The British Invade the Zulu Kingdom: 1879 Anglo-Zulu War | Total War Battle

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[Music] by the 1850s the British Empire was on a road of Rapid expansion the British had colonies in southern Africa bordering on various bore settlements the British colonies also bordered various native African kingdoms such as the Zulus the discovery of diamonds in 1867 near Kimberly some 500 Mi Northeast of Cape Town was the Catalyst that triggered major change in the [Music] region this discovery triggered a Diamond Rush that attracted people from all over the world and Drew the attention of British Imperial interests in 1874 Lord carnavon Secretary of State for the colonies who had brought about Federation in Canada in 1867 thought that a similar scheme might work in South Africa the South African Plan called for a ruling white minority over a black majority which would provide a large pool of cheap labor for the British Sugar plantations and mines conovan in an attempt to extend British influence in 1875 approached the bore states of the orange free state and the transval Republic and tried to organize a Federation of the British and bore territories but the boore leaders turned him down 2 years later sbattle FR was made High Commissioner for southern Africa by Lord Caravan FR was appointed to the position on the understanding that he would work to enforce caravan's Confederation plan one of the obstacles to such a scheme was the presence of the independent Bo States and the kingdom of zulu land botle fr wasted no time in putting the scheme forward and made claims against the Zulu by exaggerating the significance of a number of recent incidents as an excuse to escalate the tensions between the Zulus and the British in the same year the British annexed the bore transval Republic for Britain using a special warrant the transval bores objected but as long as the Zulu threat remained they found themselves between two threats they feared that if they took up arms to resist the British annexation king chuo and the Zulus would take the opportunity to attack the British knew that the real strength in South Africa remained in the hands of King chuo however back in London British prime minister Benjamin disraeli's Administration did not want a war with the Zulus the government argued that matters in Eastern Europe and India were of a higher concern and did not want a Zulu War in addition to the other ongoing conflicts however sir Bartle FR had already concluded that the powerful Zulu Kingdom stood in the way of creating a confederation of South Africa and so preparations for a British Invasion of the Zulu Kingdom had been underway for months yes sir in December 1878 fra presented chuo with an ultimatum that the Zulu Army be disbanded and the Zulus accept British rule not only this but the British also demanded various payments in the form of cattle and the surrender of various Zulu Chiefs who would be put on trial to ensure that there was no interference from London FR delayed informing the colonial office about his ultimatum until it was too late for it to be countermanded by then Lord Chelmsford had assembled an army of 18,000 men including Colonial volunteers and natal African auxiliaries along the Zulu land border ready for the [Music] invasion chuo continuously attempted to avoid war with the British he ordered his troops to defend their country only if attacked and not to carry the war Beyond its borders but knowing that Lord Chelmsford was gathering men on the zululand border he prepared for the inevitable invasion [Music] a British Force Under the command of Lord Chelmsford invaded zulul land without authorization from the British government Chelmsford invaded with three colums which would all cross the Buffalo River into Zulu land and then March onto ulundi the zul Capital the three columns would march on ulundi from different positions with the intention of encircling the Zulu Army and forcing them into a battle as Chelmsford was concerned that the Zulus would avoid battle the main Center column consisting of some 7,800 men was comprised of Richard Thomas Glenn's number three column and Anthony danford's number two column and was directly under the command of Lord Chelmsford this column would March onun from Rock's drift number one column consisted of around 5,000 men and was under the command of Colonel Charles Pearson and would march on ulundi from the lower drift of the Tula River the third column number four column consisted of around 3,000 men and was under the command of Colonel Evelyn wood who would march on ulundi from utre an area at the foothill of the balele mountains while Cho's Army numbered perhaps 35,000 men it was essentially a militia Force which could be called out in times of national danger it had a very limited logistical capacity and could only stay in the field a few weeks before the troops would be obliged to return to their civilian duties Zulu warriors were armed primarily with asagi thrusting Spears some had clubs and some had throwing Spears they also had Shields made of cwh high the British under Chelmsford pitched camp at isand Lana on the 20th of January but did not follow standing orders to entrench no logger was formed the British command had severely underestimated the Zulu's capabilities once Chelmsford had established the camp at e andelana Chelmsford sent out two battalions of the natal native contingent to scout ahead it's they encountered elements of a Zulu Force which he believed to be the Vanguard of the main enemy Army such was his confidence in British military training and Firepower that Chelmsford divided his Force departing the camp at dawn on January 22nd with approximately 2,800 soldiers to find the main Zulu force with the intention of bringing them to battle to achieve a decisive Victory he left the remaining 1,300 men of the number three column to guard the camp under the commander of Colonel pen sir it never occurred to him that the Zulus he saw were diverting him from their main Force around 10:30 a.m. Colonel Anthony dford arrived from Rock's drift with 500 men of the natal native contingent he quickly decided to take the initiative and move forward to engage a Zulu Force which puline and dford judged to be moving against chelmsford's rear while Chelmsford was in the field seeking them the entire Zulu Army had outmaneuvered him moving behind his force with the intention of attacking the British army camped at isand Delana the main Zulu force was discovered at around 11:00 a.m. by men of Lieutenant Charles raw's troop of Scouts having been discovered the Zulu Force leapt to the offensive raw's men retreated to the camp and a messenger was sent to warn pain Pine sent all six companies of the 24th foot into an extended firing line with the aim of meeting the Zulu attack headon and checking it with Firepower danford's men upon meeting elements of the Zulu Center had retreated to a dried out River on the British right flank where they formed a defensive line show them how we can fight lads [Music] dford and his men on the British right were the first to engage with the Zulus the British Force looked on in fear at the 20,000 Zulu warriors that were charging at them [Music] [Music] for an hour or so until afternoon the disciplined British volleys pinned down the Zulu Center inflicting many casualties and causing the advance to stall danford's men who had been fighting the longest began to withdraw and their rate of fire diminished danford's withdrawal exposed the right flank of the British regulars await my command a number of desperate last stands were made but ultimately the entire British column was overrun and destroyed by the Zulus both dford and poine were killed during the battle over 1,300 British soldiers had been killed making this the worst defeat of a technologically Superior Force against A Primitive native force in history in the battle's aftermath a party of some 4,000 Zulu reserves mounted an unauthorized raid on the nearby British Army border post of Ro's drift Ro's drift hosted a small Detachment of number five field company Royal Engineers consisting of around 150 men commanded by lieutenant John chard which had arrived on the 19th to repair the pontoons that bridged the Buffalo survivors from isand Delana soon reached Rock's drift with news of the approaching Zulus lieutenants John chard and gonville bromad met with assistant commissary James Dalton together they decided that they would defend the station as this was their best chance of survival the Zulu Force arrived at Ro's drift at 4:30 p.m. they spent the next 12 hours continuously storming the British defenses at first they were unable to reach the men behind barricades with their Spears many Zulu warriors were shot down at Point Blank Range and the Defenders forced back any who did manage to climb over as the battle raged on the Zulus targeted the hospital but the Defenders managed to push them back with bayonets the small British Garrison at Rock drift had survived the day and before the sunset they withdrew further into the drift and built new defenses on the same day as the Battle of isandlwana and Ro's drift the number one column of the British Invasion Force Under the command of Colonel Charles Pearson was marching just south of the Ina zeni River they intended to establish a base at ISO before marching onto wundi shortly after a small number of Zulus appeared on the ridge of a hill nearby and a company of the natal native contingent under Lieutenant Hart was sent up the spur after them suddenly a mass of Zulus appeared over the crest of the Ridge and began pouring downwards these men were part of a 6,000 man strong Force dispatched at the same time as the army that engaged the British at isand Deana as the Zulus charged the native natal contingent fled the European officers who remained stood no chance hearing the gunshots the British column quickly formed a firing line the British had several 7B guns and a Gatling gun the Zulus began their assault on the British column some Zulus had guns that they had bought just before the War Began the Zulu attack was eventually repulsed by the massive British firing power 10 British soldiers had been killed and over 350 Zulu warriors had been killed that evening at Rock's drift the Zulus continued the attack the British withdrew to the center of the station where a final defense had been hastily built the Zulu's attacked repeatedly over the night but these attacks were uncoordinated due to the dark they eventually succeeded in fighting the Zulus off and the Zulu Force withdrew by the the end of the battle 15 British soldiers had died and most of the Garrison were wounded over 800 Zulu warriors lay dead although the British had won victories at the Battle of ineni and Rock's drift the overall situation for the British Invasion was looking Grim on the following day Pearson's number one column had reached aoy on learning of the disaster at e andelana Pearson made plans to withdraw back beyond the Tula River however before he had decided whether or not to put these plans into effect the Zulu Army managed to cut off his supply lines and the siege of ishoy had begun by this point out of the three invading columns one had almost been entirely destroyed and one was under siege the other column under the command of Colonel Evelyn wood had originally been charged with occupying the Zulu tribes of Northwest zululand and preventing them from interfering with the British Central Columns of Advance on ulundi wood had set up camp just 10 Mi south of Hoban Mountain where a force of 4,000 Zulus had been spotted he planned to attack them on the 24th of January but on learning of the disaster at isand Lana he decided to stay in the camp the first invasion of zulu land had been a failure in the early hours of the morning on the 12th of March an armed escort of stores marching to lunberg was ambushed by about 500 Zulus at the Battle of [Applause] Inon the British Force suffered 80 killed and all the stores were lost Chelmsford used the next two months to regroup and build a fresh invading force with the initial intention of relieving Pearson at ishoy the British government also rushed seven regiments of reinforcements to natal along with two artillery batteries on the 29th of March a column under Lord Chelmsford consisting of a total of 5,670 men marched to the relief of aoy as chelmsford's relief column marched through zulul land to relieve aoi number four column under Evelyn wood had fallen back to Cula he camped at Cula as he knew of the defeat of the British column at isand dewana and was cautious about making a move on the Zulus as wood was waiting at ca he received reinforcements in the form of transval rang and 700 friendly Zulus under the command of hamu kanbe Cho's half brother who had always been friendly towards the British and at odds with the Zulu King shortly afterwards wood received a message from Chelmsford letting him know that new British troops were in Zulu land intending to relieve The Siege at aoy Chelmsford had requested wood to create a distraction to draw off some of the Zulu strength wood now had the confidence to carry out his original objective to attack the Zulus on Hoban Lieutenant Colonel reders Buller led the attack on Hoban on the 28th of March with 600 other men the British Force split up and began scaling the hill as they ascended they fought against Zulu snipers [Music] however soon after the skirmishes began the main Zulu Army of 20,000 men approached to help the Zulus on the hill a lot of these men were Veterans of isand Deana the British Force saw this and began a retreat which turned into a route 1,000 Zulus of the abak caloi managed to intercept the British and inflicted massive casualties get over 225 British soldiers were killed on Hoban survivors of the battle of Hoban withdrew back to the camp at Kula and the forces of Colonel Evelyn wood prepared to receive an attack by the 20,000 Zulu that had arrived the defenses on komula consisted of a logger formed with wagons that were tightly locked together Wood's Force consisted of around 2,000 men and both natal and British troops were present by this point many of the Zulus were armed with rifles taken from the British dead at previous battles chuo had ordered the impi not to attack fortified positions but to lure the British troops into the open these instructions were ignored the Zulus attacked the loger for 5 hours Infantry get after heavy losses of almost 1,500 men the Zulus finally withdrew from the battlefield however they were pursued by British mounted troops who killed many more fleeing and Wounded [Applause] Warriors after the battle the Zulus had suffered almost 2,000 deaths whereas the British had only suffered around 30 deaths mainly from Zulu snipers the effect of the battle of Campa on the Zulu Army was severe many demoralized warriors went home this battle was the turning point of the war after this battle chelmsford's column that was marching to relieve asoy was encamped in a logger at ganlu Having learned their lesson after the battle of isandlwana loggers were instructed every time the column had to stop for the night on the 2nd of April a 10,000 man strong Zulu impi attacked chelmsford's position in the lagger the result of this battle was similar to that of Kula the Zulus were repelled with heavy losses the next day chelmsford's column arrived at isho and relieved The Siege on Pearson's men despite these victories for the British Chelmsford had still not beaten the Zulus decisively and was now aware that the British government sought to replace him as Commander sir Garnet wolsley was being sent to replace him Chelmsford wanted to inflict a final blow on the Zulus before this new Commander arrived as a way of restoring his reputation so he reinforced his army with fresh recruits and marched on ulundi the Zulu capital on the four of July after scouts had been attacked by some Zulu warriors Chelmsford was convinced that the Zulus wanted a fight and formed his infantry into a large Hollow Square neither wagon loggers nor trenches would be used to convince both the Zulus and critics that a British Square could beat them fairly in the open the British had several 7lb guns and two Gatling guns no Zulus in any numbers had been cited by 8:00 a.m. so the frontier Li horse was sent forth to provoke the enemy as they rode out the entire Zulu Army rose out of the grass in front of them the Zulu Army under the command of umana zedu cande was around 14,000 men strong the mounted troops opened fire from the saddle in an attempt to trigger a premature charge before retreating into the British [Music] Square the British were ready and the Zulu troops faced concentrated fire Zuli regiments had to charge forward directly into Mass Rifle fire non-stop fire from the Gatling guns and the artillery firing canister shot at Point Blank Range charges were made by the Zulus in an attempt to get within close range but they could not Prevail against the British fire there were a number of casualties within the square to Zulu mark man but the British firing did not waver and no Warrior was able to get within 30 yard of the British ranks after half an hour of concentrated fire from the artillery the Gatling guns and thousands of British Riflemen the Zulu military power was broken British casualties were 10 killed and 87 wounded while nearly 5 100 Zulu dead were counted around the square the Zulus fled towards the high ground with Cavalry chasing them the pursuit continued until not aive Zulu remained on the mahab batini plane with the British killing the Zulu wounded in Revenge for similar Zulu actions at isand [Music] Delana the final battle of the war war was [Music] over yes S A Wy [Music]
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Channel: Historical Total War Battles
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Length: 28min 17sec (1697 seconds)
Published: Sat Jun 08 2024
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