Heroism that was immortalised on film
THE defence of Rorke’s Drift in January 1879 is seen as a proud story of British defiance and bravery – one that was immortalised in the classic film Zulu.
A massed army of 4,000 Zulu warriors surrounded around 150 British troops at a remote outpost. Astonishingly, the redcoats fought off their attackers. A 12-hour battle left some 400 Zulus dead.
The Army lost only 17 men. An unprecedented 11 Victoria Crosses were awarded.
However, the images of Michael Caine playing Lieutenant Gonville Bromhead in the 1964 movie mask the wider, less glorious, truths about the Anglo-Zulu War.
Britain, hungry to increase its influence in diamond-rich South Africa, provoked an unnecessary conflict with the warlike but far less well-armed Zulus to seize their land. While their opponents relied mainly on spears and a few old rifles, the Army had Gatling guns – an early form of handcranked machine gun capable of firing up to 200 rounds a minute. But what should have been an easy campaign began with an ignominious defeat that saw more than 1,000 British troops massacred at the Battle of Isandlwana. Hours later, the heroics at Rorke’s Drift began. The conflict ended six months later with the destruction of the Zulu army at the Battle of Ulundi, where 6,000 Zulus were cut down by machine guns at a cost of only ten British lives.
The film Zulu has been criticised for innaccuracies. Although Rorke’s Drift did end with the Zulus withdrawing, it is believed that few of the British troops were Welsh – and they did not sing Men of Harlech to steel themselves for battle.
And the aftermath was unsavoury. By July the Zulu kingdom had been crushed. King Cetshwayo was captured and exiled, and Zululand taken under British control.
Yet the episode continues to cast a long shadow. The shame of the massacre at Isandlwana helped contribute to Benjamin Disraeli losing the 1880 election and British attempts to expand further in South Africa that year led to the first of the Boer Wars.