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OnDaFence 36M/44M
44267 posts
1/21/2017 6:33 pm

Last Read:
1/23/2017 5:55 pm

An unnecessary war


Benjamin Disraeli

Like so many imperial conflicts of the period, the Zulu War was not initiated from London. Instead, Benjamin Disraeli's government - preoccupied with the Russian threat to Constantinople and Afghanistan - made every effort to avoid a fight. 'We cannot now have a Zulu war, in addition to other greater and too possible troubles', wrote Sir Michael Hicks Beach, the colonial secretary, in November 1878.


Sir Bartle Frere

The man to whom this letter was addressed - Sir Bartle Frere - had others ideas, however. Frere had been sent out to Cape Town with the specific task of grouping South Africa's hotch-potch of British colonies, Boer republics and independent black states into a Confederation of South Africa. But he quickly realized that the region could not be unified under British rule until the powerful Zulu kingdom - with its standing army of 40,000 disciplined warriors - had been suppressed.


Zulu king, Cetshwayo

So he exaggerated the threat posed by the Zulus to the British Crown, and, when the home government refused to sanction war, took matters into his own hands in December 1878 by presenting the Zulu king, Cetshwayo, with an unacceptable ultimatum. This required, among other things, the disbandment of the Zulu Army, and war was the inevitable result. Such unilateral action by an imperial pro-consul was not unusual during the Victorian period. So great were the distances involved, and so slow the methods of communication, that British governors often took it upon themselves to start wars and annex provinces.


Lord Chelmsford

The war began on 11 January 1879, when the 5,000-strong main British column invaded Zululand at Rorke's Drift. It was commanded by the ambitious Lord Chelmsford, a favorite of the Queen, who had little respect for the fighting qualities of the Zulu. 'If I am called upon to conduct operations against them,' he wrote in July 1878, 'I shall strive to be in a position to show them how hopelessly inferior they are to us in fighting power, altho' numerically stronger.' This dangerous mixture of self-confidence and contempt for their foes infected the whole British force. Their misjudgment came to rebound on them badly.


Isandlwana

By 20 January - hampered by minor skirmishes and poor tracks - Chelmsford's column had only advanced 11 miles to the rocky lower slopes of a distinctive, sphinx-like hill called Isandlwana. There it set up camp. But at 4am on 22 January, Chelmsford made the first of a series of blunders by taking two-thirds of his force off to pursue what he believed was the main Zulu army. He was convinced that the Zulus were gathering to the south-east, and so failed to reconnoiter adequately the broken ground to the north-east. There, lying in wait just five miles from the exposed camp at Isandlwana, were 20,000 Zulu warriors.


Lieutenant Colonel Henry Pulleine, an administrative officer with no combat experience, was left in charge of the men who remained behind at Isandlwana.

At around 8am, mounted vedettes reported large numbers of Zulus on the high ground to the left of the camp. Colonel Pulleine, in command at Isandlwana, dashed off a quick note to Chelmsford, reading: 'Report just come in that the Zulus are advancing in force from Left front of Camp.' Chelmsford read it shortly after 9.30am, and he returned it to his staff officer, Major Clery, without a word, and would not be deflected from his original plan. By 11am, at which time the 1,300 men remaining in the camp had been swelled by 450 reinforcements, mounted scouts stumbled upon the concealed Zulu impi. Realizing they had been spotted, the Zulus rose as one and began their attack, using their traditional tactic of encirclement known as the izimpondo zankomo ('horns of the buffalo'.



By 3pm, despite severe losses, the Zulus had captured the camp. The culmination of Chelmsford's incompetence was a blood-soaked field littered with thousands of corpses. Of the original 1,750 defenders - 1,000 British and 750 black auxiliaries - 1,350 had been killed.



Word of the disaster reached Britain on 11 February 1879. The Victorian public was dumbstruck by the news that 'spear-wielding savages' had defeated the well equipped British Army. The hunt was on for a scapegoat, and Chelmsford was the obvious candidate. But he had powerful supporters. He had, however, 'after great difficulty carried the day'. Disraeli was protecting Chelmsford not because he believed him to be blameless for Isandlwana, but because he was under intense pressure to do so from the Queen.



Chelmsford had, in any event, another weapon to use against his critics - that of Rorke's Drift where just over 150 British and colonial troops successfully defended the garrison against an intense assault by 3,000 to 4,000 Zulu warriors. Though undeniably heroic, the importance of the defense of Rorke's Drift was grossly exaggerated by both the generals and politicians of the period, to diminish the impact of Isandlwana. 'We must not forget,' Disraeli told the House of Lords on 13 February, 'the exhibition of heroic valor by those who have been spared.'Within days of Rorke's Drift, Chelmsford was urging the speedy completion of the official report because he was 'anxious to send that gleam of sunshine home as soon as possible'. When it finally arrived, he added two names to the six recommended VCs - the names of lieutenants Chard and Bromhead.



The British captured King Cetshwayo in August 1879, and the war, to all intents and purposes, was over. However, few emerged on the British side with any credit, nor did ordinary Zulus benefit. Cetshwayo was exiled, Zululand was broken up and eventually annexed. Frere never achieved his ambition to confederate South Africa. That would have to wait until the aftermath of an even bloodier conflict, that of the Boer War. Disraeli lost the 1880 election and died the following year. James Dalton died in 1887, a broken man. Many of the lower-rank VC winners from Rorke's Drift were also forgotten when the media circus moved on.

But one man prospered - Lord Chelmsford. The Queen showered honors on him, promoting him to full general, awarding him the Gold Stick at Court and appointing him Lieutenant of the Tower of London. The man who handed the British Empire their "Little Bighorn" died in 1905, at the age of 78, playing billiards at his club.

OnDaFence 36M/44M

1/21/2017 6:37 pm

A foolish war with a devastating battle 138 years ago today.


OnDaFence 36M/44M

1/21/2017 6:39 pm

This picture taken shortly after the bodies had been removed


OnDaFence 36M/44M

1/21/2017 6:41 pm

A monument to the Zulu warriors has since been erected by the South African government.


OnDaFence 36M/44M

1/21/2017 6:48 pm

A further disaster for Lord Chelmsford: Louis Napoleon, Prince Imperial of France, is brutally killed by Zulu warriors whilst on a reconnaissance.


Hungr4Yungr 75M
5766 posts
1/21/2017 8:37 pm

Thank you Bret for a very well prepared history lesson on a war I knew nothing about, even though it was an important turning point in the formation of the South African republic.


OnDaFence 36M/44M

1/21/2017 9:10 pm

    Quoting Hungr4Yungr:
    Thank you Bret for a very well prepared history lesson on a war I knew nothing about, even though it was an important turning point in the formation of the South African republic.
The are some great movies covering this war and battles ZULU with Peter O'Toole playing Lord Chelmsford and ZULU DAWN with Michael Caine covering the battle at Roark's Drift. An added note on that day January 22, 1879 at the very time the battle started a solar eclipse began. By the time the light of the sun returned the battle was over with 1,300 British soldiers dead.


jrodd 65M
4396 posts
1/21/2017 10:50 pm

So what was the toxin yu said? or I missed something?


OnDaFence 36M/44M

1/21/2017 11:04 pm

    Quoting jrodd:
    So what was the toxin yu said? or I missed something?
mary jane and a red mushroom... I sent the link in and email.


OnDaFence 36M/44M

1/22/2017 3:13 pm

    Quoting  :

There are cases where war is the only answer, however, this smacks of greed and a power grab much like the Gulf of Tonkin and Weapons of Mass Destruction.


OnDaFence 36M/44M

1/22/2017 3:18 pm

    Quoting  :

What was found as a reason for the massacre was that wonderful new rifle after about 36 shots in rapid succession they would jam from the heat and black powder. That's about 3 minutes into the battle the wonder weapons would foul on the men leaving them with only the bayonette to defend themselves with.


OnDaFence 36M/44M

1/22/2017 3:20 pm

    Quoting  :

As an American I am so glad that he wasn't the only one! or we'd still be the colonies.


jrodd 65M
4396 posts
1/22/2017 11:48 pm

I do remember seeing a combat show on the tv about the British n Zulu.The you tube mentioned a chemical muscazone from a red mushroom .They would not mention its name but the color and chemical is from the fly agaric (Amanita Muscaria) a common toadstool found everywhere and well documentated used by Siberian shamen. The second is probably the high potency Swazeli Cannibis Sativa strain rich in thc. Both were put into separated tiny gourds stuffed into a rhino horn used by the Zulus for fierce superhuman battle enhancement.They would see red vision (very strange) were focused and temporarily enhanced fierce fearless fighting. Also they found damaged guns that got overheated and clogged with soot in the barrels that jammed the bullets of the British soldiers.The study found karate fighters was enhanced by muscazone.


foreskin4u2 76M  
51 posts
1/23/2017 4:08 am

Dusford, the best officer on the field tha day, got the blame. Shadows of Little Big Horn, but in a similiar situation, it was the end of the Zulus like it was the end of American Indian power. Dunsford's and Custer's actions are still debated today, almost 150 years later. Interesting thanks.


OnDaFence 36M/44M

1/23/2017 5:51 pm

    Quoting jrodd:
    I do remember seeing a combat show on the tv about the British n Zulu.The you tube mentioned a chemical muscazone from a red mushroom .They would not mention its name but the color and chemical is from the fly agaric (Amanita Muscaria) a common toadstool found everywhere and well documentated used by Siberian shamen. The second is probably the high potency Swazeli Cannibis Sativa strain rich in thc. Both were put into separated tiny gourds stuffed into a rhino horn used by the Zulus for fierce superhuman battle enhancement.They would see red vision (very strange) were focused and temporarily enhanced fierce fearless fighting. Also they found damaged guns that got overheated and clogged with soot in the barrels that jammed the bullets of the British soldiers.The study found karate fighters was enhanced by muscazone.
YES These revelations change the historical records with 36 successive rounds fired (just 3 minutes) The rifle is too hot and clogged to operate... their troops were screwed.


OnDaFence 36M/44M

1/23/2017 5:55 pm

    Quoting foreskin4u2:
    Dusford, the best officer on the field tha day, got the blame. Shadows of Little Big Horn, but in a similiar situation, it was the end of the Zulus like it was the end of American Indian power. Dunsford's and Custer's actions are still debated today, almost 150 years later. Interesting thanks.
This blog took in a lot of research. I left out too many components, some of which I shared with jr. Blogging prevents me from doing volumes on a topic yet conveying the essential material