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The Sun Turned Black: Isandlwana and Rorke's Drift - 1879 by Ian Knight (Paperback, 1995)

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The Sun would never set on the British Empire. On 22 January, 1879, at the height of battle between Regular and Colonial troops and King Cetshwayo's Zulu Army, at a remote African crag called Isandlwana, the sun turned black. In ordinary terms, it was no more than a partial eclipse, but as a portent, it foreshadowed an ignominious defeat and a dark stain that would be cast over Britain's imperial policy and military pride. This book is an account of how and why, in January 1879, a force of British troops - experienced in African warfare, armed with modern rifles, well-supplied, supported by and encamped at their leisure on ground of their own choosing - came to be annihilated by a tribal people very largely with only spears. It also tells the story of the successful defence, on the night of the massacre, of a tiny outpost held by just over 100 men, against repeated assaults of some 4000 men. This is a revised edition of Ian Knight's Zulu .