About the Book:The Victoria Cross: the highest standard of valour. The exploits of its winners are the stuff of legend. But why was it instituted? What factors came together during the Crimean War to create this award? Since its inception 1,356 have been awarded, but the circumstances of warfare have changed wand with them the very concept of heroism has evolved. Awarded for Valour traces the evolution of this concept from its origins on the fields before Sevastopol, across the dashing campaigns of imperial expansion and defence, where the concept of heroism was a curious combination of the romantic and the pragmatic (all held in place with a stiff upper lip) and into the cauldron of the First World War, from which a very different concept of heroism arose.