The Washing of the Spears: A History of the Rise of the Zulu Nation under Shaka and Its Fall in the Zulu War of 1879 : Rise and Fall of the Great Zulu Nation

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There is definitely a bit of blood-and-thunder to this telling, with kinetically entertaining battle scenes, and a wholehearted embrace of the courage demonstrated by warriors on both sides. Morris tries to keep things in hand, but there are moments when his interpretation of the evidence does not dovetail with mine. In other words, saying that a nonfiction volume reads like a novel is not always the compliment it seems to be. Still, he gets the tone and tenor right, if some of the details wrong. Made famous internationally famous by Henry Cele’s towering performance in the 1986 miniseries Shaka Zulu, the founder of the Zulu nation lives up to his billing. Not unlike Napoleon, with whom he was a contemporary, Shaka was a martial genius, who used the force of arms to unite various tribes into a powerful kingdom that ruled southern Africa. Shaka’s unique insights, his complex motivations, his intense relationship with his mother, and his mercurial nature, all combine to make him a dramatist’s dream. Unfortunately, as he aged, Shaka became increasingly unstable. He killed – often gruesomely – many of his own people, with estimates running into the thousands. This led to his assassination by Dingane, his brother, who took Shaka’s throne. River. There are chapters on the settlement of Natal and subsequent intrigues in the governance of the area and the build up to the intervention of British regular troops leading to the disastrous Battle of Isandlwana where a British army was wiped out to a man followed by the courageous defence at Rorke’s Drift (11 Victoria Crosses were awarded after this action - the most of any single action). Further actions are covered to the Battle of Ulundi & the final defeat of the Zulus & the capture of Cetshwayo, the Zulu king who was still confused as to the reason for the war & British Invasion.

I am pleased to say, The Washing of the Spears long held reputation as a classic of military history is well earned. Morris was an American naval officer in the 40s and a CIA agent when he wrote this work of immense quality and deep scholarship. Of course, much of the material is dated, but that cannot detract from its accomplishment. To this day, many refer to it as the seminal work on the Anglo-Zulu Wars. No doubt, that is as much a tribute to the quality of the narrative prose as it is to the research. PDF / EPUB File Name: The_Washing_of_the_Spears_-_Donald_R_Morris.pdf, The_Washing_of_the_Spears_-_Donald_R_Morris.epub Now, I am British but... how the hell did we have an Empire??? I mean, the treatment of the soldiers was appalling, and maybe it is just me but when one problem happened the guy that was sent to fix it just did the same thing as the guy before him, and so on and so forth! It just... makes no sense to me at all. And granted, this might have been part of why I lost interest in the early part of part two of this book - aka the confederation chapter.

The second – and larger – section of The Washing of the Spears concerns the British invasion of Zululand in 1879, and the bloody conflict that followed. Not super widely known, the battles of the Anglo-Zulu War were intense, closely fought affairs, often devolving into face-to-face combat pitting bayonet against spear. Equally apparent is the incredible odds able to be overcome by even a tiny force when properly arrayed with modern weaponry. Only significant human error permitted Isandlwana. A 20-1 advantage in manpower is readily overcome when breach-loading rifles face spears. I don't know why, but I'm fascinated by the Zulus and their encounter with European civilization. The book's beginning and end are really strong, while the in-between plods.

This is a well researched, detailed book which traces the rise of the Zulu nation from its beginnings in the early 19th century with the rise of Shaka to the fateful wars with the British in 1879. The author, the American historian Donald R Morris, was encouraged to write this book by Ernest Hemingway who told Morris that there was no published history of the Anglo-Zulu war. Morris was preparing magazine articles on the battles of Isandlwana and Rorke’s Drift In addition, the small print and large paragraphs also made the book more difficult to read through my normal method. (I tend to in depth skim :D) Now, I mentioned accuracy... well, there are some elements of this book that I read and I wonder how the hell the author knows that information - now he provides what looks to be an extensive bibliography and comments on sources (got to love the fact that he says the Colenso's work to be rather dense!) and generally this book comes across as being well researched and un-opinionated. That said, any book written well after the period of time it discusses is going to have inaccuracies - but who can say for certain what is accurate and what isn't? The Dutch settlers that came to be known as Boers were in southern Africa for over two-hundred years before the Zulu war with the British Imperial army and its colonial and native allies. By the time of the Zulu War, these Boers were no longer "colonists" in any meaningful sense of the word -- they were themselves essentially natives. I am having a really hard time in rating this book. First - I am not a fan of non-fiction books really so trying to judge this in comparison to other books (the main way I rate books if the rating doesn't immediately come to me) is not fair as my bases of comparison is fictional works. Second - I stopped reading this book for .... four months or so because it was so... *yawn*. So... yeah.Beyond the Anglo-Zulu War, and beyond the scope of The Washing of the Spears, things would get far worse before they got even a little better. The Zulu Nation was divided into sub-kingdoms, which fought and squabbled until absorbed into the colony of Natal. Beyond that, apartheid loomed. Covering the history of Natal and the Zulu nation from the 17th century until the end of the 19th century, this book is an exhaustive yet very engaging chronicle of a war started deliberately by the British, fought bravely by both sides, and ultimately leading to the destruction of the greatest military power ever seen in sub-Saharan Africa. Ah well... the Rorke's Drift chapter was, I think, my favourite in that I had seen parts of Zulu numerous times (though not all the way through) and reading about the actual events was really interesting (having now watched the film fully for the first time ever having read this, and assuming the book to be accurate - the film takes a few (a lot) liberties with the events but is generally (I think) well portrayed)). I'm actually going to be skimming through that section again now as I don't recall it mentioning Chard who is a key character in the film.