BALAKLAVA, A small port in the southwest of the Crimea. It is separated by a rocky peninsula from the harbor of Sebastopol, from which it is about six miles distant. The harbor, which affords secure anchorage for the largest ships, is perfectly landlocked, the en trance being so narrow as scarcely to admit more than one vessel at a time. To the east, overlooking the bay, are the ruins of a Genoese fortress, the foundation of which is pierced by numerous chambers and galleries. Balaklava is the Fortis Symbolorum of the ancients, and the present name is supposed to be a corruption of the Italian Bella-chiava (fair haven). It was long the seat of a Greek colony. In the Fourteenth Century it fell into the hands of the Genoese, who were expelled in the Fifteenth Century by the Turks. On the acquisition of the Crimea by Catherine II. of Russia it was made a military station. In 1854 the town was occu
pied by the British. under Lord Raglan. Owing to the negligence and inefficiency of the commis sariat the troops were subjected tc) extreme hardship. and great numbers of them perished of hunger and cold within touch of immense stores of supplies, rendered inaccessible by offi cial red tape. On the heights between Bala klava anal the Tchernaya, there was fought, October 25, 1854, a battle between the English and the Russians, signalized by splendid cavalry charges (the famous charges of the Heavy and Light Brigades) on the part of the former. Consult: Kinglake, Invasion of the Crimea, S vols. (London. 1S63-1887), of which nearly the whole of the fourth volume is devoted to a minute account of the events connected with Balaklava ; also Paget. The Light Cavalry Brigade in the Crimea (London, 1881).