At the Battle of Isandlwana, 22 January 1879, 11 days after the British commenced their invasion of Zululand,
20,000 Zulu warriors attacked about 1,800 British, colonial, native troops and civilians.
The Zulus were equipped mainly with the traditional Assegai iron spears, iklwa, and cow-hide shields,
while the British were armed with the state-of-the-art Martini-Henry rifles.
The numerically superior Zulus ultimately overwhelmed the poorly led and badly deployed British, killing over 1,300 troops,
while the Zulu army only suffered around a thousand killed.
On the following day, at the Defence of Rorke's Drift, under Lieutenant John Chard of the Royal Engineers,
just over 150 British and colonial troops successfully defended against 3,000 to 4,000 Zulu warriors.
11 Victoria Crosses were awarded to the defenders, one of them could have been SpeedoDad, who survived the horrific battle.
