Cetshwayo biography of christopher

Though the inquiry favored Cetshwayo's claims, the British high commissioner seems to have feared that an award against the Transvaal might antagonize white opinion and so jeopardize the cause of a southern African federation, which he had been appointed to promote. He therefore withheld a decision until he had furthered preparations for war and then accompanied the boundary award with an ultimatum that Cetshwayo could not possibly accept.

Hostilities began in January Cetshwayo had no hope of success against an enemy that was better armed and could campaign without regard for plowing and harvesting seasons. In August he was defeated and exiled and Zululand was divided into 13 petty kingdoms under appointed rulers. In , when it was clear that this settlement was unworkable, Cetshwayo went to London for discussions, and in he was restored to the central portion of Zululand.

In August he was defeated and exiled and Zululand was divided into 13 petty kingdoms under appointed rulers. In , when it was clear that this settlement was unworkable, Cetshwayo went to London for discussions, and in he was restored to the central portion of Zululand. By then deep divisions had opened within Zulu society. In the north he faced a dangerous rival, his cousin Zibebu, and Cetshwayo's own Usutu supporters seem to have been unwilling to accept the truncated kingdom assigned him.

Cetshwayo biography of christopher

Within months there was bitter fighting that ended when Cetshwayo fled to the British reserve in the south of the Zulu country. There Cetshwayo died in February The officially assigned cause was heart disease, but it is possible that he was poisoned. He was exiled from Southern Africa after his capture, although eventually allowed to return by the British government.

In , Sir Henry Bartle Frere , British High Commissioner for the Cape Colony , sought to confederate the colony the same way Canada had been and felt that this could not be done while there was a powerful Zulu state bordering it. Frere thus began to demand reparations for Zulu border infractions and ordered his subordinates to send messages complaining about Cetshwayo's policies, seeking to provoke the Zulu king.

They carried out their orders, but Cetshwayo kept calm, considering the British his friends and being aware of the power of the British Army. He did, however, state that he and Frere were equals, and since he did not complain about how Frere administered the Cape Colony, Frere should observe the same courtesy concerning Zululand. Eventually, Frere issued an ultimatum that demanded that Cetshwayo de facto disband his army.

His refusal led to war in , though he continually sought to make peace after the Battle of Isandlwana , the first engagement of the war. After an initial decisive but costly Zulu victory over the British at Isandlwana and the failure of the other two columns of the three-pronged British attack to make headway — indeed, one was bogged down in the Siege of Eshowe — the British retreated, other columns suffering two further defeats to Zulu armies in the field at the Battle of Intombe and the Battle of Hlobane.

However, the British follow-up victories at Rorke's Drift and Kambula prevented a total collapse of the British military positions. While this retreat presented an opportunity for a Zulu counterattack deep into Natal, Cetshwayo refused to mount such an attack; he intended to repulse the British offensive and secure a peace treaty.

However, Cetshwayo's translator, a Dutch trader he had imprisoned at the start of the war named Cornelius Vijn , gave warnings to Chelmsford of gathering Zulu forces during these negotiations. The British then returned to Zululand with a far larger and better-armed force, finally capturing the Zulu capital at the Battle of Ulundi , in which the British, having learned their lesson from their defeat at Isandlwana, set up a hollow square on the open plain, armed with cannons and Gatling guns.

But Cetshwayo dramatically defeated his brother on the banks of the Tugela River in Mpande tried to prevent Cetshwayo from threatening his power, and he again appealed to both the British and the Afrikaners for support. The British Secretary for Native Affairs in Natal, Theophilus Shepstone , encouraged Cetshwayo to proclaim his loyalty to his father, and in Mpande and Cetshwayo were reconciled and in Cetshwayo and Mpanda came to terms: Cetshwayo would have effective control of the nation whilst Mpande would retain 'ultimate' authority and the title of king.

However, for the next 15 years Cetshwayo seemed to control the Zulu nation, he reenergized the amabutho system and tried to stem the diffusion of power away from the crown and out to the izikhulu territorial chiefs. Mpande had a third son, Umtonga older than Cetshwayo. Cetshwayo also began to see him as a threat and chased him into Utrecht land that Mpande had ceded in in Utrecht expanded and this new border was officially marked in Umtonga fled from Zululand to the Colony of Natal in and Cetshwayo felt that part of the agreement he made with the Boers had not been upheld.

He tried to reclaim the land nearly causing a war as a Zulu army under Cetshwayo and a Boer commando under Paul Kruger positioned themselves along the border between Utrecht and Zululand. In the Lieutenant Governor of the Colony of Natal, Sir Anthony Musgrave, was called in to solve the argument between the two groups, but he failed to do so.

He died in his Kraal, Nodwengu in Zululand. After his death Cetshwayo came to the throne and an official coronation ceremony took place the following year.