How Zulu Warriors Pushed The British Army To Breaking Point | History Of Warfare | War Stories

[@mojo199]

a great myth about this war is that the British and Chelmsford underestimated the fighting abilities of the Zulus. In reality the British were extremely wary of the Zulu army, before the invasion Chelmsford issued standing orders for every force to entrench itself when camped or stationary. The reason no 3 column did not follow this directive is that they had to be ready to move quickly to support Chelmsford's column. Chelmsford's fatal mistake with regards to Isandlwana is that he underestimated Cetshwayo's ability to form grand strategy. The Zulu army instead of retreating, manoeuvred around Chelmsford's more powerful column and attacked the exposed and weaker No 3 column as it was preparing to move

[@mick7even]

Credit where credit is due. Thank you sir.

[@mukhtarsyajaratun1025]

Perhaps they still dont figure out about the Zulu tactics

[@alitlweird]

Never ever ever underestimate your enemy/opponent

[@martynpope8218]

Correct. It was easy for the press at the time to use Isandlwana as a means to punish the haughty & hasty way that Frere & Chelmsford launched the army into offensive operations. Also they were kind of justified to scold these two because they had not launched this military campaign with proper authorisation from London.

[@Dackah]

Yes, but to clarify, Chelmsford's column was also part of No. 3 column.

[@lesliemaitland3551]

Late 20th century ? The background music is too loud and distracting.

[@sandracarey6383]

It really is . Made it very difficult to listen to the information being provided.

[@TERENCEYOUNG-t9m]

The laagering of waggons, was in the field manual but Chelmsford decided not to do this because this would take to long.

[@adamsermet5953]

Awful sound mix! Can’t hear the narrator over all the dramatic music.

[@lotuselansteve]

Turn the bloody music down!

[@lextalionis3754]

The very loud music competes successfully with the narration. Great idea!!! 🥸

[@MLA56]

I'm a retired US Army senior officer. 8 years enlisted before I was commissioned. Infantry/ Special Forces. 5yrs, 8mo total combat time UP FRONT, with the scars, etc to prove it. Also graduated from the National War College and finished a Ph.D. in Military History after retirement. Not bragging, just showing I know what I'm talking about. At Isandlwana: 1) The Brits were too spread out. 2) There's the well-known idiocy of getting ammo up to the line. 3) The Brits should NEVER have tried a line formation. Knowing Zulu tactics, they should've formed Squares at least 3 ranks deep, with ammo and any artillery, rockets, or whatever else they had in the center. The result would've been like the Mamelukes against the French at "The Pyramids" or Ney's cavalry at Waterloo. British Infantry in the 1870s were still trained to "form square." Failure to do as I suggest doomed them, when could've wrecked the Zulus with very light losses. This is what happens when officers freeze up or make bad decisions under the stress of combat.😅

[@lyndoncmp5751]

Well, Pulleine was under orders to protect the camp. The camp was spread out a kilometre in width. Pulleine simply didn't have enough men to form a square around the camp. Not only that, it wasn't seen as a battle for survival until very late on. By then it was too late to form square, although the companies mostly managed to keep up a firing withdrawal back to the camp and smaller isolated squares and clusters were formed and these held out for a while. Pulleine didn't panic. The 24th Foot were holding the Zulus at bay until Durnford on the right withdrew from the donga and collapsed the right flank. Its thought that Pulleine fought much of the battle under the assumption that the Zulu force only numbered up to around 7,000. Had he known at the start that there were 24,000 there he likely would have told Durnford to stuff his request to support him (Durnford chose to go off on the attack and pressured Pulleine into supporting him) and would have drawn in his forces to just in front of the tents. Remember, before Durnford arrived there was a false alarm that morning and Pulleine ordered the 24th Foot to 'stand to' just in front of the tents. There they stood for two hours until Durnford arrived and changed the situation. During that morning false alarm, Pulleine stuck to his orders from Chelmsford to keep the forces drawn in, act only on the defensive and protect the camp. It was Durnford who turned defence into offence. If Durnford had just remained in the camp then with a thousand rifles defending just in front of the tents the Zulus probably would not have prevailed. There would have been no way to out flank the defenders and they would have had close access to the ammo wagons. Durnford was largely the reason for the disaster.

[@flyinghigh2724]

​@@lyndoncmp5751we won the war and emphatically in the end. That's all what matters,always going to lose battles in ANY war

[@ak9989]

I have 6 Zulu war medals to British soldiers including one from Isandlwana. Plus 3 1879 Assegai spears, 2 knoberries. Plus an original 1870s army pith helmet. And a huge original Zulu movie poster😮

[@Achilles22]

And??

[@ak9989]

@@Achilles22 and you don't have jack sh**! 🤣😂 Oh plus 5 german decal helmets and at least 250k in other militaria! jealous I bet LMAO

[@ak9989]

its nice to be able to afford nice stuff while you live in an apartment wiith mommy@@Achilles22

[@Achilles22]

@@ak9989 mental health issues??

[@mrnobody5381]

Back in the the 30s, a museum near my grandfathers house went out of business. My grandfather was coming home from school and came across all these artifacts being thrown out in a big pile. Well, he grabbed a lot and came back for more. One of the items is a Zulu spear, a real one, with damage from fighting. It is notched 4 times in the handle. It’s pretty cool to play with.

[@cynthiaalver]

I found myself listening to the music rather than paying attention to the orator. Please turn down the volume on the background music, although I really enjoyed it, I found it difficult to concentrate on the video.

[@khyronkravshera7774]

The Zulu should have shadowed the British, drawing them deeper into Zulu territory. They should have avoided direct contact with the British and waited for a opportunity to launch a night attack.

[@pim1234]

I would love to have see a vid of the guy in the chair to tell the whole story of the Zulu wars !

[@stewiegriffin6503]

Heroic British soldiers retreating, and Zulus chasing them in panic.

[@bouffon1]

They gave medals to distract from the defeat (F*** up) at Isandlwana. It was a heroic stand at Rourke's drift but other actions, even more heroic, received little attention.

[@DrCruel]

They really couldn't give medals to anyone else. The others were cut to bits.

[@VikingTeddy]

The Martini-Henry didn't replace the Brown Bess. There were several rifles in between, mostly Enfields. The Enfield was replaced with Snider-Enfield rifles, and only aftsr them did the Martini-Henru appear. Tiny detail, but important. If something so easy to vdrifyuis wrong, it makes you wonder what else might be wrong :/

[@adamadkins9210]

The over loud music kills this video. There was no reason to add it, and it's nearly impossible to hear the narrator. Thumbs down.

[@wpankey57]

I found the musical soundtrack too distracting. I had to ace this. BTW: I think that Zulu dude was speaking in tongues.

[@dirkbogarde44]

The average height of a soldier was 5ft 3.

[@iainsanders4775]

That's why they all wore high pith helmets.

[@lee11991964]

Amazing what one hundred years decent food and healthcare does to a population👍🏻

[@horse.395]

The English had also left their gatling gun behind.That might have changed thing slightly.

[@snowflakemelter1172]

To be fair these battles were small detachments with no support in foreign lands versus massively overwhelming odds , they were not armt against army set peice battles like Waterloo.

[@iainsanders4775]

& Chelmsord was no Wellington.

[@notmaireelneim]

Yeah. Credit where credit is due. The Zulus had a good team in '79, winning a few early matches against the Lions. But the Brits came back later in the season, as expected. The Zulus got relegated to the minor African League, while the Brits ended up winning against the Boers and moving on to the European Cup. After being forced into extra time, they pulled off another stunning victory against Germany, Austria-Hungary and the Turks. The Germans had another go in the Euro Cup in '39, but failed again, mainly because the Brits pulled in their Russian and American imports. Germany had a few players from the Italian and Japanese leagues, but after a promising first half, these players were found wanting n the final quarter. In more recent times, the Brits have moved into cricket, football, finance and tourism, with only the odd 'friendly' match in places like Suez, Malaya and Argentina, and a couple of exhibition matches in Iraq and Afghanistan.

[@TERENCEYOUNG-t9m]

Colonel Wood, became Field Marshall Sir Henry Evelyn Wood, who is buried in the Military Cemetary at Aldershot, with 2 other Rorke's Drift soldiers. A' Corporal D. Sheehan enlisted under the name of James Graham. Perthshire Light Infantry. B. Sergeant Edward Wilson. he was later to be in the 2nd Battalion South Wales Borders.

[@ohoto3896]

old docs yess

[@SkyFly19853]

The Zulu 1969 if I remember...

[@lee11991964]

Could have been so much better if that annoying background music was killed when the narrator was talking. Sadly I couldn’t last much more than ten minutes as I couldn’t hear what was being said.

[@pim1234]

O dear, the fuzzy wuzzy's...they don't like it up 'em you know !

[@mikenorton3294]

It's very easy with hindsight to criticize what happened in those days with the unique circumstances. Report the facts of the time. Not the woke present variation

[@Silvanafromchester]

Music's too damned loud ....what is the point of this please ? You lost me after 5 minutes.

[@cesarmarti6041]

What sucks is my blood lies on both lines.Zulu and British were only following the kings.

[@mick7even]

Queen Victoria made things problematic

[@iainsanders4775]

Zulus did NOT use bows & arrows. Not worth watching!

[@davidland1212]

How I wish this production company would stop using obstructive background music. It is invariably of no assistance to the context being portrayed, for example redcoats making a desperate fighting retreat to the tweety-tweeting of piece of classical music. Added to this the music often drowns out the narrative we are all straining to hear. 😡🤬😡🤬😡🤬

[@Bserra860]

Ya are proud of this?

[@robertguildford]

It was over in 6mths, do me a favour.

[@billballbuster7186]

So were is the evidence for your spectacular headline? Sure the Zulu achieved a quick victory at Isandlwana, and a defeat at Rorke's Drift. It is the descriptions that cause the issues. The battle of Isandlwana was fought between 25,000 Zulu and 1,300 British soldiers guarding Chelmsford's baggage train. This was never a disaster, Chelmsford went on to defeat the 35,000+ Zulu army in just 6 months. In perspective it took 77 years to subdue the Ashanti.

[@mohammedsaysrashid3587]

New weapons strength and modern tactical mobility of Army units confronted Craziness enthusiasm primitive militia forces resulted the Great Britain 🇬🇧 defeated Zulu tribe's warriors ... British imperial ambitions covered & evaporated all provocations....Britain said to Zulu tribe's...I have the power to capitulate you easy. For that I never give up

[@HandyMan657]

Interesting choice of music. This was a really messed up time in history and you're playing fun tunes. Try again

[@richardwarner3705]

I don't do subtitles, sorry bye👋

[@JosephDowling-i9b]

Turn DOWN the DAMNABLE racket someone thinks to be music.

[@kennieboonzaier8219]

The last time the Brittish wore the redcoats to battle was against the boere on 27 th of february 1881 in the battle of majuba where they suffered one of their most humiliating defeats.

[@thereisnospoon277]

Who? The British or the Boers? Your statement did not make that last part clear.

[@Hilts931]

@@thereisnospoon277the subject of his statement is the British, so it does make sense

[@shyloswick]

I bet ya all the money in the world it was all over diamond's but they will never admit that because it would open a big can of worms that they couldn't lie out of

[@mencken8]

Oh, the history books have all sorts of lost battles in them. But when it came to the colonial wars, there was no doubt about the ultimate result. I think the original of this was in French: “For in the end It matters not For we have the Maxim gun And they have not.”

[@jasoncollins1702]

What a vile presentation.

[@hunterluxton5976]

Makes you proud to be British.

[@Chosen_Ash]

So can germans be proud of the nazis?

[@JohanKilian-fv8vp]

Stop your properganda over Shouth African

[@mick7even]

Creepy is the Zulu actor….

[@lonnietoth5765]

You can also thank the British for the first Concentration camps in the Boarer War in 1891 . 22,000 Belgium women and children were starved to death . " Rule Britannia , Britannia Rules the Graves " ?

[@williamwallace3257]

Wrong! You clearly don't know anything about the Boer Wars! The first was in 1881, the second in 1899 not in 1891! Also, the British did not create concentration camps! They were first used by the Spanish during the Spanish cuban War of 1896!

[@albinasmith9110]

Zulu " warriors" ate each other....

[@shawnwhitehead3062]

Where's Junior State intervenes like the British did against us what if we gave Africans arms