Build up and Aftermath

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0 height="100%"><tr> <td valign="top" width=160 BGCOLOR="#000000" TEXT="#F7F7FF"> <div> <B>Site Index</B></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Zulu War 1879"><U>Home Page</U></A></div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#FFFF00" FACE="Times New Roman" > </FONT><A HREF="id6.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Build up and Aftermath"><U>Build up and Aftermath</U></A></div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FF0000" FACE="Times New Roman" > </FONT><A HREF="id5.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Isandhlwana"><U>Isandhlwana</U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id3.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Rorkes Drift 1879"><U>Rorke's Drift 1879</U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id10.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Roll of Defenders of Rorkes Drift"><U>Roll of Defenders of Rorke's Drift</U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id7.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Rorkes Drift VC Winners"><U>Rorke's Drift</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id7.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Rorkes Drift VC Winners"><U>VC Winners</U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id11.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Other Award Winners"><U>Other Award Winners</U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id2.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Film Zulu"><U>The Film </U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id2.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Film Zulu"><U>'Zulu'</U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id4.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Zulu Dawn"><U>The Film </U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id4.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Zulu Dawn"><U>'Zulu Dawn'</U></A></div> <bR> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" BGCOLOR="#000000" TEXT="#F7F7FF"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#CC3300" FACE="Times New Roman" ><B>The Zulu War 1879</B></FONT><FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#FFCC99" FACE="Arial" >   </FONT><FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#FFFFFF" FACE="Arial" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#FFFFFF" FACE="Times New Roman" ><B> </B></FONT><B>|   </B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Zulu War 1879"><U><B>home</B></U></A></div> <div> <IMG SRC="02658020.png" border=0 width="600" height="2" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> Build up and Aftermath</div> <bR> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="150" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#FF0000" BORDERCOLORDARK="#FF0000" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 177 ><NOBR><div> <IMG SRC="0d588aa0.jpg" border=0 width="136" height="170" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <div> Benjamin Disraeli</div> <bR> <div> Like so many imperial conflicts of the period, the Zulu War was not initiated from London. Instead, </div> <div> Benjamin Disraeli's government - preoccupied with the Russian threat to Constantinople and Afghanistan - made every </div> <div> effort to avoid a fight. 'We cannot now have a Zulu war, in addition to other greater and too possible troubles', </div> <div> wrote Sir Michael Hicks Beach, the colonial secretary, in November 1878. </div> <bR> <div> The man to whom this letter was addressed - Sir Bartle Frere - had others ideas, however. Frere had been </div> <div> sent out to to Cape Town with the specific task of grouping South Africa's hotch-potch of British colonies, Boer </div> <div> republics and independent black states into a Confederation of South Africa. But he quickly realised that the region </div> <div> could not be unified under British rule until the powerful Zulu kingdom - with its standing army of </div> <div> 40,000 disciplined warriors - had been suppressed.</div> <bR> <div> So he exaggerated the threat posed by the Zulus to the British, and, when the home government refused to sanction war, </div> <div> took matters into his own hands in December 1878 by presenting the Zulu king, Cetshwayo, with an unacceptable ultimatum. </div> <div> This required, among other things, the disbandment of the Zulu Army, and war was the inevitable result.</div> <div> 'Such unilateral action by an imperial pro-consul was not unusual during the Victorian period. '</div> <bR> <div> Such unilateral action by an imperial pro-consul was not unusual during the Victorian period. So great were the distances </div> <div> involved, and so slow the methods of communication, that British governors often took it upon themselves to start </div> <div> wars and annex provinces. Lord Lytton, the Viceroy of India, was about to invade Afghanistan without reference to </div> <div> London. But the Zulu conflict was unique in that it was to be the last pre-emptive war launched by the British, </div> <div> prior to the recent campaign in Iraq.</div> <bR> <div>  <script language=JavaScript>  </script>  </div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="210" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#FF0000" BORDERCOLORDARK="#FF0000" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 180 ><NOBR><div> <IMG SRC="0d6c4ad0.jpg" border=0 width="196" height="173" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <div> Lord Chelmsford</div> <bR> <div> The war began on 11 January 1879, when the 5,000-strong main British column invaded Zululand at Rorke's Drift. </div> <div> It was commanded by the ambitious Lord Chelmsford, a favourite of the Queen, who had little respect for the fighting </div> <div> qualities of the Zulu. 'If I am called upon to conduct operations against them,' he wrote in July 1878, 'I shall strive to be in </div> <div> a position to show them how hopelessly inferior they are to us in fighting power, altho' numerically stronger.' </div> <div> This dangerous mixture of self-confidence and contempt for their foes infected the whole British force. </div> <div> But their misjudgement came to rebound on them badly.</div> <bR> <div> By 20 January - hampered by minor skirmishes and poor tracks - Chelmsford's column had only advanced 11 miles </div> <div> to the rocky lower slopes of a distinctive, sphinx-like hill called Isandlwana. There it set up camp. But at 4am on 22 January, </div> <div> Chelmsford made the first of a series of blunders by taking two-thirds of his force off to pursue what he believed </div> <div> was the main Zulu army. He was convinced that the Zulus were gathering to the south-east, and so failed to reconnoitre </div> <div> adequately the broken ground to the north-east. </div> <div> There, lying in wait just five miles from the exposed camp at Isandlwana, were 20,000 Zulu warriors.</div> <bR> <div> At around 8am, mounted vedettes reported large numbers of Zulus on the high ground to the left of the camp. </div> <div> Colonel Pulleine, in command at Isandlwana, dashed off a quick note to Chelmsford, reading: 'Report just come in that the </div> <div> Zulus are advancing in force from Left front of Camp.' Chelmsford read it shortly after 9.30am, and he returned it to his </div> <div> staff officer, Major Clery, without a word, and would not be deflected from his original plan.</div> <div> 'This dangerous mixture of self-confidence and contempt for their foes infected the whole British force. '</div> <bR> <div> At 11am, by which time the 1,300 men remaining in the camp had been swelled by 450 reinforcements, mounted scouts </div> <div> stumbled upon the concealed Zulu impi. Realising they had been spotted, the Zulus rose as one and began their attack, </div> <div> using their traditional tactic of encirclement known as the izimpondo zankomo ('horns of the buffalo').</div> <div> An hour later, as the hard-pressed British defenders fought for their lives, a portion of Chelmsford's force at Mangeni Falls </div> <div> received word that the camp was in danger of being overrun. On his own initiative a Colonel Harness gave orders for his </div> <div> small force of artillery and infantry to return to camp. But it had only progressed half a mile when a staff officer rode up with </div> <div> express orders from Chelmsford to resume its original march because the message was a false alarm. </div> <bR> <div> The last chance to save the camp had been thrown away.</div> <div> By 3pm, despite severe losses, the Zulus had captured the camp. The culmination of Chelmsford's incompetence was a </div> <div> blood-soaked field littered with thousands of corpses. Of the original 1,750 defenders - 1,000 British and </div> <div> 750 black auxiliaries - 1,350 had been killed.</div> <bR> <bR> <div> Word of the disaster reached Britain on 11 February 1879. The Victorian public was dumbstruck by the news that </div> <div> 'spear-wielding savages' had defeated the well equipped British Army. The hunt was on for a scapegoat, and Chelmsford </div> <div> was the obvious candidate. But he had powerful supporters. </div> <bR> <bR> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="153" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#FF0000" BORDERCOLORDARK="#FF0000" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 177 ><NOBR><div> <IMG SRC="0d788aa0.jpg" border=0 width="136" height="170" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <div> Queen Victoria</div> <bR> <div> On 12 March 1879 Disraeli told Queen Victoria that his 'whole Cabinet had wanted to yield to the clamours of the </div> <div> Press, & Clubs, for the recall of Ld. Chelmsford'. He had, however, 'after great difficulty carried the day'. Disraeli was </div> <div> protecting Chelmsford not because he believed him to be blameless for Isandlwana, but because he was under intense </div> <div> pressure to do so from the Queen.</div> <bR> <bR> <div> Many generals blunder in war, but few go to such lengths to avoid responsibility.</div> <bR> <div> Meanwhile Lord Chelmsford was urgently burying all the evidence that could be used against him. He propagated the </div> <div> myth that a shortage of ammunition led to defeat at Isandlwana. He ensured that potential witnesses to his errors were </div> <div> unable to speak out. Even more significantly, he tried to push blame for the defeat onto Colonel Durnford, now dead, </div> <div> claiming that Durnford had disobeyed orders to defend the camp.'Many generals blunder in war, but few go to </div> <div> such lengths to avoid responsibility.'The truth is that no orders were ever given to Durnford to take command. </div> <div> Chelmsford's behaviour, in retrospect, is unforgivable. </div> <bR> <bR> <div> Chelmsford's Recall</div> <bR> <div> Back in England meanwhile - with the Zulu War no nearer to being won - the cries for Chelmsford's recall intensifying. </div> <div> On 23 May, realising that his political future was on the line, Disraeli told the queen that his government was replacing </div> <div> Chelmsford with Wolseley. She replied frostily: 'I will not withhold my sanction though I cannot approve it.</div> <div> ' It was one of the few serious breeches she and Disraeli had during their political relationship.</div> <div> 'Most of what Chelmsford told the Queen was a pack of lies.'</div> <bR> <div> In early September, shortly after his return from South Africa, Lord Chelmsford was given an audience with the Queen. </div> <div> She recorded the conversation in her journal:</div> <div> 'Ld. Chelmsford said no doubt poor Col. Durnford had disobeyed orders, in leaving the camp as he did... </div> <div> Ld. Chelmsford knew nothing, Col. Durnford never having sent any message to say he was in danger... This much is clear to me: </div> <div> viz. that it was not his fault, but that of others, that this surprise at Sandlwana took place... I told Ld. Chelmsford he had been </div> <div> blamed by many, and even by the Government, for commencing the war without sufficient cause. He replied that he believed </div> <div> it to have been quite inevitable; that if we had not made war when we did, we should have been attacked and possibly overpowered.'</div> <bR> <div> Most of what Chelmsford told the Queen was a pack of lies. Durnford, as we have seen, did not disobey orders. And </div> <div> Chelmsford ignored at least two warnings to the effect the camp 'was in danger'. In addition, the war was not one </div> <div> of self-defence but of conquest. Queen Victoria, however, would not see the truth.</div> <bR> <bR> <div> Only one winner</div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B><IMG SRC="168900a0.jpg" border=0 width="400" height="266" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <B><IMG SRC="16790270.jpg" border=0 width="400" height="295" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></div> <bR> <div> The British captured King Cetshwayo in August 1879, and the war, to all intents and purposes, was over. But few </div> <div> emerged on the British side with any credit, nor did ordinary Zulus benefit. Cetshwayo was exiled, Zululand was broken up </div> <div> and eventually annexed. Frere never achieved his ambition to confederate South Africa. That would have to wait until the </div> <div> aftermath of an even bloodier conflict, that of the Boer War.</div> <bR> <bR> <div> 'James Dalton died in 1887, a broken man.'</div> <bR> <div> Disraeli lost the 1880 election and died the following year. James Dalton died in 1887, a broken man. Many of the </div> <div> lower-rank VC winners from Rorke's Drift were also forgotten when the media circus moved on.</div> <div> But one man prospered - Lord Chelmsford. The Queen showered honours on him, promoting him to full general, </div> <div> awarding him the Gold Stick at Court and appointing him Lieutenant of the Tower of London. </div> <div> He died in 1905, at the age of 78, playing billiards at his club</div> <bR> <bR> <div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Zulu War 1879"><U><IMG SRC="0a08b2b0.jpg" border=0 width="139" height="43" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></A>       <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#FF0000" FACE="Arial" ><A HREF="id5.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Isandhlwana"><U><B><IMG SRC="09f8b2b0.jpg" border=0 width="139" height="43" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A></FONT></div> <bR> <div> <B> <embed src="HTMLobj-275/Farmersboy_1_.wav" autostart="true" hidden="true">  </B></div> <div> <B> <meta http-equiv="Page-Enter" content="revealtrans(duration=2,transition=23)">  </B></div> </td> </tr></table></body>