The Battle of Balaclava, fought on 25 October 1854 during the Crimean War, is part of the Anglo-French-Turkish campaign to capture the port and fortress of Sevastopol, Russia's principal naval base on the Black Sea.

The engagement follows the earlier Allied victory in September at the Battle of the Alma, where the Russian General Menshikov had positioned his army in an attempt to stop the Allies progressing south towards their strategic goal.

Alma is the first major encounter fought in the Crimea since the Allied landings at Kalamita Bay on 14 September, and is a clear battlefield success; but a tardy pursuit by the Allies fails to gain a decisive victory, allowing the Russians to regroup, recover and prepare their defense.The Allies decide against an immediate assault on Sevastopol and instead prepare for a protracted siege.

The British, under the command of Lord Raglan, and the French, under Canrobert, position their troops to the south of the port on the Chersonese Peninsula: the French Army occupies Kamiesh on the west coast while the British moved to the southern port of Balaclava.

However, this position commits the British to the defense of the right flank of the Allied siege operations, for which Raglan has insufficient troops.

Taking advantage of this exposure, the Russian General Liprandi, with some 25,000 men, prepares to attack the defenses in and around Balaclava, hoping to disrupt the supply chain between the British base and their siege lines.The battle begins with a Russian artillery and infantry attack on the Ottoman redoubts that form Balaclava's first line of defense.

The Ottoman forces initially resist the Russian assaults, but lacking support they are eventually forced to retreat.

When the redoubts fall, the Russian cavalry moves to engage the second defensive line held by the Ottoman and the Scottish 93rd Highland Regiment in what comes to be known as the 'Thin Red Line'.

This line holds and repulses the attack; as does General Scarlett's British Heavy Brigade who charge and defeat the greater proportion of the cavalry advance, forcing the Russians onto the defensive.

However, a final Allied cavalry charge, stemming from a misinterpreted order from Raglan, leads to one of the most famous and ill-fated events in British military history – the Charge of the Light Brigade.