During Queen Victoria's long reign British power was at its zenith and almost every year saw British troops in actioin in some part of the globe. There were many victories but there were also disastrous occasions when the thin red line was broken, melted away, or was simply not there to begin with. Professor Denis Judd has written a vivid report spiced with contemporary eyewitness accounts of these blunders, including the Retreat from Kabul in 1842, the Charge of the Light Brigade at Balaclava, the Siege of Cawnpore, the Invasion of Zululand and the Battles of Majuba Hill and Spion Kop.