Why did rorkes drift happen

The resulting flat trajectory made the Martini far more accurate and harder-hitting than anything seen on the battlefield before. Tests in gave an average deviation of slightly more than a foot at yards, and at yards the bullet would go through more than 14 inches of elm planks. Lieutenant Chard noted the terrible wounds that it had inflicted on the Zulu dead after the battle.

In the tests, a skilled marksman managed 20 shots a minute, though 12 was considered more realistic for the average soldier under battle conditions. The Zulus had been accustomed to advance with their shields held at an angle in the hope that musket balls fired by their opponents would glance off, but the shields were no obstacle at all to the Martini-Henry and merely provided the British soldiers with a highly visible aiming point.

From there they could support the attacks of their comrades by firing down at the exposed backs of the defenders lining the barricades on the far side of the post. But at that range the chance of scoring any hits with their old muskets was very low, while the shooters, whose position was betrayed by clouds of smoke every time they fired, made ideal targets for the Martini-Henrys.

A handful of the Zulus may themselves have carried Martini-Henrys picked up from the battlefield at Isandlwana, though this is debated.

Being unaccustomed to their flat trajectory, the Zulus would probably have fired too high and overshot the post altogether. Most of the British casualties were caused by fire from much closer range, as the Zulus fought to break into the position from the north, but even here the defenders decisively outshot them. Around nightfall, some of the attackers set fire to the roof of the hospital, which at the time consisted only of thatch, but this apparent vulnerability in fact worked to the advantage of the defenders, as the light of the flames deprived the advancing warriors of the cover of darkness.

The ineffectiveness of Zulu firepower is demonstrated by their inability to prevent the evacuation of the patients from the burning hospital, despite them having to cross an open yard a few feet of the advanced Zulu positions. It is not possible to ascertain the exact cause in all cases, but about 19 of the defenders were killed or wounded by bullets during the battle, while Zulu losses from the same cause must have been at least 20 times that number.

The real aim of Zulu tactics, however, was to engage the enemy at close-quarters with their spears. They had never met their match in this type of combat since the s, when the founder of the Zulu kingdom, Shaka, had reformed the training and equipment of his armies to make them specialists in hand-to-hand fighting. By means of ferocious discipline, he obliged the warriors to charge regardless of losses, combining frontal attacks with wide enveloping sweeps that surrounded the enemy and resulted in his complete annihilation.

Unfortunately for them, this was also a tactic at which the British infantrymen excelled. Their fear was not surprising, because this was the first time the Zulus had encountered an enemy who outclassed them at this type of combat. The Martini-Henry rifle was designed to mount a inch bayonet, which when attached to the barrel formed a weapon with a reach of around six feet, considerably longer than that of the Zulu spears.

Wielded in two hands, it also had sufficient weight to go right through the thin cowhide shields. A rock step almost the height of a man ran along the front of the position, and when it was surmounted by a row of mealie bags it proved impossible for the Zulus to climb it without exposing themselves to a bayonet thrust from above.

In the close confines of the hospital, the defenders found it possible to stab their assailants one by one as they struggled to break through the narrow doorways.

The light from the burning hospital assisted the British in their fire. The savage Zulu attacks were resisted until around midnight, when, unexpectedly, the ferocity of the assault fell away. Firing continued until around 4am when the Zulus withdrew. By then the British held only the area around the storehouse. At 7am, a body of Zulus appeared on the hill, but no attack followed. The Zulus turned and left. Soon afterwards, the column arrived at the drift and crossed the Buffalo River, marching up to the mission station.

The garrison of the mission station comprised 8 officers and non-commissioned ranks. Of these 17 were killed and 10 wounded. Chelmsford had then to ensure that the Zulu Armies did not invade Natal. He called for substantial reinforcements and got them. More Victoria Crosses 11 were awarded to the troops at Rorke's Drift than at any other single battle by the British army. But that image of valour and nobility in the Anglo-Zulu war of could now turn to shame.

Documents have been uncovered which show that Rorke's Drift was the scene of an atrocity - a war crime, in today's language - which Britain covered up.

In the hours after the battle senior officers and enlisted men of a force sent to relieve the garrison are said to have killed hundreds of wounded Zulu prisoners. Some were bayoneted, some hanged and others buried alive in mass graves. More Zulus are estimated to have died in this way than in combat, but the executions were hushed up to preserve Rorke's Drift's image as a bloody but clean fight between two forces which saluted the other's courage.

Damning testimonies from British soldiers are published in a new book, Zulu Victory, written by two retired British officers, Ron Lock and Peter Quantrill, and published in Britain by Greenhill.

Many of the Zulus who had firearms lacked training and were poor shots. As the battle raged on, the Zulus targeted the hospital. They set fire to the building, burst in and began killing the patients with their spears. But the defenders managed to push them back with bayonets.

The surviving patients were rescued after soldiers hacked holes in the walls separating the rooms, and dragged them through and into the barricaded yard. As night fell, the British withdrew to the centre of the station, where a final defence had been hastily built. They eventually succeeded in fighting the Zulus off. After the disaster at Isandlwana, the stand at Rorke's Drift was a welcome boost to British morale.

But it had little effect on the Zulu War as a whole. The conflict continued for several months until the Zulus were finally defeated in July at the Battle of Ulundi. King Cetshwayo was later hunted down and captured, the Zulu monarchy was suppressed and Zululand divided into autonomous areas.

In , it was declared a British territory, and became part of the British colony of Natal ten years later. Born in Switzerland, he later settled in South Africa and joined a British colonial unit, serving throughout the Zulu War.

Schiess displayed great bravery at Rorke's Drift. He fought off the Zulus throughout the night, despite being wounded in the foot. He became the first Swiss national to be awarded a VC and the first man serving with South African forces to be decorated with the supreme British award for gallantry. Despite his heroism, Schiess struggled to find work after the war and ended up living in poverty. In , he fell ill on a sea voyage to England and died.

The British government seized upon the successful defence of Rorke's Drift, issuing awards to the survivors in the hope of diverting public attention away from the disaster of Isandlwana. It didn't work. Benjamin Disraeli's administration lost the election, brought down in part by the events of the Zulu War.

However, it was the heroism at Rorke's Drift, rather than the defeat at Isandlwana, that passed into British folklore.