On this day, October the 4th, in the year of 1853, the Crimean War (fought between the Russian and the British, French, and Ottoman forces) began (Britannica). 

The war was mainly caused by Russia wanting to protect the Orthodox population in the Ottoman Empire, not their lands. Due to alliances and past tensions, the British and the French helped the Ottomans defeat the Russians resulting in Russia relaxing tensions with the Ottomans and opening their waterways more to the public (Britannica).

In the present day, the war is most famous for The Charge of the Light Brigade, a relatively insignificant failed charge of the British against the Russians. However, it spawned a well known poem, “The Charge of the Light Brigade”, by Alfred Tennyson, and an Iron Maiden song, called “The Trooper”.