Zulu Kingdom; Boer Republics and the Boer Wars

Things happened, and the rest is history

1. 01

   The rise of Shaka and the Zulu state

   Event

   What happened

   Around 1816 Shaka, son of a Zulu chief, takes power with the support of Dingiswayo, leader of the Mthethwa. He builds the small Zulu chiefdom into a large kingdom by conquest. He reorganises young men into age-based regiments and uses a short stabbing spear and close-order fighting. He rules until he is killed by his half-brothers in 1828.

   ↓ The rest is history

   The Zulu kingdom became the dominant power in the region and outlived its founder. Historians debate how much of this was Shaka's own innovation and how much was part of wider changes in the region, including competition for trade and land. His half-brother Dingane succeeded him. The kingdom lasted until the British invasion of 1879.

   Sources

   1. BookMorris, Donald R. The Washing of the Spears. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1965.
   2. BookHamilton, Carolyn. Terrific Majesty: The Powers of Shaka Zulu and the Limits of Historical Invention. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1998.
2. 02

   The Mfecane upheavals

   Event

   What happened

   From about 1815 to the 1830s, warfare, famine and migration spread across much of southern and central Africa. Groups such as the Ndebele under Mzilikazi, the Sotho under Moshoeshoe and the Ngoni moved or formed new states. Moshoeshoe gathered refugees at Thaba Bosiu and built the Basotho kingdom.

   ↓ The rest is history

   Historians call this period the Mfecane or Difaqane. Its causes are debated. Older accounts blamed Zulu expansion, while later scholars stress drought, trade rivalry and slave raiding from Delagoa Bay and the Cape. Some have questioned how far it was a single event. It left areas of the interior thinly settled, and the Boers who arrived soon after met new states such as the Ndebele and the Basotho.

   Sources

   1. BookHamilton, Carolyn, ed. The Mfecane Aftermath: Reconstructive Debates in Southern African History. Johannesburg: Witwatersrand University Press, 1995.
   2. BookThompson, Leonard. A History of South Africa. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1990.
3. 03

   The Great Trek

   Event

   What happened

   From 1835 several thousand Boer farmers and their households leave the Cape Colony in ox wagons and head into the interior. Their reasons include British rule, the abolition of slavery in 1834 and disputes over land and frontier security. They settle north of the Orange River and in Natal.

   ↓ The rest is history

   The Trekkers came into conflict with African polities, among them the Ndebele and the Zulu. Their settlements led to the founding of the Orange Free State and the South African Republic, which Britain recognised in 1852 and 1854. The Trek later became central to Afrikaner national identity. Historians stress that its causes were mixed and that many Boers stayed in the Cape.

   Sources

   1. BookGiliomee, Hermann. The Afrikaners: Biography of a People. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2003.
   2. BookThompson, Leonard. A History of South Africa. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1990.
4. 04

   Blood River and the Natalia Republic

   Event

   What happened

   In February 1838 Dingane's men kill the Boer leader Piet Retief and his party at the Zulu capital. On 16 December 1838 a Boer force under Andries Pretorius, fighting from a ring of wagons, defeats a large Zulu army at the Ncome (Blood River). The Boers then set up the Natalia Republic.

   ↓ The rest is history

   Britain annexed Natal in 1843, and many Boers moved inland. In 1840 Dingane lost power after a civil war in which his half-brother Mpande, helped by the Boers, defeated him. The battle date became an Afrikaner holiday, the Day of the Vow, and later the Day of the Covenant and the Day of Reconciliation. For Zulu people the site holds a different memory.

   Sources

   1. BookMorris, Donald R. The Washing of the Spears. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1965.
   2. BookLaband, John. The Rise and Fall of the Zulu Nation. London: Arms and Armour Press, 1997.
5. 05

   The Anglo-Zulu War of 1879

   Event

   What happened

   In January 1879 British forces under Lord Chelmsford invade Zululand after an ultimatum to King Cetshwayo that he disband his army. On 22 January a Zulu army destroys a British column at Isandlwana. The same day a small garrison holds Rorke's Drift. The British win at Ulundi on 4 July.

   ↓ The rest is history

   The invasion was pushed by Sir Bartle Frere, who sought a confederation of South African states. After Ulundi the British captured Cetshwayo and divided Zululand among appointed chiefs, which led to civil strife. Britain annexed Zululand in 1887. The war ended the independent Zulu kingdom.

   Sources

   1. BookLaband, John. The Rise and Fall of the Zulu Nation. London: Arms and Armour Press, 1997.
   2. BookGuy, Jeff. The Destruction of the Zulu Kingdom. London: Longman, 1979.
6. 06

   The First Boer War

   Event

   What happened

   Britain annexes the South African Republic in 1877. In December 1880 the Boers rise in revolt. They defeat British forces at Bronkhorstspruit and Laing's Nek, and at Majuba Hill on 27 February 1881. Peace follows with the Pretoria Convention of 1881.

   ↓ The rest is history

   The Boers regained self-government under British suzerainty, which was loosened in the London Convention of 1884. The war showed that British forces could be beaten by mounted riflemen who knew the ground. It also left bitter feeling on both sides, and Majuba became a rallying memory for Afrikaners.

   Sources

   1. BookPakenham, Thomas. The Boer War. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1979.
   2. BookThompson, Leonard. A History of South Africa. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1990.
7. 07

   Gold on the Witwatersrand

   Event

   What happened

   In 1886 gold is found on the Witwatersrand in the South African Republic. Johannesburg grows rapidly into a large mining town, drawing in foreign capital, Uitlander settlers and African migrant labour. The Republic under President Paul Kruger limits the political rights of newcomers.

   ↓ The rest is history

   Gold made the Transvaal the richest state in the region and raised the stakes for Britain. Disputes over the franchise, mining policy and British claims to supremacy grew. The Jameson Raid of 1895 to 1896 was a failed attempt to overthrow Kruger and increased tension. Historians still debate how far gold, rather than imperial prestige, drove Britain to war.

   Sources

   1. BookPakenham, Thomas. The Boer War. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1979.
   2. BookMarais, J. S. The Fall of Kruger's Republic. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1961.
8. 08

   The Second Boer War

   Event

   What happened

   War begins in October 1899 after a Boer ultimatum to Britain. The Boers besiege Ladysmith, Kimberley and Mafeking and win early victories. Britain sends large reinforcements and takes the republican capitals in 1900. Boer commandos then fight a guerrilla war. The war ends with the Treaty of Vereeniging on 31 May 1902.

   ↓ The rest is history

   Britain answered guerrilla warfare with farm burning and camps for civilians. Many thousands died in the camps, mainly women and children, and many Black Africans were held in separate camps. The republics lost their independence but won promises of eventual self-government. In 1910 the Union of South Africa was formed, ruled by whites and with Black Africans excluded from power.

   Sources

   1. BookPakenham, Thomas. The Boer War. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1979.
   2. BookWarwick, Peter. Black People and the South African War, 1899-1902. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983.
9. 09

   Shaka the bloodthirsty tyrant who invented total war

   Popular belief

   The legend

   Shaka is often portrayed as a savage tyrant who invented a new, ruthless way of war. In this story he alone causes the wars that shake southern Africa, and he orders mass killings, even of his own people, when his mother Nandi dies.

   ↓ The rest is history

   Much of this picture comes from white traders and travellers such as Henry Francis Fynn and Nathaniel Isaacs, whose accounts were written down later and are often unreliable. Shaka was a real and forceful ruler, but historians now see the story as exaggerated, and the Mfecane had wider causes. Carolyn Hamilton's work shows how the image was built from competing accounts. The famous tale of his grief for Nandi is not reliably documented.

   Sources

   1. BookHamilton, Carolyn. Terrific Majesty: The Powers of Shaka Zulu and the Limits of Historical Invention. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1998.
   2. BookFynn, Henry Francis. The Diary of Henry Francis Fynn. Pietermaritzburg: Shuter and Shooter, 1950.
10. 10

    Isandlwana and the Zulu horns of the buffalo

    Popular belief

    The legend

    It is often said that the Zulu won at Isandlwana because they encircled the British with their 'horns of the buffalo' formation, a tactic invented by Shaka, and that the British were wiped out because they ran out of ammunition.

    ↓ The rest is history

    The encircling formation was real and Zulu regiments used it, though it was an older style of herd hunting and fighting, not purely Shaka's invention. The British camp was divided and badly placed, and Chelmsford had moved much of his force away. The ammunition story is partly myth, since the troops had supplies, though distribution was hard. About 1,300 men of the British column died, along with many Zulu. The battle is a case where simple causes were pinned to a complex defeat.

    Sources

    1. BookKnight, Ian. Zulu Rising: The Epic Story of iSandlwana and Rorke's Drift. London: Macmillan, 2010.
    2. BookLaband, John. The Rise and Fall of the Zulu Nation. London: Arms and Armour Press, 1997.
11. 11

    Rorke's Drift and the eleven Victoria Crosses

    Popular belief

    The legend

    A tiny British garrison of about 150 men holds off thousands of Zulu warriors at Rorke's Drift for a whole night, winning a record eleven Victoria Crosses, in a heroic stand that redeems the disaster at Isandlwana.

    ↓ The rest is history

    The defence on 22 to 23 January 1879 was real, and eleven Victoria Crosses were awarded, the most for a single action. Yet the attackers were a reserve force of perhaps three to four thousand men who had not fought at Isandlwana, and the film Zulu (1964) shaped popular memory. Historians note the awards also helped to soften the shock of the defeat. The Zulu force withdrew the next morning as British reinforcements approached.

    Sources

    1. BookKnight, Ian. Zulu Rising: The Epic Story of iSandlwana and Rorke's Drift. London: Macmillan, 2010.
    2. BookMorris, Donald R. The Washing of the Spears. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1965.
12. 12

    Kitchener invented the concentration camp

    Popular belief

    The legend

    It is often claimed that the British invented concentration camps in the Boer War, and that they were set up deliberately to kill Boer women and children.

    ↓ The rest is history

    Camps for civilians had been used before, for example by Spain in Cuba in the 1890s. The British camps were created in 1900 to 1902 as part of a scorched-earth policy, and conditions were disastrous, with disease and poor food. Perhaps 25,000 to 28,000 Boer civilians died, and many thousands of Black African internees too. Historians generally see the deaths as the result of neglect and incompetence, not a plan to exterminate. Emily Hobhouse's 1901 report forced reform, and the death rate fell in 1902.

    Sources

    1. BookPakenham, Thomas. The Boer War. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1979.
    2. BookHobhouse, Emily. The Brunt of the War and Where It Fell. London: Methuen, 1902.