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Date	Original Topic
16th April 2005	The Irony of Isandlwana? By Paul Cubbin Time for a quick survey. I would like to know if any other enthusiasts(and if so, how many) agree with me that Isandlwana was the worst thing the Zulus could have done. It seems entirely possible to me that had the government not been forced into taking drastic reprisals by angry reactions to the massacre, the war may have been stopped by the London-based authorities. Even if such drastic censure of Bartle-Frere and Chelmsford had not happened, the post-war negotiations would probably have been more favourable to the Zulu people if they had been able to maintain the image of the aggrieved little nation bullied by the global superpower. What say others?
Date	Replies
17th April 2005	Julian Whybra The Zulus were not aware of such media-conscious concepts. Post-war negotiations in the light of what...? Who was there to notice the image you suggest?
17th April 2005	Paul Cubbin No....not the Zulus. The British, as victors, were the ones who called the tune. What I'm saying is that the Zulu nation lost all hope of, firstly, a negotiated peace; and secondly, a generous settlement from Britain after the war was over. And I think you're being a little harsh on old Ceteswayo since he at least was fairly aware of such concepts as his policy against crossing into Natal suggests. He may not have been up to scratch compared to a European diplomat but he was pretty sharp and knew that the image of his country's behaviour was important.
18th April 2005	Julian Whybra Well, I think the Oxford House Movement were probably more successful in establishing a generous settlement from GB that Cetshwayo was - after all, Zululand may have been split up and emasculated militarily but it was not incorporated into Natal or the Empire. The most it had to endure was a British Resident and after a few years it even got its king back.
19th April 2005	Paul Cubbin Odd isn't it, that the whole reason Frere engineered the war was in the name of consolidation and if anything the whole debacle had so sickened everyone that it split nations even further apart.
20th April 2005	Paul Cubbin Sorry, above should read 'confederation', not 'consolidation'. Too many pints, or not enough?