A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Arts, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy / This thesis provides a detailed account of the. events leading up to the war between Britain and
the Zulu kingdom in 1879, and undertakes to explain why the war came about
Theophilus Shepstone, Natal's Secretary for Native Affairs, had long aspired to bring Zululand
under British control, When King Mpande died in 1872, his heir, Cetshwayo, was anxious for
British support against rival claimants, and against the South African Republic, with which he had
a border dispute. He therefore invited Shepstone to preside over a ceremony recognizing him as
King. Shepstone's hopes that his 'coronation' of Cetshwayo would lead to greater control over
Zululand were disappointed, but it did serve as a precedent for British intervention.
The war of 1879, in the event, did not arise out of purely local causes, but was more the result
of British imperial policy. Lord Carnarvon, the Secretary of State for the Colonies, aspired to
'confederate' the various territories of southern Africa into a 'self-governing' (that is, settler governed)
dominion under the British flag. To this end Shepstone annexed the Transvaal in 1877.
The border dispute now became a dispute between Britain and the Zulu kingdom, and relations
deteriorated sharply. Sir Bartle Frere, the High Commissioner entrusted by Carnarvon with the task
of implementing his confederation policy, decided that the continued independence of the Zulu
kingdom was an insuperable obstacle to confederation. He therefore took advantage of certain border
incidents (and of the warlike reputation of the Zulu) to send an ultimatum calculated to bring about
war.
The question this thesis particularly addresses is whether the war was an incidental by-product
of a confederation policy carried out for other reasons, or whether bringing Zululand under British
control was inherent in the policy itself. It argues that the latter was the case. The purpose of
confederation was neither retrenchment nor to safeguard naval bases, as some have argued, but a
comprehensive political and economic reconstruction of South African society in Which an
independent Zulu kingdom could have no place. On the other hand, to argue that Zululand was
invaded to facilitate the advance of capitalist production in South Africa., as others have done, is to
state the case too narrowly. The desirability and inevitability of capitalist production was assumed
rather than consciously striven for by those who believed that the invasion of Zululand was necessary
to facilitate the progress and civilization of South Africa. / AC2017
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:wits/oai:wiredspace.wits.ac.za:10539/22952 |
| Date | January 1995 |
| Creators | Cope, Richard Lidbrook. |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | application/pdf, application/pdf |
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