Overview
Late on the afternoon of January 22, 1879, scarcely 150 British troops stood behind makeshift barricades surrounding an obscure border mission-station and prepared to fight for their lives against a determined attack by more than 3,000 Zulu warriors. What happened next turned the name of the post, Rorke's Drift, into a legend and conferred a fame on the ordinary soldiers who defended it that has lasted into modern times. The Battle of Rorke's Drift is still celebrated in feature films, TV documentaries, and a steady stream of books—it has even spawned its own tourist industry. Yet how much of the popular image of the battle is true, and how much myth? How did this one action achieve an iconic significance out of all proportion to its strategic importance, and how has it come to represent in the popular imagination a war that was in reality a political and military disaster for both sides? What was the impact on the Zulu people, sidelined in the story of their own subjugation by the attention accorded this battle? Who were the real men behind the famous names, and how does the bloody reality of the battle compare with the heroic imagery? Rorke's Drift: The True Story is a revelatory account that strips away the accumulated layers of imperial "spin" to reveal a story of dogged courage on both sides, of desperate horror, of political and press manipulation, and of tragedy and dispossession—factors which sit uneasily with the enduring images of glory.Author Biography: Ian Knight is a renowned expert on the Anglo-Zulu Wars. His publications include By the Orders of the Great White Queen: An Anthology of the Campaigning in Zululand, 1879 (1853671223) and Brave Men's Blood (0947898956).
Synopsis
Late on the afternoon of January 22, 1879, scarcely 150 British troops stood behind makeshift barricades surrounding an obscure border mission-station and prepared to fight for their lives against a determined attack by more than 3,000 Zulu warriors. What happened next turned the name of the post, Rorke's Drift, into a legend and conferred a fame on the ordinary soldiers who defended it that has lasted into modern times. The Battle of Rorke's Drift is still celebrated in feature films, TV documentaries, and a steady stream of books—it has even spawned its own tourist industry. Yet how much of the popular image of the battle is true, and how much myth? How did this one action achieve an iconic significance out of all proportion to its strategic importance, and how has it come to represent in the popular imagination a war that was in reality a political and military disaster for both sides? What was the impact on the Zulu people, sidelined in the story of their own subjugation by the attention accorded this battle? Who were the real men behind the famous names, and how does the bloody reality of the battle compare with the heroic imagery? Rorke's Drift: The True Story is a revelatory account that strips away the accumulated layers of imperial "spin" to reveal a story of dogged courage on both sides, of desperate horror, of political and press manipulation, and of tragedy and dispossession—factors which sit uneasily with the enduring images of glory.
Author Biography: Ian Knight is a renowned expert on the Anglo-Zulu Wars. His publications include By the Orders of the Great White Queen: An Anthology of the Campaigning in Zululand, 1879 (1853671223) and Brave Men's Blood (0947898956).