The Boiling Cauldron-Utrecht District and the Anglo-Zulu War, 1879

Original red cloth with gilt lettering to spine, with fine dustcover in protected mylar cover.

The disastrous rout of British forces from Hlobane Mountain on 28th March 1879 during the Anglo-Zulu war was not the result of inept military planning, but the outcome of tensions and conflicts which had been developing in the area over the previous fifty years.

In the nearby basin of the upper Phongolo River-The Boiling Cauldron-African politics had clashed with each other and tensions increased further when trekboers and missionaries started to arrive. Whist the leaders of the embryonic Boer states tried to find a route to the eastern seaboard, smaller communities of burghers were more intent on confirming rights to the land on which they had settled. Those in the Utrecht district abutted a burgeoning Zulu polity intent on absorbing further territory to the north-west more conductive to the security of its leadership.

Both Boers and Zulu used the diplomatic tools of their experience and choice to further their objectives, but it was a dialogue of misunderstanding.

Whilst several on both sides developed a mutual appreciation of the other's political and economic situation, internal developments in each polity distracted attention from an acceptable solution to the problem of a frontier undefined topgraphically and politically.

Developing close relationships did little for both Boers and Zulus to conclude a satisfactory definition in the face of the economic paramountcy of the British to the south of Natal. Annexation of the South African Republic by the British in 1877 for its overarching political purposes served only to confuse a local situation and exacerbate relationships.

By now the Zulu ruler Cetshwayo was set on the occupation of that cauldron to further his strategic objectives, an ambition misunderstood by the Boers and misinterpreted by the British.

Halftitle. Title. Contents. List of Maps and Illustrations. List of Abbreviations. Glossary. Introduction.-Maps. xvi plus 379 pages text.