravely they died. Tennyson extols their glory, albeit in a futile action.
Although the glamour of war has been discounted in this last century, the question still arises: “Is there honor in bravery in a foolhardy action?”
In an American tragedy, the Confederate army under General Lee had advanced northward into Pennsylvania in 1863 with a momentum toward an early decisive victory which would bring a negotiated peace leaving the South separate. At Gettysburg Generals Lee and Longstreet ordered General Pickett’s division to charge up Cemetery Hill into the face of furious fire from established Union positions. The charge almost succeeded, but after huge casualties it was beaten back.
General Pickett lost half of his 12,500 man division in just two hours that day in what has since been termed as a strategic blunder by General Longstreet and the legend of the South, General Robert E. Lee.
The question arises: “Does the strategic error of the tactic diminish the heroism of the men in Pickett’s charge?
In the present time we are faced with similar human tragedies in the conduct of an unpopular war. Although more than 60% of our people favored that war in the light of what we were told by our leaders at the beginning, more than 60% of us now regard the war as a gross mistake by our nation’s leaders.
We are experiencing the return of soldiers from this war, some maimed physically and some mentally. We are experiencing the return of some in caskets, four thousand of them. We feel the sorrow of families, because we have experienced the same tragedies ourselves in previous wars.
Now the question arises: “Are these men who served, who suffered, and who died, deserving of honor, although their duties were performed in a war of which most of us disapprove?”
The answer to all of our questions is, of course, a resounding: “Yes!”
If we have issues about the justification for a war, then we take that up with those who made that decision. If we have issues about the foolhardiness or futility of a battle tactic, then we take that up with those who planned and directed that strategy. Our high regard for those who serve is not diminished by the mistakes of their leaders.
But the converse is also true. Our high regard for those who serve, and for those who suffer, does not extend to support for leaders in what we see as a mistaken war. Don’t ask us to behave as though we do. We shudder at the sight of such. We are not unpatriotic if we don’t!
The futile, but brave charge of the Light Brigade brought no honor to their officers or to the government that sent them there. The bravery of Pickett’s men brought no honor to their generals, or to the questionable cause of the Confederate government.
The sense of duty demonstrated by those who are assigned for long months in Iraq under hazardous conditions reflects honor upon them, but none to government that sent them there.
Dr. Edwin E. Vineyard, AKA The Militant Moderate
