I am very much enjoying this little discussion on the first Zulu war. Engels, if I remember rightly wrote a stinging article on the Zulu victory as such.
The original film (which I love despite some flaws) was "Zulu" was based on the much smaller battle at Rouke's Drift which occurred after the massive victory at Isandlwana (it starred Stanley Baker and a young Michael Caine plus a great variety of British character actors). It only involved a small reguard of British forces and one Zulu Impi (more VCs were given out then for any other British battle before or after - there is a particularily heroic Victorian painting of the battle in the Art Gallery of NSW - Sydney - both the film and painting are pain-stakingly accurate).
Years latter another film was made on Isandlwana itself "Zulu Dawn" starring Burt Lancaster (if memory serves correct Denhelm Elliot and John Mills also starred). Equally good if not quite of the same dramatic quality or the same budget.
Of an earlier film vintage but well worth the effort to watch is Korda's "The Four Feathers" set in the Sudan and retelling in grandeous style the defeat of the Mahdi (John Guildgood and John Clements) an early technicolour film 1939 I think. I mention this because like the two above films it was shot on location and the extras were local people who supplied most of their own weapons and costumes.
In the Korda film there were also a number of older people who fought in the original battle, including one old chap who caused a number of reshoots because he did not fall down dead when "shot", when questioned he replied that as he was not killed in the actual battle he could see no reason for "dying" in the pretend version (mentioned only for its charm).
I would love to find out more about the excavation of the battle of Isandlwana mentioned below - seems a great dig to read about. I am not suprised that the old Henry Martini rifles jammed after rapid firing (they were lever action not bolt action and had no magazine) and I believe I know the reason - the brass of the bullet shells was very thin compared to modern rifles, in a hot barrel it would not suprise me if they would "cook-off". Boxes and boxes of this ammunition lie in a shallow preserved ship wreck off-shore from Perth.
A very good little history of the Zulu and especially concentrating on these wars is the "Washing of Spears" which has been endlessly reprinted and should not be difficult to find - the author also gives a good thumbnail sketch of traditional Zulu social structure.
eventually the Zulu's were defeated (not without the help of machine guns especially brought up to slaughter them in great numbers) in the 2nd Zulu war which followed as soon as the Brits recovered from the initial defeat. It can be fairly said that the first Zulu war was a great victory - Natal was in panic and a very real fear was that the Zulu could (but did not) push the british all the way back to Cape Town.
Another interesting fact was that some of these Zulu's using captured weapons which most would never have seen before let alone handled, became crack shots when employing them in Rouke's Drift, and the Zulu general actually placed them in the most effective position to produce harrassing fire (not bad for using a technology that was barely understood and only a day old).
For those that are interested (and I think Engels wrote something on it at the time) the Maori wars in New Zealand showed that traditional "native" people could beat the European armies at their own game in the right circumstances. The Maori actually won the war and only by making two different treaties (one in Maori and the legal one in English) did the Europeans evenetually won the peace.
In New Zealand not only did the Maori pick up considerable numbers of British arms and used them even more effectively in the field than the british did (that is in open warfare like "European" armies), they also developed trench defences and are the originators of the Pill-box (a small fortified position which gave protection to a rifle or two).
Sorry to butt into this but I have been enjoying this thread and could not resist.
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>But such a view is based on false assumptions of racial and technological superiority, and a misunderstanding of the tactical realities. It is a view, moreover, which denies the tactical skill, discipline, and sheer raw courage of the Zulu people. It is time to stop seeking excuses for the British defeat at Isandlwana, and to start instead to think of it as a Zulu victory.
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there was a good archeological documentary i saw on PBS that examined the sight. using physical evidece including test firing of the kinds of rifles they where using.
what the Zulus did
1. they took this hallucinagenic, that provoked temporary fearlessness and instilled in the warriors a feeling of invincibility. it came from a root that is local to the region. it was a comon tactic used by the zulu tribes
2. i forget what they called it but they used this tactic where there was the main force and a smaller force wiith the fastest runners. the smaller force would run up on the british line from the flank and draw their fire. the british perhaps thinking it was a small raid or something. it was all in the timing and the main force was almost on top of the before the british realized what was happening. by the time the rest of the camp was alerted the perimeter had already been over run causing complete chaos with the british defenses
3. they attacked right before dawn while it was still dark limitig the sight range of the british riflemen (obviously the zulus were no dummies)
what the british did wrong
1. the british comander of the camp had extended the perimeter too far so that the rifle men in the perimeter line weren't close enough together to be effective against a huge onslaught due most likely to over confidence etc. etc. the archeologist could tell because of the spacing of the casing groupings that were dug up. this appeared to be the most relevant factor
2. the rifles the british where using tended to jam up if fired too often in rapid succession...like one part of it would heat up. the guy demonstrated it in controled setting and got off maybe ten shots firing as fast as he could (bolt action) before it heated up and jammed. plus those rifles tended to produce alot of smoke making it more dificult to see after so many shots were fired.
it was simply a matter of a well planed surprise attack vs an overconfident underprepared british force
~json
Greg Schofield Perth Australia g_schofield at dingoblue.net.au _______________________________________________ _______________________________________________
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