Martin Antonenko
A Fixture
- Joined
- Jul 11, 2008
- Messages
- 9,001
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 ...
... had issued an ultimatum that was deliberately timed so tightly that it could not be answered in time.
And in order to make sure that Cetshwayo would, contrary to expectations, still manage to answer in time, the demands of the British 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)
Division II - 3,871 men (Leftenant Col. 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 troops - poorly armed, not even half of them have rifles! - one has recruited from the members of the Basutho tribe, who have been openly hostile to the Zulus for a long time!
The noble lord 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 to "Wilde", 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 ...
His successor, Lieutenant General Viscount Garnet Joseph Wolseley ...:
... will win this dirty colonial war for the British (and receive the field marshal's baton for it) ...
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 ...
... had issued an ultimatum that was deliberately timed so tightly that it could not be answered in time.
And in order to make sure that Cetshwayo would, contrary to expectations, still manage to answer in time, the demands of the British 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)
Division II - 3,871 men (Leftenant Col. 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 troops - poorly armed, not even half of them have rifles! - one has recruited from the members of the Basutho tribe, who have been openly hostile to the Zulus for a long time!
The noble lord 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 to "Wilde", 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 ...
His successor, Lieutenant General Viscount Garnet Joseph Wolseley ...:
... will win this dirty colonial war for the British (and receive the field marshal's baton for it) ...
