First Time Watching!!! Zulu Dawn Movie Reaction

people forget the zulu were an empire themselve they had conqured the area themselves and were expanding into rival tribes areas which is why the british had little problem getting local labour ......

The Zulus were actually a burgeoning empire in their own right who had relatively recently moved down from the north and subdued surrounding tribes with better tactics and a lot of, lets face it, brutality. The clash between the two was perhaps inevitable (though Bartle Frere and Lord Chelmsford acted against orders by instigating the war) as the British needed to keep the harbours of the South African coast secure for the trade route to India and were never going to be happy with a strong warlike nation encroaching on their borders.

Classic movie.. they'd televise this every Xmas day so sort of like a family tradition eating Xmas dinner few drinks eating turkey and bacon sandwiches while the film was on ..as I got older I'd carry on the tradition Xmas dinner a bottle of Bacardi and sandwiches while watching it 😂😂

Lord Chelmsford is most famous for having lost the battle of Isandlwana where the British Army was wiped out by the Zulus. When news of this disaster reached England, he was ordered to stand down and be replaced by Lord Wolesley. But the battle of Ulundi occurred before Wolesley arrived, and Chelmsford's reputation was restored, but not his command.

I've been to Isandlwana. There are mounds of white stones everywhere they put there to show where bodies were found clumped together as the British were retreating. They basically had no chance. Their rifles overheated and jammed after a certain amount of shots.

The Quartermaster shown in this film was based on a myth which existed that the troops weren't issued with sufficient ammo - ammo crates recovered in archaelogical visits to the battle site show they were broken open with force, meaning that the solders weren't required to wait as shown in the film despite the myth.

The quartermasters at the camp got a serious disservice done to them. It has been proved with archaeological evidence that ammunition shortages were not a cause of the defeat and the Ammo boxes dod not have to be opened by unscrewing every screw. They could be opened by just bashing the opening panel with a hammer or a rifle.

It’s true we went into Zulu land but that land particularly had only been under Zulu control for a few months. They had taken it from arrival tribe who were British allies.

"Zulus, thousands of 'em!" Great reaction :)

Diamonds, gold and Dutch farmers. Three good enough reasons to occupy. 🤣

under 2000 British were overun by approx 20,000 Zulus

The Victoria Cross was awarded to 23 members of the British Armed Forces and colonial forces for actions performed during the Zulu War of 1879. 11 at Rorke's Drift alone..

The Zulus cut open the stomachs of the dead - it was their belief that it helped the spirit escape and not linger to haunt them The Zulus took no prisoners. But to the British seeing their comrades gutted drove them to commit great atrocities

The Zulu nation was created by the great conqueror, King Shaka Amazulu of the then tiny Amazulu tribe, just one of dozens of tribes in the Bantu-speaking people in that part of the world. He revolutionized their warfare by changing from battles being decided by tribal champions fighting duels, to whole units fighting to the death, and switching from light throwing spears called Asegais, plus a long wooden club with a ball shaped head fashioned from a tree root, to using a short stabbing spear with a short haft and a long blade called the Iklwa and a tall bullhide shield, used in a similar manner to the Roman Gladius sword and Scutum shield combo. Hook the enemy's shield with yours, pull it away from his body, then reach in and stab with the Iklwa, named for the sound it should make when you pull it out of a man's belly. With his much more disciplined, bloody method of warfare, he subdued all his neighbours and forced them into his army and his kingdom. It was like Sparta in that the laws of the kingdom turned the whole male population into warriors, enrolled at the age of 8 to serve as servants and messengers for the grown men in the regiments, called Impis. Each Impi was made up of the men who had enrolled together in the same year. Younger Impis played the role of faster soldiers to run out around the flanks to surround the enemy. The older men, stronger and more experienced soldiers, took the centre, holding the enemy in place while the Horns ran out to flank. The men's zeal to fight was maintained with the rule that soldiers could not marry until they had fought in battle, until they had "washed their spears" in the blood of the king's enemies. Each Impi's shields were different from the others, in the pattern of colours of the hide as well as other details. More senior men were distinguished with different straps around their upper arms and so forth - all the differentiations of unit, role and rank of a professional army. It made the Zulu people uniquely difficult to incorporate into the British Empire, and also a potential threat to the Cape Colony and Natal Colony that sooner or later was going to be attacked by the British Army nevertheless. The Zulus were outnumbered by the British forces, but they had the strategic mobility advantage. They knew how to move unseen through the tall grass and in darkness, and they were travelling light, with just the rations they could carry, dried meat and roots, while the British could only move about 10 miles a day, the speed of the Ox-wagons carrying their supplies, in big, very visible columns. So yeah, the Zulus could pick when and where they wanted to fight and achieve surprise. The Zulus were trained to run all day if necessary, in bare feet with heavily calloused soles, which helped them keep quiet when needed. The way I read about it, the British square formation with Gatling guns at the corners should have worked, and that was how they had set up the night before around the camp. But the problem was that they had marched out of the camp and then realised that a large Zulu force was near and tried to form up the square again, outside the camp and away from the spare ammunition, and didn't get set up in time so that the Zulus were able to find gaps to break into the formation and turn the flank of the men in the outward facing volley lines. I don't know if that's still the best explanation the historians have though. I believe the "great dynasty" Disraeli mentioned was the last heir of Napoleon Bonaparte, after his father Emperor Napoleon III was deposed in 1870 as a result of starting a needless war against Prussia and losing badly. The young Bonaparte was serving in a British cavalry unit, and had disobeyed orders not to scout too far ahead of the rest of his unit, and got caught with a few others off his horse investigating a deserted kraal.

The similarity between Isandlahwana and the battle of the Bighorn only a few years earlier are quite astounding when you read the history of both battles.

They're were actually 2 other British columns attacking zululand one from the north and the other the south. The plan was for all three columns to meet at the zulu capital ulundi . Thre one thing I did notice thr British regiment and uniform was more authentic than in zulu.

There were other columns in the invasion plan and after reorganizing the unofficial plan to incorporate Zululand into the British empire continued with the defeat of the Zulu army and capture of the capture of the king who was sent to London and met with Queen Victoria...For more look it up as that's all I can remember off the top of my head...lol

Chelmsford the British commander was replaced and sent back to England but he did defeat the Zulus at the Battle of Ulundi before his replacement arrived ending the war. The British made a massive square of 4000 infantry, four ranks deep with Gatling guns and cannon on all sides and the Zulus never got within 50 yards, when they finally retreated the cavalry who were inside the square rode them down.

LOL that punishment is still carried out normally after the shouted command "GET ROUND THE SQUARE" !!!

what seems to be forgotten when people talk about the battle of Isandlwana, IS yes 1,300 British and others were Killed on that day but over 3.000 to 5, 000 Zulus were also killed or Wounded that day