Great Zulu Commanders

Great Zulu Commanders looks beyond this misleading image to explore the careers of a number of the men who actually led the Zulu forces into battle. It covers a range of Zulu military leaders including members of the Royal House, like Shaka himself, whose conquests made the Zulu kingdom a mighty power in southern Africa; King Cetshwayo, who commanded at the Battle of 'Ndondakusuka in 1856 and guided the anti-British strategy in 1879; Cetshwayo's son, Dinuzulu, the last Zulu king to lead his men into battle in person; men of more humble origin, like Chief Bambatha, who led the last resistance to colonial rule in 1906; Prince Dabulamanzi, whose role as the Zulu commander at Rorke's Drift ensured him a lasting reputation among his enemies; Mbilini waMswati, not a Zulu at all but a Swazi, who nevertheless proved the most daring guerrilla fighter to emerge from the war against the British; and Zibhebhu kaMaphitha, arguably the most dynamic Zulu leader in 1879, who turned against the Royal House after the Anglo-Zulu War and defeated the King's armies in a series of brilliant and bitter battles in the 1880s.