IntroductionOn the battlefield of Ulundi stands a domed monument, and let into the wall of the south passage is asimple marble plaque bearing the inscription 'In Memory of the Brave Warriors who fellhere in 1879 in Defence of the Old Zulu Order'As far as can be ascertained this is the one and only war memorial commemorating the Zulu dead. Theerection of memorials with inscriptions is foreign to the Zulus, but credit must be given to the originators of thismemorial tablet for having considered the fact that the Zulus also had something to fight for. White soldiersoften fight and die for some well expressed ideal: liberty, 'the flag'; home and hearth; God, king or queen,and country.The proverbial Spartan discipline owed its existence to strict adherence to stern rules and harsh laws. AtThermopylae a tablet commemorates, in the words of Herodotus, the heroic stand to the last man which KingLeonidas and his Spartans made in 480 BC, as follows:'Go tell the Spartans, thou that passeth by,That here, obedient to their laws, we lie.'This is the sort of language the Zulus would readily have understood. Through generations they had beentaught, on the pain of death, to obey the laws of their kings, and when this law demanded that they shoulddie, they too obeyed.The tablet on the wall of the Ulundi memorial salutes their memory for having given their lives 'in defence ofthe old Zulu order'.Few persons stop to reflect on the old Zulu order; for a century has passed and a new order is still in themaking. Barely a thousand yards from the Ulundi monument Chief Gatsha Buthelezi sits in his office asChief Executive Officer of the KwaZulu Government. His great-grandfather, Mnyamana, was Cetshwayo's PrimeMinister and Army Commander at the battles of Isandlwana and Khambula. Chief Gatsha once statedthat 'another of my hopes for my people is the return of Zulu pride - pride in what they were, are and can be.Somehow, without the intention to do so, a feeling has been inculcated that we should be ashamed ofeverything that constitutes our past.'To many people the old Zulu kingdom means just bloodshed, but it had other positive aspects in the sensethat our political and social system was based on it. With the overthrow of the Zulu kingdom came the shatteringof much of the Zulu national consciousness. We can get back this national consciousness, step by step, in the bestpossible way, if our people have the right once more to make decisions about their own future.'The Old TraditionTribal Warriors. Towards the end of the 18th Century a large number of Nguni tribes were scattered over thelength and breadth of Natal and Zululand. The Nguni organisation provided for the grouping of boys intoage-sets or circumcision-guilds on reaching the age of puberty, when a collective ceremony would be held.Each age group (iNtanga), consisting of about fifty boys, was placed in the charge of an older boy who wouldremain their leader throughout their military career. As a result of military exigencies and at the instance of theMthethwa chief Dingiswayo the practice of circumcision was beginning to fall into disuse in some tribes.The armed force of a tribe consisted of all able-bodied men and represented a combination of allestablished age groups. There was no formal organization or training, experience in handling theirweapons being gained through games of skill, the hunt, and actual fighting. Their outdoor existence, theirentire boyhood having been spent on the veldt tending cattle, turned them into the robust and vigoroustribesmen that they were.The Weapons. These consisted of a bundle of assegais with long slender shafts which were used, like javelins,for throwing. In addition a stick or knob-kerrie was carried. An oval oxhide shield was unsed for protectivepurposes only and there was no uniformity as regards size or colours of shields.Traditional Practices. Originally, the only idea which the tribesmen had of warfare was a desultory kind ofskirmishing, in which each man fought independently, and did not reckon on receiving any support from hiscomrades, each of whom was engaged in fighting on his own account. In fact, war was little more than asuccession of gladiatorial duels, and, if a warrior succeeded in killing the particular enemy to whom hewas opposed, he immediately sought another.(19) But the idea of large bodies of men acting in concert, andbeing directed by one mind was one that had not occurred to them.In a paper prepared by Theophilus Shepstone he states that prior to 1812 'a quarrel was settled by aperiodical fight, but those fights were then by no means such serious matters as they afterwards became. Inthose days armies never slept in the open, i.e., away from their homes. The day was fixed beforehand, themen of the rival tribes met in battle on that day, and the result of the single encounter decided the quarrel. Theydid not fight to shed blood, or burn houses, or capture cattle, or destroy each other, but to settle a quarrel.'(1)Shepstone has specifically mentioned the year 1812 because in that year the spark that had been struck inthe heart of Zululand some six years earlier had singed its first victim and from then onwards was to grow intoan all-consuming flame.In about 1806 Godongwane, the exiled son of the Mthethwa chief Jobe, returned to his homelandmounted on a horse, an animal unknown to the Zulus of that day. Old King Jobe had died and a younger son hadsucceeded him. Mystery shrouds the years of Godongwane's absence. It has been suggested that hemust have reached the Cape Colony where he must have had contact with the colonists, allowing him toobserve how troops were trained and handled as compact bodies of men, under the command ofspecially appointed officers. MacKeurtan,(20) however, believes that, more likely, he observed a troop ofHottentots under Lieut Donovan which had accompanied Dr Cowan, who was murdered by ChiefPhakathwayo and whose horse and gun Dingiswayo subsequently acquired. He had no sooner ousted hisyounger brother from the chieftainship and ascended his father's throne under the new name of 'Dingiswayo'- the Wanderer, than he set to work to organize the fighting men of his tribe in accordance with these new,albeit somewhat uncertain, ideas. He formed all the young men into regiments, each with its own name, bygrouping together a number of age-grades (iziNtanga), with commanders in due subordination to each other.Their weapon was the long-handled spear (umKhonto), which was thrown at the enemy from a distance. Verysoon he had a formidable regular force at his command. With this force, actively supported and enhanced bysome innovations introduced by a tributary chief, Shaka, he attacked the Amangwane under Matiwaneabout 1812 and drove them across the Buffalo. The fugitives forced their way with rapine and bloodshedthrough the country of the Amahlubi who in turn became the first Natal tribe displaced and scattered bythe warlike wave from the north.Shaka's ReformsShaka the Man. Shaka Zulu had come into his own when, by force, he took over the chieftainship of theabakwaZulu, the small tribe over which his own father Senzangakhona had been the hereditary chief.Senzangakhona has disowned his first, but illegitimate son, Shaka, while he was still a child. After many years ofhardship and wandering Shaka and his mother found refuge with the emDletsheni clan which dwelt directlyunder the powerful Mthethwa and their aging king Jobe, who, in due course was succeeded by his long-lostson Dingiswayo (Godongwane), mentioned in the preceding paragraph.(3)Shaka was about twenty-three years old when Dingiswayo called up the emDlatsheni iNtanga, ofwhich he was part, and incorporated it in the iziCwe regiment. He served as a Mthethwa warrior for sixyears. Shaka readily absorbed Dingiswayo's new-fangled ideas, expanded them, and thought themout to a clearer conclusion than his mentor had done. He distinguished himself early in his career by hiscourage and self-command, being always the first in attack, and courting every danger. By the time he wasgiven a captaincy he had already woven a legendary allure around his name, to which were soon added praisenames such as Sigidi ((Conqueror of) thousands), Sidlodlo sekhandla (Pride (ornament) of the regiments),and 'Dingiswayo's hero'.(10)However, as a subordinate commander in the Mthethwa army the opportunities for expression of hisideas and development of his individuality were restricted. The means whereby these fetters could beremoved were placed at his disposal in the year 1816 when he succeeded to the chieftainship of his own tribethe abakwaZulu, descendants of Zulu Nkosinkulu. After in stalling himself in a new kraal which he namedkwaBulawayo, the place of killing (the first of three kraals by this name), Shaka called up the entire adultmale population of the abakwaZulu for military service. At a time when only about 1 500 people made up thisclan barely 400 answered his call.During the first year of his chieftainship, Shaka continued to acknowledge Dingiswayo as his overlord.The experience he had gained during his attendance on Dingiswayo, and his own ambitious views, could notfind scope for action as long as his protector was alive. At the first opportunity Shaka betrayed his benefactorinto the hands of his arch-enemy Zwide of the Ndwandwes, who kept the old king bound for threedays, and then put him to death. The Mtethwas were defeated and scattered.Shaka's WarriorsHuman Material. After the Mtethwa collapse, Shaka hastened to increase his strength by bringing as manytribes as possible under his control. Whereas Dingiswayo saw combat as an unfortunate but inevitablenecessity and would at once accept the submission of a vanquished adversary, Shaka preferred to smash a clanthe first time, incorporating the fragments into his own tribe in so far as they were assimilable, but otherwise hefought for total annihilation.(19) In due course he absorbed nearly sixty other tribes into his own, andextended his dominions nearly half across south-eastern Africa.In order to preserve his manpower Shaka followed up the practice introduced by Dingiswayo of deferringcircumcision till his conquests were completed, by imposing a complete and permanent ban on thispractice. In time to come the Zulus regarded themselves superior in this regard and despised the racesdistinguished by this custom.The Zulu of that time, and particularly the Zulu who had been moulded by men like Shaka and his successorDingane are vividly described by Adulphe Delegorgue,(1) the French naturalist who visited Natal in1838 and subsequent years, as being born haughty, and possessing a feeling of nationality in a high degree.Valiant and brave in war the Zulu would even be generous to his enemies if his system of warfare weredifferent. In peace he is ready to oblige, and very hospitable, though very distant with strangers. But, hisconfidence once gained, he is ready to place himself at the disposal of the traveller. The Zulu is easily excited toenthusiasm. One sees him bound like a lion under the influence of political passion; then blood may flow instreams. The brother spears his brother, in disregard of the cries of his relatives. He becomes fanatical,frantic: devoted to the service of his chief, and boasts of excesses committed for his sake. Besides this, disciplineis respected by him far more than by any European people. He walks in the direction of death withouthesitating or flinching, and this equally whether he is to inflict or undergo it, for, according to his ideas, nothingis more beautiful than to die for the service, or at the bidding of, his king.As we shall see when dealing with the question of discipline, not only was it considered 'beautiful' to diefor the king, but, more often than not, death without glory would be the alternative, and thus men wereprepared to die anyway. In order to keep his warriors in this state of disregard and recklessness Shaka frownedon the care, anxiety, and caution which the married state brought in its wake, and thus marriage without theking's special permission was simply prohibited. Permission would normally only be granted to aregiment as a whole, after it had served sufficiently long and satisfactorily. By that time the average age of theprospective grooms would be between thirty-five and forty years.The psychological effect was that war was regarded as the ideal state, the only state which gave a man what hewanted. Until he was old and wealthy, and naturally desired to keep his possessions in tranquillity, a time ofpeace was a time of trouble. He had no chance of distinguishing himself; and if he were a young bachelor,he could not hope to be promoted to the rank of 'man' and be allowed to marry, for many a long year. It is truethat in a time of war he might be killed; but that was a reflection which, in those days, did not in the leasttrouble him. For all he knew, he stood in just as great danger of his life in time of peace. He mightunintentionally offend the king; he might commit a breach of discipline which would be overlooked inwartime; he might be accused as a wizard, and tortured to death; the eye of the king might just happen to fall onhim when the king thought that his vultures overhead might be hungry and needed some food or that anantbear hole should be filled with some corpses.(34) Knowing therefore, that a violent death was quite likelyto befall him in peace as in war, and as in peace he had no chance of gratifying his ambitious feelings, theyoung Zulu was all for war.Training. Formal training of soldiers in any of the arts of war was not thought of until Shaka began tointroduce his reforms which will be explained later. The considerable skill which the Nguni tribes exhibited inhurling the assegai was attributable not to their bodily strength but to the constant habit of using the weapon.From infancy, through games of skill (stabbing of the insema)(33) and hunting, and, in later life, throughskirmishing, they became so accustomed to hurling their weapons that they always preferred those whichcould be thrown; but when Shaka introduced the short stabbing assegai and changed the traditional tactics hefound it necessary to introduce a measure of instruction and training, which, although not comparable to theorganised 'drill' in the European sense, sufficed to acquaint the soldiers with new methods and ideas. Thesimple movements they performed; forming circles of companies or regiments, or forming a line of march,came naturally; but the new battle order, the skirmishing and flanking movements, were explained,discussed, and practised until they became extremely adept, and the movements were performed with theutmost order and regularity, and, in subsequent contact with white adversaries, even under heavy fire.Shaka also gave attention to the training of the individual. A warrior had to be strong and agile;dancing, Zulu fashion, was thus part of the military syllabus. He had to be capable of enduring any amountof hardship. The cow-hide sandals, in normal use on account of the many thorns and stony terrain, wereregarded by Shaka as an encumbrance which impeded the speed and sure-footedness of his soldiers. Hisarmies had to learn to march barefoot and, to test whether the soles of their feet were sufficientlyhardened, they had to dance at times on ground covered with thorns.Another innovation was the development of individual leadership in the persons appointed tocommand regiments and their sub-units.The commander of each regiment and section of a regiment was supposed to be its embodiment, and onhim hung all the blame if it suffered a repulse. Shaka made no allowance whatever for superior numbers onthe part of the enemy, and all his warriors knew well that, whatever might be the force opposed to them, theyhad either to conquer or to die.They were taught to be utterly ruthless towards any opponent as well. Dingiswayo's practice of takingprisoners, but releasing them on ransom, did not fit into Shaka's philosophy. His soldiers fought to kill and toannihilate, not only armed enemies, but every one connected with them, including women and children.They learnt to kill on command anyone who had incurred the king's displeasure or anyone who wasconsidered to be no longer of any use to the Zulu cause. Thus periodically all infirm or aged persons would bedespatched as being so many extra mouths to be fed unnecessarily. These exterminations were carried outwithout flinching or hesitation, even though the victim was a parent, brother, sister, or child. To keep this spiritalive he even named one of his military kraals Gibixhegu (take out the old men (to be killed)).Discipline. One of the outstanding features of the Zulu military organization was the iron discipline whichprevailed and which became almost a way of life - or perhaps also of death! One of the basics of upbringingof a Zulu youngster, and a factor which developed his character and made him into a natural soldier, was hiscomplete submission to the authority of his elders.(31) When he was enrolled in his age-grade (iNtanga) hissection leader would take over. Eventually this absolute authority would be exercised by the king, either directlyor through his military commanders. To demur meant death - and in such instances usually death of aparticularly horrible kind.Thus it was also in war-time. There is little to suggest that the Zulus, as a nation, were any braver in fightingthan many other tribes. Individuals were undoubtedly brave and skilled fighting men; but it is doubtfulwhether there are any acts which bespeak immense devotion mingled with heroic virtue. They understoodhow to die admirably in battle, rather than to suffer the fate of an alleged coward; but no Zulu would devotehimself to death to save his captain. He appeared to know nothing of courage as the result of reflection andvirtue.Upon the return of his armies from battle the king would call his soldiers together and hold a review in thegreat enclosure of one of the garrison kraals if not at the principal royal kraal. First he called on thecommander-in-chief to report as a prelude to the meting out of award or punishment. If fortunate aregiment might be rewarded by the permission to marry and thereby to advance from being a 'boy', eventhough perhaps forty years of age, to the estate of a man with the right to wear the head-ring (isiCoco, izi-) of amarried man. Individual bravery or meritorious service was recognized by a special grant of cattle or thedecoration of a hero either with a wooden necklace carved vertebra-like from the wild willow, theuMyezane, by which name it is also known, or a shining iNgxotha. This latter decoration consisted of a heavy,broad brass armlet with fluted exterior, worn around the lower arm and bestowed as a royal honour only onthe greatest of captains.Next came the terrible scenes when the officers pointed out those who had disgraced themselves inaction, or had the misfortune of losing either shield or assegai. The unfortunate soldiers were instantlydragged out of the ranks and, at the king's nod, they were at once killed by impalement or the more mercifulway of being clubbed with a knob-kerrie, or by having their necks twisted and broken. It is easy to see how thiscustom of holding a review almost immediately after the battle must have added to the efficiency and disciplineof the armies.Strengthening the Army,(Doctoring). Like all primitive nations the Zulus were most susceptible to superstitionsand fear of the mysterious or unknown. Never afraid of the normal, they were completely cowed by theabnormal. It is true that Shaka, with greater prescience than that shared by his countrymen, had seen throughthe machinations of some of his witchdoctors (isAngoma, isAnusi) and had publicly exposed them;yet he believed like everybody else in the effect of rituals and 'medicines', and he was fully aware also that despitewhat little intrinsic potency they might have, they had an immensely powerful psychological effect on hiswarriors and were therefore of value in conditioning them for success and victory. The more powerful one'sown medicine was believed to be, the greater the confidence of defeating the enemy. This belief inprowess and invincibility through supernatural means and protection, coupled with their discipline and specialtactics, worked wonders when the Zulus met their enemies on what were otherwise about equal terms; butit had disastrous results when they charged opponents armed with firearms in the utter belief that theirproperly doctored shields were impenetrable to assegai - or bullet!Space does not permit the consideration in detail of the normal practices of 'doctoring'; but, basically, theycomprised three aspects: the 'doctoring' and protection of the individual, the 'doctoring' or strengthening of thearmy, and lastly, the cleansing ceremonies after the battle. No warrior would go to war unless he had firstvisited his home to solicit the protection of his ancestral spirits, to fortify himself with certain charms such as apiece of skin of a hedgehog, or the bulb of a certain kind of iris, and to refrain from eating certain foods whichwere believed to cause loss of courage, such as amaDumbe, the marrow of any animal, fish or birds.(16)The Zulu army, as such, never went to war without being specially strengthened by the doctors (iziNyanga)of the king, a process which took a few days, and which was begun as soon as all the warriors had arrived at theroyal kraal. The whole process was gone through to 'bring together the hearts of the people' and entailedsprinkling the troops with liquids containing substances having magical properties, the ritual of bare-handedkilling of a bull and disposal of the carcass in prescribed ways, and the cleansing of the individual warriors byinducing communal vomiting through the use of emetics and ablutions.It was considered essential that the liquid used for the sprinkling should contain material particles (inSila)connected with the person of the chief whose people were about to be attacked. Secret messengers wouldhave been sent out beforehand to obtain such substances, which could have been as powerful as someof the chiefs hair, parings of his nails, or his spittle scraped from the ground, or as innocuous as scrapingsfrom the floors of his huts or any utensils he may have used.But the most potent of all these medicines was human flesh, and in the war of 1879, for instance, a white manO.E. Neal, was killed by the Zulus, and parts of his body were used for 'doctoring' the army.(16)On return from battle, and especially after having killed in battle, it was equally important to return for thecleansing ceremonies without which the future health and happiness of the warriors would be doomed.Casualties. Among the iziNyanga (doctors) there was one class which specialized in the medicinal use of plantsand the treatment of sickness and wounds. In wartime these were directed to accompany the army as armydoctors and would deal with wounds and injuries as best as they could. These services were, as a rule, appliedonly to their own people because Shaka's ideology did not permit the taking of prisoners. A severely woundedenemy would thus be killed on the spot, and anyone whose wounds permitted him to get away would do so inan endeavour to save his own life.In the case of the injured who managed to get away, the wounds caused by assegais would be flesh-woundsand would readily respond to treatment. Severely wounded men, even their own men, had their skullssubsequently cracked by a blow from a knob-kerrie and needed no further treatment. For this reason, to thisday, the knob-kerrie is regarded as the symbol of mercy as it was the tool by which a wounded man could bespeedily released from his misery.The WeaponsThe Shield. The Zulu language has at least a dozen names describing different types of shields, rangingfrom small courting and dancing shields, to the man-sized war-shield (isiHlangu). The war-shieldought to be just so tall that, when the owner stands erect, his eyes can look over the top. Shields are always madeof oxhide, two shields being normally cut from one hide. They are oval in shape and are decorated by tworows of slits cut lengthwise into the shield intertwined with strips of hide (i(li) Gabelo) of a contrasting colour.These strips primarily serve as a mode for fastening the handle and for securing a stick which runs along thecentre of the shield and is long enough to project at both ends. This stick serves several purposes, its chief usebeing to strengthen the shield, to keep it stiff, and to assist the warrior in swinging it about in a rapid manner.The projection at the lower end is sharpened, and is used as a rest on which the shield can stand, or as anadditional means for jabbing in an emergency. The top projection, covered with fur, is decorative, but also givesadditional protection to the face or head.With his introduction of a regimental organization Shaka used shields in such a way that they became partof a soldier's uniform, viz, shields of uniform colour and marking would be allotted to individual regiments.Junior regiments had all-black shields or shields in which black predominated; married men and mixedregiments wore predominandy red shields; seniority and battle-experience was indicated by an increasingwhiteness, all-white shields reflecting the greatest honour. At this time shields were up to six feet high andthree feet wide.Shaka also turned the shield from a purely defensive into an offensive implement. He taught his soldiers, inclose combat, to hook the left edge of their shield behind the outer edge of the enemy's shield and bywrenching that shield aside to expose the enemy's left flank to the attacking assegai.In Shaka's, and subsequent, days, shields, which thus constituted an important part of the uniform, were notprivate property, but were given out by the king or by chiefs or indunas on his behalf. The skins of all the cattlein the garrison kraals belonged by right to the king and were retained by him for the purpose of being madeinto shields.Shields were therefore kept in special storage huts in the royal kraal, high off the ground to protect themagainst vermin and insects. Before a battle they were distributed and after battle they had to be returned.The taking of the shields from the royal kraal was a great occasion.When the army was strengthened ('doctored') before battle some of the treated water which was sprinkledover the warriors naturally also fell onto the shields which thereby became 'doctored' instruments, imbuedwith magical properties. No shield should therefore be allowed to fall into the hands of the enemy.On the march, particularly in windy or rainy weather, the shield was frequently rolled up and carried on theback, but only when the enemy was thought to be distant.Zulus regard the shield as the symbol of benevolence, peace, and protection. On a hot day the king would beliterally 'shielded' by his attendants against the sun. A shield would protect the little herd-boy cowering in therain. During a thunderstorm a warrior would stand in the open and shout defiance at the heavens and wouldparry each flash of lightning with his shield, as he was quite sure the shield's magic would ensure his safety.What he still had to learn in later years was that, while this might be true in regard to the bolts from heaven, itdid not apply to the bullets of the white man.The Assegai. Shaka's most often-quoted innovation is his introduction of the iKlwa, the short stabbingassegai. It did not replace entirely the throwing spear (um-Khonto) because the stabbing assegai was carried,more often than not, in addition to one or more throwing assegais.According to legend, Shaka, having conceived the idea, induced his most trusted blacksmith, under coverof night, to forge a blade to his new specification. He altered the conventional shape and made the whole amuch shorter and heavier weapon, unfit for throwing and only to be used in hand-to-hand fighting. Asorcerer supplied the human liver and fat with which the blade was fortified. Zulus believe the liver, not theheart, to be the seat of valour. Shaka then personally supervised the hafting of the blade into a shaft of hisselection and to his specification.Having tested the efficacy of the new weapon he collected all the throwing assegais, threw away theshafts, and sent the blades to every smithy he could reach to be turned into stabbing assegais.Then he issued them to his troops and instructed them in their use and enjoined every warrior that heshould take but one assegai, which was to be exhibited after the fight, stained by the blood of the enemy.Failure to do so meant death by impalement as a coward. The struggle could only be hand to hand, withonly one conclusion: death or victory.Delegorgue observed that "this new way of fighting, unknown to the neighbouring nations, and whichseemed to speak of something desperate, facilitated Shaka's conquest to such a degree that in the twelveyears of his reign he succeeded in destroying more than a million men, women, and children. This is the numberestimated by Captain Jervis, who, during my stay in Natal (i.e., 1838 and following years) busied himselfwith the history of these people."(1)Assegais as such, were a necessity of everyday life, being the only cutting implement the Zulus knew. Theassegai blade was used as a knife for cutting, carving, and shaving. The assegai was indispensable in theslaughtering of cattle, for hunting, and fighting. As with the shields, so the Zulu vocabulary contains morethan a dozen words to describe different kinds of assegais. The assegai is regarded as the symbol of order,law, and justice.The blacksmiths were a respected and highly important guild in which the secrets of their trade werejealously guarded and handed down from father to son. Their services were much sought after, for only theycould supply the weapons of war and the implements of peace such as the hoes with which to cultivate theirgardens. They also knew how to smelt brass and forge it into ornaments. They knew where to mine the iron oreand how to smelt it in sandstone crucibles over charcoal fires, and how to construct the necessary bellows bothfor smelting and forging. Using stone hammers and stone anvils their workmanship with such primitiveimplements was admirable and taking circumstances into account they could hardly be surpassed in this art.Their manufacture had the property of resisting damp without rusting. The blade of the assegai wasmade of soft iron, yet so excellently tempered, that it took a very sharp edge: so sharp, indeed, that it wasused even for shaving the head.The tang of the assegai was fitted into a hole burnt into one end of a suitable shaft, glued in with scilla sapand then bound with a plaited sleeve of wet fibre or strips of raw hide which contracted on drying. Insteadof the foregoing method the tip of the tail of an ox, or that of a calf, was taken, a piece about four inches inlength cut off, the skin drawn from it so as to form a tube and this tube was slipped over the joint. As in thecase with the hide or fibre lashing, the tube contracted and a very firm fixture was achieved. The shaft usuallyhad a bulbous thickening at the end to prevent it slipping through the hand on being withdrawn from abody, during which process the blade would cause the sucking sound which gave it its name: iKlwa.The Knob-kerrie. The large-headed knob-kerrie (i(li)Wisa) was in general use in civilian and military life,as a weapon for both throwing and striking. Herd-boys, especially when working in pairs, developed an earlyskill in killing birds on the wing with this missile. Warriors used it normally only for striking. Itsrecognition as the symbol of mercy has already been mentioned, but in the days of Shaka, tens of thousandsof people who had no need of this kind of mercy fell victim to the knob-kerrie merely at a nod from the king.Knob-kerries, always made of some hard-wood, are extremely variable in size and form. As it was contraryto etiquette to carry an assegai into the presence of, or, worse, into the hut of, a superior, that weapon could beexchanged with impunity for a kerrie. It was also contrary to etiquette to use the real assegai in dances,and again the knob-kerrie doubled as a substitute.Zulu Warrior 1875.The Uniform. As has been stated already, Shaka matched the shields of his regiments by a colour code,but in addition each regiment, in time, acquired its own distinctive uniform, made from various furs andfeathers. This consisted basically of a head-dress, the frontal loin-covering of skin or fibre (umuTsha), theskin buttock-covering (i(li)Beshu), and ornaments made of ox-tails (i(li) Shoba), worn on legs and arms.Supplementary items were the furry isiNene, composed of tassels of soft, twisted leather, also called isiDlakawhen made of genet skin, or other material stripped or slit down, but not twisted; the war-kilt made of genetskins (inSimba), or a similar one made of monkey tails (iNsimango). Obviously the variety and colourcombinations were innumerable and allowed each regiment to develop a distinctive uniform. The variousfurs and feathers were chosen with great care and artistry, so that the overall effect was highly dramatic.Leopard-skin ornaments were usually reserved for chiefs or persons of rank.The most ornate and elaborate designs were reserved for the head-dress, especially among theyounger regiments not yet given permission to wear the head-ring (isiCoco) indicating a man's estate. In theseregiments the hair was grown, stiffened with clay and then cut into weird shapes around which the parts of thehead-dress would be centred. Head-bands made of otter skin served as the foundation for a fantastic varietyof plumes from cranes, finches, and ostriches. The head was normally protected by a pad of otter-skin oroxhide.(1) On the right and left two pieces of jackal or green-monkey skin, cut square, six inches long,dropped from under the pad covering the ears. The Zulus said that these ear-covers had a very usefulpurpose: that of making the warrior incapable of hearing either the maledictions or entreaties of hisenemies, so that he was out of reach of the influences of fear or compassion.The OrganisationIn PeacetimeThe Regiments. Having brought his search for a more formidable weapon than the throwing assegai to asatisfactory conclusion, Shaka gave his attention to the subject of tactics. He evolved a formation which for itsimplementation required at least four separate groups, although each of these four tactical units could becomposed of numerous subdivisions. The only organization of males which existed among the Ngunitribes of that time were age-sets or circumcision-guilds (iNtanga), each of which consisted of about fifty men ofthe same age, organized on a district basis. When Shaka assumed the chieftainship over his own tribe the oldestof these Zulu age-sets had been circumdsed, but not the younger ones, for the custom had been suspended byDingiswayo, though the classification of groups according to age had continued. Shaka thought thesegroups too small to meet his military purposes, so he decided to regard them as sub-units or companies(i(li)Vioy) of a larger unit, viz, the regiment (i(li)Butho). His eldest groups, the last of the Zulus to becircumcised, he drafted into the amaWombe regiment; the next group he named uDubinhlangu andprohibited circumcision as a matter of state policy, and the younger men were called umGamule. The patternwas thus set and was expanded to absorb the ever-increasing flow of recruits. The original size of aniNtanga was increased to approach one hundred, rather than fifty, men and to form a company (i(li)viyo)under a captain who had from one to three junior officers, depending on the size or nature of thecompany. Among the functions of these junior officers was the daily distribution of meat to their men and thesupervision of the manufacture, storage, and, when necessary, the handing out of shields.There was no limit to the number of companies in a regiment, which had its own distinctive name anduniform, and consisted from one to two thousand men, although some even larger regiments are known to haveexisted. Each regiment had its own commander or colonel (inDuna) with a second-in-command and twowing officers.It became an inescapable 'moral' obligation for every young man to serve in the king's army. Only the unfitand diviners were exempt. As a regiment grew older one or more younger regiments were affiliated to it sothat the younger warriors could benefit from the experience of their elders and also keep up the nameand prestige of the kraal. In this manner three, four, or five regiments could be formed into one corps, such asthe Undi Corps in the reign of Cetshwayo, which consisted of 9 900 men in the age group 24, 28, and 43 to45 years.Garrisons. With the advent under Shaka of what amounted to a standing army it became necessary toestablish military kraals (i(li)Khanda) which became the headquarters or garrisons where the various regimentswere accommodated. There was a constant coming and going because, whereas the establishment operated on afull-time basis, its individual members were given home leave for months at a time.Captain Allen Gardiner wrote: 'The whole kingdom may be considered as a camp, and every male belongs toone or other of the following orders:- "Umpakati", veterans; "Izimpohlo" and "Insizwa", younger soldiers;"Amabutu" lads who have not served in war. The two former are distinguished by rings on their heads; theothers do not shave their hair. Throughout the country there are "Ekanda", or barrack-towns, in which anumber of each class are formed into a regiment, from six hundred to a thousand strong, and where they areobliged to assemble during the half year. . . . In the whole country there are said to be sixteen large"ekandas" and several of a smaller size, and it is supposed that they can bring fifty thousand men intothe field.'(12)The kraal was under the supervision of the regimental or corps commander who was responsiblefor order and discipline, and general administration. For political reasons Shaka even went so far as toappoint women of the royal household as honorary colonels and administrative heads of a kraal. Incommenting on the fact that Shaka appointed Senzangakhona's chief wife as colonel-in-chief of theregiment known as 'The Obstacles' and his own sister of the Ndabhakawombe, Graham McKeurtan(20) remarksdryly: 'Shaka had nothing to learn from the War Office."Employment of Troops. The men garrisoned at a military kraal had to be kept busy and there was muchfor them to do. Bryant says: 'While ease and freedom were abundant, stern discipline continuously reigned,but it was wholly a moral force, the young men being thrown entirely on their honour, without standingregulations and with little supervision.... They were there for the sole purpose of fulfilling the king'sbehests. They acted as the state army, the state police, the state labour gang. They fought the clan's battles,made raids when state funds were low. They slew convicted and even suspected malefactors andconfiscated their property in the king's name; they built and repaired the king's kraal, cultivated his fields, andmanufactured his war-shields, for all of which they received no rations, no wages, not one word of thanks.'(3)The king's herds of cattle were distributed over all the military kraals for the purpose of herding. The onlycontribution the king made towards the feeding of his warriors was by allowing cattle to be slaughtered for thispurpose, the hides being turned into shields. For the rest the garrison had to fend for itself either by theirown plantings or by receiving contributions from their families in the surrounding district.In WartimeThe Warriors. Periods of peace were regarded by the soldiers as a necessary evil, for war was to them thenatural and desirable state. As has been explained, the risks to life and property in peacetime were no less thanin wartime; but war brought the added advantage of booty (cattle and women); the opportunity for personalhonour and distinction, and, collectively, the permission for a regiment which had served and foughtwell to marry, and to don the head-ring. Thus Shaka's Zulus were all for war.The organization to which a warrior belonged while garrisoned at one of the military kraals was retained oncampaign, but the commandant of a military kraal was not necessarily a commander in the field. In addition tothe regimental commanders there was also a recognized commander-in-chief of the army, assisted by acompetent staff.The time for campaigning was generally in winter after the crops had been harvested. To mobilize thearmy the king sent messengers to the commandants in charge at the different military kraals, ordering allwarriors to proceed to the royal kraal.So swift were the movements of the regiments that the concentration of the whole Zulu army at the royalkraal could be effected within two to five days; the regiments garrisoned within a distance of some fifteenmiles from the royal kraal could assemble within twenty-four hours. At the assembly area each regimentcamped by itself, some distance apart, to prevent quarrels. Rivalry between regiments was so keen thatfaction fights were not uncommon. Through the mechanism of the regimental organization and thehonour which membership of a tightly knit and highly polarized group would bestow, an esprit de corps haddeveloped to a far greater degree than could ever have been derived from membership of a clan or even onenation. So great was the regimental pride that individual soldiers would identify themselves byreference to their regiment in preference to their own clan name e.g., 'I am a Fasimba', 'I am a Thulwana' or 'Iam a Gobamakhosi'.While this esprit de corps provided a tremendous driving force, it had to be sustained by a sense ofsecurity and confidence. This was provided by the strengthening rituals, the 'doctoring', not only of thearmy as a whole, but also of its individual soldiers who thereafter firmly believed that they were invulnerableand impervious to assegai or bullet. The strength of their medicine (umuThi) would ensure that from theoutset victory was theirs.The third factor which determined a soldier's actions and attitudes were the sanctions which the king's lawand discipline imposed. Weakness and cowardice were not tolerated under any circumstances; the result beingtorture and death. Apart from impalement, the just reward for a coward, the king might personally carryout a trial by ordeal. He would order the accused to raise his left arm and would prod his side with an assegai.Every time the victim flinched or cried out in pain the king would exclaim 'He is indeed a coward, as he cannotstand pain', and would eventually drive the assegai home. The corpse was then fed to the vultures.The Commissariat. While stationed at the military kraals soldiers refrained from eating sour milk (amaSi,pl. only) but were exhorted to live on 'hard' foods which would give them strength, such as meat, beer, andcooked mealies. At the royal kraal meat and beer were supplied by the king. At the other militaryestablishments meat was supplied to a lesser extent from the royal herds and the warriors had to rely onsupplies from home, cultivate their own fields, or seek supplies from other sources when and where theycould. They also had to supply their own uniforms and weapons, assegais and knob-kerries. The shields,however, were generally manufactured at the military kraals from the hides of beasts slaughtered there andthus belonged to the 'state'. As previously mentioned they were stored and were only issued on mobilizationand had to be returned at the end of the campaign. Captain Allen Gardiner gives an interesting account ofan application for shields made by a party of young soldiers, and their reception by the king, who at thattime was Dingane. 'I shall give you no shields until you have proved yourselves worthy of them; go and bringme some cattle from Mzilikazi, and then shields will be given you' was Dingane's curt reply.During wartime the provision of supplies was effected, in the short term by carriers, and in the longterm by capture. For the purpose of raising the equivalent of the 'supply and transport companies' ofsophisticated armies, Shaka enrolled youngsters between the ages of ten or twelve to eighteen years asbaggage carriers (u(lu)Dibi). The izinDibi were attached to the regiments which on reaching military age theywould eventually join. They normally marched at the rear and either to the right or left flank of the main bodyat a distance of a mile to three miles. They carried mats, cooking pots, and mealies, and some spare, rolled-upshields. They also acted as drovers of small herds of cattle which were required to be slaughtered for foodfor the army, but which were used mainly as guide animals to lead any captured cattle back to the homekraals.In addition to the dibi boys, groups of girls from the warriors home kraals, carrying beer and mealies,accompanied the army for a day or two at the beginning of its march. When the supplies they had been carryingwere depleted they and some of the smaller baggage boys, who were no longer needed, or who could not keep upwith the army, returned home. From then onwards the army had to fend for itself either by helping themselvesto food at the various kraals they passed while still within their own country or by plundering food storesin enemy territory.In order to defeat a numerically superior enemy Shaka had, in his earlier career, invented andsuccessfully applied 'scorched-earth' tactics as will be explained later. This practice was subsequentlyfollowed by some tribes who burnt their mealie fields, hid or destroyed their stores, and drove their cattle intothe bush. On prolonged forays Shaka's armies, unable to obtain food-supplies in enemy territory, had toendure incredible hardship. On the last expedition sent out by him, the return of which, however, he did not liveto see, his warriors were reduced to such straits that they had to gnaw at their shields to remain alive, and inmarshy terrain had to swallow liquid mud for lack of free-standing water.Intelligence. The genius of Shaka was fully alive to the concepts of military intelligence, secrecy, and security.He had set up a spy system which not only kept him advised about conditions within his country, butsupplied him with all the necessary military intelligence before and during a campaign. Spies were sent in twosand threes to explore the lie of the land, to locate the enemy, establish his strength, his strongholds orrefuges, and the hiding places of corn and cattle. These then operated in addition to, or ahead of, the scouts whopreceded an army on the march.Passwords and countersigns were given out to enable Zulu warriors to distinguish between friend and foewhen marching at night or when encamped. Shaka had learnt from experience, when his men had infiltratedin enemy camp at night, what havoc an unidentified, hostile element could wreak once it had got behind theenemy's lines.As part of his security arrangements Shaka more often than not concealed the object of a campaign andthe route which was to be followed until the moment of setting out. Even then, unless he led the army himself,he would take only the commander-in-chief into his confidence and appraise him of the army's truedestination. Even in his parting speech to the army, the king might suggest a direction different from thatwhich was to be taken in order to prevent any treacherous communication with the enemy.Tactics and StrategyIt was inevitable that having developed Dingiswayo's rudimentary regimental system to perfection, havingintroduced a type of uniform and an iron discipline, having invented a new assegai pattern, and havingre-armed his warriors and instructed them in the use thereof, that Shaka should also introduce a new methodof warfare including a new battle formation and method of attack.On leaving the royal kraal, after a stirring address by the king, the army marched in one great column, inorder of companies. Upon reaching hostile territory it was split into two divisions of close formation, viz, theadvance guard and the main body. The advance guard, in regiment strength, say, up to ten companies, movedahead of the main body at a distance of ten to twelve miles, and purposely refrained from concealing itselfThe intention was to lead the enemy into believing that this was the main body.The advance guard was preceded by skilled scouts who were also deployed on either flank and to the rearof the army. As soon as the advance guard found it had been seen by the enemy, and that an action wasdeveloping, fast runners were dispatched to warn the main body and to lead it up along the best and fastestroute.Shaka's leading principle for the attack was to encircle the enemy and force him into combat at close quarters.Immediately preceding an engagement the troops were rapidly drawn up in a semi-circular formation andbriefed by the officer in supreme command in regard to the positions to be taken up by the various regiments.There was a final sprinkling of the army by the witchdoctors to ward off injuries.The classical Shakan battle formation represented the head of a steer, and consisted of four formations.The chest (isifuba) composed of veteran regiments formed the centre and faced the enemy fairly squarely.A large reserve force was positioned a short distance behind them. The elderly warriors composing it weredirected to turn their backs on the scene of battle so that they were unable to watch and become either dejectedor unduly elated at the fortunes of battle. Two horn-like formations (u(lu)Pondo, izim-) on either flank werecomposed of the younger, eager, fleet-footed regiments. The commanding officer and his staff tookup a position on high ground to watch the course of battle, and to issue any further directions, which werethen transmitted by runners.Ideally, the Zulu army would be committed to battle in the following stages:The Chest, i.e., the veterans, would move towards the enemy, halt, and feign a withdrawal in anattempt 'to draw' the enemy and cause him to break his ranks. Then, suddenly, the veterans wouldchange from withdrawal to attack, the dislocated enemy force would be thrown into confusion, and,having thrown its assegais, would then be at the mercy of the Zulu iKlwa.
In the meantime the two horn-formations would deploy in a flanking movement. Either, both wouldremain concealed and take the enemy by surprise by attacking his flanks and rear, or, one horn wouldmove openly, causing a distraction and growing fear, while the other horn would move undetected undercover of bush and grass to spring a surprise attack.
Vultures pull rank in the Zululand bush
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