Chapter 374 Lively South Africa
"The Zulus are coming! Gather together!"
“Woo…”
I don’t know how many times this month, General Anders of the Transvaal Republic roared angrily.
This time the attackers were again a small group of troops from the Zulu Kingdom. They also carried firearms and, like the Ndebele, launched an attack on the Boers.
When the Boers finally gathered together, a horn sounded from the opposite side, and the Zulu army began to retreat in a well-trained manner.
Andris could only watch the Zulu army retreat and pursue, but no one dared to give the order, because the Zulus on the opposite side were a group of sinister natives who must be up to something.
For the Boers, life was becoming increasingly difficult. The main reason was that the pressure on national defense was becoming increasingly heavy. The provocations from the small Zulu Kingdom were growing day by day. With the British on their side, it was difficult for the Boers to inflict any serious damage on the Zulu Kingdom, and they even fought more and more conservatively.
It can be said that the hatred between the Boers and the Zulus was established from the moment they met. In fact, neither of them was the owner of this land. The Boers went north, while the Zulus went south, so the two forces collided head-on in the Natal region.
The original owners of the Natal region were the Ndebele people who were completely defeated by East Africa. The Ndebele and the Zulu people are of the same origin, but because of the invasion of the Zulu Kingdom, the two sides fought a bloody battle in the Natal region.
The outcome was still uncertain, but at this time the Boers heading north dealt a fatal blow to the Ndebele.
The Boers heading north had to face the Ndebele people bordering the Cape Colony, but the series of attacks went smoothly.
Soon after the war began, they united with the hostile tribes of the Ndebele and launched a daring surprise attack on their capital, looting many elderly, weak, women, children, and livestock.
The Ndebele king was at war with the Zulu Kingdom at the time and was disheartened by the sudden attack. He led the entire tribe, young and old, to migrate north across the Limpopo River to avoid the double attack of the Zulu and Boers.
This is why the Matabele Kingdom in Zimbabwe was established. Compared with the Zulus and Boers, the Ndebele people were definitely the most unfortunate. The Matabele Kingdom of the Ndebele people had just flourished when they encountered the East African Kingdom that moved south, which dealt the Ndebele people the final blow and the entire tribe became prisoners.
After the Ndebele people voluntarily withdrew, the Boer colonists established the first Natal regional colony on the land left by the Ndebele people and appointed positions such as governor and militia commander.
The Governor of Natal, Retief, also wrote to Dingane, the king of the Zulu Kingdom in the north, asking him to allow the Boers to open farms and settle on the land near the Zulu border. Dingane replied that if Retief could help the Zulus recover the 700 cattle stolen by nomads, he would agree to the Boers' request.
Afterwards, Retief helped the Zulu king recover the lost cattle as agreed, and the latter signed a land settlement treaty with the governor in the capital, Mgangandlovu. But at the celebration banquet, the Zulu king suddenly attacked and ordered his guards to disarm Retief and his guards, and they were all stabbed to death with short spears.
The Zulu Field Army, which was ready to go, immediately launched a full-scale attack on the unstable Boer colony. All Boer farms and forts were destroyed, several camps were attacked at night, and even the only seaport, Durban Port, was captured. About 500 women, children, the elderly and the young were killed, leaving the remaining survivors feeling insecure and waiting in their camps, not daring to fight.
In the critical moment, the Boer farmers wrote to the militia commander of the Cape Colony, Pretorius, asking him to take the responsibility of leading the Boers to fight against the Zulu Kingdom and lead the Boer militia remaining in the Cape to rush to the Natal region.
At this time, civil strife broke out in the Zulu Kingdom, and Dingane's brother Mpanda, fearing that the other side would murder him, led 17,000 soldiers to set up his own faction. This made Pretorius plan to concentrate on dealing with Dingane, and support Mpanda as a war ally.
The two sides fought a decisive battle on the N'Com River. Pretorius's men, armed with an old naval gun and a land gun, fought off each wave of attack by firing grapeshot.
A small number of Zulus attempted to bypass the Ncombe River and attack the chariot formation from behind, but were also continuously shot at by the colonial troops.
Since the Boers often relied on hunting meat to feed their slaves, almost everyone was a good shooter. Even the slaves who followed them out had high attainments in gun handling.
In addition, the rifle's attack range was twice that of the Zulu spear, and the black warriors who came one after another were killed in large numbers in the Ncom River.
The battle lasted until dusk that day, and the Boers' ammunition was almost exhausted. Desperate, Pretorius led 300 Boer cavalry to launch a counterattack against the Zulus.
Under the fierce attack of the Boers led by Pretorius, the exhausted Zulu black warriors were killed in pieces and were unable to organize an effective offensive again.
More Zulu warriors were driven into the Ncombe River and killed, and their blood even dyed the entire Ncombe River red, creating the so-called "Battle of Blood River", a battle that went down in history.
In the end, 3,000 people fell on the battlefield, while only one Boer colonist was killed. The always arrogant Zulu Kingdom could only leave in disappointment.
The Battle of Blood River also determined the ownership of the Natal region, and the Zulu Kingdom, which once had a complete advantage, began to fall into a passive position.
The Boer convoy arrived at the capital of the Zulu Kingdom and found that Dingane had already led the entire city's army and civilians to hastily abandon the city and flee north. They supported the Zulu prince Mpanda to become king, allowed the Boers to settle in Natal, and paid 10,000 kilograms of ivory to Pretorius as compensation. Then they led their army to pursue the fleeing King Dingane, forcing him to be killed by his guards after fleeing to Swaziland.
However, the good days of the Boers did not last long. Although they defeated the Zulu Kingdom, the British set their sights on the Natal colony.
The British invaded the Natalia Republic on the grounds that the Boers had violated the rights of the Zulus. In 1843, the defeated Boers once again moved inland, finally breaking through the defenses of the Zulu Kingdom and establishing the Transvaal Republic and the Orange Free State in 1852.
In the fight between the two tigers, the British gained the upper hand, while the Zulus, with the support of the British, began to overcome their disadvantage and frequently launched counterattacks against the Transvaal Republic.
The Transvaal Republic was harassed by the Zulu Kingdom almost every day, and small wars never stopped. The main force of the Transvaal Republic's army had to be concentrated in the southeast to fight against the provocations of the Zulu Kingdom.
As for the huge East African kingdom in the north, the Transvaal Republic was also frightened by the newly arrived Germans at first, but after living together for such a long time, they found that the Germans had no intention of taking action, but instead started trading with them, so they gradually let down their guard. However, deep down in their hearts, the Boers were still afraid that the Germans would be as bad as the English beasts, so they supported the Ndebele people, their former defeated enemies, which also laid the seeds for their own demise.
(End of this chapter)
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