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Date	Original Topic
1st January 2002	Why did the Zulus retreat? By Craig Jones Why did the zulus retreat when they had such overwhelming superiority.I have seen the film countless times in the preceding 30 years,and did not think about it until my 5 year old son asked me.He is obsessed by the film and men of Harlech which he sings all of the time.
Date	Replies
1st January 2002	Eddie Saunders Don't know how much truth there is in this but I heard that the Zulu intention was to destroy the mission at Rorke's Drift and so having burned down the buildings they considered that their job was done. As I say, I'm no authority on the subject and would welcome a more informed answer than mine whether contrary to my information or not. Perhaps they were just knackered or they knew relief was coming from Helpmaaker (did I spell that right?).
1st January 2002	Derek Johns The Zulus had Probably not eaten since mid-morning on the 22nd,Crossed 12 to 15 miles of rugged terrain,Attacked Rorkes Drift for over 6 hours,Their nearest water supply was half a mile away.I think they were just exhausted
1st January 2002	James Garland My understanding of the Zulu retirement was that Cetchwayo had ordered his impi to attack the central column that had entered Zululand and gave strict instructions that his warriors were not to cross into Natal. His reasoning was that he wished to be seen to be defending his territory. He wanted to avoid being seen as the agressor and therebye lending legitimacy to the attack on his country. When Prince Dabulamanzi crossed the buffalo river into Natal with the Undi Corps in contravention of Cetchwayo's orders to attack Rorke's Drift he was taking a gamble. After the rapid victory at Isandhlwana Rorke's Drift must have seemed an easy target and despite Cetchwayo's orders a victory here would probably have enhanced Danbulamanzi's reputation. As we all now know with the benefit of hindsight the garrison was fiercely defended and the cost to the Undi Corps in dead and wounded was dreadful. Dabulamanzi must have been aware of the censure he would receive from Cetchwayo for disobeying his order at so great a cost and (worst of all) without winning. Dabulamanzi then did what many politicians do in such situations, he reinterpreted the battle. He told Cetchwayo that he had destroyed the buildings at Rorke's Drift, when in fact his warriors had only managed to overun and destroy the hospital. Derek I think is also correct in saying the Zulus were just plain exhausted. As the Zulus retired they passed near to Chelmsfords relief column and both the British and Zulus passed by quietly leaving each other alone. Both sides had clearly had enough for one day.
1st January 2002	Kyle Smith I am only 16 but am a Zulu War enthusiast. I view a programe o the history channel that said that they retreated because they knew that a releif colomn was almost there!
2nd January 2002	Ian Craig, I believe there was more than one reason: As well as the above it must have come as a tremendous shock that they had not wiped out Rorke's Drift in the first hour or so of the fight. Wave upon wave of Zulu's attacked and were repelled. But from late afternoon till the early hours of the following morning the Zulus could not completely break through to destroy the British. The Zulu's did not normally fight at night, so their lack of success during that particular night must have been particularly discouraging. Then on the following morning when they stood on the opposite hill they did spot the relief column. Having said that there must be other reasons? What is interesting is that had the Zulu's attacked all at the same time Rorke's Drift would have been overun in seconds. But they never did. When you actually stand in the area you realise how small a place it is to defend when faced with the prospect of anything up to 4,000 Zulu's. Also had the hospital not been set alight then the Zulu's could probably have used complete darkness to attack. As it was the fire lit up the night and as Hook? says in his account: 'It gave us a very good light to fight by' Hope this helps
3rd January 2002	Stephen McDonald Agree with most of the replies, Ian, Kyle, James and Derek. The bottom line is a number of reasons. Zulu commanders weren't dumb. Clearly, the post would not be taken without significantly greater effort by the Zulus...given the circumstances the Zulus did the wise thing.
3rd January 2002	mj One other thing to ponder was when Ardendorff was explaining the method of the Zulu attack. The horns, head and loins of the Bull Buffalo. How the head was to draw the enemy in then break up to join the horns in surrounding the enemy and pushing it into the loins. "It's jolly deadly". As the Zulu's had never fought anyone who held their ground before and with the weapon differences their losses would be heavy. As for the Zulu's being tired I would say fatigue was not an issue because if they had used all their strength at any given time (around 4000) the battle would have been a walk in the park for the Zulu's. I have read while one group attacked the other rested. It was like shift work. The ones who got no rest were the 100+ in the encampment.
5th January 2002	Fred I would have thought that, fit as they were, the Zulus would have been pretty shattered after charging (over uneven ground) for many hours. After the battle around 350 Zulu bodies were found around RD. The returning Central column also counted over 100 shields at the edge of the Buffalo-Tugela where it was thought that Dabulamanzi's impi had dragged further dead before dropping their bodies in the water. In most actions there is a remarkable consistent statistic that for every one dead, there are generally two serious non-fatal casualties (i.e. sufficiently serious to put them hors de combat). Even if the one hundred shields are discounted, that would leave a force of 4000 with over a thousand dead or seriously injured, 25% of their strength. They were also not to know that the defenders of RD were down to their last ammunition box. I would have thought that the sheer exhaustion of the battle (and the effect on both sides was not just physical. An enormous amount of mental energy is expended in even quite a short encounter. The RD defenders almost entirely dropped into a deep sleep as soon as the action finished,some on piles of dead bodies, a sure sign of extreme stress), the fact that the Zulus had not had any significant food for three days, the large number of casualties, the lack of any tangible crack in the defence (and , enormously brave as the Zulus were, even their morale must have been crumbling by then) they must have come to the conclusion that there was just no further point to the battle. By partaking in the battle, they had washed their spears (this is probably one of the main reasons why, I'd conjecture, that Dabulamanzi disobeyed Cetshwayo's order not to cross into Natal), and both sides had fought themselves to a standstill.
8th January 2002	Craig Jones Thank you all for your replies.Plenty of food for thought and answers for my 5 yr old son.