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The British heavy metal band Iron Maiden has always been one of my favorites, and they recorded an iconic song 'The Trooper'.
Bassist Steve Harris penned this classic about The Charge of the Light Brigade during the Thin Red Line's deployment to the Crimean Peninsula and its 25 October 1854 Battle of Balaclava (some may find familiar Lord Tennyson's epic poem).
Iron Maiden's 'The Trooper' opens as follows:
You'll take my life, but I'll take yours too
You'll fire your musket, but I'll run you through
So those opening lines led me to wonder which muskets those darn Russians used to mow down all those courageous British troops...?
Cursory online research revealed the following regarding the British weapons used:
The British infantry fought with the Brown Bess musket in some form from the beginning of the 18th Century.
As the Crimean War broke out, the British Army’s infantry was being equipped with the new French Minié Rifle, a muzzle loading rifle fired by a cap (all the British divisions, other than the Fourth, arriving in the Crimea with this weapon). This weapon was quickly replaced by the more efficient British Enfield Rifle.
The new rifle was sighted up to 1,000 yards, as against the old Brown Bess, wholly inaccurate beyond 100 yards.
[cite:]
https://www.britishbattles.com/crimean-war/battle-of-balaclava/
and
https://www.militaryheritage.com/enfield1853.htm
But I have not found much information as to which muskets the Russians used at the Battle of Balaclava during the Crimean War; so does anyone happen to know anything about the enemy weapons during the Battle of Balaclava?
Bassist Steve Harris penned this classic about The Charge of the Light Brigade during the Thin Red Line's deployment to the Crimean Peninsula and its 25 October 1854 Battle of Balaclava (some may find familiar Lord Tennyson's epic poem).
Iron Maiden's 'The Trooper' opens as follows:
You'll take my life, but I'll take yours too
You'll fire your musket, but I'll run you through
So those opening lines led me to wonder which muskets those darn Russians used to mow down all those courageous British troops...?
Cursory online research revealed the following regarding the British weapons used:
The British infantry fought with the Brown Bess musket in some form from the beginning of the 18th Century.
As the Crimean War broke out, the British Army’s infantry was being equipped with the new French Minié Rifle, a muzzle loading rifle fired by a cap (all the British divisions, other than the Fourth, arriving in the Crimea with this weapon). This weapon was quickly replaced by the more efficient British Enfield Rifle.
The new rifle was sighted up to 1,000 yards, as against the old Brown Bess, wholly inaccurate beyond 100 yards.
[cite:]
https://www.britishbattles.com/crimean-war/battle-of-balaclava/
and
https://www.militaryheritage.com/enfield1853.htm
But I have not found much information as to which muskets the Russians used at the Battle of Balaclava during the Crimean War; so does anyone happen to know anything about the enemy weapons during the Battle of Balaclava?
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