Editing Impi (section)

==In battle==
To understand the full scope of the impi's performance in battle, military historians of the Zulu typically look to its early operations against internal African enemies, not merely the British interlude.<ref>[[Ian Knight (historian)|Knight, Ian]] (1995) ''Anatomy of the Zulu Army'', pp. 3–49.</ref> In terms of numbers, the operations of the impi would change—from the Western equivalent of small company and battalion size forces, to manoeuvres in multi-divisional strength of between 10,000 and 40,000 men. The victory won by Zulu king Cetswayo at Ndondakusuka, for example, two decades before the Anglo-Zulu War, involved a deployment of 30,000 troops.<ref>Morris, pp. 195–196</ref> These were sizeable formations in regional context but represented the bulk of prime Zulu fighting strength. Few impi-style formations were to routinely achieve this level of mobilisation for a single battle. By comparison, at [[Battle of Cannae|Cannae]], the [[Roman Republic|Romans]] deployed 80,000 men, and generally could put tens of thousands more into smaller combat actions.<ref>Davis, Paul K. (2001), ''100 Decisive Battles: From Ancient Times to the Present'', pp. 14–126.</ref> The popular notion of countless attacking black spearmen is a distorted one. Manpower supplies on the continent were often limited. In the words of one historian: "The savage hordes of popular lore seldom materialized on African battlefields."<ref>Bruce Vandervort, ''Wars of Imperial Conquest in Africa: 1830–1914'', Indiana University Press: 1998, p. 39.</ref> This limited resource base would hurt the Zulu when they confronted technologically advanced world powers such as Britain. The advent of new weapons like firearms would also have a profound impact on the African battlefield, but as will be seen, the impi-style forces largely eschewed firearms, or used them in a minor way. Whether facing native spear or European bullet, impis largely fought as they had since the days of Shaka, from Zululand to Zimbabwe, and from Mozambique to Tanzania.<ref name="ReferenceB">J.D. Omer-Cooper, ''The Zulu Aftermath''.</ref>

The Zulu had greater numbers than their opponents, but greater numbers massed together in compact arrays simply presented easy targets in the age of modern firearms and artillery. African tribes that fought in smaller guerrilla detachments typically held out against European invaders for a much longer time, as witnessed by the 7-year resistance of the [[Lobi people|Lobi]] against the French in West Africa,<ref>{{Cite book|title=Images d'Afrique et sciences sociales : les pays lobi, birifor et dagara (Burkina Faso, Côte-d'Ivoire et Ghana) : actes du colloque de Ouagadougou, 10-15 décembre 1990|date=1993|publisher=Editions Karthala|others=Fiéloux, Michèle., Lombard, Jacques, 1926-, Kambou-Ferrand, Jeanne-Marie.|isbn=2865373975|location=Paris|oclc=28627875}}</ref> or the operations of the Berbers in [[Algeria]] against the French.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The invention of decolonization : the Algerian War and the remaking of France|last=Shepard, Todd, 1969-|date=2006|publisher=Cornell University Press|isbn=0801443601|location=Ithaca, N.Y.|oclc=61821802}}</ref>

When the Zulu did acquire firearms, most notably captured stocks after the great victory at Isandhlwana, they lacked training and used them ineffectively, consistently firing high to give the bullets "strength." Southern Africa, including the areas near Natal, was teeming with bands like the [[Griqua people|Griquas]] who had learned to use guns. Indeed, one such group not only mastered the way of the gun, but became proficient horsemen as well, skills that helped build the [[Basotho]] tribe, in what is now the nation of [[Lesotho]]. In addition, numerous European renegades or adventurers (both [[Boer]] and non-Boer) skilled in firearms were known to the Zulu. Some had even led detachments for the Zulu kings on military missions.

Throughout the 19th century they persisted in "human wave" attacks against well defended European positions where massed firepower devastated their ranks. The ministrations of an ''isAngoma'' (plural: ''izAngoma'') Zulu diviner or "witch doctor", and the bravery of individual regiments were ultimately of little use against the volleys of modern rifles, [[Gatling gun]]s and artillery at the Ineyzane River, Rorke's Drift, Kambula, Gingingdlovu and finally Ulindi.