Editing Shaka (section)

==Social and military revolution==
Some older histories have doubted the military and social innovations customarily attributed to Shaka, denying them outright, or attributing them variously to European influences.{{sfn|Morris|1994|pp=17–69}} More modern researchers argue that such explanations fall short, and that the general Zulu culture, which included other tribes and clans, contained a number of practices that Shaka could have drawn on to fulfill his objectives, whether in raiding, conquest or hegemony.{{sfn|Morris|1994|pp=17–69}} Some of these practices are shown below.

===Weapons changes===
Shaka is often said to have been dissatisfied with the long throwing [[assegai]], and is credited with having introduced a new variant of the weapon: the ''[[iklwa]]'', a short stabbing spear with a long, broad, sword-like spearhead.

Although he is credited with introducing the ''ilkwa'' to his people, Shaka likely did not invent it himself. He most likely outsourced it from Nzama, who later had a feud with him because he did not want to pay for the spears. According to Zulu scholar [[John Laband]], Shaka insisted that his warriors train with the weapon, which gave them a "terrifying advantage over opponents who clung to the traditional practice of throwing their spears and avoiding hand-to-hand conflict."{{sfn|Laband|1997}} The throwing spear was not discarded, but used as an initial missile weapon before close contact with the enemy, when the shorter stabbing spear was used in hand-to-hand combat.{{sfn|Morris|1994|pp=17–69}}

It is also supposed that Shaka introduced a larger, heavier version of the [[Nguni shield]]. Furthermore, it is believed that he taught his warriors how to use the shield's left side to hook the enemy's shield to the right, exposing the enemy's ribs for a fatal spear stab. In Shaka's time, these cowhide shields were supplied by the king, and they remained the king's property.{{sfn|Laband|1997}} Different coloured shields distinguished different ''amabutho'' within Shaka's army. Some had black shields, others used white shields with black spots, and some had white shields with brown spots, while others used pure brown or white shields.{{sfn|Laband|1997}}

===Mobility of the army===
The story that sandals were discarded to toughen the feet of Zulu warriors has been noted in various military accounts such as ''The Washing of the Spears'', ''Like Lions They Fought'', and ''Anatomy of the Zulu Army''. Implementation was typically blunt. Those who objected to going without sandals were simply killed.{{sfn|Morris|1994|p=51}} Shaka drilled his troops frequently, in forced marches that sometimes covered more than {{convert|50|mi|km|order=flip}} a day in a fast trot over hot, rocky terrain.{{sfn|Morris|1994|p=51}}{{sfn|Edgerton|1988|p= 39}} He also drilled the troops to carry out encirclement tactics.

Historian John Laband dismisses these stories as myth, writing: "What are we to make, then, of [European trader Henry Francis] Fynn's statement that once the Zulu army reached hard and stony ground in 1826, Shaka ordered sandals of ox-hide to be made for himself?"{{sfn|Laband|1997}}

Laband also dismissed the idea of an {{convert|50|mi|km|order=flip|adj=on}} march in a single day as ridiculous. He further claims that even though these stories have been repeated by "astonished and admiring white commentators," the Zulu army covered "no more than {{convert|19|km|mi|frac=2|disp=sqbr}} a day, and usually went only about {{convert|14|km|mi|frac=2|disp=sqbr}}."{{sfn|Laband|1997}} Furthermore, Zulus under Shaka sometimes advanced more slowly. They spent two whole days recuperating in one instance, and on another they rested for a day and two nights before pursuing their enemy.{{sfn|Laband|1997}} Several other historians of the Zulu and the Zulu military system, however, affirm the mobility rate of up to {{convert|50|mi|km|order=flip}} per day.{{sfn|Morris|1994|pp=15–69}}{{sfn|Knight|McBride|1989|p=17}}

===Logistic support by youths===
Boys aged six and over joined Shaka's force as [[apprentice]] warriors (''udibi'') and served as carriers of [[ration]]s, supplies such as cooking pots and sleeping mats, and extra weapons until they joined the main ranks. It is sometimes held that such support was used more for very light forces designed to extract tribute in cattle and slaves from neighboring groups. Nevertheless, the concept of "light" forces is questionable. The fast-moving Zulu raiding party, or "ibutho lempi," on a mission invariably traveled light, driving cattle as provisions on the hoof, and were not weighed down with heavy weapons and supply packs.

===Age-grade regimental system===
Age-grade groupings of various sorts were common in the [[Bantu peoples|Bantu]] culture of the day, and indeed are still important in much of Africa. [[Age grade]]s were responsible for a variety of activities, from guarding the camp, to cattle herding, to certain rituals and ceremonies. Shaka organised various grades into [[List of Zulu Regiments|regiments]], and quartered them in special military kraals, with regiments having their own distinctive names and insignia. The regimental system clearly built on existing tribal cultural elements that could be adapted and shaped to fit an expansionist agenda.{{sfn|Morris|1994|pp=50-53}}

==="Bull horn" formation===
Most historians{{who|date=September 2017}} credit Shaka with initial development of the famous "bull horn" formation.{{sfn|Morris|1994|pp=50–53}} It was composed of three elements:

# The main force, the "chest," closed with the enemy [[impi]] and [[Pinned down|pinned]] it in position, engaging in melee combat. The warriors who formed the "chest" were senior veterans.{{sfn|Morris|1994|pp=50–53}}
# While the enemy impi was pinned by the "chest," the "horns" would [[Flanking maneuver|flank]] the Impi from both sides and encircle it; in conjunction with the "chest" they would then destroy the trapped force. The warriors who formed the "horns" were young and fast juniors.{{sfn|Morris|1994|pp=50–53}}
# The "loins," a large reserve, was hidden, seated, behind the "chest" with their backs to the battle, for the sake of them not losing any confidence. The "loins" would be committed wherever the enemy impi threatened to break out of the [[encirclement]].{{sfn|Morris|1994|pp=50–53}}

===Discipline===
Shaka created ruthless determination in his army by instilling in his warriors the knowledge of what would happen if their courage failed them in battle or their regiments were defeated. A brutal fate awaited them and their families if they did not perform well in combat. [[H. Rider Haggard]]{{Unreliable source?|date=June 2023}} learned about Shaka's methods from his nephew and late 19th-century Zulu king, [[Cetshwayo kaMpande]]:

{{blockquote|
As Shaka conquered a tribe, he enrolled its remnants in his army, so that they might in their turn help to conquer others. He armed his regiments with the short stabbing ''[[assegai|Iklwa]]'', instead of the throwing assegai which they had been accustomed to use, and kept them subject to an iron discipline. If a man was observed to show the slightest hesitation about coming to close quarters with the enemy, he was executed as soon as the fight was over. If a regiment had the misfortune to be defeated, whether by its own fault or not, it would on its return to headquarters find that a goodly proportion of the wives and children belonging to it had been beaten to death on Shaka's orders, and that he was waiting their arrival to complete his vengeance by dashing out their brains. The result was, that though Shaka's armies were occasionally defeated, they were rarely annihilated, and they never ran away.|source={{harvnb|Haggard|1882|p=}}
}}

===Shaka's methods versus European technology===
{{Main article|Anglo-Zulu War}}

The expanding Zulu power inevitably clashed with European hegemony in the decades after Shaka's death. In fact, European travellers to Shaka's kingdom demonstrated advanced technology such as firearms and writing, but the Zulu monarch was less than convinced. There was no need to record messages, he held, since his messengers stood under penalty of death should they bear inaccurate tidings. As for firearms, Shaka acknowledged their utility as missile weapons after seeing muzzle-loaders demonstrated, but he argued that in the time a gunman took to reload, he would be swamped by charging spear-wielding warriors.{{sfn|Morris|1994|pp=17–69}}

The first major clash after Shaka's death took place under his successor Dingane, against expanding European [[Voortrekker]]s from the Cape. Initial Zulu success rested on fast-moving surprise attacks and ambushes, but the Voortrekkers recovered and dealt the Zulu a severe defeat from their fortified wagon laager at the [[Battle of Blood River]]. The second major clash was against the British during 1879. Once again, most Zulu successes rested on their mobility, ability to screen their forces and to close when their opponents were unfavourably deployed. Their major victory at the [[Battle of Isandlwana]] was the most prominent one, but they also forced back a British column at the [[Battle of Hlobane]], by deploying fast-moving regiments over a wide area of rugged ravines and gullies, and attacking the British who were forced into a rapid disorderly fighting retreat, back to the town of [[Kambula]].{{sfn|Morris|1994|pp=467–545}}

=== Creator of a revolutionary warfare style ===
A number of historians{{who|date=September 2017}} argue that Shaka "changed the nature of warfare in Southern Africa" from "a ritualised exchange of taunts with minimal loss of life into a true method of subjugation by wholesale slaughter."{{sfn|Morris|1994|pp=17–69}} Others dispute this characterization. A number of writers focus on Shaka's military innovations such as the ''iklwa'' – the Zulu thrusting spear, and the "buffalo horns" formation. This combination has been compared to the standardization supposedly implemented by the [[Marian reforms|reorganized Roman legions under Marius]].

{{ quote
| Combined with Shaka's "buffalo horns" attack formation for surrounding and annihilating enemy forces, the Zulu combination of iklwa and shield—similar to the Roman legionaries' use of gladius and scutum—was devastating. By the time of Shaka's assassination in 1828, it had made the Zulu kingdom the greatest power in southern Africa and a force to be reckoned with, even against Britain's modern army in 1879.
| {{sfn|Guttman|2008|p=23}}
}}

Much controversy still surrounds the character, methods and activities of the Zulu king. From a military standpoint, historian John Keegan notes exaggerations and myths that surround Shaka, but nevertheless maintains:

{{ quote
| Fanciful commentators called him Shaka, the Black Napoleon, and allowing for different societies and customs, the comparison is apt. Shaka is without doubt the greatest commander to have come out of Africa.
| {{sfn|Vandervort|2015|p=21}}
}}

===As a borrower, not an innovator===
Some scholars hold that popular depictions of Shaka as a suddenly appearing genius creating innovation are overstated, and that to the contrary, Shaka was a borrower and imitator of indigenous methods, customs and even ruler-lineages already in place. They also argue that Shaka's line was relatively short-lived and receives undue attention, compared to other, longer established lines and rulers in the region.

{{blockquote|It seems much more likely that Shaka, seeking to build the power of a previously insignificant chiefdom, drew on an existing heritage of statecraft known to his immediate neighbors. J.H. Soga implied as much when he used genealogical evidence to argue that the Zulu were an upstart group inferior in dignity and distinction to established chiefdoms in their region, for example, the Hlubi, Ndwandwe, and Dlamini lines. Using different informants and genealogical charts, A.T. Bryant arrived at similar conclusions. The Zulu line – "a royal house of doubtful pedigree" – was very short in comparison to the Langene, Ndwandwe, Swazi, and Hlubi lines. Using his standard formula of eighteen years per reign, Bryant calculated that the Swazi, Ndwandwe, and Hlubi lines could be traced back to the beginning of the fifteenth century, while the eponymous chief Zulu had died at the beginning of the eighteenth century.| author=Etherington|source={{sfn|Etherington|2014}}}}

Shaka's triumphs did not succeed in obliterating or diminishing the memories of his better-born rivals. The hypothesis that several states of a new kind arose about the same time does not take account of the contrast between the short line of Shaka and the long pedigrees of his most important opponents – especially the coalition grouped around his deadly enemy Zwide (d. 1822). The founders of the states which Omer-Cooper called "Zulu-type states," including the Ndebele, the Gasa, the Ngoni, and the Swazi had all been closely associated with Zwide. Instead of hypothesizing that they all chose to imitate Shaka, it is easier to imagine that he modeled his state on theirs. And as they stemmed from ancient families it is entirely possible that states of that type existed in a more remote past. Soga and Bryant related each of them to a larger grouping they called Mho.{{sfn|Etherington|2014}}