Continuing in our "Hall of Kings Series"...
"KING SHAKA, This is the story of Bayete U Shaka, undisputed warrior king of the mighty Zulu. He was the bastard son of a prince, a child of exile and the brunt of merciless taunts and bullying for many of his young years …. Until one day the runt of the tribe grew into a great warrior with fire in his heart – and vengeance in his soul. Shaka was with the army of Dingiswayo, King of the Nguni.
He was a strong, proud and fierce man. He was also an upstart and questioned the ways of war. He argued the idea of standing 50 paces from the enemy and lunging thin spears at them was foolish and cowardly. His arrogance and disobedience did not impress the elders – until he shook off those clumsy fighting sandals and raced swiftly up to the confused enemy, stabbing, stabbing, stabbing …
Shaka had a mouth that was filled with clever ideas and after spending several days with Ngonyama, the master craftsman of blades, he returned to the kraal with his new weapons of war – a short stabbing spear, the assegai, and a big shield that could hide a man completely. The elders were so impressed with the damage Shaka inflicted with his new weapons and vicious way of fighting that the Zulu army was ordered to follow his example.
Shaka was promoted to Commander-in-Chief of Dingiswayo’s army and soon became a king who was determined to carve the word “Zulu” across southern Africa and make the name “Shaka” whispered with fear and roared with respect. Shaka hated anything inferior and anyone who joined his army either passed his strict code of discipline and became an impi, or failed and paid with his life. He ordered the army to throw away their sandals which was greeted with cries of disbelief. He immediately had the parade ground scattered with “nkunzanas”- three-pronged devil thorns – and the army had to stomp them into the ground until their feet decided to grow their own sandals.
He also devised a clever new way of fighting – the “ox horn” formation for his impis which would encircle and trap the enemy while the main body of warriors charged in and massacred the enemy, their war chant striking terror into the bravest of hearts. In less than 12 years, Shaka turned the 100 square kilometre domain of the Zulu nation into a 2 million square kilometre empire.
"KING SHAKA, This is the story of Bayete U Shaka, undisputed warrior king of the mighty Zulu. He was the bastard son of a prince, a child of exile and the brunt of merciless taunts and bullying for many of his young years …. Until one day the runt of the tribe grew into a great warrior with fire in his heart – and vengeance in his soul. Shaka was with the army of Dingiswayo, King of the Nguni.
He was a strong, proud and fierce man. He was also an upstart and questioned the ways of war. He argued the idea of standing 50 paces from the enemy and lunging thin spears at them was foolish and cowardly. His arrogance and disobedience did not impress the elders – until he shook off those clumsy fighting sandals and raced swiftly up to the confused enemy, stabbing, stabbing, stabbing …
Shaka had a mouth that was filled with clever ideas and after spending several days with Ngonyama, the master craftsman of blades, he returned to the kraal with his new weapons of war – a short stabbing spear, the assegai, and a big shield that could hide a man completely. The elders were so impressed with the damage Shaka inflicted with his new weapons and vicious way of fighting that the Zulu army was ordered to follow his example.
Shaka was promoted to Commander-in-Chief of Dingiswayo’s army and soon became a king who was determined to carve the word “Zulu” across southern Africa and make the name “Shaka” whispered with fear and roared with respect. Shaka hated anything inferior and anyone who joined his army either passed his strict code of discipline and became an impi, or failed and paid with his life. He ordered the army to throw away their sandals which was greeted with cries of disbelief. He immediately had the parade ground scattered with “nkunzanas”- three-pronged devil thorns – and the army had to stomp them into the ground until their feet decided to grow their own sandals.
He also devised a clever new way of fighting – the “ox horn” formation for his impis which would encircle and trap the enemy while the main body of warriors charged in and massacred the enemy, their war chant striking terror into the bravest of hearts. In less than 12 years, Shaka turned the 100 square kilometre domain of the Zulu nation into a 2 million square kilometre empire.
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