The invasion in 1837 of the Zulu kingdom by Boers migrating from
the British Cape Colony, and the massacres, battles and civil war
that ensued between 1838-1840 as the Zulu resisted the settlers
with spear against musket, was a critical moment in South African
history. Many Afrikaners long celebrated their partial victory as
the God-given justification for their subsequent dominion over
Africans, while today Africans commemorate the war for its
significance in their struggle against colonialism. Changing
perceptions in a post-colonial world require the reassessment of
wars of colonial aggression, but there is no book in English that
engages with the war between the Boers and Zulu in its entire
context or takes the Zulu evidence into proper account. This work
attempts to do so. While dealing with the warring sides as
even-handedly as possible and contrasting their military systems,
it also makes a point of developing the less familiar Zulu
perspective, explaining political motivation, strategic military
objectives and fissures in the royal house. Further, the book
situates the Great Trek of the Boers, or Voortrekkers, in the
context of the many migrations taking place at that time in
southern Africa as the result of widespread political and social
upheavals, of which the militarily powerful Zulu kingdom had been
the most significant outcome. The book begins with the journey of
the Voortrekkers over the highveld form the Cape Colony towards
Zululand where they intended to settle, and with the war they
fought and won in 1836-1837 against the Ndebele, an offshoot of the
Zulu whose military system they shared. The battle of Vegkop proved
the superiority of musket-fire directed from a secure wagon laager
against an enemy armed primarily with spears, and would be the
model for successful Boer engagement against the Zulu in 1838 at
the battles of Veglaer and Blood River. The campaign of 1838 also
demonstrated that the Zulu was masters of surprise, ambush and
manoeuvre in the open field that resulted in their victories at the
battles of Bloukrans, eThaleni, the Thukela and the White Mfolozi.
The war reached a stalemate by the end of 1838 but Dingane, the
Zulu king, had been discredited by his inability to expel the Boers
from the southern part of his kingdom. His half-brother Mpande then
rebelled against him and, in alliance with the Boers, overthrew him
in 1840. The Boers recognised Mpande as king over a reduced Zulu
kingdom that maintained its independence until the British invasion
of 1879.
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