Isandlwana

Isandlwana (also sometimes seen as Isandhlwana or Isandula) is an isolated hill in the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa.

Isandlwana, in Zulu, means "something like a little house." The spur sits on a gradually rising plain approximately 10 mi (16 km) from Rorke's Drift. Because of poor roads and the unwieldy wagons, it took Lord Chelmsford 10 days to make the passage from Rorke's Drift to the foot of Isandlwana, where he arrived on 20 January 1879. Since Chelmsford's plan was for a quick strike toward the Zulu Royal Kraal at Ulundi, he considered his camp temporary, and did not follow the advice of Paul Kruger and other Boers to form a wagon-laager, a standard Boer tactic when fighting against the Zulus. He also did not follow his own November Field Force Regulations which called for a partial entrenchments.

The Battle of Isandlwana was a battle in the Anglo-Zulu War in which a Zulu army wiped out a British force on January 22, 1879. The British were commanded by Frederick Augustus Thesiger, 2nd Baron Chelmsford.

The traditional view [1] is that the British had difficulty unpacking their ammunition fast enough, causing a lull in the defense and a subsequent rout. Modern researchers [2] are of the opinion that South Wales Borderers retreated, and that the fleet-footed Zulu took advantage. Other recent research indicates that the British skirmish line was too long; instead of standing shoulder to shoulder, the British soldiers were separated from each other by a few metres.

Either way, the Natal Native Contingent broke, and led the flight to Fugitive's Drift. After the battle, the Zulus, as was their tradition, ripped open the dead bodies of their casualties and those of their enemies to free the spirits.

Isandlwana was a very  victory for the Zulus not only because of the heavy casualties suffered in the battle but also because, as King Cetshwayo feared, it forced the policy makers in London, who to this point had not supported the war, to rally to the support of the pro-war contingent in the Natal government and commit whatever resources were needed to defeat the Zulu nation.

Had the British won the battle of Isandlwana, this battle and the Zulu nation would have been relegated to a footnote in world history. However the bravery and dignity of an African nation, armed with nothing but spears and cowhide shields, that could initially defeat an aggressive major nineteenth century European power, has left an indelible imprint on history.