In the 1964 film Zulu, the credits said it was “introducing” handsome young actor Michael Caine, who has since become the most respected and prolific British actor in history.  According to his record on Internet Movie Database, Caine actually appeared in several previous films, but in any case, this was his first starring vehicle.  After seeing him in this film, British producers cast him as Harry Palmer in a series of spy movies that were very popular in Britain, securing his star status there.  In America he broke out a few years later when he won his first Oscar in the original Alfie. 

Based on a true event, Zulu is a very inspiring story about a small garrison of about 150 British soldiers in 19^th Century South Africa who held off an attack from several thousand Zulu warriors until they finally gave up and went away.  Several hundred Zulus died.  The British losses were 17 dead and 10 wounded.

The small garrison was little more than a supply depot.  It was called “Rorke’s Drift”.  In South Africa, the word “drift” has a local definition meaning a place where a stream can be forded.  In fact, at the time of the attack, there was a detachment of Army Engineers at the depot who were building a bridge across the river.  When the hostilities began, it was discovered that the chief engineer, one John Chard, was the most highly ranked soldier, and he took over control of the garrison from a more inexperienced Lieutenant named Gonville Bromhead (played by Caine).  In the course of the battle, Bromhead matured quickly, and the two of them wound up coordinating well to control the battle.

With industrious preparations during the time after they found about the advancing Zulus, the Brits met the force in January of 1879.  They built a hasty fortification using mostly overturned wagons and bags of grain.  With greatly superior firepower, a high degree of discipline, ingenious tactical steps and great courage, the small group of men held off wave after wave of attacks by the equally courageous Zulus.  Armed mostly with spears and shields, the Zulus were losing men at a much higher rate than the Brits.  Eventually they had had enough, and they retired, leaving the remaining Brits to ponder the notion that they had somehow escaped almost certain death. 

Only slightly embellished, the movie is a very inspiring true-life adventure that should be seen by anyone who has a taste for exciting military stories. 

The original historical event is no less inspiring, and in fact more soldiers were awarded the Victorian Cross, England’s highest award for bravery in action, than in any other single battle in British history (a total of eleven.)  A look at the greater historical context in which the battle took place paints a darker picture, however. 

In 1878 there was much British interest in expanding their influence into the area held by the Zulus.  At the time, there was no conflict with the Zulus.  In fact, the famous Zulu chief Shaka Zulu had created the Zulu empire only about 50 years earlier by bringing together a number of smaller tribes, and he had been friendly to the British settlement in Durban, in Zulu territory, and had defended it against other less friendly native groups.  But the desire for expansion was great.  In one of the more suppressive actions in the history of the British empire, an insane British bureaucrat with a history of causing disasters in other parts of the empire decided to solve the problem by simply provoking a confrontation with the Zulu leader and sending in the army to chase the natives out.  He believed that a bunch of half-naked natives armed only with spears would quickly wither before the might of the g-r-e-a-t British army.  Almost immediately, the British found that they had misestimated their opponent.  The ensuing Zulu wars were among the bloodiest episodes in British colonial history.  On the 22^nd of January, 1979, the Zulus massacred a British force of about 1,500 soldiers at a place called Isandlwana (don’t try to pronounce that if you don’t want to). 

News of the massacre was carried to Rorke’s drift.  Afforded the element of advance warning, the soldiers there worked through the night to build a hasty pseudo-fort with the supplies that were stored at the facility.  They were attacked the next day, and the battle lasted for about 24 hours. 

The high Zulu losses, both at Isandlwana and at Rorke’s drift dispirited them somewhat.  By the end of those two battles, about 10% of the Zulu male population had been killed.  But the war was not over.  There were additional battles before the Zulus were finally subdued. 

It is only slightly comforting that the suppressive bureaucrat, one Henry Bartle Frere, got in some trouble for his decisions and was recalled to England.  He was under investigation for his part in the Zulu affair as well as for an earlier similar insanity he had perpetrated in Afghanistan, when he died in London.

A survey of the later history of the 11 Victoria’s Cross winners is an eye-opening commentary on the hard life of a British soldier in those days.  Almost none of them lived beyond their early 40s, succumbing to various fatal situations including tuberculosis, malaria, cancer, death in battle, and suicide.  One of them, a Dutch civilian who was awarded the medal for his courageous help during the battle, essentially starved to death within a couple of years when he couldn’t find work in Durban.  It was a rougher environment than the one we’re used to in today’s “West”.

The Zulu movie was a passion for actor Stanley Baker, who played the part of the brilliant Lieutenant John Chard.  Baker, a Welchman and childhood friend of actor Richard Burton, was inspired to make the film by a patriotic admiration for Chard and the small band of soldiers, most of whom were Welch.  He was unable to get financing for the film, so he sunk his own money into it.  The film was a box office success.  Baker went on to make several more films, but he died early, in his 40s, for the same reason his hero Chard died in his 40s, from cancer based on excessive use of tobacco.  Baker died of lung cancer.  Chard had died of cancer of the tongue, probably from chewing tobacco, on the eve of an invitation to visit Queen Victoria at her castle in Balmoral.