The Zulus and Matabele: Warrior Nations
by Glen Lyndon Dodds
This
highly readable and informative volume records the dramatic histories of
southern Africa’s two most renowned warrior nations, related tribes that
dominated much of the region for most of the 19th century.
The lively and authoritative text recounts the lives and
times of such colourful figures as Shaka and Mzilikazi, the founders of the
Zulu and Matabele (Ndebele) kingdoms. It also discusses events such as the epic
Great Trek, which pitted migrant Boers against the Zulus and Matabele, most
notably at the ferocious Battle of Blood River. Subsequent chapters also
contain well-informed accounts of battles of the Anglo-Zulu War of 1879— such
as Isandlwana, Rorke’s Drift and Khambula—and of the conquest and settlement of
Zimbabwe in the 1890s by the forces of Cecil Rhodes.
The
text concludes by outlining Matabele involvement in the Rhodesian Bush War of
the 1960s and 70s, and the events that led to the end of apartheid in South
Africa.
highly readable and informative volume records the dramatic histories of
southern Africa’s two most renowned warrior nations, related tribes that
dominated much of the region for most of the 19th century.
The lively and authoritative text recounts the lives and
times of such colourful figures as Shaka and Mzilikazi, the founders of the
Zulu and Matabele (Ndebele) kingdoms. It also discusses events such as the epic
Great Trek, which pitted migrant Boers against the Zulus and Matabele, most
notably at the ferocious Battle of Blood River. Subsequent chapters also
contain well-informed accounts of battles of the Anglo-Zulu War of 1879— such
as Isandlwana, Rorke’s Drift and Khambula—and of the conquest and settlement of
Zimbabwe in the 1890s by the forces of Cecil Rhodes.
The
text concludes by outlining Matabele involvement in the Rhodesian Bush War of
the 1960s and 70s, and the events that led to the end of apartheid in South
Africa.