The Rise and Fall of A Once Great Nation

The Rise and Fall of A Once Great Nation

zulu warrior Ask most people what they consider the greatest war in history. Many will say the Civil War, Vietnam War, Revolutionary War, but to me the greatest war in history would have to be when the King of England sent his well armed army of over 2500 troops equipped with cannons and muskets to land on the shores of what is now KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. To slow the might of an army that either assimilated or destroyed all in it's path. There on those shores they were overtaken by over 20,000 Soldiers from the Shaka Zulu empire. This is but one of many great victories of the large and powerful Zulu empire. The Great Zulu Empire was once not much more than a small clan or tribe that like most other clans feared war from neighboring clans. Before they joined with the neighboring Natal Nguni under their leader Shaka in the early 19th century to form the Great Zulu Empire, the Zulu were only one of many Nguni clans; Shaka gave the clan name to the new nation. By the early 19^th Century under the reign Emperor Shaka, the Zulu clan had expanded to become a great nation and the most powerful and feared fighting force in all of South Africa. The story of Shaka Zulu is one of almost mythical proportions. Shaka was Zulu chief from 1818 – 1828. Originally Shaka was born the illegitimate son of the Zulu chief Senzangakhona and the young girl Nandi, a member of the Langeni clan..

Shaka along with his mother (Nandi), his sister, and his Grandmother became outcasts left to perish in the desert, would later rise and change the face of southern Africa by setting in motion the ‘mfecane’ and uniting the Zulu clans. As a young man, Shaka joined the army of Dingiswayo and soon became its highest commander. With the support of Dingiswayo he gained supremacy over the Zulu clan, enforcing his claim against his opponents with the most ferocious brutality. Under Shaka the Zulu territory expanded phenomenally. All the clans had to subject themselves to the one leader. At the beginning of the 19th century, Shaka had created the most powerful kingdom in the whole of southern Africa. Shaka changed the face of warfare in the region early in his adulthood. Realizing that the throwing spears in use by the young regiments of the time period were not suitable for his purpose, Shaka visited the greatest of the Mthethwa iron-smiths. A broad-bladed assegai was carefully crafted for the warrior, with a blade more than thirty centimetres long and a shaft no more than fifty. It was an instrument for execution unequalled in the armies of the time.

With an upwards thrust, its point could knife through the human body and exit from the other side. Then with a rip and a pull, it was out again, to the sound of ikhlwa! And so he named it, the ikhlwa. The lower end had a broad butt so that, when the shaft was slippery with blood, it did not slide out of the hand.

At this time Dingiswayo began sending military expeditions to the rugged country to the west of the coastal lowlands where the Mthethwa lived. The Mthethwa chief opened these campaigns with a venture against the Buthelezi under Pungashe. On the day of battle, the two armies were drawn up facing each other. The Buthelezi were still accustomed to ritual display before any clash, with noted warriors running forward to do a war dance. As a man raced out and began to throw insults, Shaka sprinted straight at him. With a mighty smashing action of his shield followed by a ripping underarm thrust, he left the man sobbing in the dirt, and then came the triumphant cry: "Ngadhla! I have eaten!" Alone, he plunged forward to attack the startled line of warriors, and then, with a roar the Mthethwa army followed suite. The Buthelezi armies' defense crumpled into a rout. Most of the warriors who could do so, fled. They surrendered as soon as they were capable, and threw themselves on the mercy of the Mthethwa. It was thru these military tactics that the birth of the Zulu nation was born. After many victories to his credit his became one of the most feared names of the day. With the death of his father Shaka return to the Zulu territory to over throw the throne. With his mighty army in place who could oppose him. Shaka stood to face one his half brothers who was at this time the chief and ask does he submit to Shaka might. When his brother surrendered Shaka executed him for being weak and not worthy to bare the Zulu name.

The mfecane saw a period of warfare and forced migrations. Zulu warriors, led by Shaka conquered and subjugated those in their path and forced rival tribes to migrate. Within a year Shaka quadrupled his subjects and had a growing, well organised fighting force. Shaka Zulu’s domain extended over what is now the South African province of Natal. As other tribes were displaced they formed new kingdoms including the Basotho nation and Gaza Empire. New kingdoms stretched from Cape Province to Tanzania. With the passing of his mother, Shaka used his power even more destructively. He chased his army from one battle to the next, and the cruelties against his enemies became more outrageous. Eventually Shaka was assassinated by his half-brother Dingane in 1828.

For southern Africa an irreversible process of restructuring came to an end with Shaka's death. Thousands of people had become refugees, fights between settlers and refugees broke out everywhere, and all these disturbances led to regroupings. At the end of this period, the small and widespread chief-led clans had disappeared and were replaced by bigger communities which had come together merely for reasons of safety and self-defence. At the time of his demise Shaka was 41 years old. Shaka Zulu was a fierce king who is thought to have contributed to the deaths of over a million people. By many accounts Shaka is still today considered to be a Military tactical genius whose practices are to an extent still in play today.

Story By Jamnblood

See a complete time line below.

visit www.kingshaka.co.za/shaka/ for a complete look at the life and times of Emperor Shaka.

Time Line

1652 -- Riebeeck readies himself to sail for the Cape , South Africa, to establish a victualing station there. He worked for the United East India Company (VOC in Dutch)

1660 -- trees planted by Jan van Riebeeck, leader of the first Dutch settlers to land at the Cape of Good Hope. Van Riebeeck sent for slaves, from other parts of the Dutch seaborne empire (from other parts of Africa, Indonesia, Malaya, Indo-China, Ceylon, India, Madagascar, and Mozambique), and for the next 182 years South Africa is a slave state.

1795 -- British annexation of South Africa. Britain decides to occupy the Cape to protect this vital sea link. Afrikaners (the Dutch settlers) are suddenly confronted on their arcadian frontier by the world's most modern society.

1803 -- British interlude ended with the Peace of Amiens.

1806 -- British back as the struggle with France intensifies.

1815 -- Freek Bezuidenhout refuses to heed the summon from the Circuit Court; British come to arrest him and he is killed; Boer community outraged and plot revenge.

Before they joined with the neighboring Natal Nguni (see Nguni) under their leader Shaka in the early 19th century to form a Zulu empire, the Zulu were only one of many Nguni clans; Shaka gave the clan name to the new nation.

1816 -- Shaka Zulu (1785-1828) on his way to the White Umfolozi River to take over the chieftainship of the small Zulu clan on the outer fringes of the Mtetwa paramountcy.

1817 -- in the Zulu territories Shaka meets with the Mtetwa chief, Dingiswayo, and they decide to engage in a major expedition that would take over much of Southeast Africa.

1820 -- Shaka wins and commands most of southeast Africa and Natal.

1824 -- Europeans visit Shaka. They mend Shaka's stab wound from an enemy clan. Shaka held these Europeans in high regard. He signs over land to them not knowing he is giving the land away. The whites aid Shaka in his wars to conquer more of South Africa. When he learns that his mother is dying, he executes several men, but in the resulting chaos over 7,000 people die. Shaka seems increasingly to lose touch with reality and practically orders his clan to death by starvation in reverence to his mother. This spells the beginning of the end for Shaka as he and his army go downhill.

1828, September 22 -- Shaka is murdered, his half brothers repeatedly stabbing him to death. They take the body, throw it in an empty grain pot, and then fill it with stones.