Zulu War

By the 1870s the Zulu kingdom, forged earlier in the century under Shaka and ruled by King Cetshwayo, was a powerful and militarized state in southeastern Africa. British colonial authorities in Natal, seeking to confederate the region under British control, regarded the independent Zulu army as an obstacle and issued an ultimatum the Zulu could not accept.

War broke out in 1879. On 22 January 1879 the Zulu won a stunning victory at the Battle of Isandlwana, annihilating a large British column, though British defenders famously held out the same day at Rorke's Drift. The defeat shocked Britain and prompted a renewed invasion with strong reinforcements.

The decisive engagement came at the Battle of Ulundi on 4 July 1879, where British firepower broke the Zulu army and the royal capital was burned. Cetshwayo was captured and exiled, and the British dismantled the kingdom, dividing it among rival chiefs. The Anglo-Zulu War ended Zulu independence and opened the way for the territory's eventual absorption into British South Africa.