History of South Africa podcast

Episode 266: The Wakkerstroom Boer-Zulu Alliance and the death of Prince Napoleon

As the British tried to wrap up their war against the Zulu in South Africa, further afield the happy sound of a baby being born could be heard in Germany. Not just any baby. Albert Einstein was born at 11.30 in the morning on March 14, 1879 in Ulm. His…

15 Mar 21 min

Episode 265 – John Dunn’s MI5 Connection, Gingindlovu, and the Relief of Eshowe

The last quarter of the 19th Century was in some ways, like the first quarter of the 21st Century - full of tone-deaf business barons gambling building vast riches — financing politicians and in accelerating the planet towards world wars. There are ripples in the timeverse, all the way to…

8 Mar 18 min

Episode 264 - The Forgotten Battle of Khambula (1879): The Turning Point of the Anglo-Zulu War

The twenty thousand strong Zulu army was camped near Nseka Mountain south of the British camp at Khambula hill — north west of modern day Vryheid. After defeating Lieutenant Colonel Evelyn Wood’s Number 4 column at Hlobane, Zulu commanders Ntshingwayo and Mnyamana stopped to rest their men on the banks…

1 Mar 22 min

Episode 263 - How Black Voters Helped Elect Cecil Rhodes: Kimberley and the Cape Franchise, 1879

The battles are coming thick and fast because this is the end of the seventh decade of the 19th Century - the British have just been defeated at the Battle of Hlobane mountain on the 28th March. There’s been so much skop skiet and Donner it’s time to reflect on…

22 Feb 19 min

Episode 262 - The Battle of Hlobane – Cowardice, Confusion and the Reckoning at Devil’s Pass

By mid-March 1879, Cetshwayo kaMpande made another attempt to open talks with Chelmsford, sending his indunas to negotiate for peace — but the British had no appetite for compromise. On the 22nd March two emissaries arrived at Middle Drift, a central crossing between Natal and Zululand, but Chelmsford had already…

14 Feb 24 min

Episode 261 - Zulu War: Ntombe River Massacre & Prince Hamu’s Defection

Colonel Rowland’s number five column had been sent to guard the roads and garrison the Boer towns in the north eastern Transvaal — part to police the Zulu across the border, but also to overawe the more volatile Boers who wanted to take advantage of the war in Zululand by…

8 Feb 20 min

Episode 260 - Touring South Africa pre-1880, the Tangled Tale of Woolworths and Disraeli Gears

We’re touring the sub-continent today, choose your mode of transport — Cape Cart, ox-wagon, horse, mule, on foot? Before the arrival of steam locomotion, roads in South Africa were little more than rutted tracks created by repeated passage of wagons and animal teams rather than purpose-built carriageways. There was no…

30 Jan 19 min

-DELETED- Episode 260 - Touring South Africa pre-1880, How Woolworths started and Rowlands Folly

We’re touring the sub-continent today, choose your mode of transport — Cape Cart, ox-wagon, horse, mule, on foot? Before the arrival of steam locomotion, roads in South Africa were little more than rutted tracks created by repeated passage of wagons and animal teams rather than purpose-built carriageways. There was no…

30 Jan 19 min

Episode 259 - After Isandlwana and Rorke’s Drift: Ghost Armies and a Unique Truce During a Savage War

It’s the 23rd January 1879, one of the most momentous days in South African history has passed, and the ripple effect will be felt across the world. For missionary Otto Witt it was a time of particular terror. He had fled his mission station, Rorke’s Drift, and now it was…

24 Jan 21 min

Episode 258 - Rorke’s Drift, Part Two: Dabulamanzi’s Gamble and Chard’s Night of Horrors

Episode 258 Rorke’s Drift part two. It’s important to listen to Episode 257 because that sets everything up for this episode - there’s too much to repeat particularly in the layout of the buildings which were fully described in Episode 257. There were around 330 British and Natal Native Contingement…

17 Jan 21 min

Episode 257 - Rorke’s Drift Part I: Defiance, Disobedience and the Aftermath of Isandlwana

Rorke’s Drift was a battle that Cetshwayo kaMpande did not want, because it took place on the western bank of the Mzinyathi or Buffalo River — inside Natal. The British had been routed at Isandlwana by the main Zulu army, regiments who’s names are still venerated by oral historians today,…

11 Jan 20 min

Episode 256 - The Lightning of Heaven Release Spirits as Rorke’s Drift Comes into Play

Lord Chelmsford who had scurried off to the east in support of Major Dartnell only made it back to the slopes of Isandlwana at dusk on the day of 22nd January 1879. As the nervous British soldiers advanced, they could see dense masses of the Zulus retiring with herds of…

4 Jan 24 min

Episode 255 - A Partial Eclipse of the Sun Spreads a Dark Veil Over Bloody Isandlwana

When we ended last episode a mounted patrol had stumbled on the main Zulu army of twenty thousand men which had which had hunkered down in the Ngwebeni Valley north east of Isandlwana. The British had been conducting patrols both north and south of the sphinx shaped mountain, and had…

28 Dec 2025 27 min

Episode 254 - Skop, Skiet and Donner on the Day of the Dead Moon

The morning of January 22, 1879, dawned with a deceptive, stillness across Zululand masking the fact that over 45,000 men were in motion across a 200 kilometer front, each group operating in a vacuum of information that would, by sunset, shatter the British Victorian ego. At the coast, Colonel Charles…

21 Dec 2025 21 min

Episode 253 - The order of Battle Before Isandlwana and Nyezane and ‘ukhuni’ Wood Heads North

Episode 253 - The order of Battle for Isandlwana and Nyezane as ‘ukuni’ Wood Heads North Three separate British columns are inside Zululand and things are hotting up — and not just because of the steamy summer temperatures. In the last few episodes I’ve concentrated on General Chelmsford’ and Colonel…

13 Dec 2025 21 min

Episode 252 — Chelmsford’s Fatal Confidence: The Day Before Isandlwana

This is episode 252, it is January 19th 1879, and we’re standing alongside Lord Chelmsford at the British camp based at Rorke’s Drift — and nearby is Henry Francis Fynn Junior. Chelmsford had grown frustrated by the rain which had slowed the crossing of the Mzinyathi at Rorke’s Drift. He…

7 Dec 2025 18 min

Episode 251 - The Grey Vultures of Ondini Gather Before a March to Isandhlwana where Pride Met Prophecy

Episode 251 and the British Invasion of Zululand is into it’s first week. King Cetshwayo kaMpande had prepared his people for war, and here it was, courtesy of Governor Sir Bartle Frere and led by Lord Chelmsford. After overrunning kwaSogetle the home of Sihayo he was on the move. It…

30 Nov 2025 23 min

Episode 250 - Nqutu's Rocky Mountains: British officers bicker then Zulu Snipers target an entomologist hunting beetles

First a quick note which the marketing weasel ordered me to announce. This week I received an email from Apple which read: "We’re thrilled to share some incredible news: History of South Africa podcast has been selected by our editors as one of Apple Podcasts' Best Shows of 2025! Congratulations on this fantastic achievement…

23 Nov 2025 25 min

Episode 249 - Three Columns and a Thousand Secrets: Chelmsford’s 1879 Invasion of Zululand

The invasion of Zululand did not arrive suddenly. It had been constructed brick by brick over the preceding months, through decisions made in distant offices and on dusty border farms. By early January 1879 the machinery of British imperial confidence was fully wound, and the commanders in Natal believed they…

16 Nov 2025 23 min

Episode 248 - The Eagle and Four Hawks: The Making of the Anglo-Zulu War of 1879

Sir Bartle Frere’s ultimatum to Cetshwayo kaMpande of 11 January 1879 was about to expire. Last episode I explained the reasons behind Frere’s fevered decision, egged on as he was by Sir Theophilus Shepstone whose shadow looms large over the history of Natal - and South Africa. Cetshwayo’s diplomacy had…

9 Nov 2025 20 min