The Fall of Rorke's Drift

An Alternate History of the Anglo-Zulu War of 1879

John Laband

• Publisher: Greenhill Books
• Year: 2019
• ISBN:
  9781784383749
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Historical Fiction
• Index: Literature

It is January 1879, and the British Empire and the Zulu Kingdom are at war. Lord Carnarvon, Secretary of State for the Colonies, who had successfully brought about federation in Canada in 1867, had believed a similar scheme would work in South Africa. But such plans are rejected by Boer leaders. Lord Chelmsford leads a British military expeditionary force to enter the Zulu Kingdom uninvited. A bloody battle ensues on 22 January 1879 at Isandlwana. The Zulus are the unexpected victors. After that brutal defeat, the British Army are at Rorke’s Drift on the Buffalo River in Natal Province, South Africa. A few hundred British and colonial troops led by Lieutenants John Chard of the Royal Engineers and Gonville Bromhead face the might of the Zulu army of thousands led by Prince Dabulamanzi kaMpande (CORR). Against the odds the British are victorious and this defeat marks the end of the Zulu nation’s dominance of the region. The Defense of Rorke’s Drift would go down in history as an iconic British Empire Battle and inspired Victorian Britain. Eleven Victoria Crosses were awarded to military personnel. But what if the Zulus had defeated the British at Rorke’s Drift and invaded Natal? In the first ever alternate history of the Anglo-Zulu War, historian John Laband asks that question. With his vast knowledge of the Anglo-Zulu War he turns history on its head and offers a tantalizing glimpse of a very different outcome weaving a compelling and never-before told story of what could have been.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Lists of Maps and Plates
• Foreword
• Author’s Note
• Part I Preparing for War: The British
• Part II Preparing for War: The AmaZulu
• Part III Repulsing the British Invasion
• Part IV Defence of the Natal and Transvaal Borders
• Part V Revolts and Reinforcements
• Part VI Battle and Negotiation
• Afterword
• Notes
• Select Bibliography
• Acknowledgements
• Plate section