The Anatomy of the Zulu Army: From Shaka to Cetshwayo, 1818-1879

In January 1879 the forces of the independent Zulu kingdom inflicted a devastating defeat on the invading British army at Isandlwana. Yet the Zulu army was not a regular professional one like its British counterpart; it was in fact the manpower of the Zulu state, mobilised temporarily in the military service of the king. The Anatomy of the Zulu Army describes how this army functioned, and examines its role in the broader context of Zulu culture and custom.
After surveying the Zulu army from its creation during the wars of Shaka in the early nineteenth century onwards, Ian Knight focuses in detail on the structure and condition of the Zulu army on the eve of war in 1879. Through the means of age-regiments (the amabutho), Zulu men were called up regularly to serve the king, for non-military purposes as well as to fight his wars. Ian Knight explains how these men were enlisted, trained and housed, what they wore, what weapons they carried, their ornate ceremonial costumes, what duties they performed, and what rewards they expected. He considers how the army was viewed by its colonial neighbours, and how misconceptions contributed to the confrontation with the British. And, most importantly, he reveals how the Zulu army functioned in wartime, from complex preparatory rituals to battlefield tactics, and the shock of battle itself.