The phrase remains in wide use today, often used colloquially to mean infantry (as in Terence Malik’s 1999 film about US infantry in the Pacific in 1942) or any thinly-stretched group resisting greater forces, including – as 'the Thin Blue Line' – the police. Eyewitness war correspondent William Russell wrote in his despatch for The Times of 'a thin red streak topped with a line of steel', but in later accounts he used the 'Thin Red Line' phrase, which stuck in the public consciousness. The phrase 'The Thin Red Line' is in fact a misquote. 1865 in the collection at National War Museum. On this occasion, the regiment deployed in line and fired three volleys, which inflicted terrible damage on the Russians, who halted and withdrew.Īn act of courage, nerve, and military discipline undoubtedly, but also explained by a development in military technology: the 93rd was one of the few regiments in the Crimea which had been issued and trained with the new pattern 1851 service rifle, which boasted improved accuracy, range and rate of fire.Ībove: Photograph of a private and a piper, 93rd Highlanders, c.

At this time, infantry were not thought to be able to withstand cavalry in the open, and would, given the chance, fire then form defensive squares. Four Russian cavalry squadrons, numbering around 400 men, advanced on some 500-600 Highlanders. The 93rd had been left alone to defend Balaclava after Turkish forces and Marine artillery had withdrawn. The battle is best known for the disastrous Charge of the Light Brigade, but also for the incident which became known as 'The Thin Red Line', when a single Scottish Highland regiment, the 93rd Highlanders, drawn up in a long line, remarkably halted a Russian cavalry charge. The Battle of Balaclava took place on 25 October 1854, when the Russian army tried to get between British forces besieging Sebastopol and the British supply base at Balaclava. The Allies repulsed Russia's attempt to invade the Balkans, then fought to occupy the Crimea and neutralise the Russian naval base at Sebastopol. In 1853, France and Britain allied with Turkey to resist Russian pressure to secure strategic naval access to the Mediterranean from the Black Sea. Painted over twenty-five years after this famous incident took place, the composition was inspired by Gibb’s reading of Alexander Kinglake’s book The Invasion of the Crimea, which was published in eight volumes between 18, and a scene which came to the artist as he walked along a hillside in the Peak district.Ībove: The Thin Red Line painted by Robert Gibb. Robert Gibb’s celebrated painting depicts the 93rd Highlanders halting a Russian cavalry charge at the Battle of Balaclava during the Crimean War in 1854.

Thin blue and red line