'Butchering the Brutes All Over the Place': Total War and Massacre in Zululand, 1879.pdf - 2 views
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lu king. The article concludes that these events resulted not from the actions of individuals but rather from the logic of European imperialism faced with the possibility of defeat by a black Afri
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zenethian on 21 Apr 23European imperialism was the ultimate cause of the Zulu-war in 1879.
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the Zulu 'capital' of Ulundi. The
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ing acts of barbarism by the British.2 The initial
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the war came to be celebrated in Britain as an example of heroic warfare between well-matched warriors, a conflict given added excitement by the contrast between the (noble) savagery of the Zulus and the civilized discipline of the British. In popular histories, as well as in real-life adventure books for boys and in novels of imperial adventure, the war
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gh, in recent years, academic historians, many of them based at the University of Natal and writing in the Journal of Natal and Zulu History, have begun a critical reappraisal of the historical process of which the war was
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vast audience through the films Zulu and Zulu
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This perspective on events has, until recently, formed the basis of most interpretations of the war even in books which criticize the British commanders, the justice of the invasion or aspects of
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itish troops; of the massacres of wounded Zulus after the British victories at Rorke's Drift, Khambula, Gingin dlovu and Ulundi; and of the systematic burning of kraals and confis cation of cattle, the economic basis o
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emerged necessarily from the pathology of empire when confronted with the possibility of def
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The British trough their worry of possible defeat by a native people worried them ,and caused them to become inhuman and merciless.
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estroy their gardens'.26 The burning of kraals was matched by the systematic seizure of large numbers of Zulu
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Before the war started Sir Bartle Frere, the high-commissioner, insisted to the Zulus that the war was to be fought against their tyrant
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'.8 In this spirit Lord Chelmsford laid down guidelines for the conduct of the war, emphasizing to native regiments in particular that 'no prisoners, women or children were to be harmed in any way' and there i
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The events at the start of the war dramatically altered British percep tions and policies. The British launched their invasion on 11 January 1879. Within two weeks a British column was annihilated at the battle of Isandlwana. Over 850 white and several hundred black soldiers were killed and most of the dead were ritually cut open, the Zulu custom in war: Zulus did not take prison
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killing and, as the British saw it, mutilation of the dead, created a mood of revenge whi
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Zulus were represented as barely human.1 In opposition to this v
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ts. Beyond this, Ashe assured his readers that the British army respected the dwellings of the Zulu people and insisted that, with regard 'to the farming and domestic kraals, it may without fear of contradiction be asserted, after minute and careful enquiries, that no single instance can be adduced in which her Majesty's troops ever attacked or molested such unless first attacked and
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Thus, Norris-Newman wrote that 'the monotony of camp life was broken and varied by cavalry expeditions, in one of which ... under Major Barrow and Lord Gifford, the large military Kraal of Empang weni one of Cetshwayo's chief places, about fifteen miles away, was effectually destroyed, as well as all the kraals f
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British waited for reinforcements to arrive, before they could launch a second invasion, the realization that the Zulus could not easily be tamed by a 'military promenade' rapidly produced alternative strategic proposals.
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ore anxious will they be to see it brought to an end.'32 The result of this systematic strategy of the burning of homes, the seizure of cattle in areas which the Zulus had not evacuated and of the destruction of the economic foundations of Zululand was to reduce society to the brink of starvation in many areas, a feature recorded in various accounts of the aftermath o
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d said, "The English soldiers have eaten us up. I have lost my cattle, I have no mealies, I and my people are starving.
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II It was a strategy increasingly backed up as the war progressed by the slaughter of those trying to surrender and of the wounded. T
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British heroic represen
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Even after this there was still heroic representations of Britain. INCREDIBLE!
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were the actions of black levies but letters written at the time give a different impression: 'We have much to avenge and please God we will do it. I pity the Zulus that fall into our hands. You would feel as I do if you had seen the awful scenes I did on the night of 22nd
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Hamilton-Browne's hearty tone and his use of the language of the grouse moor belies even his perfunctory regrets over the killing of the wounded. While it is true that Hamilton-Browne does not mention the involvement of any imperial officers in the sla
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ver, that such defences are misconceived in the context of many incidents in 1879. Captain Hallam Parr, who was on Lord Chelmsford's staff, vehemently denied that British officers could be involved in su
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Hallam Parr was wrong about the aftermath of Rorke's Drift; but the behaviour of some British soldiers after that incident was to seem restrained compared to the massacres carried out later in
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the British killed about 800 of t
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en Zulu Army was chased like a floc
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The comparison, highlights my point that the Zulus were not treated as human. They only wanted to exploit Africa and its resources.
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