Britain's Attempt at Conquering Zulus

The Zulu war of 1879 finally ended by bloodshed two years of political activity by the British designed to remove the last challenge to their Imperial power in southern Africa. Zululand had become a powerful kingdom under the rule of the warlord king Shaka in the early 19th century, but by 1870 European colonial expansion was starting to hem it in. The British were expanding from the south in Natal and the Boers, Dutch settlers were expanding from the west in the area know as the Transvaal which the British annexed to their future cost in 1877. The British had seized their South African colonies during the Napoleonic Wars but these possessions had been plagued with trouble due to violence between the British, the Boers and local African kingdoms. The British plan was to unite black and white under their rule, but first the Zulu kingdom had to be removed.
At this time the British were fighting many small wars in various colonies and did not want another war in a distant colony. Despite this the British High Commissioner Sir Henry Bartle Frere and the Army Commander, Lieutenant-General Sir Frederic Thesiger soon to be the new Lord Chelmsford, decided that war with the Zulus was unavoidable. Using the delay in communications between London and themselves they set in motion what they hoped would be a small quick war. Using a minor border incident as justification Zulu representatives were summoned to a meeting of the Border Commission which actually found in the Zulu's favour but determined to promote the idea of a Zulu threat a condition was imposed on the settlement that the Zulus would have to give up their military system which was key to their culture, a condition the King Cetshwayo could never accept.