In January 1879, British High Commissioner Sir Henry Bartle Frere, acting without London's approval, sent King Cetshwayo an ultimatum to disband the Zulu military system, knowing it would be refused. Lord Chelmsford invaded with Martini-Henry rifles, seven-pounder guns and rockets, crawling about 10 miles in 10 days behind wagons loaded with officers' luxuries. He timed the invasion for the harvest, but Cetshwayo's army was already assembled for the first fruits ceremony. At the sphinx-shaped hill of Isandlwana, Chelmsford built no laager or trench, then took about half his force out to chase a decoy.
A patrol under Lieutenant Raw found some 20,000 Zulu warriors sitting silently in the Ngwebeni valley, and they attacked at once in the horns, chest and loins formation. Lieutenant Colonel Henry Pulleine's men held for over an hour, but his firing line stretched more than a mile from the ammunition wagons, and when Colonel Anthony Durnford's mounted troops ran out of rounds, the right flank collapsed. A solar eclipse darkened the field as the camp fell. Over 1,300 British and allied troops died, and between 1,000 and 3,000 Zulu warriors.
The Zulu iklwa, a short stabbing spear, was reportedly named for the sound it made when withdrawn from a wound.
Battlefield archaeology points to overextended lines, not rusted ammunition box screws, as the reason the firing slowed.
Lieutenants Melvill and Coghill tried to carry the Queen's colour across the Buffalo River and were killed on the far bank.
Chelmsford blamed the dead Durnford for failing to fortify a camp Chelmsford himself had chosen not to entrench.
Cetshwayo had ordered his army not to cross into Natal, but Britain retaliated by burning Ulundi and splitting Zululand into 13 territories.
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