Summary of Adrian Greaves's Rorke's Drift

By IRB Media

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Book Preview:

#1 During the reign of Queen Victoria, there were more than enough recruits to make conscription unnecessary and taking the queen’s shilling was a legally binding contract between the recruit and the army.

#2 The British officers who led their men to Zululand were generally taller and fitter than their men. They had purchased their commissions before the Cardwell reforms that abolished the purchase system. They were expected to display a high level of fitness, loyalty, team spirit, and physical bravery.

#3 The British invasion of Zululand was planned in mid 1878. The army needed wagons, oxen, and horses, but the civilian Governor of Natal, Sir Henry Bulwer, refused to allow the army to commandeer them. The officer in charge of supplies, Commissary General Strickland, had a peacetime establishment of twenty junior officers and thirty men under his command.

#4 The logistics of the invasion were extremely complex. The average soldier was probably not aware of all the administrative arrangements necessary for him to fight the Zulus, but he was more concerned with the availability of his daily rations and bottled beer.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: Jun 13, 2022
• ISBN: 9798822527317

IRB Media

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Insights on Adrian Greaves's Rorkes Drift

Contents

Insights from Chapter 1

Insights from Chapter 2

Insights from Chapter 3

Insights from Chapter 4

Insights from Chapter 5

Insights from Chapter 6

Insights from Chapter 7

Insights from Chapter 8

Insights from Chapter 9

Insights from Chapter 10

Insights from Chapter 11

Insights from Chapter 12

Insights from Chapter 13

Insights from Chapter 14

Insights from Chapter 15

Insights from Chapter 16

Insights from Chapter 17

Insights from Chapter 18

Insights from Chapter 19

Insights from Chapter 1

#1

During the reign of Queen Victoria, there were more than enough recruits to make conscription unnecessary and taking the queen’s shilling was a legally binding contract between the recruit and the army.

#2

The British officers who led their men to Zululand were generally taller and fitter than their men. They had purchased their commissions before the Cardwell reforms that abolished the purchase system. They were expected to display a high level of fitness, loyalty, team spirit, and physical bravery.

#3

The British invasion of Zululand was planned in mid 1878. The army needed wagons, oxen, and horses, but the civilian Governor of Natal, Sir Henry Bulwer, refused to allow the army to commandeer them. The officer in charge of supplies, Commissary General Strickland, had a peacetime establishment of twenty junior officers and thirty men under his command.

#4

The logistics of the invasion were extremely complex. The average soldier was probably not aware of all the administrative arrangements necessary for him to fight the Zulus, but he was more concerned with the availability of his daily rations and bottled beer.

#5

Chelmsford was sure that the Zulus would not fight, so he ordered a high state of readiness for his troops. He believed that by advancing on Ulundi, the Zulus would be forced to attack one or all of the invading columns instead of Natal.

#6

The invasion of Zululand was set for 11 January 1879. The three columns were fully equipped and ready to attack by 10 January, and the main attacking Centre Column was commanded by Colonel Glyn with 1,600 Europeans and 2,500 natives.

#7

The two battalions of the 24th (2nd Warwickshire) Regiment were to lead the invasion of Zululand. They were an experienced and battle-hardened unit, having served in the Ninth Frontier War at the Cape. They were well liked by the soldiers under them.

#8

The invasion of Zululand was prepared for by Christmas 1878. The troops were sent in four days before the ultimatum expired, on 6 January 1879. Everyone hoped that the Zulus would stand and fight.

Insights from Chapter 2

#1

The Zulu tribe was led by Shaka, who was famous for his brutal and aggressive tactics. He taught his warriors the close combat techniques he was famous for, and ordered the recasting of the ineffective throwing spears as the long, sharp, flat-bladed stabbing spear.

#2

Shaka was a Zulu chief who ruled over a large empire by the 1820s. He was known for his brutal conquests, which he conducted while training his soldiers to be able to encircle and kill their enemies.

#3

Shaka was a powerful leader in 1824, but his mother, Nandi, died in 1827. His grief was so intense that he required every Zulu to experience it. His half-brothers, Dingane and Mhlangana, clandestinely agreed that Shaka must die. They waited until the army was on campaign and stabbed him to death.

#4

In 1838, a Boer trek leader, Piet Retief, took a party of Boers to Dingane’s royal homestead kraal to seek permission to settle. Instead of gaining permission, they were massacred. Dingane sent his warriors to destroy the unsuspecting waiting Boer families.

#5

The Boers had overreached themselves by provoking the British, and as a result, they lost sovereignty over lands they had won by their