January 11, 1879

[Martin Antonenko]

Lord Chelmsford is sure of victory ...!


On January 11, 1879, the British Lieutenant General Lord Frederic Augustus Thesiger, 2nd Baron Chelmsford ...


... marches with 11,300 European soldiers ...



... and 5,800 men of African auxiliaries in the area of ​​the independent Zulu Kingdom - and thus begins the never-declared war of the British Empire against the Zulus ...:





Previously, the Zulu king Cetshwayo ...



... issued an ultimatum that was deliberately timed so tightly that it could not be answered in time.

And in order to ensure that Cetshwayo would, contrary to expectations, still manage to answer in time, the British demands were formulated so rigidly that they were unacceptable to any Zulu.

(Incidentally, the same method will be used against Serbia in July 1914 by the Austrians who were also determined to go to war!)


Lord Chelmsford's troops are organized as follows:

I. Division - 4,750 men (Colonel Charles Pearson)




II. Division - 3,871 men (Leftenant Colonel Anthony Durnford)




III. Division – 4.709 men (Colonel Richard Glynn)




IV. Division – 1.656 men (Colonel Evelyn Wood)




V. Division – 2.278 men (Colonel Hugh Rowlands)



The African relief forces - lousy armed, not even half of them have rifles! - one has recruited from the members of the Basutho tribe, who have long been openly hostile to the Zulus!

The noble lord Chelmsford is confident of victory in the face of the power he commands - even if he has heard rumors that his opponent Cetshwayo can field up to 40,000 well-organized, disciplined and highly motivated warriors against him.



Chelmsford wants to know - and will find out just eleven days later:

The British will suffer a catastrophic defeat against the Zulus at Islandlwana on January 22nd, 1879 ...:















In order to at least disguise the fact of having lost against "Wildes", at least propagandistically, the simultaneous and strategically completely insignificant battle for the station of Rorkes Drift in Great Britain is inflated to a hero legend ...



Well, opium for the people ...

Internally, of course, things are handled differently:

The defeat will lead to the replacement of Lord Chelmsford on May 22nd and the end of his career ...
Only his successor, Leftenant General Viscount Garnet Joseph Wolseley ...:



... will win this dirty colonial war for the British (and receive the field marshal's baton for it) ...

**continued next post**

 

[Martin Antonenko]

Part II:

But let's take the opportunity not to tell the heroic sagas that emerged after the battles at Islandlwana and Rorkes Drift, but the true story of the Zulu ruler who was robbed of his kingdom ...

Only six months after their triumphant victory against the British at Islandlwana, the troops of the independent Zulu Empire in South Africa suffer a catastrophic defeat at the Battle of Ulundi against the considerably strengthened army of the British Empire under General Viscount Garnet Joseph Wolseleyd on July 4, 1879!





True, the last sovereign king of the independent Zulu - Cetshwayo kaMpande ...



... flee from the battlefield, but his army, previously feared by the British, is either dead, in captivity or scattered to the wind and no longer capable of organized resistance.

The British divide the Zulu Empire into 13th separate "kingdoms", whose "kings" are of course puppet rulers appointed and controlled by the British.

Cetshwayo is captured on August 28, 1879 ...





... and brought by ship to his prison exile in Cape Town ...:





But in 1882 civil war broke out in the former Zululand between supporters and enemies of Cetshwayo!

The British fear that Cetshwayo could be released from their custody by his followers and for this reason "allow" his "exit" to London ...:



One day after his arrival in the British capital, on August 5, 1882, he was taken over by Queen Victoria ...



... received for an audience!

The meeting caused a tremendous public response in Great Britain, it is by no means normal for the mistress of the global British Empire to honor a defeated "wild king".

There are no pictures of the Queen's meeting with Cetshwayo, so the most imaginative illustrations appear in the newspapers ...:



In reality, the deposed Zulu King faces the Queen in a hastily tailored suit ...:



For half a year Cetshwayo - half prisoner, half free man - lived in this clergyman's house in London ...





... until the British allowed him to return to his homeland in January 1883 (the British military had meanwhile ended the civil war under the Zulus).

In a European suit and with a top hat and clearly gained weight, Cetswayo said goodbye to the British captain on landfall in Cape Town ...:



Before that, however, he had solemnly had to promise in London that he would never again take up arms against the British and his enemies among the Zulus.
(The humiliating defeat at Islandlwana on January 22nd, 1879 has not been forgotten in London!)

Formally, Cetshwayo is now king of all the Zulus again - but he really has nothing more to report and after the war he no longer has the point, because he has barely a year left to live.



On February 8, 1884, Cetshwayo died at the age of 58 - presumably of an infection he contracted in Great Britain.

He is buried on the Islandlwana battlefield ...:

 

[Graham]

Fascinating background information. Many thanks

 

[Airkid]

Your holiday has done you some good Martin. This is an interesting thread. Under Victoria we were good at wiping our feet on people. It's quite a list of nations we "pacified"

Phil

 

[grasshopper]

Good work Martin..it’s unfortunate that in South Africa today, special status accorded Zulu lands had exacerbated corruption

 

[Martin Antonenko]

it’s unfortunate that in South Africa today, special status accorded Zulu lands had exacerbated corruption

Agree!

After the slave hunting and the "colonization" there are now the "elites" - called "fat cats" by the Africans - who have come over the continent as a new plague ...


Cheers

 

[grasshopper]

Agree!

After the slave hunting and the "colonization" there are now the "elites" - called "fat cats" by the Africans - who have come over the continent as a new plague ...


Cheers

Indeed..which makes it the more sad...every european power of the time had their nasty colonial thing- Belgium, Russia...Germany..affecting China, India..Canada...and on and on...the indigenous usually kicked a bit of colonial ass here and there, but usually it’s the valiant imperialists who lost these infrequent encounters history chooses to admire

 

[Nap]

Hi Martin

Probably one of the most famous and well known campaign and well represented in the hobby

Again great details , just doesn't seem right with the Zulu King in a suit ...Victorianisation


Thanks for today's lesson

Nap

 

[grasshopper]

Hi Martin

Probably one of the most famous and well known campaign and well represented in the hobby

Again great details , just doesn't seem right with the Zulu King in a suit ...Victorianisation


Thanks for today's lesson

Nap

Same with images of North American indigenous in suits..but while today more of us sees the imperialism, colonialism at work for the rather sordid project it was, the more context we learn, the more we understand where we came from and maybe are better able to bridge gaps to reconcile the past and move forward ..we know of the hubris, and valour of British, the high level aspects of Zulu culture, but nothing of the individuals who must surely have been every bit as steadfast as the brits, and welsh