Military History Matters Letters 133 – March
Your thoughts on issues raised by the magazine.
zulu war
Rorke’s Drift: why did the Zulus lose?
Chris Peers, author of a new minute-by-minute study of the fighting on 22 January 1879, analyses the extraordinary endurance of the mission-station garrison.
This week: Rorke’s Drift
The Defence of Rorke's Drift remains one of the most celebrated engagements in UK military history. On the night of 22 January 1879, a force of just over 150 British and colonial troops held off an estimated 3-4,000 Zulu warriors during more than 12 hours of bitter, hand-to-hand fighting that would result in the award of 11 Victoria Crosses.
Letters from MHM 121
Japan in WWII, Zulu & Societ Propaganda images
War on Film: Zulu Dawn
Taylor Downing reviews the classic war film Zulu Dawn.
Rorke’s Drift Museum
Reviewing the Rorke's Drift Museum, with Taylor Downing.
Sister Janet Wells: the ‘Florence Nightingale’ of the Zulu War
Adrian Greaves reports on a Victorian nurse who served in the Russo-Turkish and Zulu Wars – earning both an Imperial Red Cross from Russia and a Royal Red Cross from Britain.
War on Film: Zulu
Taylor Downing reviews the classic war film Zulu.
War Reporters: Archibald Forbes
Seema Syeda on battlefield scoops through the ages.
All you need to know about iklwas
Weapon specifications Most African tribes use a form of assegai, a light throwing-spear used in both hunting and war, typically around 6-feet long with a 6-inch steel head. Some of the most aggressive Bantu tribes of southern Africa have developed…
The 17th Lancers Regiment at Ulundi, 4 July 1879
MHM Editor Neil Faulkner recalls a classic charge of British cavalry on a late 19th-century battlefield.
Isandlwana, 1879: Humbling the Great White Queen
‘I can’t understand it!’ That was British commander Lord Chelmsford’s response. Isandlwana was perhaps the greatest defeat inflicted on British redcoats by native warriors in imperial history. Zulu War expert Ian Knight, who has published a major new study, tackles the key question: what went wrong for the British at Isandlwana?