The Defence of Rorke's Drift having fought in the battle from Lady Butler's sketch of him taken at Portsmouth among the other survivors; his name has subsequently been added to the roll of those who fought at Rorke's Drift. The Defence of Rorke's Drift The Defence of Rorke's Drift is an 1880 painting by Elizabeth Thompson, Lady Butler depicting the 1879 Battle of Rorke's Drift which took place during the Anglo-Zulu War of 1877 to 1879. The battle and the men who fought in it were made famous in the 1964 film "Zulu". The Battle of Rorke's Drift caused a wave of patriotic fever in
Battle of Geok Tepe (1879) Battle of Geok Tepe (1879) The First Battle of Geok Tepe was the main event in the 1879 Russian expedition against the Akhal Tekke Turcomans during the Russian conquest of Turkestan. Lomakin marched 275 miles to the Goek Teppe fortress, mismanaged the attack and was forced to retreat. Next year, this was reversed by Skobelev by the second Battle of Geok Tepe. After Russia subdued the Khanate of Bukhara in 1868 and the Khanate of Khiva in 1873 the Turkoman desert nomads remained independent. Their country was bounded by the Caspian Sea on the west, the Oxus River on the