Zulu people of 1878, envoys of the British crown delivered an ultimatum to 11 chiefs representing the then-current king of the Zulu empire, Cetshwayo. Under the British terms delivered to the Zulu, Cetshwayo would have been required to disband his army and accept British sovereignty. Cetshwayo refused, and war between the Zulus and African contingents of the British crown began on January 12th, 1879. Despite an early victory for the Zulus at the Battle of Isandlwana on the 22nd of January, the British fought back and won the Battle at Rorke's Drift, and definitively defeated the Zulu army by July at the
Washing of the Spears Nation was published in 1998 (Da Capo Press, Paperback, 650 pages, ). 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