RORKE’S DRIFT & ISANDLWANA

IAN BECKETT

OUP, 225pp, £18.99

On 22nd January 2018 the entrance whiteboard at London Underground’s Dollis Hill carried a brief factual statement: ‘On the 22-23 January 1879 in Natal, South Africa, a small British garrison named Rorke’s Drift was attacked by 4,000 Zulu warriors. The garrison was successfully defended by just 150 British and colonial troops. Following the battle, 11 men were awarded the Victoria Cross.’

Cue howls of outrage on Twitter at this ‘celebration of colonialism’. TFL quickly wiped the board clean and apologised.

‘Professor Ian Beckett, one of the most respected historians of the British army, tells this story in the conclusion of the latest volume of the OUP’S “Great Battles” series,’ Allan Mallinson noted in the Spectator. ‘It illustrates the problem of communicating facts to a public increasingly prone to interpreting history in terms of the present, and apparently unable to celebrate it for what it is.’ All is not lost, however. The film

Zulu, which applauds the bravery of the defenders at Rorke’s Drift, is the most popular film of all time among servicemen. Lawrence James in the

Times wrote, ‘Beckett’s coverage of the cultural legacy of the war is excellent…he is fascinating on the making of Zulu and its box office success.’

Beckett ‘has written a thorough, authoritative and perceptive account of two of the Zulu wars’ engagements’, James confirmed. The battle of Isandlwana was ‘a straightforward tactical military cock-up’; honour was saved by the skill and bravery of the company at Rorke’s Drift.

‘Professor Beckett’s concise account of these twin actions,’ Mallinson wrote, ‘is a model of readable military history.’