First Time Watching!!! Zulu Dawn Movie Reaction 

people forget the zulu were an empire themselve they had conqured the area themselves and were expanding into rival tribes areas which is why the british had little problem getting local labour ......

The Zulus were actually a burgeoning empire in their own right who had relatively recently moved down from the north and subdued surrounding tribes with better tactics and a lot of, lets face it, brutality. The clash between the two was perhaps inevitable (though Bartle Frere and Lord Chelmsford acted against orders by instigating the war) as the British needed to keep the harbours of the South African coast secure for the trade route to India and were never going to be happy with a strong warlike nation encroaching on their borders.

Classic movie.. they'd televise this every Xmas day so sort of like a family tradition eating Xmas dinner few drinks eating turkey and bacon sandwiches while the film was on ..as I got older I'd carry on the tradition Xmas dinner a bottle of Bacardi and sandwiches while watching it 😂😂

"Zulus, thousands of 'em!" Great reaction :)

The quartermasters at the camp got a serious disservice done to them. It has been proved with archaeological evidence that ammunition shortages were not a cause of the defeat and the Ammo boxes dod not have to be opened by unscrewing every screw. They could be opened by just bashing the opening panel with a hammer or a rifle.

Diamonds, gold and Dutch farmers. Three good enough reasons to occupy. 🤣

The Victoria Cross was awarded to 23 members of the British Armed Forces and colonial forces for actions performed during the Zulu War of 1879. 11 at Rorke's Drift alone..

I've been to Isandlwana. There are mounds of white stones everywhere they put there to show where bodies were found clumped together as the British were retreating. They basically had no chance. Their rifles overheated and jammed after a certain amount of shots.

The colours of the 24th Foot from Isandlwana were recovered and are currently on display at a museum in Brecon, Wales

The Quartermaster shown in this film was based on a myth which existed that the troops weren't issued with sufficient ammo - ammo crates recovered in archaelogical visits to the battle site show they were broken open with force, meaning that the solders weren't required to wait as shown in the film despite the myth.

Lord Chelmsford is most famous for having lost the battle of Isandlwana where the British Army was wiped out by the Zulus. When news of this disaster reached England, he was ordered to stand down and be replaced by Lord Wolesley. But the battle of Ulundi occurred before Wolesley arrived, and Chelmsford's reputation was restored, but not his command.

LOL that punishment is still carried out normally after the shouted command "GET ROUND THE SQUARE" !!!

Lots of Zulus and colonists spoke each other's languages at the time.

The Horns of the Buffalo tactics.

The Zulu nation was created by the great conqueror, King Shaka Amazulu of the then tiny Amazulu tribe, just one of dozens of tribes in the Bantu-speaking people in that part of the world. He revolutionized their warfare by changing from battles being decided by tribal champions fighting duels, to whole units fighting to the death, and switching from light throwing spears called Asegais, plus a long wooden club with a ball shaped head fashioned from a tree root, to using a short stabbing spear with a short haft and a long blade called the Iklwa and a tall bullhide shield, used in a similar manner to the Roman Gladius sword and Scutum shield combo. Hook the enemy's shield with yours, pull it away from his body, then reach in and stab with the Iklwa, named for the sound it should make when you pull it out of a man's belly. With his much more disciplined, bloody method of warfare, he subdued all his neighbours and forced them into his army and his kingdom. It was like Sparta in that the laws of the kingdom turned the whole male population into warriors, enrolled at the age of 8 to serve as servants and messengers for the grown men in the regiments, called Impis. Each Impi was made up of the men who had enrolled together in the same year. Younger Impis played the role of faster soldiers to run out around the flanks to surround the enemy. The older men, stronger and more experienced soldiers, took the centre, holding the enemy in place while the Horns ran out to flank. The men's zeal to fight was maintained with the rule that soldiers could not marry until they had fought in battle, until they had "washed their spears" in the blood of the king's enemies. Each Impi's shields were different from the others, in the pattern of colours of the hide as well as other details. More senior men were distinguished with different straps around their upper arms and so forth - all the differentiations of unit, role and rank of a professional army. It made the Zulu people uniquely difficult to incorporate into the British Empire, and also a potential threat to the Cape Colony and Natal Colony that sooner or later was going to be attacked by the British Army nevertheless. The Zulus were outnumbered by the British forces, but they had the strategic mobility advantage. They knew how to move unseen through the tall grass and in darkness, and they were travelling light, with just the rations they could carry, dried meat and roots, while the British could only move about 10 miles a day, the speed of the Ox-wagons carrying their supplies, in big, very visible columns. So yeah, the Zulus could pick when and where they wanted to fight and achieve surprise. The Zulus were trained to run all day if necessary, in bare feet with heavily calloused soles, which helped them keep quiet when needed. The way I read about it, the British square formation with Gatling guns at the corners should have worked, and that was how they had set up the night before around the camp. But the problem was that they had marched out of the camp and then realised that a large Zulu force was near and tried to form up the square again, outside the camp and away from the spare ammunition, and didn't get set up in time so that the Zulus were able to find gaps to break into the formation and turn the flank of the men in the outward facing volley lines. I don't know if that's still the best explanation the historians have though. I believe the "great dynasty" Disraeli mentioned was the last heir of Napoleon Bonaparte, after his father Emperor Napoleon III was deposed in 1870 as a result of starting a needless war against Prussia and losing badly. The young Bonaparte was serving in a British cavalry unit, and had disobeyed orders not to scout too far ahead of the rest of his unit, and got caught with a few others off his horse investigating a deserted kraal.

This film unfortunately makes Durnford out to be the all wise hero. In reality Durnford ignoring the orders he was given by Chelmsford, and those given to Pulleine (which were to keep the forces drawn in and act only on the defensive) were the reasons tactically for the disaster. Instead Durnford dispersed forces out far and wide chasing after Zulus and pressured Pulleine into supporting him. Durnford also decided to defend the donga a mile in front of camp. He should have ridden back to camp to confer with and act in unison with Pulleine. As senior commanding officer, a Lt Col, Durnford had no business remaining at the donga with his men. That should have been left to one of the captains there. Durnford turned a compact defensive situation into a dispersed offensive one.

It’s true we went into Zulu land but that land particularly had only been under Zulu control for a few months. They had taken it from arrival tribe who were British allies.

under 2000 British were overun by approx 20,000 Zulus

The Zulus cut open the stomachs of the dead - it was their belief that it helped the spirit escape and not linger to haunt them The Zulus took no prisoners. But to the British seeing their comrades gutted drove them to commit great atrocities

The similarity between Isandlahwana and the battle of the Bighorn only a few years earlier are quite astounding when you read the history of both battles.

The Colours in the river at the end of the film were recovered and now hang in Brecon Cathedral ,South Wales , in a sealed case

They're were actually 2 other British columns attacking zululand one from the north and the other the south. The plan was for all three columns to meet at the zulu capital ulundi . Thre one thing I did notice thr British regiment and uniform was more authentic than in zulu.

The Zulu King was afterwards invited to London and had Tea with Queen Victoria. Zulus were later to fight for the British Empire in both World Wars.

Chelmsford the British commander was replaced and sent back to England but he did defeat the Zulus at the Battle of Ulundi before his replacement arrived ending the war. The British made a massive square of 4000 infantry, four ranks deep with Gatling guns and cannon on all sides and the Zulus never got within 50 yards, when they finally retreated the cavalry who were inside the square rode them down.

There were other columns in the invasion plan and after reorganizing the unofficial plan to incorporate Zululand into the British empire continued with the defeat of the Zulu army and capture of the capture of the king who was sent to London and met with Queen Victoria...For more look it up as that's all I can remember off the top of my head...lol

Look, you really need to watch “carry on up the Kyber”! I think you would love that. I’d love to see your action to that.

what seems to be forgotten when people talk about the battle of Isandlwana, IS yes 1,300 British and others were Killed on that day but over 3.000 to 5, 000 Zulus were also killed or Wounded that day

This film is set in an era when it was possible, very common, for wealthy landowners to buy commissions in the Army for their sons. Though by this time the practice was starting to die out and Officers actually were required to have at least some knowledge of what their jobs were.

A very interesting film alan, as you are probably aware, this film covers the events prior to the action at Rorkes Drift, the main body of infantry belonged to the same 24th regiment of foot. This was the centre column to invade Zululand, one of three columns in total. This whole escapade was conducted by Bartle Frere and Lord Chelmsford in direct disobeyance of instructions from London. The Zulu people themselves were not native to that area, they were people from a Bantu tribal heritage, from much further north, they swept down into the area dominating other tribes and taking their territory.

the brave Zulus fighting to defend their homeland

One tactic they revealed accurately in the film was having a formation of Zulu warriors sing an intimidating song to wind up their fever for battle. They did this just out of range to distract the enemy, drawing their attention while hidden units penetrated close to the enemy under cover of hidden valleys and tall grass. They then, on a signal, arose and surprised the enemy from multiple sides. This is briefly shown in the film. At Rourke's Drift in the movie Zulu, the British were in a much smaller circle and were not distracted, also seen in the film. The men on the opposite side of the singing Zulu formation remain alert and on station. Good discipline, better than the over-confident troops in Zulu Dawn.

Strange working for me in the UK. I have Zulu on Blu Ray looks stunning in that HD format. Zulu Dawn only caught the end of it once. But I saw it was on Netflix or somewhere and I did add it to my wishlist. Can you believe I was speaking to one of my brothers about the actor John Mills once and he had no idea who he was. I was shocked.

Regarding Vereker (Based on the real life figure of the Honourable William Standish Vereker) and his commission - this was a local commission to command native troops, which could be given by the regional commander (ie: Lord Chelmsford). As a civilian he could not have been put in command of British regulars.

Not seen this one as many times as original, burt Lancaster, I remember 1300 taken out.but rorks drift had more success down to bad tactics..

Chelmsford was a favorite of Queen Victoria which was why he was hard to relieve.

The ammo boxes had to be returned intact so they were screwed down instead of being nailed down for the boxes to be broken open and not returned

Finally someone reacting to this seriously underrated movie.

One thought that always makes me shiver is that someone somewhere had to be the last to die. Watching everyone around you be killed and knowing your time is running out.

Both battles happened a day apart, this first battle (is andl wana) was lead by King Cetshwayo with 20,000 Zulu warriors, where the attack at Rorke's Drift was lead by his half brother Dabulamanzi and 3000-4000 Zulu...

The chaps turning up and gett8nf commissioned was quite common.. they raised irregular horse and commissioned local civilians as scouts and guides.. this is one of the reasons why the Empire was effective because it typically used local military resoutces

When Chelmsford meets Durnford and enquires as to his unit. Durnford says "they rode with me at Bushmans Pass". Chelmsford reacts less than enthusiasticlly to this news. Bushmans Pass was a complete fiasco where Durnfords leadership showed severe problems. It's also where he injured his arm. The first time the "Natal Carbineers" a locally raised volunteer force who were also at Isandhlawana, were in combat. This was in 1873, six years before the events depicted in this filrm. They did not acquit themselves particularly well at Bushmans Neck.

My uncle was in this battle as one of the British soldiers

The High Commissioner Sir Bartle Freyer was under explicit instructions NOT to go to war with the Zulus, at this time the policy was NOT to expand the Empire especially in Africa where there was little economic benefit. The issue behind the war was the Zulu Kingdom was aggressively expanding and came up against the Boer independent states which had existed since the 1600s and which were protectorates of the Empire. Chetawayo had a problem... his power depended on his Army, the Zulu state was a military one and in Zulu society a man couldn't marry until he had proved himself in combat so there was huge pressure on Chetawayo to fight constant wars. The clash between the British Empire and the Zulu Kingdom was inevitable. One thing to remember about the Empire is that it was primarily a trade Empire comparatively few parts were directly ruled by London and much of it was protectorates. You can't really compare it with the Russian or Roman or Ottoman Empires which were based around Land..much of the land the British took control of was a by product of protecting trade routes. The great question of the 19th C was how the hell you balanced the revenue from trade with the vast costs of maintaining the Empire. Just look at the size of the Royal Navy in the late 19th C.

Note: the Martini Henry rifles used in the filming were rebored for .303. These rifles were rebored when the .303 was introduced as the standard Commonwealth cartridge and were used for colonial police and reserve duties in WW1 as the SMLEs were needed for front line soldiers. This made the MHs much easier to use for the filming because the larger black powder cartridge actually used in the battle would have produced so muxh smoke and fouling in the rifles. Its also why so many of the MHs on the market in the USA are .303

The scenes of the British crossing the river into Zululand were filmed at the Historical site in South Africa. The weird thing is that they filmed the crossing with the British troops actually crossing from the Zululand side over to the Natal side.

Ah yes, my favourite war film niche! Another great example of a war film where we witness a naive or arrogant plan go horribly wrong (see 'A Bridge Too Far', 'Black Hawk Down' etc.).

It's not on the same level as 'Zulu', but that scene where they reveal the zulu army gathering is fcking amazing!

Buying commissions was quite common for a long time. And becoming a officer sometimes had more to do with who you knew or were related to.

Excellent reaction! You hit the nail on the head when you mentioned "Arrogance" being a key theme to this film. Peter O' Toole (who is a fantastic actor) really nailed his performance of Lord Chelmsford. A real "A hole", who time and time again looked down on the Zulu. Look up the real man and I think you will agree. They just don't make films like this anymore with thousands of extras, excellent production design, period costumes, filmed on location with zero CGI, and a superb cast. This is stacked with great actors of the day including Peter O' Toole, Denholm Elliot, Burt Lancaster, Bob Hoskins, John Mills, and Simon Ward (among many others). Zulu Dawn is a top notch period piece war film. It, along with the original "Zulu" are paired wonderfully together to give modern audiences a glimpse into the Anglo Zulu War of 1879. Zulu Dawn remains a pretty accurate account of the Battle of Isandlwana and colonial warfare in general, and is among the best War films of all time even though it is under seen and underrated. Thank you for reacting to it! I still remember my Uncle showing me both Zulu Dawn followed by Zulu in the same evening when I was about 8 years old and the memory endures.

Great reaction Alan. There’s an excellent downloadable audio book by David Rattray called ‘The Day Of The Dead Moon’, which tells the story of the Zulu war from both the Zulu and British/Boer perspective. Very interesting and informative. Also, if it’s still available, you might like ‘Shaka Zulu’, a TV series that tells of how the Zulu empire took shape.

The defenders at Rorke’s Drift had almost exhausted their ammo by the end of the engagement.

There's evidence to suggest that the commander wasn't trying to save the colours as deplicted in this film but rallybthe troops at a fall back location. Because when found the colours were unfurled and not packed away as tehy would be ifntehy were trying to preventbtheir capture

The irony seems to be lost on The Beard; an American in the USA which suppressed & killed the Native Americans almost to extinction, and broke every Treaty to expand their lands after the Revolutionary War, even taking lands from Mexico. And he makes much of arrogance. Interesting lecture.

In regards to provissions.... logistics are what win wars. You can have all the soldiers you want but if you don't have the 3B's (bullets, beans, bandages) you've lost. Logistics makes up the buggest percentage of any military making up about 40% of manpower. A starving soldier can not fight, a soldier with no ammo can not fight, and a soldier that's bleeding out or dying of infection can not fight

Vereker doesn't get a commission in the regular army which is why he ends up wearing that sky blue tunic rather than a red infantry or blue cavalry one. By this period (1879) the practice of rich aristos buying commissions in regular army regiments had ceased to be a thing.

You asked what brought the British to South Africa? They wanted ports on the Southern African coast about `1806.. Their influence grew as the century progressed. They drove the Boers into thte Great Trek and had a concern abuot the size and organisation of the Zulu Empire. especially when a couple of Impreialts including Bartel Frere (the Governor character n the film) wnated to build a railway from South Africa to Egypt.

Burt Lancaster is an Irishman super a lot of Irish in the British army 😊

The Zulu were a branch of the Bantu people from central Africa. They invaded south, killing people or forcing them into joining them. So where considered a threat to the two British Colonies of Natal and the Cape Colony. The Zulus were not without understanding of world politics and speaking history, just as Brits and Boers learned to speak Bantu. I used to live in Northern Natal during the 1980s. Brits, Boers and Zulus had a lot of respect for each other. South Africa started as a colony at the Cape as this was on the way to India and the Far East. British people and Dutch (Boers) climbed into covered wagons and moved out of the Cape. They went North to colonise new lands, just as Americans went West.

The British originally took the Dutch colony at the tip of South Africa as a naval base. Both the British and Zulus were empire.

The British were big on promoting wealthy lords and their children to high offices in the military. Thats is the main reason Bernard Montgomery got his ranks.

The Zulus chant 'hsutu' during the film, it means kill.

You should watch the Man who would be King (thanks Joe)with Sean Connery and Michael Caine

You really shouldn't say fiddling with when the funbags are out 😂

The first reason for a settlement in South Africa was a naval base (Simonstown) to protect the route to India, then the settlers came wanting land, then gold was discovered and then diamonds.

Lawrence of South Africa. I remember standing in the Apartheid Museum in Jo' burg crying my eyes out after seeing the constitution of those times in perfect Dutch and English side by side. A very young school girl on a school trip walks up to me and ask why I'm crying. "I'm not only Dutch, but also part British" I replied. "I hate you." she said and then shook her head and started laughing. I only cried more after that. Loving interaction is natural, but gettng so rare. What monsters most humans can become is still a mystery to me. 😭

Until quite recently, you could pick up unfired rounds of ammunition from the camp area. The ammunition shortage was a hastily concocted myth, partly to help explain the disaster to a shocked British public and to reassure British Soldiers that it wasn't because the newly issued Martini-Henry rifle was prone to jamming under battlefield conditions. Just a few years earlier, in 1876, part of Custers' defeat at the Little Big Horn was due to cheap and poor quality 'copper' ammunition jamming Springfield rifles!

Thanks for sharing. Zulu is such a classic.

Reminiscent of Custers last stand three before but on a bigger scale . There are a lot of parallels , this is a very accurate depiction of the battle . 🇬🇧

Very old saying, "The more things change, the more they stay the same." How much Hollywood treatment? Very very little, this was a British film.

'the sun never sets on the British empire' A long time ago , listening to my fathers recollection of its sunset , i got the sense that his 'class' were just as much a victim of the 'upper' classes as the people they subjugated .. comply or else ... have u watched Lawrence of Arabia ? long film but wow what an epic movie

Any1 interested in a brilliant book written about Isandlwana & Rourke's Drift could read Donald R Morris--- The washing of the spears (The rise & fall of the Zulu nation). It is a true account which makes a fantastic read with just the right amount of detail to 1/ not gloss over facts + 2/ not to appeal only to academics. Recommended by normal guy's. UK

The thoughts of the troops must have been akin to the thoughts of the passengers on the Titanic, the people on the Titanis knew they were going to drown, the troops at Isalwa "that place" would have known they were about to die.......

One impetus (amongst many like natural resources such as diamonds, gold) was coal and coaling stations. With the Royal Navy becoming more and more reliant on coal powered ships, the Royal Navy found a need for coaling stations and bases all over the world - before that it was harbours and stations to allow ships to stop and reprovision food, water etc (which could more easily be traded with any local populations than coal). And once you had a base you wanted to defend it, which needed troops on shore, which then provided a temptation to expand the borders of the base to make it easier to defend, and you could then take over some of the local resources in the area to provide for the base or make some profit, and then you had to defend the people working on those resources, and the resources themselves, which means expanding your territory to provide a better defensive line. Then in Africa specifically the decision was taken to build a railway from Egypt to South Africa to better and more quickly move troops and supplies to the Cape, so they could more quickly get to India (which was the main thing the British were trying to defend throughout empire as it was so rich in resources and money etc). This of course necessitated taking over all the land in a strip down Africa north-south, which of course expanded to an area much wider than the railway and almost led to war with France as they were trying to get territory in Africa east-west across the widest part of Africa to defend their colonies on the North African coast.

Durnford was senior to Pauline but had not been given command of the camp. He believed that a Zulu force was between the camp and Chelmsford, and that they might strike Chelmsford from behind so he rode out with his force against them. 
It was at that time the Zulus attacked and thus Durnford was stuck out in front and to the right of the camp forcing Pauline to have an extended line to try to link up with Durnford. The British held the Zulus off for about an hour. Durnford’s ammo ran out and he was obliged to retired back and that left the right of Pauline’s line exposed and the Zulus rushed forward. Pauline should have laagered his wagons and put the forces into a semblence of a camp. But he was not an officer of the line, but more a camp administrator. Chelmsford was exceptionally slow to react to the news and ultimately any failure was his.

Remember that this is history rewritten to make a movie to sell to the US. The story of running out of ammo has been proven wrong.

The British version of the battle of the little big horn. Looked liked Burt Lancaster as a British officer.

Great video. Lots of rumours what went wrong. The definite was Chelmsford and the possibles are around the ammo. Even perhaps the rifle barrel overheating and jamming.

A part of history that was to be repeated many years later on a different continent but for some of the same reasons. I refer to the annexation of the Sudattenland in Europe by the German government who ordered their troops to invade Austria and Checoslavia (pardon my spelling) simply because they wanted both the Labensraum or the room to expand their own empire and they wanted to use the resources of those countries to further expand their sphere of influence, just as the British government had done around the globe mainly by trade when possible but we were not averse to sending in the troops especially if we saw an imbalance in military power in our favour. The transplant of British settlers into other countries and providing a market for the food that the settlers would grow or raise all of which brought extra tax money to the UK was all seen as the best way to improve our country and by extension our nation’s health in the international stage.

The ability to explore and rule is what took us there, what kept us there... well south africa is famous for its diamonds.

Same ideology did for Custer at the Little Big Horn.

Was our little big horn.

So what happened after the battle was that Lord Chelmsford was disgraced, as he and the governor (Bartle-Frere) had conspired amongst themselves to invade Zululand against the wishes of the British Government (which favoured leaving the Zulu alone and maintaining good relations with them). The UK government relieved him of command and sent another general to take over, but due to the distances involved it would take the new general (Garnet Wolseley) months to arrive. During this time Chelmsford ignored diplomatic overtures from the Zulus and attacked their capital, Ulundi, taking it after a lengthy bombardment from artillery and via the use of gatling guns. This partially rehabilitated his reputation in the UK and he arrived back after being relieved. He was then posted to ceremonial roles and command of UK-based units, never serving in the field again, although he did get some roles working for the Royals as well which led to further honours.

What was so important about Southern Africa was Safe harbours for the trade routes to India and China

I remember having a T shirt with the name General Custard on it as a child. I still don't know who picked it. Not sure I had English lessons at that age.

When I watched it has a kid the first thing I noticed was they where struggling to open the ammo boxes

A thing to bear in mind, when these movies were made, late 60's into the 70's there was a massive condemnation of war at the time (Vietnam was in full swing) this movie , like the charge of the light brigade, oh what a lovely war, was made as a condemnation of the leadership, of the officer class, the lords who led the army at the time, their arrogance and incompetence...

Well, we had to out-do the Custer, didn't we? The original defence line was too extended and the gap between the soldiers in each company was about three feet. Oh, there were no Lancers in South Africa at the time, they only arrived after news reached London and reinforcements hurriedly sent to SA. The last stand was just outside of the tents, a small square which held off the Zulus until their ammo ran out, but they still held firm with the bayonet, frustrating the Zulus until they had killed or wounded most with captured rifles then swarmed the remainder. The last redcoat killed had hidden in a small cave, shooting several Zulus then used his bayonet. He was eventually killed by a massed volley fire of muskets and rifles. Lord Chelmsford's column had a running fight with some Zulus, drawing them further away from the camp, something the film left out. As they returned to camp, they passed a large group of Zulus going the other way. The Zulus were tired and the British were almost out of bullets. All both did were stare at each other. The Zulus who attacked Rorke's drift was the 'loins' of the buffalo, who didn't get to fight at Isandlwana and attacked the outpost out of frustration. Not being on the battlefield, they did not loot rifles from the dead, they had outdated muskets they had traded in the years before the war.

Sorry EB but I'm not sure why you think the British had nobody in their camp who could speak Zulu. They had scouting units like the Natal Mounted Police and the Buffalo Border Guard who were made up of farmers and the like who's families' had lived in the area for generations.

As I said in the Zulu film it the regiment I served in ,all Zulu's are real Zulu's, thay had to be giving imitation spear as thay still had the warrior inside them...I know this as we had a privet premier and was invited to speak to. the actor's after the showing

The Zulu army, (Impi) that defeated the British in this battle was not the same one that went to Rourkes Drift afterwards. It was another Impi. They were fired up because of the victory. This Impi crossed the Buffalo River from Zululand into Natal in retaliation for the British Invasion of Zululand. The Zulu Emperor had advised he would not cross the Buffalo River. Unfortunately that Zulu Impi decided to do it anyway. They had also been advised to be wary of the British in a fixed defensive position. The Battle at Rourkes Drifts showed why. Unfortunately, the Battle in this film was lost due to arrogance and incompetence on the behalf of the British Officer class.

Look at all those Zulus!

You say we are a long way away from home but if you have allies that becomes less important. In the 1860s there was 200,000 strong British Army in India, but only about a third of the soldiers were from Britain. India was a country of 200million. Britain recruited soldiers in India and Nepal but there were also the Armies of the local Indian rulers who were allied with Britain. We almost won the American war of Independence with 20,000 British troops plus 30,000 Germans, 19,000 loyal colonists and 18,000 free and escaped Africans and 13,000 Native Americans. The redcoats were only 20% of the loyalist forces.

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="683">11:23</a> Ironically enough, since the collapse of our empire, the whole world has come to our shores to dictate the rules.

Did people just show up and get a comission... yes, back in the 1800s and early 1900s it was common for rich people especially the aristocracy to buy their commission. Chances are they went to a military school such as sandhurst but never experienced battle, never fought with troops. It mostly changed post WW1 when parliment realised they had a whole lot of trained working class soldiers who were disgruntled with the upper classes (this also led to voting rights for the working class and women among other things to try to prevent a repeat of the riots that happened in the southwales coalfields among other issues

The British needed to explain why they lost, so they made up the story of the ammo boxes being screwed down. Military historians who examined the battlefield and the distribution of shell casings, think it more likely that the British tried to defend to large a perimeter and so their fire was not concentrated enough,. When the Zulu King heard how many of his warriors had been killed, he said an assegai had been thrust into the belly of the nation.

I think most of the provisions you're talking about are ammunition boxes and to be honest the more you have the better it is.

Diamonds and gold. Same with Australia though that was mainly gold. The British Empire took the modern equivalent of £3 trillion in gold alone from Australia.

Excellent film...excellent choice....cheers, fella...E...

Battle of the little big horn 1876 Battle of Isandlwana 1879.

Read 'The Washing of the Spears.' it will answer all of your questions.