Inkinga wena kaNdaba iseSandlwana
(The Complication, Son of Ndaba – referring to Cetshwayo – Is What Happened at Isandlwana)
“… the Zulus … did what no European army can do. Armed only with lances and spears, without any firearms, they advanced under a hail of bullets from breech-loaders up to the bayonets of the English infantry – the best in the world for fighting in closed ranks – and threw them into confusion more than once, yea, even forced them to retreat in spite of the immense disparity of weapons …”
– Friedrich Engels: The Origin of the Family –
“Friederich Engels was marvelling at the victory of the Zulu impis of iNgonyama uCetshwayo over the British Imperial Army at Isandlwana Hill on 22 January 1879” (Sibeko). Eleven days after the British commenced their invasion of Zululand in Southern Africa, the Battle of Isandlwana became the first major encounter in the Anglo-Zulu War between the British Empire and the Zulu Kingdom. A Zulu force of some 20,000 warriors annihilated a portion of the British main column consisting of about 1,800 British, colonial and native troops and perhaps 400 civilians.
“At that historic battle the entire central column of a British invasion army – the most modern and well-equipped that the world’s leading power could put into the field – was skilfully outmanoeuvred and wiped out by African warriors. Nine hundred British troop were speared to death as well as a similar number of African Nativ
