Additional Fact about the Battle of Isandlwana
After having read the information so far, there are some additional details about the battle you should know. As mentioned before, the well armed British were defeated by the Zulus who fought with primitive weapons. It was an incredible loss to the British and sent shock waves throughout Europe. As the battle raged, much of the fighting occurred at close contact. Also, in the middle of the fighting, a solar eclipse occurred that brought darkness to the scene of the battle. The British soldiers who fled the battle remembered that the Zulu soldiers had acted terribly toward the dead soldiers. As one of the British soldiers recalled, "our enemy appeared to us to be possessed of savagery beyond description." He said this because the British were appalled to see the Zulus cutting open the bodies of the dead British soldiers and exposing their entrails. Moreover, the Zulus were called "barbaric thieves" because they were stealing the clothing from the dead British soldiers and dressing themselves with it even as the battle raged. Such uncivilized savagery had never been witnessed by the British soldiers.
The Zulus, on the other hand, thought the white men were barbaric and acted without any compassion at all toward the Zulu dead and their own dead. They fought fearlessly, even though at the beginning of the battle their men were being cut down in large numbers by the British rifles. But slowly, the fire from the British guns began to recede. As the British began to shoot less often, the Zulu were able to charge and fight in hand-to-hand combat. When this type of fighting started, the British were massacred in large numbers. This battle severely affected the British's concept of their own superiority.