Cetewayo didn’t attend any of the meetings with the British

Posts : 1603 Join date : 2009-09-21

It there any reason, why Cetewayo didn’t attend any of the meetings with the British prior to the invasion. If he were so keen on keeping the peace surly before the war started would have been a good time to negotiate, not during when the odds were stacked against him. Or did he ??

Dave.

Posts : 2593 Join date : 2009-04-24

Hi Dave.
Don’t really know. But I expect Cetewayo could have said why didn’t the great white Queen attend. After all he was the King.

Subject: cetswayo didnt attend meetings Fri Feb 05, 2010 9:51 pm

hi Dave .
I am having a stab here in saying that Cetswayo DIDNT KNOW that he was going to be at war with the
British until his Indunas arrived back from the meeting of 11th Dec , as the British attended his so called
coronation a few years earlier and Shepstone even gave him some sort of crown to mark the occasion .
Cetswayo basically was never going to be the aggressor , he was happy to wait for an invasion and then
act once the british had crossed the river into his land . I think , he thought he could defeat the invading
forces and maybe a truce would be declared . Also he is the king , I wouldnt think he should be going in
person as he may have feared capture or worse !. Throughout history I dont think I can recall any instance
where a reigning monarch has left his own land and travelled to another who had made overtones of war
against them . Hope this helps and makes sense :) .

cheers 90th.

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