The Washing Of The Spears: The Rise and Fall of the Zulu Nation Under Shaka and its Fall in the Zulu War of 1879

(Paperback)

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

Donald Morris delivers an account of the rise of the Zulu nation in southern Africa, and its fall under Cetshwayo in the Zulu war of 1879. For more than a century after the European landing at Cape Town in the 17th century, the Boers had advanced unopposed into the vast interior of Africa. It was not until 1824 that Europeans came face to face with another expanding and imperial power, the Zulus, the most formidable nation in black Africa. That confrontation culminated in a bitter war between the Zulu warriors and Victoria's British Army. It was the last despairing effort of Africans to stem the tide of white civilization. The result was a dramatic, legendary and bloody defeat at Isandhlwana for the British; the aftermath was the defeat and fall of the Zulu nation. This work sets out to be not only a history of the Zulus but also a full-scale study of the British colonial and military policy in relation to southern Africa, and of those involved.

Reviews

Superb -- Noel Mostert * New York Times *
Mr. Morris is evidently incapable of being dull... Hemingway would have relished his vigorous way of bringing history to life * The Times *
An accomplished volume, anatomising the achievement of Zulu nationhood and its destruction by the British at the high watermark of Victorian imperialism. * Observer *
The book to end all books on the tragic confrontation between the assegai and the Gatling gun... Colourful yet commendably fair * Times Literary Supplement *
This magnificent book is not only a history of the Zulus, the "Black Spartans", from their rise under Shaka to the deliberate destruction of the independent Zulu nation through the war forced on them by Sir Bartle Frere, but also a full-scale immensely knowledgeable account of British Colonial and military policy in relation to Southern Africa, and of the men who carried it out. * Punch *

Author Bio

Donald R. Morris was born in 1924 and grew up in New York City. In 1948 he graduated from the US Naval Academy at Annapolis. After serving on several destroyers, he went on to Naval Intelligence School and Russian language training and was detailed to the CIA in 1956. He remained with the CIA and continued in the Naval Reserve until 1972, when he retired as a Lieutenant Commander. He earned two battle stars in Korea and holds the Navy Commendation medal. His 17 years with the CIA were spent almost entirely in Soviet counter-espionage operations. He was stationed for lengthy periods in Berlin, Paris, Kinshasa (Zaire) and Vietnam. For many years Donald Morris was also a foreign affairs columnist for the Houston Post. In 1989 he formed the Trident Syndicate and published a weekly newsletter on current events and foreign affairs. He died in 2002.