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Which of these battles was the most important in terms of its lasting impact?
Zama - Hannibal Defeated
Waterloo - Napoleon Defeated
Normandy - Allies Break Through Atlantic Wall
Other
None Of Them
Too Close To Call




 
v
Shaka: Zulu Chieftain

By this victory, Shaka gained absolute control over the heartland of the Nguni, which he used to create a much greater Zulu empire. From then until his death, Shaka's armies ranged the surrounding lands, leaving rotting corpses, burning huts and total devastation in their wake. Shaka became as absolute a ruler as was possible in an age of primitive technology. He amassed vast herds of cattle, each one bred to a single color. Few kings or dictators, before or since, have treated their subjects with such ruthlessness and ferocity. He had his warriors clubbed to death upon the merest sign of weakness. He neither took a legal wife nor fathered a son, for fear that his heir would plot against him, and had his concubines executed if he discovered they were pregnant. He expelled all rainmakers, declaring that only the king could make rain. When his mother died, he massacred thousands of his subjects so their families would mourn along with him. Now clearly insane, Shaka retained his throne through the worst kind of sheer terror-vast mass executions, torture and mindless butchery.

In 1828, Shaka's half-brother, Dingawe-by then fearing for his own life-slew the mad tyrant and assumed the throne, quickly murdering all prominent Zulus likely to protest his actions. He had Shaka's body buried secretly in an unmarked grave.

At his death, Shaka ruled over 250,000 people and could muster more than 50,000 warriors, whose iron discipline equaled that of the Roman legions in their prime. His 10-year-long kingship had resulted in more than 2 million deaths by warfare alone, not counting the deaths during mass tribal migrations to escape his armies. His semi-Pyrrhic victory at the Battle of Qokli Hill and his masterful conduct of the Second Ndwandwe War remained the highlights of his military exploits, establishing Shaka, king of the Zulus, among the great commanders of all time.

This article was written by Truman R. Strobridge and originally published in Military History Magazine in October 2002.

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