Anglo-Zulu War

1879

Overview

In December 1878 the British High Commissioner in southern Africa, Sir Bartle Frere, sent the Zulu king Cetshwayo an ultimatum that he could not accept, including the disbanding of his army. On 11 January 1879 British forces under Lord Chelmsford invaded the Zulu Kingdom in three columns. On 22 January the Zulu army destroyed the camp of the central column at the Battle of Isandlwana, the worst defeat a British army had suffered against an indigenous force. That night and the next day about 150 British soldiers held the mission station at Rorke's Drift against thousands of Zulus. The British regrouped, won at Kambula and Gingindlovu in March and April, and on 4 July 1879 defeated the Zulu army at Ulundi and burned the royal kraal. Cetshwayo was captured in August, and the kingdom was broken up.

Zulu Weapons and Tactics

The Zulu army was organized into age-based regiments and fought on foot at a run. Its main weapon was the Zulu Iklwa, the short, broad-bladed stabbing spear introduced under Shaka, used with a large cowhide shield; warriors also carried throwing spears and clubs, and many had firearms, though mostly old muzzleloaders. Their attack formation, the "horns of the buffalo," sent the chest to pin the enemy while the horns swept around the flanks to encircle him.

British Weapons

The British infantry carried the Martini-Henry Rifle, a single-shot breech-loader firing a heavy .45-caliber bullet, with a long bayonet. They were supported by seven-pounder field guns, rockets and, in the later campaign, the Gatling gun. In the open at Isandlwana, with a spread-out firing line, the rifles could not stop the Zulu attack; in the dense square at Ulundi they made it impossible for the Zulus to close.

Legacy

The war ended the independence of the Zulu Kingdom, which was divided into thirteen chiefdoms and annexed by Britain in 1887. Isandlwana and Rorke's Drift became two of the most famous battles of the Victorian era, and the Zulu army's courage against modern rifles has been remembered in both countries ever since.

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