NZ Wars: Stories of Tauranga Moana | The Battle of Pukehinahina | RNZ

Find the documentary @ www.rnz.co.nz/...
or on KZbin here: • NZ Wars: Stories of Ta...
The Battle of Pukehinahina, as recreated in the documentary.
Made with the support of NZ On Air.

[@originalclaymoreboy728]

As a kuki the Maori are the true warriors of the pacific when it came to warfare. I know samoa and tahiti went to war with Europe but nothing compared to the level of scale the maori had to endure. Reinforcements kept coming in when the maori were becoming more of a threat. One of the only nations to give hell to the Europeans and almost overcoming them in war. Everyone likes to say tonga or samoa or even fijia are the real warriors but are they really is the question.

[@saakauola3399]

Definitely Māori 100% they were just on another level

[@malietoasamoa1301]

As a Samoan and Maori who knows Polynesian history you are absolutely correct yes Samoa had battles here and there from 1787-1899 with Europeans/Americans but it's nothing compared to the maori struggle maoris actually waged full on wars with the British maori lands were actually invaded unlike in Samoa where the Europeans and Americans got involved in the fighting sometimes however most of the fighting were between Samoans themselves the palagis/pakehas exploited the tribal rivalries at the time to make it easier to understand imagine if there were a even amount of kupapa maori and freedom fighter maoris and most of the fighting were between the maori while the British only joined in when the kupapa maori started losing to many battles and then by the time both sides were weak from fighting eachother the whites sweeped in and took everything (remember this did not happen just using it as an example) but this exanple is pretty much what happend in Samoa which is why many Samoans choose to forget and are ashamed of this period The tahitians did however fight against the french in a full on war however tahitian tactics were very crude leading to heavy tahitian losses however tahiti still tried there best. The Tongans however were just straight traitors to Polynesia (Sorry tongans no offence its just shitty parts of history) yes there is one time the tongans fought the white man when they attacked the British ship the port au prince in 1809 but that was about it there are even reports of British warships being welcomed and given supplies like food and fresh water by the tongans in the mid 1800s those very same warships and soldiers were then sent to fight the maori during the land wars especially when the Imperial troops were heavily involved aswell as rebel Samoans who faced daily Bombardments by those very same warships even the Germens who battled the Samoans in 1888 were resupplied in tonga long story short they made agreements alliances and accepted alot of the white man's rules integrating them into tongan culture they pretty much colonized themselves in a way But back to maori yes 100% out of all Polynesians the maori fought the hardest unlike other Polynesians the maori faced full on invasions and actually held the line longer then the people at the time expected they used tactics that truly gave the British a shock and as you probably know maoris upgraded trench warfare in such a way that I personally believe the British built-up some type of respect for them even though the maori were outnumbered and out gunned they fought long and hard surprising the British with different tactics at every turn truly a monument for indigenous people around the world during the colonial era however I wouldn't say they almost overcome the British don't get me wrong the maori fought hard but at the end of the day there were no match for the British power the white men during that time period are not like the ones today like it or not they were the greatest warriors in the world during that time period they were the number 1 super power at the time for a reason but please don't take it the wrong way I just like history but you can't deny the British might during this dark time in world history maori were not the only ones who were eventually defeated hundreds of races and cultures fell to British guns its the sad reality Lest we forgot the fallen of Polynesia

[@saakauola3399]

@@malietoasamoa1301 10000% Tonga colonised themselves! I’m a. Tongan and I agree with you 😂

[@ibrahem330]

As an Indian that has nothing to gain in this thing in the Pacific I will say Tonga is the only country that was never colonized. Been studying the history of the Pacific and they truly did create an empire that spanned the Pacific and was never colonized by the Europeans

[@malietoasamoa1301]

@ibrahem330 they didn't get colonized but they were very heavily included by the British but yes the Tui Tonga empire did rule parts of Polynesia

[@jack6539]

Oh the lessons the british should have learned 60 years before world war one. Using long rifles for hand to hand combat which were better suited to defending against cavalry. Charging an open field towards an entrenched enemy holding the high ground. Honestly, by that point, i think the inbreeding of the upper classes of europe was already on full dusplay. All merit to the Maori for uniting, observing, learning and adapting.

[@lemmdus2119]

I agree. In WWI when the Americans arrived Gen Pershing said “We are not here to fight trenches!”

[@vinz4066]

​@@lemmdus2119 The Americans repeated the mistakes of 1914 although they were warned Not to.

[@vinz4066]

WW1 was unpredictable.

[@Briselance]

Pouring rain, muddy trenches, artillery. Yep. Feels a bit like the 1st WW.

[@bumpermanthesecond615]

British army often had problems when it comes to dealing with irregular tactics ever since the french indian war

[@vinz4066]

No iregular tactics are beeing used in this Video.

[@krazyeast9471]

Maori tactics

[@plussum3255]

This is pretty cool

[@mauriceupton1474]

The Pakeha were good fighters.

[@SamO-ik2cm]

The pakeha have a warrior tradition dating back many thousands of years. The Maori resisted surprisingly well considering.

[@youranimeeditor7812]

In some cases. And in others no. Here their pride brought them to defeat.

[@SwiftzGaming]

Show me the part where they then ate the soldiers!!! Or show me when they cannibalised their own people especially in the Cook Islands. Still great warriors and big respect but history is history and my Māori friends never hide the fact they cannablised their opponents whether it was other tribes or the British. They infact say it with heart, as that was their way of life. Great job and big respect but history should show how a true battle unfolded, I’m not trying to throw dirt on the warriors but I would love to see the real history, and the real struggle, as what I mentioned before had a significant impact on the British and Europeans as the thought of a being killed and eaten instilled more fear then death on its own. Not saying it’s a bad thing as whom am I to judge but damn you have some hearty warriors my bros!!!!

[@ora-in-aotearoa9747]

That's where history has twisted and folded in so many ways, maori were never cannibals, that story was so taken out of context to sway history it was to convince history maori were, when in fact what they were twisting was the ritual of taking one's mana/strength from decapitation of another's head, in particular of a highnranking warrior. Maori were never cannibals there was never a need to as Aotearoa was the Pataka of the world, ( Garden of eden) plentiful of foods both on land and in the ocean. Maori were the food suppliers and resources of the world, TRADING?? Navigating the high seas trading food supplies to sth America, Asia, Australia, Peru, etc to name a few. This is the true history of maori

[@malietoasamoa1301]

I mean, yeah, there are cases of maori eating British troops and civilians, but for this battle, the maori did not eat the British. In fact, they took care of the wounded pretty well, and a lot of the maori during the Tauranga war were Christians

[@legionariodemilbatallas_57-62]

¡Qué lástima que no las presenten en español latino cuando somos casi 500 millones de hispanoparlantes!

[@paulgough48]

Load of bollocks

[@Dark-Star63A]

You seem slightly triggered Paul? Why?

[@bumpermanthesecond615]

​@@Dark-Star63A look at "bollocks" he's british

[@thehappy_spearman1389]

I dunno why Paul is upset, Britain may lose a battle or two but it generally won out in the end in these colonial conflicts, Britain's empire didn't just have an effective military and navy but was extremely successful in diplomacy and trade, often just buying out tribes and treaties.

[@israeliairstrikeonyourhous2068]

Your country is trash

[@Dark-Star63A]

@@thehappy_spearman1389 interesting take... Considering it basically took 30 years for the might of the "Empire" to "pacify" a people that used as I commonly see fellow Europeans phrasing "sticks and stones" and also making the British look like complete fools the entire time, and also as you elude to underhanded tactics through "diplomacy" and there still hasn't been an official Peace Treaty signed between the Māori or British Empire that officially marked the end of the War.... I really don't think thats the "flex" that you think it is... Cool story though.