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The drama of Rorke’s Drift appealed to me.
Growing up I was fascinated by…
When I was a kid, the American Civil War was a big interest – but when I saw Zulu (1964), the Michael Caine film about the Battle of Rorke’s Drift, that really sparked my imagination, and I wanted more. The problem I had at the time was that it was unique: the only film about the Anglo-Zulu War! It wasn’t until I started reading history on quite a serious basis that I moved away from the American Civil War and into Zulu history.
My favourite period or conflict…
I’m especially interested in the 19th-century Zulu kingdom, particularly the 1879 Anglo-Zulu War and the battles of Rorke’s Drift and Isandlwana. A lot of colonial wars are just a bit depressing, because you know the major power is going to win them – but actually the Zulus gave the British a bloody nose at Isandlwana, and they put up a pretty good fight for their independence against the greatest empire in the world at the time.
The figure I most admire…
Generally speaking, I don’t have historical heroes, because I’m conscious that they all have feet of clay. There’s a guy called John Dunn (1834-1895), who was a white hunter and trader in the 19th century in Zululand, and who served as an adviser to the Zulu king Cetshwayo while the Anglo-Zulu War was brewing. When the war broke out, he changed sides, and the British finally set him up as a puppet chief in Zululand after the war. So I don’t know if I admire him… but I find him a fascinating character, because he embodies a lot of the contradictions of imperialism, and I appreciate the interesting life he had.
My dream dinner party…
A group of people principally from the Anglo-Zulu War. As well as Cetshwayo and Dunn, it would be fascinating to have Lord Chelmsford, who was the British commander at the time, and maybe one or two other Victorian generals – perhaps somebody like Sir Garnet Wolseley, the much-decorated imperial field marshal. And then there’s the Zulus’ own commander at Rorke’s Drift: Prince Dabulamanzi. I think I’d need a pretty good translator, though, to be able to communicate with everyone.
A book I’d recommend…
George MacDonald Fraser’s Flashman novels. Flashman was originally the bully in Tom Brown’s School Days, but Fraser takes Flashman as an adult and puts him into all these 19th-century wars. And they’re written as a kind of confessional: behind the image of ‘General Sir Harry Flashman’, he’s a sort of snivelling, scheming, manipulative, backstabbing coward – but it always works out to his advantage! They’re a fun way to explore Victorian military life and the hypocrisy of heroes who are not always what they seem.
My favourite war film…
I have to go for Zulu, directed by Cy Endfield, because it had such a big impact. The drama of Rorke’s Drift appealed to me: 150-ish redcoats holding this little mission station against several thousand Zulus, and they win. It’s great, it’s colourful – with the redcoats against this tawny African landscape and the Zulus with their terrific shields – and it’s beautifully shot. It’s also, to me, a very anti-imperialist film. It’s full of people saying, ‘What are we doing here?’ and ‘What is the point of this war?’ It just nudges that whole Victorian mythology of aristocracy and class and the assumptions of empire. So I think there’s quite a lot in it for a 1960s adventure film.
A museum to get lost in…
The National Army Museum in London covers such a wide range of materials in a very professional way, and they have a very special exhibition at the moment about Victorian battle paintings (Myth and Reality: military art in the age of Queen Victoria; see review in MHM 148, October/November 2025). Otherwise, I’d say the Royal Welsh Museum in Brecon, which is the regimental museum for the old 24th Regiment, which fought at Isandlwana and Rorke’s Drift.
My next project…
In four years’ time, it’ll be the 150th anniversary of the Anglo-Zulu war, so I’ve got a couple of projects on the go – including a sort-of encyclopaedia of the Battle of Rorke’s Drift, in which I follow up a lot of the little, odd stories that came out of it.
Ian Knight is a historian, author, and battlefield guide specialising in the 19th-century history of the Zulu kingdom, and in particular, the Anglo-Zulu War of 1879, as well as other Victorian military conflicts. He has published more than 40 books and monographs, and his most recent work, Warriors in Scarlet: the life and times of the last redcoats (Pan Macmillan), won top prize in the 2025 MHM Book Awards.
Images: Wikimedia Commons
