The Defence of 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 the United Kingdom and the surviving participants, especially the officers, were feted on their return in October 1879, first going to Windsor Castle to meet Queen Victoria before posing for Elizabeth Thompson at Portsmouth
Zulu Kingdom Zulu Kingdom The Kingdom of Zulu (), sometimes referred to as the Zulu Empire or the Kingdom of Zululand, was a monarchy in Southern Africa that extended along the coast of the Indian Ocean from the Tugela River in the south to Pongola River in the north. The kingdom grew to dominate much of what is today KwaZulu-Natal and Southern Africa. In 1879, the British Empire invaded, beginning the Anglo-Zulu War. After an initial Zulu victory at the Battle of Isandlwana in January, the British Army would regroup and eventually defeated the Zulus in July in the Battle of Ulundi.