Editing Anglo-Zulu War (section)

==History==

===Boundary Commission and ultimatum===
{{too many quotes|section|date=February 2020}}
The tension between Cetshwayo and the Transvaal over border disputes continued. Sir [[Theophilus Shepstone]], whom Cetshwayo regarded as his friend, had supported him in the border dispute, but in 1877 he led a small force into the Transvaal and persuaded the Boers to give up their independence. Shepstone became administrator of the Transvaal, and in that role saw the border dispute from the other side.{{sfn|Martineau|1895|p=251}} Shepstone claimed to have evidence supporting the Boer position but, ultimately, he failed to provide any. In a meeting with Zulu notables at Blood River in October 1877, Shepstone attempted to placate the Zulu with paternal speeches, however they were unconvinced and accused Shepstone of betraying them. Shepstone's subsequent reports to Carnarvon then began to paint the Zulu as an aggressive threat where he had previously presented Cetshwayo in a most favourable light.{{sfn|Gump|1996|pp=87–88}}

In February 1878 a commission was appointed by [[Henry Ernest Gascoyne Bulwer|Henry Bulwer]], the lieutenant-governor of Natal since 1875, to report on the boundary question. The commission reported in July and found almost entirely in favour of the contention of the Zulu. However, Sir [[Sir Henry Bartle Frere, 1st Baronet|Henry Bartle Frere]], then high commissioner and still pressing forward with Carnarvon's federation plan, characterized the award as "one-sided and unfair to the Boers",{{efn|{{harvnb|Martineau|1895|p=242}} gives much of the chapter, without sarcasm{{snd}}or irony, to Bartle Frere's remarkable rationalizations in undermining the commission's conclusions.}} stipulated that on the land being given to the Zulu, the Boers living on it should be compensated if they left or protected if they remained.  In addition, Frere planned to use the meeting on the boundary commission report with the Zulu representatives to also present a surprise [[ultimatum]] he had devised that would allow British forces under Lord Chelmsford, which he had previously been instructed to use only in defense against a Zulu invasion of Natal, to instead invade Zululand. Three incidents occurred in late July, August and September which Frere seized upon as his ''[[casus belli]]'' and were the basis for the ultimatum with which Frere knew Cetshwayo could not comply,{{sfn|Spiers|2006|p=41}}{{sfn|Knight|2003|p=9}} giving Frere a pretext to attack the Zulu kingdom.{{sfn|Colenso|1880|pp=261–262}}{{sfn|Knight|2003|p=11}}

The first two incidents related to the flight into Natal of two wives of [[Sihayo kaXongo]] and their subsequent seizure and execution by his brother and sons and were described thus:

{{blockquote|A wife of the chief Sihayo had left him and escaped into Natal. She was followed [on 28 July 1878] by a party of Zulus, under Mehlokazulu, the chief son of Sihayo, and his brother, seized at the kraal where she had taken refuge, and carried back to Zululand, where she was put to death, in accordance with Zulu law...

A week later the same young men, with two other brothers and an uncle, captured in like manner another refugee wife of Sihayo, in the company of the young man with whom she had fled. This woman was also carried back, and is supposed to have been put to death likewise; the young man with her although guilty in Zulu eyes of a most heinous crime, punishable with death, was safe from them on English soil; they did not touch him.{{sfn|Colenso|1880|p=196}}}}

The third incident occurred in September when [[1878 Natal-Zululand border incident|two men were detained]] while on a sandbank of the [[Thukela River]] near the Middle Drift. Sir Bartle Frere described this matter in a despatch to Sir [[Michael Hicks Beach, 1st Earl St Aldwyn|Michael Hicks Beach]], who had replaced Carnarvon as Secretary of State for the Colonies:

{{blockquote|Mr. Smith, a surveyor in the Colonial Engineer Department, was on duty inspecting the road down to the Tugela, near Fort Buckingham, which had been made a few years ago by order of Sir Garnet Wolseley, and accompanied by Mr. Deighton, a trader, resident at Fort Buckingham, went down to the ford across the Tugela. The stream was very low, and ran under the Zulu bank, but they were on this side of it, and had not crossed when they were surrounded by a body of 15 or 20 armed Zulus, made prisoners, and taken off with their horses, which were on the Natal side of the river, and roughly treated and threatened for some time; though, ultimately, at the instance of a headman who came up, they were released and allowed to depart.<ref name="bpp 1">British Parliamentary Papers, C. 2222, No. 111: Frere to Hicks Beach, 6 October 1878.</ref>}}

By themselves, these incidents were flimsy grounds upon which to found an invasion of Zululand. Bulwer did not initially hold Cetshwayo responsible for what was clearly not a political act in the seizure and murder of the two women.

{{blockquote|I have sent a message to the Zulu King to inform him of this act of violence and outrage by his subjects in Natal territory, and to request him to deliver Up to this Government to be tried for their offence, under the laws of the Colony, the persons of Mehlokazulu and Bekuzulu the two sons of Sirayo who were the leaders of the party.<ref name="bpp 2">British Parliamentary Papers, C. 2220, No. 40: Bulwer to Hicks Beach, 9 August 1878.</ref>}}

Cetshwayo also treated the complaint rather lightly, responding
{{blockquote|Cetywayo is sorry to have to acknowledge that the message brought by Umlungi is true, but he begs his Excellency will not take it in the light he sees the Natal Government seem to do, as what Sirayo's sons did he can only attribute to a rash act of boys who in the zeal for their father's house did not think of what they were doing. Cetywayo acknowledges that they deserve punishing, and he sends some of his [[izinduna]], who will follow Umlungi with his words. Cetywayo states that no acts of his subjects will make him quarrel with his fathers of the house of Shaka.<ref name="bpp 3">British Parliamentary Papers, C. 2220, Enclosure in No. 89: Cetshwayo to Bulwer, 24 August 1879.</ref>}}

The original complaint carried to Cetshwayo from the lieutenant-governor was in the form of a request for the surrender of the culprits. The request was subsequently transformed by Sir Bartle Frere into a "demand".  Frere wrote to Hicks Beach, 30 September 1878:
{{blockquote|Apart from whatever may be the general wish of the Zulu nation, it seems to me that the seizure of the two refugee women in British territory by an armed force crossing an unmistakable and well known boundary line, and carrying them off and murdering them with contemptuous disregard for the remonstrances of the Natal policemen, is itself an insult and a violation of British territory which cannot be passed over, and unless apologised and atoned for by compliance with the Lieutenant Governor's demands, that the leaders of the murderous gangs shall be given up to justice, it will be necessary to send to the Zulu King an ultimatum which must put an end to pacific relations with our neighbours.<ref name="bpp 4">British Parliamentary Papers, C. 2220, No. 105, Frere to Hicks Beach, 30 September 1878.</ref>}}

In reply, in at least three dispatches, 17 October 21 November and 18 December, Hicks Beach emphatically states that war is to be avoided and a British invasion of Zululand prohibited. From 21 November dispatch:
{{blockquote|... Her Majesty's Government have arrived, it is my duty to impress upon you that in supplying these reinforcements it is the desire of Her Majesty's Government not to furnish means for a campaign of invasion and conquest, but to afford such protection as may be necessary at this juncture to the lives and property of the colonists. Though the present aspect of affairs is menacing in a high degree, I can by no means arrive at the conclusion that war with the Zulus should be unavoidable, and I am confident that you, in concert with Sir H. Bulwer, will use every effort to overcome the existing difficulties by judgment and forbearance, and to avoid an evil so much to be deprecated as a Zulu war.{{sfn|Colenso|1880|pp=258–260}}}}

[[File:Michael Hicks Beach, Lock & Whitfield woodburytype, 1876-84.jpg|thumb|upright|Hicks Beach]]
After considerable discussion and exchanges of views between Sir Bartle Frere and Sir [[Henry Ernest Gascoyne Bulwer]], it was decided to arrange a meeting with representatives of the Zulu king. The ostensible reason for this ''indaba'' was to present the findings of the long-awaited Boundary Commission to the Zulu people. The occasion was also to be used to present the king with an ultimatum.

When the ultimatum was presented, the two infractions by Sihayo's sons and the roughing up of Smith and Deighton had become only part of the justification that was used, as several matters had arisen in the meantime. One of them was Cetshwayo's apparent breaking of promises to Mr Theophilus Shepstone at the king's "coronation" in 1872. That farcical piece of theatre had been agreed to by Cetshwayo simply to satisfy the wishes of Shepstone and meant nothing to the Zulu people. Indeed, his real Zulu installation had taken place several weeks earlier when he had been acclaimed by his izinduna.{{sfn|Gump|1996|p=79}}
A second addition to the ultimatum, which seems almost like an afterthought, required the surrender of Mbelini kaMswati. Mbelini was the son of a [[Swazi people|Swazi]] king who unsuccessfully disputed the succession with his brother, resulting in his exile from the kingdom. He took refuge with Cetshwayo and was granted land in the region of the [[Intombe River]] in western Zululand. (It is entirely possible that Cetshwayo regarded him as a useful buffer between him and the Boers of the Transvaal.) Here, he took up residence on the Tafelberg<!---do not link to Tafelberg, which is Table Mountain at Cape Town--->, a flat-topped mountain overlooking the river. Something of a brigand, Mbelini made raids on anyone in his area, Boer and Zulu alike, accruing cattle and prisoners in the process. With the annexation of the Transvaal, Britain had also to deal with Mbelini and because Frere was convinced that the bandit chief was in the pay of the Zulu king, his surrender was included in the ultimatum. The light in which Mbelini was regarded is shown in a paragraph from a memorandum written by Sir Henry Bulwer:

{{blockquote|The King disowned Umbilini's acts by saying that Umbilini had been giving him trouble, that he had left the Zulu country in order to wrest the Swazi chieftainship from his brother, the reigning Chief, and that if he returned he should kill him. But there is nothing to show that he has in any way punished him, and, on the contrary, it is quite certain that even if Umbilini did not act with the express orders of Cetywayo, he did so with the knowledge that what he was doing would be agreeable to the King.<ref name="bpp 5">British Parliamentary Papers, C. 2260, Enclosure 2 in No. 6: Memorandum, 16 January 1879.</ref>}}

Frere has been accused of chicanery by taking deliberate advantage of the length of time it took for correspondence to pass between South Africa and London to conceal his intentions from his political masters or at least defer giving them the necessary information until it was too late for them to act.  The first intimation to the British government of his intention to make 'demands' on the Zulu was in a private letter to Hicks Beach written on 14 October 1878. The letter only arrived in London on 16 November and by then messengers had already been despatched from Natal to the Zulu king to request the presence of a delegation at the Lower Tugela on 11 December for the purpose of receiving the Boundary Commission's findings. Had Hicks Beach then sent off a telegraph forbidding any action other than the announcement of the boundary award, it might have arrived in South Africa just in time to prevent the ultimatum being presented. No prohibition was sent and could hardly be expected to have been, for Hicks Beach had no means of knowing the urgency of the events that were in train. Nowhere in Frere's letter was there anything to indicate how soon he intended to act, nor was there anything to suggest how stringent his demands would be.

In January 1879, Hicks Beach wrote to Bartle Frere:

{{blockquote|I may observe that the communications which had previously been received from you had not entirely prepared them (Her Majesty's Government) for the course which you have deemed it necessary to take. The representations made by Lord Chelmsford and yourself last autumn as to the urgent need of strengthening Her Majesty's forces in South Africa were based upon the imminent danger of an invasion of Natal by the Zulus, and the inadequate means at that time at your disposal for meeting it. In order to afford protection to the lives and property of the colonists, the reinforcements asked for were supplied, and, in informing you of the decision of Her Majesty's Government, I took the opportunity of impressing upon you the importance of using every effort to avoid war. But the terms which you have dictated to the Zulu king, however necessary to relieve the colony in future from an impending and increasing danger, are evidently such as he may not improbably refuse, even at the risk of war; and I regret that the necessity for immediate action should have appeared to you so imperative as to preclude you from incurring the delay which would have been involved in consulting Her Majesty's Government upon a subject of so much importance as the terms which Cetywayo should be required to accept before those terms were actually presented to the Zulu king.{{sfn|Colenso|1880|pp=260–262}}}}

Hicks Beach had earlier admitted his helplessness with regard to the Frere's actions in a telling note to his Prime Minister:
{{blockquote|I have impressed this [non-aggressive] view upon Sir B. Frere, both officially and privately, to the best of my power. But I cannot really control him without a telegraph (I don't know that I could with one) I feel it is as likely as not that he is at war with the Zulus at the present moment.{{sfn|Guy|1994|p=49}}}}

Frere wanted to provoke a conflict with the Zulus and in that goal he succeeded. Cetshwayo rejected the demands of 11 December, by not responding by the end of the year. A concession was granted by Bartle Frere until 11 January 1879, after which Bartle Frere deemed a state of war to exist. The British forces intended for the defense of Natal had already been on the march with the intention to attack the Zulu kingdom. On 10 January they were poised on the border. On 11 January, they crossed the border and invaded Zululand.

====Terms====
The terms included in the ultimatum were delivered to the representatives of King Cetshwayo on the banks of the Thukela river at the [[List of heritage sites in KwaZulu–Natal|Ultimatum Tree]] on 11 December 1878.  No time was specified for compliance with item 4, twenty days were allowed for compliance with items 1–3, that is, until 31 December inclusive; ten days more were allowed for compliance with the remaining demands, items 5–13. The earlier time limits were subsequently altered so that all expired on 10 January 1879.
# Surrender of Sihayo's three sons and brother to be tried by the Natal courts.
# Payment of a fine of 500 head of cattle for the outrages committed by the above and for Cetshwayo's delay in complying with the request of the Natal Government for the surrender of the offenders.
# Payment of 100 head of cattle for the offence committed against Messrs. Smith and Deighton.
# Surrender of the Swazi chief Umbilini and others to be named hereafter, to be tried by the Transvaal courts.
# Observance of the coronation promises.
# That the Zulu army be disbanded and the men allowed to go home.
# That the Zulu military system be discontinued and other military regulations adopted, to be decided upon after consultation with the Great Council and British Representatives.
# That every man, when he comes to man's estate, shall be free to marry.
# All missionaries and their converts, who until 1877 lived in Zululand, shall be allowed to return and reoccupy their stations.
# All such missionaries shall be allowed to teach and any Zulu, if he chooses, shall be free to listen to their teaching.
# A British Agent shall be allowed to reside in Zululand, who will see that the above provisions are carried out.
# All disputes in which a missionary or European is concerned, shall be heard by the king in public and in presence of the Resident.
# No sentence of expulsion from Zululand shall be carried out until it has been approved by the Resident.{{sfn|Martineau|1895|p=248}}

To ensure that there was no interference from London, Frere delayed informing the Colonial Office about his ultimatum until it was too late for it to be countermanded. The full text of his demands did not reach London until 2 January 1879. By then, Chelmsford had assembled an army of over 16,500 men—redcoats, colonial volunteers and Natal African auxiliaries—along the Zululand border ready for the invasion.{{snf|Meredith|2007|p=92}}

===First invasion===
{{Main|Action at Sihayo's Kraal|Battle of Inyezane|Battle of Isandlwana|Battle of Rorke's Drift|Siege of Eshowe|Battle of Intombe|Battle of Hlobane|Battle of Kambula|Battle of Gingindlovu}}
[[File:Isandhlwana.jpg|thumbnail|upright=1.35|''[[The Last Stand at Isandlwana]]'', painting by Charles Edwin Fripp (1854–1906)]]
[[File:Military Map of Zulu Land.jpg|thumb|upright=1.35|British Army military map of Zulu Land, 1879]]

<!---moved from lead, now needs integration here or deletion when it duplicates--->
The pretext for the war had its origins in border disputes between the Zulu leader, [[Cetshwayo]], and the [[Boers]] in the [[South African Republic|Transvaal]] region. Following a commission inquiry on the border dispute which reported in favour of the Zulu nation in July 1878, Sir [[Henry Bartle Frere]], acting on his own, added an ultimatum to the commission meeting, much to the surprise of the Zulu representatives who then relayed it to Cetshwayo. Cetshwayo had not responded by the end of the year, so an extension was granted by Bartle Frere until 11 January 1879. Cetshwayo returned no answer to the demands{{efn|{{harvnb|Colenso|1880|pp=261–262}} says "the terms...are evidently such as he (Cetshwayo) may not improbably refuse, even at the risk of war...to preclude you from incurring the delay...involved in consulting Her Majesty's Government upon a subject of so much importance as the terms..."}}{{sfn|Knight|2003|p=11}} of Bartle Frere, and in January 1879 a British force under Lieutenant General [[Frederic Thesiger, 2nd Baron Chelmsford]] invaded Zululand, without authorization by the British Government.{{sfn|Spiers|2006|p=41}}{{sfn|Knight|2003|p=9}} The exact date of the invasion was 11 January 1879. Chelmsford crossed the [[Buffalo River (KwaZulu-Natal)|Buffalo River]] at [[Rorke's Drift]], an old Irish trader's post that had become a mission station, in command of 4,700 men of the No. 3 Column, which included 1,900 White troops and 2,400 African auxiliaries.{{snf|Meredith|2007|p=92}}

Lord Chelmsford, the [[Commander-in-Chief]] of British forces during the war, initially planned a five-pronged invasion of Zululand composed of over 16,500 troops in five columns and designed to encircle the Zulu army and force it to fight as he was concerned that the Zulus would avoid battle. The Zulu capital, Ulundi, was about 80 miles inside Zulu territory.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Morris |title=Washing of the Spears}}</ref>

In the event, Chelmsford settled on three invading columns with the main centre column, now consisting of some 7,800 men comprising [[Richard Thomas Glyn]]'s No. 3 Column and [[Anthony Durnford]]'s No. 2 Column,{{efn|{{harvnb|Colenso|1880|pp=263–264}} gives 7,800: 1,752 Imperial and Colonial troops and 6,054 Native Contingent and 377 Conductors and Drivers for the Number 2 Column under Durnford and the Number 3 Column under Glyn which made up Chelmsford's Main Column. The strength of the entire invasion force is given as a total of 16,506 for the five columns: 6,669 Imperial and Colonial troops; 9,035 troops in the Native Contingent; 802 Drivers, etc.}} under his direct command. He moved his troops from [[Pietermaritzburg]] to a forward camp at Helpmekaar, past [[Greytown, KwaZulu-Natal|Greytown]]. On 9 January 1879 they moved to [[Rorke's Drift]], and early on 11 January commenced crossing the [[Buffalo River (KwaZulu-Natal)|Buffalo River]] into [[Zulu Kingdom|Zululand]].{{sfn|Giliomee|Mbenga|2007}} Three columns were to invade Zululand, from the Lower Drift of the [[Tugela River]] (No. 1 Column under [[Charles Pearson (British Army officer)|Col. Charles Pearson]]), [[Rorke's Drift]] (No. 3 Column under Lord Chelmsford), and [[Utrecht, South Africa|Utrecht]] (No. 4 Column under [[Evelyn Wood (British Army officer)|Col. Evelyn Wood]]) respectively, their objective being [[Ulundi]], the royal capital. Durnford's No. 2 Column was ordered to stay on the defensive near the Middle Drift of the Tugela River.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://warfarehistorynetwork.com/2015/07/24/the-battle-of-isandlwana-zulu-wars-with-the-british/|title=The Battle of Isandlwana: Zulu Wars with the British|date=24 July 2015}}</ref> Meanwhile, No. 5 Column under the command of Col. [[Hugh Rowlands]] would camp at Luneville in the [[Transvaal (province)|Transvaal]], to guard against possible intervention either by the Pedi tribe under Sekhukhune–a known ally of Cetshwayo–or by the Boers.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.historynet.com/anglo-zulu-war-battle-of-hlobane/|title=Anglo-Zulu War: Battle of Hlobane|date=12 June 2006}}</ref>{{sfn|Laband|2009|pp=103–106}}

While Cetshwayo's army numbered perhaps 35,000 men, it was essentially a militia force which could be called out in time of national danger.{{efn|{{harvnb|Knight|1996|p=11}} states "they were a part-time citizen army, and were armed primarily with traditional weapons".}} It had a very limited logistical capacity and could only stay in the field a few weeks before the troops would be obliged to return to their civilian duties.{{sfn|Knight|2005|p=8}} Zulu warriors were armed primarily with ''[[Assegai]]'' thrusting spears, known in Zulu as ''[[iklwa]]'', clubs, some throwing spears and shields made of cowhide.{{efn|{{harvnb|Archer|Ferris|Herwig|Travers|2008|p=462}} state "They had a national army of twenty-five thousand men equipped with cowhide shields, assegais and clubs.}}{{sfn|Lock|Quantrill|2002|p=62}}
[[File:Alphonse de Neuville - The defence of Rorke's Drift 1879 - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|The [[Battle of Rorke's Drift]] by [[Alphonse de Neuville]]. The British defense of the small hospital station was a morale boost for the British Empire.  |300x300px]]
The initial entry of all three columns was unopposed. On 22 January the centre column, which had advanced from Rorke's Drift, was encamped near [[Battle of Isandlwana|Isandlwana]]; on the morning of that day Lord Chelmsford split his forces and moved out to support a reconnoitering party, leaving the remaining 1,300 men of the No. 3 Column under the command of Colonel [[Henry Pulleine|Pulleine]]. Colonel Durnford would arrive later in the morning with 500 men of the No. 2 Column to reinforce the camp. The British were outmanoeuvred by the main Zulu army nearly 20,000 strong led by [[Ntshingwayo Khoza]]. Chelmsford was lured eastward with much of his centre column by a Zulu diversionary force while the main [[Impi]] attacked his camp. Chelmsford's decision not to set up the British camp defensively, contrary to established doctrine, and ignoring information that the Zulus were close at hand were decisions that the British were soon to regret. The ensuing [[Battle of Isandlwana]] was the greatest victory that the Zulu kingdom would enjoy during the war. The British centre column was wrecked and its camp annihilated with heavy casualties as well as the loss of all its supplies, ammunition and transport. The defeat left Chelmsford no choice but to hastily retreat out of Zululand. In the battle's aftermath, a party of some 4,000 Zulu reserves mounted an unauthorised raid on the nearby British Army border post of [[Rorke's Drift]] and were driven off after 10 hours of ferocious fighting on 23 January.
[[File:Guerriers zoulous.jpg|thumb|left|Zulu warriors, 1879 ([[Charles Edwin Fripp]])]]
While the British central column under Chelmsford's command was thus engaged, the right flank column on the coast, under Colonel [[Charles Pearson (British Army officer)|Charles Pearson]], crossed the Tugela River, skirmished with a Zulu impi that was attempting to set up an ambush at the [[Siege of Eshowe#Prelude: Inyezane|Inyezane River]], and advanced as far as the deserted missionary station of Eshowe, which he set about fortifying. On learning of the disaster at Isandlwana, Pearson made plans to withdraw back beyond the Tugela River. However, before he had decided whether or not to put these plans into effect, the Zulu army managed to cut off his supply lines, and the [[Siege of Eshowe]] had begun.

Meanwhile, the left flank column at Utrecht, under Colonel [[Evelyn Wood (British Army officer)|Evelyn Wood]], had originally been charged with occupying the Zulu tribes of north-west Zululand and preventing them from interfering with the British central column's advance on Ulundi. To this end Wood set up camp at Tinta's Kraal, just 10 miles south of [[Hlobane Mountain]], where a force of 4,000 Zulus had been spotted. He planned to attack them on 24 January, but on learning of the disaster at Isandlwana, he decided to withdraw back to the Kraal. Thus one month after the British invasion, only their left flank column remained militarily effective, and it was too weak to conduct a campaign alone. The first invasion of Zululand had been a failure.{{efn|{{harvnb|Laband|2009|p=5}} "The Anglo-Zulu War is described in terms of the 1st invasion and 2nd invasion."}}

[[File:Ntombe.jpg|thumb|upright|Battle of the Intombe river]]
It had never been Cetshwayo's intention to invade Natal, but to simply fight within the boundaries of the Zulu kingdom. Chelmsford used the next two months to regroup and build a fresh invading force with the initial intention of relieving Pearson at Eshowe. The British government rushed seven regiments of reinforcements to Natal, along with two artillery batteries.

On 12 March, an armed escort of stores marching to Luneberg, was defeated by about 500 Zulus at the [[Battle of Intombe]]; the British force suffered 80 killed{{efn|{{harvnb|Morris|1998|p=474}} gives 80 killed: 62 British soldiers, 3 European conductors and 15 native voorloopers.}} and all the stores were lost. The first troops arrived at Durban on 7 March. On the 29th a column under Lord Chelmsford consisting of a total of 5,670 men (3,390 Europeans and 2,280 Africans) marched to the relief of [[Eshowe]], with entrenched camps being formed each night.

Chelmsford ordered Sir Evelyn Wood's troops to attack the [[AbaQulusi (Zulu)|abaQulusi Zulu]] stronghold in Hlobane.{{sfn|Colenso|1880|p=}} Lieutenant Colonel [[Redvers Henry Buller|Redvers Buller]], led the [[Battle of Hlobane|attack on Hlobane]] on 28 March. However, as the Zulu main army of 20,000 men approached to help their besieged tribesmen, the British force began a retreat which turned into a rout and were pursued by 1,000 Zulus of the abaQulusi who inflicted some 225 casualties on the British force.

The next day 20,000 Zulu warriors{{efn|{{harvnb|Colenso|1880|p=353}} notes "The strength of the enemy was thought to be 20,000 of whom 1000 are supposed to have been killed.".}}  attacked Wood's 2,068 men in a well-fortified camp at Kambula, apparently without Cetshwayo's permission. The British held them off in the [[Battle of Kambula]] and after five hours of heavy attacks the Zulus withdrew with heavy losses but were pursued by British mounted troops, who killed many more fleeing and wounded warriors. British losses amounted to 83 (28 killed and 55 wounded), while the Zulus lost up to 2,000 killed.{{efn|{{harvnb|Raugh|2011|p=5}}, gives 800 Zulu casualties. {{harvnb|Knight|1995|p=142 }} says, '785 [bodies] were collected from close by the camp. Many more lay out on the line of retreat where the slaughter had been heaviest... Perhaps as many as 2,000 died'.}} The effect of the battle of Kambula on the Zulu army was severe. Their commander [[Mnyamana Buthelezi]] tried to get the regiments to return to Ulundi{{sfn|Morvan|2021|pp=261–262}} but many demoralised warriors simply went home.{{sfn|Knight|1995|p=142 }}

[[File:The burning of Ulundi.jpg|thumb|The burning of Ulundi]]

While Woods was thus engaged, Chelmsford's column was marching on Eshowe. On 2 April this force was attacked en route at [[Battle of Gingindlovu|Gingindlovu]], the Zulu being repulsed. Their losses were heavy, estimated at 1,200, but the British suffered only two dead and 52 wounded and the next day they relieved Pearson's men. They evacuated Eshowe on 5 April after which the Zulu forces burned it down.

===Second invasion===
{{Main|Battle of Ulundi}}
[[File:Last Sleep of the Brave.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Last Sleep of the Brave, 1879 ([[Alphonse de Neuville]])]]
The new start of the larger, heavily reinforced second invasion{{efn|{{harvnb|Raugh|2011|p=5}} "Chelmsford...began his second invasion". {{harvnb|Thompson|2006|p=75}} "Thus ended the first British invasion of Zululand". {{harvnb|Knight|2003|p=27}} has a map titled: "First invasion of Zululand". {{harvnb|Morris|1998|pp=498–511}} has a chapter titled: "The Second Invasion".}} was not promising for the British. Despite their successes at Kambula, Gingindlovu and Eshowe, they were right back where they had started from at the beginning of January. Nevertheless, Chelmsford had a pressing reason to proceed with haste – Sir Garnet Wolseley was being sent to replace him, and he wanted to inflict a decisive defeat on Cetshwayo's forces before then. With yet more reinforcements arriving, soon to total 16,000 British and 7,000 Native troops, Chelmsford reorganised his forces and again advanced into Zululand in June, this time with extreme caution building fortified camps all along the way to prevent any repeat of Isandlwana.

One of the early British casualties was the exiled pretender to the French throne, [[Napoleon Eugene, Prince Imperial| 
Prince Imperial Eugene Bonaparte]], who had volunteered to serve in the British Army and was killed on 1 June while out with a reconnoitering party.

Cetshwayo, knowing that the newly reinforced British would be a formidable opponent, attempted to negotiate a peace treaty. Chelmsford was not open to negotiations, as he wished to restore his reputation before Wolseley relieved him of command, and he proceeded to the royal kraal of Ulundi, intending to defeat the main Zulu army. On 4 July, the armies clashed at the [[Battle of Ulundi]], and Cetshwayo's forces were decisively defeated.