The origins of the Anglo-Zulu war of 1879.

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dc.contributor.authorCope, Richard Lidbrook.
dc.date.accessioned2017-07-06T13:05:49Z
dc.date.available2017-07-06T13:05:49Z
dc.date.issued1995
dc.descriptionA thesis submitted to the Faculty of Arts, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophyen_ZA
dc.description.abstractThis thesis provides a detailed account of the. events leading up to the war between Britain and the Zulu kingdom in 1879, and undertakes to explain why the war came about Theophilus Shepstone, Natal's Secretary for Native Affairs, had long aspired to bring Zululand under British control, When King Mpande died in 1872, his heir, Cetshwayo, was anxious for British support against rival claimants, and against the South African Republic, with which he had a border dispute. He therefore invited Shepstone to preside over a ceremony recognizing him as King. Shepstone's hopes that his 'coronation' of Cetshwayo would lead to greater control over Zululand were disappointed, but it did serve as a precedent for British intervention. The war of 1879, in the event, did not arise out of purely local causes, but was more the result of British imperial policy. Lord Carnarvon, the Secretary of State for the Colonies, aspired to 'confederate' the various territories of southern Africa into a 'self-governing' (that is, settler governed) dominion under the British flag. To this end Shepstone annexed the Transvaal in 1877. The border dispute now became a dispute between Britain and the Zulu kingdom, and relations deteriorated sharply. Sir Bartle Frere, the High Commissioner entrusted by Carnarvon with the task of implementing his confederation policy, decided that the continued independence of the Zulu kingdom was an insuperable obstacle to confederation. He therefore took advantage of certain border incidents (and of the warlike reputation of the Zulu) to send an ultimatum calculated to bring about war. The question this thesis particularly addresses is whether the war was an incidental by-product of a confederation policy carried out for other reasons, or whether bringing Zululand under British control was inherent in the policy itself. It argues that the latter was the case. The purpose of confederation was neither retrenchment nor to safeguard naval bases, as some have argued, but a comprehensive political and economic reconstruction of South African society in Which an independent Zulu kingdom could have no place. On the other hand, to argue that Zululand was invaded to facilitate the advance of capitalist production in South Africa., as others have done, is to state the case too narrowly. The desirability and inevitability of capitalist production was assumed rather than consciously striven for by those who believed that the invasion of Zululand was necessary to facilitate the progress and civilization of South Africa.en_ZA
dc.description.librarianAC2017en_ZA
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10539/22952
dc.language.isoenen_ZA
dc.subjectZulu War, 1879.en_ZA
dc.subjectSouth Africa -- History -- 1836-1909.en_ZA
dc.titleThe origins of the Anglo-Zulu war of 1879.en_ZA
dc.typeThesisen_ZA
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