Battles of Isandlwana and Rorke’s Drift

Battles of Isandlwana and Rorke’s Drift, (Jan. 22–23, 1879), first significant battles of the Anglo-Zulu War in Southern Africa.

In December 1878 Sir Bartle Frere, the British high commissioner for South Africa, issued an ultimatum to Cetshwayo, the Zulu king, that was designed to be impossible to satisfy: the Zulu were, among other things, to dismantle their “military system” within 30 days. As expected, the ultimatum was not met, and three British columns invaded Zululand in January 1879. The centre column, led by the British commander in chief, Lord Chelmsford, crossed the Buffao (Mzinyathi) River at Rorke’s Drift, where it established a depot, and moved cautiously eastward into the Zulu kingdom. Cetshwayo’s policy was to withdraw his troops, remain on the defensive in this unprovoked war, and hope to negotiate. In particular, his soldiers were forbidden to retaliate by invading the neighbouring colony of Natal.

On January 22 Chelmsford advanced, leaving a third of his force unlaagered (lacking a protective encampment structure) at Isandlwana mountain under the command of Colonel H.B. Pulleine. A large Zulu force of more than 20,000, commanded by Ntshingwayo kaMahole Khoza and Mavumengwana kaNdlela Ntuli, attacked and massacred the British force of fewer than 2,000 at Isandlwana before Chelmsford’s men returned. The British losses included some 800 regular army troops as well as 500 African auxiliary troops.

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Later that day a second Zulu force, led by Cetshwayo’s brother, Dabulamanzi kaMpande, attempted to overrun the British depot at Rorke’s Drift (known to the Zulu as KwaJimu). This time the British defenders, who had been forewarned by the few survivors of Isandlwana, were prepared. In a firefight that lasted nearly 12 hours and continued into the next day, some 120 British troops shot down more than 500 Zulu fighters.

Paradoxically, the Zulu victory at Isandlwana shattered Cetshwayo’s hope for a negotiated settlement. The British government in London had not been fully briefed by Frere about the intended attack on Zululand and initially was not overwhelmingly in the mood for war. However, the arrival in London on February 11 of the news of the defeat at Isandlwana—one of the major shocks to British prestige in the 19th century—galvanized the British government into a full-scale campaign to save face. An army led by Col. Evelyn Wood suffered an initial defeat at Hlobane on March 28 but brought about the decisive defeat of the Zulu at the Battle of Kambula (Khambula) on March 29. On April 2 a British column under Chelmsford’s command inflicted a heavy defeat on the Zulu at Gingindlovu, where more than 1,000 Zulu were killed. Chelmsford’s troops then moved on Cetshwayo’s royal villages at Ulundi, where on July 4, 1879, they inflicted a final defeat on Cetshwayo’s surviving soldiers. Cetshwayo himself was captured in August, and the Zulu nation was at the mercy of the British government, which had not yet considered how to incorporate Zululand into its Southern Africa holdings.