CIUDAD DEL ESTE (Historical review, by editorial) Shaka (1787-22 September 1828), also known as Shaka Zulu, the name by which he appears more often in history books, was a Zulu tribal chief who in early The 19th century began a process that transformed the small Zulu tribe into the mightiest warrior nation in Africa, successfully meeting the British Empire’s advance from the Cape of Good Hope. There are several versions of the life and work of this tribal chief that are often at odds with reality, presenting him as a brilliant military leader or as an inhuman despot. The sources on his life come mainly from the Zulu oral tradition.
Shaka Zulu is one of the great tribal chiefs and military commanders in African history. Shaka turned his people into a great military power and at the mercy of his victories united the battle-hardened Zulu tribes of the region, who would later inflict a series of painful defeats on the colonial forces of Europe.
Like other great warlords, Shaka has a terrible reputation behind him, and it is that although the figures may be exaggerated, if he is responsible for thousands of murders against neighboring tribes that did not want to submit to his will, he also displaced millions of people during his conquests.
On the other hand, the importance of Shaka was enormous when it came to forging a community of enormous military entity that may have had an army of up to 100,000 warriors, which strongly resisted the immense power of the British Empire, in what may have been its best hour. .
Shaka’s army was only infantry, he did not have cavalry, the caudillo’s preferred tactic was the buffalo head, which consisted of the soldiers carrying out a combat formation reminiscent of the head of said animal, divided into four corps , some had to hit from the front, while the others that represented the horns attacked from the wings and finally made a final closure from behind to the enemy. It is said that in 1820 the territory that Shaka dominated in extension was larger than France itself.
Reference:
.- Shaka Zulu, Joshua Sinclair (2013).
