Zulu Warriors: The Battle for the South African Frontier

Description

Toward the end of the nineteenth century, the British embarked on a concerted series of campaigns in South Africa. Within three years they waged five wars against African states with the intent of destroying their military might and political independence and unifying southern Africa under imperial control. This is the first work to tell the story of this cluster of conflicts as a single whole and to narrate the experiences of the militarily outmatched African societies.   Deftly fusing the widely differing European and African perspectives on events, John Laband details the fateful decisions of individual leaders and generals and explores why many Africans chose to join the British and colonial forces. The Xhosa, Zulu, and other African military cultures are brought to vivid life, showing how varying notions of warrior honor and manliness influenced the outcomes for African fighting men and their societies. Contents Illustrations List of Maps Abbreviations Note on Terminology Prologue 1. The Shadow of Isandlwana 2. Bushman’s River Pass The Boer– Pedi War, 1876–1877 3. Bopedi 4. Sobhuza’s Dream 5. ‘The Boers Are Killing Me’ 6. The ‘Black Conspiracy’ The Ninth Cape Frontier War, 1877– 1878 7. EmaXhoseni 8. ‘They Must Be Humbled and Subdued’ 9. ‘I Am in a Corner’ 10. Calling in the ‘amaJohnnies’ 11. Not the ‘White Man’s Dogs’ 12. ‘Rather Like a Rat Hunt’ The Northern Border War, 1878 13. A ‘Hideous and Disgusting Place’ 14. Resisting with ‘Fixity of Purpose’ The First Anglo- Pedi War, 1878 15. ‘The Ground Was His’ The Anglo- Zulu War, 1879 16. Preparing to ‘Draw the Monster’s Teeth and Claws’ 17. The Meat of Heroes 18. ‘We Shall Go and Eat Up the White Men’ 19. ‘How Can We Give You Mercy?’ 20. ‘No Quarter, Boys!’ 21. ‘The Army Is Now Thoroughly Beaten’ The Second Anglo- Pedi War, 1879 22. ‘Short, Sharp and Decisive’ Conclusion 23. Paying the Price NOTES BIBLIOGRAPHY of Printed Works Cited in the Notes Acknowledgements Index