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Rorke's Drift 1879: Anatomy of an Epic Zulu War Seige
Explores the men and action at this most legendary of battles in the Anglo-Zulu War
The small garrison based at Rorke's Drift in South Africa is forever immortalized as one of the British Army's most glorious moments. The garrison was defended by 139 British soldiers with 300 African colonial troops under their command when, on January 22, 1879, they were attacked by a Zulu force of nearly 4,000 warriors. Outnumbered by nearly 20 to one, the British soldiers constructed a makeshift defense and fought throughout the night. Their tenacity and bravery ensured that the British retained the garrison and won the battle. Their acts in the face of this overwhelming onslaught saw 11 Victoria Crosses being awarded to the British garrison, the highest number ever awarded for a single engagement. Rorke's Drift restored the British public's faith in the Army after the disaster of Isandlwana, and the battle was famously portrayed in the film Zulu.
The small garrison based at Rorke's Drift in South Africa is forever immortalized as one of the British Army's most glorious moments. The garrison was defended by 139 British soldiers with 300 African colonial troops under their command when, on January 22, 1879, they were attacked by a Zulu force of nearly 4,000 warriors. Outnumbered by nearly 20 to one, the British soldiers constructed a makeshift defense and fought throughout the night. Their tenacity and bravery ensured that the British retained the garrison and won the battle. Their acts in the face of this overwhelming onslaught saw 11 Victoria Crosses being awarded to the British garrison, the highest number ever awarded for a single engagement. Rorke's Drift restored the British public's faith in the Army after the disaster of Isandlwana, and the battle was famously portrayed in the film Zulu.
- GenresHistoryNonfiction
160 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 2001
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
August 7, 2013
Every Englishman over twenty years of age with a TV has heard of Rorke’s Drift. Growing up barely a Sunday seemed to go by when Michael Caine was not smashing the Zulu army, defending an apparently pointless piece of land in the middle of the African nowhere.
The battle itself was a do-or-die defence of a tiny garrison fought against the Zulu kingdom in 1879. The battle, in which a holding group left behind by the main British army, which had gone in search of the main Zulu military, found itself face to face with that force, probably three thousand and more strong against less than two hundred Brits. The battle led to the award of eleven Victoria Crosses.
Yorke’s writing is enlightening mainly on Zulu society and warfare, which are unsurprisingly more ‘civilised’ than the 1960s film allows. The author shows a heartening predilection for avoiding the colonial line portrayed by Caine and crew, explaining as he does that the Battle of Rorke’s Drift may have been well fought, and may have boosted British morale, but that the latter is only true because staggering incompetence and near disastrous defeats had reduced confidence in the army to terrible lows. He also places the Zulu wars in a wider context of upcoming campaigns against the Russians and in Afghanistan.
In all, ‘Battle Stories: Rorke’s Drift’ is an solid myth-busting effort which uses first-hand accounts as well as more modern interpretations of the wider scope of Britain’s southern African colonial wars of the day.
The battle itself was a do-or-die defence of a tiny garrison fought against the Zulu kingdom in 1879. The battle, in which a holding group left behind by the main British army, which had gone in search of the main Zulu military, found itself face to face with that force, probably three thousand and more strong against less than two hundred Brits. The battle led to the award of eleven Victoria Crosses.
Yorke’s writing is enlightening mainly on Zulu society and warfare, which are unsurprisingly more ‘civilised’ than the 1960s film allows. The author shows a heartening predilection for avoiding the colonial line portrayed by Caine and crew, explaining as he does that the Battle of Rorke’s Drift may have been well fought, and may have boosted British morale, but that the latter is only true because staggering incompetence and near disastrous defeats had reduced confidence in the army to terrible lows. He also places the Zulu wars in a wider context of upcoming campaigns against the Russians and in Afghanistan.
In all, ‘Battle Stories: Rorke’s Drift’ is an solid myth-busting effort which uses first-hand accounts as well as more modern interpretations of the wider scope of Britain’s southern African colonial wars of the day.
August 24, 2013
An excellent well written book. The book is full of quotes from the participants of the battle. This helps to give the book a powerful sense of what took place.
January 25, 2013
In 1879 the English went to war with the Zulus in Africa. After a large British force was destroyed by the Zulu, the action shifted to a small detachment of 100 British soldiers at Rorke's Drift who defended against around 4,000 Zulu warriors in fierce hand-to-hand fighting. Eleven British soldiers earned the Victtoria Cross, Britian's highest award for valor. The author examines some of the causes and results.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews