Running for cover: Parliament and the Anglo Zulu War. January – March 1879 By D P O’Connor

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Starts with:

"When Sir Bartle Frere disobeyed his instructions to desist from attacking the Zulus he placed the Conservative government of the day in a difficult position"

Ends with:

"Perhaps their greatest failing is that, when all is said and done, the debaters never did answer the central question of why Sir Bartle Frere should choose to disobey his instructions and start a war with the Zulus."

Ouch!
Durnford, Pulleine, Chelmsford. Perhaps Frere really was to blame from the outset?

Posts : 1086 Join date : 2012-05-12 Location : NYC

tasker224 wrote:: Durnford, Pulleine, Chelmsford. Perhaps Frere really was to blame from the outset?

You're joking...but Frere really was culpable...and not just in an ultimate moral sense either.

One of the reasons Chelmsford was pushing so hard was the late, heavy spring rains. Another was that he was racing a clock since Frere's Gambit put him out on the same limb, politically speaking, as Frere. Frere's boss did not want another distracting war and there was no desire in the government to strain the treasury by starting one either. So Chelmsford needed to make quick work of Zulu, and do it economically. Basically, the war had to pay for itself.* Isandlwana ended that dream. Despite the success of his second campaign Chelmsford was put on the shelf permanently. My belief is that the embarrassing reversal on the battlefield would have been forgotten in the wake of the victory parade except for the tax bill and attendant political fallout made necessary by having to mount (and pay for,) a second expeditionary force. Pilfering Cetshwayo's kingdom could not offset the debts incurred.

Long story short, one of the reasons Chelmsford lost at Isandlwana was that he was in too much of a hurry. And the reason he felt he had to hurry was that Frere had him launch a war without any foundation in the Tory party or parliament.

* OT: Before the US incursion into Iraq those behind it claimed that the oil seized would pay for it too. Nope.

Guest

Hi all

They are all guilty ...

All those who wanted all the colonial wars and all those who participated ...

There is nothing wrong with that ... Salute

Cheers

Pascal

Posts : 705 Join date : 2012-05-05

Not sure the Boer farmers would agree!!

Guest

The origin of the Boers are not African, they do not have to be there Salute

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