First Boer War in the open at the Battle of Isandlwana. Shortly after the main battle, a British outpost at Rorke's Drift on the Zululand-Natal border, withstood a second Zulu attack with great losses to the Zulus with the British fighting defensively in and around the stone buildings of a small trading store which had been hastily fortified. After reinforcements arrived, the British won a series of skirmishes and eventually conquered the Zulu capital at Ulundi on 4 July 1879. This war to all intents and purposes signalled the end of the independent Zulu nation. The British consolidated their power over Natal, the
Washing of the Spears Washing of the Spears The Washing of the Spears is a 1965 book about the "Zulu Nation under Shaka" and the Anglo-Zulu War of 1879, written by Donald R. Morris. The first edition, published in 1966 is over 600 pages with detailed Bibliography. The book chronicles the rise of the Zulu nation under Shaka Zulu in the early 19th century and Chief Cetshwayo’s inevitable war with the British in 1879 as the colony of Natal pushed at the Zulu nation's borders. A second edition of the book titled The Washing of the Spears: The rise and fall of the Zulu