Stories from the British Empire
Famous and historical British wars were fought for the conquest of South Africa.
In 1874, Sir Henry Bartle Frere was sent to South Africa as High Commissioner for the British Empire to conquer the land. The main obstacles were the presence of the independent states of the South African Republic and the Kingdom of Zululand and its army. The Commissioner presented an impossible ultimatum on 11 December 1878, to the Zulu king Cetshwayo with which the Zulu king could not conform (accettare). The war started and was notable for several particularly bloody battles, and some terrible British defeats (sconfitte), namely (precisamente) at Isandlwana and at Rorke’s Drift.
However the war eventually resulted in a British victory and the end of the Zulu nation’s independence (1879).
The film Zulu (1964) tells about the defeat at Rorke’s Drift (1879), after the Battle of Isandlwana. Rorke’s Drift was a missionary station which a company of the British Army, a Welsh regiment, used as a supply storehouse (magazzino) and hospital for their invasion force across the border (confine) in Zululand. They received news that an army of 4000 Zulu Warriors were advancing their way, and they knew that they could not outrun (vincere) the Zulu army, so decided to fortify the station and made a barricade.
When the soldiers saw the Zulu approaching (si avvicinavano), they started understanding their situation, but still resisted. Wave after wave (ondata dopo ondata) of Zulu attackers were kept away (respinti), but the Zulu set fire(danno fuoco) to the hospital and went on attacking during the night. The following day the Zulu overcame (prevalgono su)the exhausted British forces .
Zulu was directed by Cy Endfield; Zulu Dawn, its prequel shot in 1979 about the historical Battle of Isandlwana was directed by Douglas Hickox with the screenplay was by Cy Endfield.