Ian Knight – författare

On 4 March, 1878 at King William's Town, British Kaffraria, Gen. Sir Arthur Cunnynghame handed over supreme command of the British forces in southern Africa to his successor, Lt. Gen. Sir Frederic Thesiger.The High Commissioner, Sir Henry Bartle Frere, was convinced that one solution to the complex problems which beset the region was to overthrow the last powerful independent black kingdom bordering British possessions – the Zulu kingdom of King Cetshwayo KaMapande. However Cetshwayo had remained on the political defensive. This book describes the uniforms and equipment of the forces that Thesiger led across the border to wage war in Zululand.

Ian Knight's Warriors in Scarlet is a comprehensive and stirring history of the Victorian army between 1837 to 1860, from the Battle of Bossendon Wood to the Crimean War, a period of seismic change.An acclaimed military historian, Knight draws on first-hand accounts to show us the reality of life for the British soldier in this era – the drudgery of peace-time service, the excitement and privations of posting overseas, the floggings and desertions, the regimental pride and comradeship. The rapid expansion of the empire saw the army fighting in small wars across the world and Knight reveals the brutal reality of this colonial conflict from both sides. British soldiers trained in tactics that had beaten Napoleon were forced to adapt when faced with warriors with very different skills fighting on their home ground.Knight vividly recreates the action, from bloody skirmishes in Southern Africa and siege warfare in New Zealand to disasters like the 1842 retreat from Kabul and Chillianwalla in the Punjab – but shows that in reality the army won more than four-fifths of the battles they fought in this era. He describes how, by 1860 with their redcoats increasingly replaced by khaki, the British army was a more professional, efficient and increasingly ruthless fighting force.'Impressively researched and highly readable analysis' – Tony Pollard, Professor of Conflict History and Archaeology, University of Glasgow

'A definitive account of one of the most dramatic encounters in the whole history of Empire . . . [a] tour de force' The Daily Mail'Ian Knight manages to expose many of the Victorian myths while still capturing the kind of epic excitement that makes Zulu so stirring. It is a first class work of military history, not least for its evocative and extensive use of Zulu sources' Sunday TimesThe battle of iSandlwana was the single most destructive incident in the 150-year history of the British colonisation of South Africa. In one bloody day over 800 British troops, 500 of their allies and at least 2000 Zulus were killed in a staggering defeat for the British empire. The consequences of the battle echoed brutally across the following decades as Britain took ruthless revenge on the Zulu people.In Zulu Rising Ian Knight shows that the brutality of the battle was the result of an inevitable clash between two aggressive warrior traditions. He gives full weight to the Zulu experience and explores the reality of the fighting through the eyes of men who took part on both sides, looking into the human heart of this savage conflict. Based on new research, including previously unpublished material, Zulu oral history, and new archaeological evidence from the battlefield, this is the definitive account of a battle that has shaped the political fortunes of the Zulu people to this day.'This new history by Ian Knight is thorough and definitive. Knight uses first-hand sources, both Zulu and British, with admirable even-handedness, to examine the bloody clash between two different warrior traditions' Sunday Telegraph

'A very remarkable people, the Zulu', the British Prime Minister, Benjamin Disraeli, said on hearing of a fresh disaster in the war of 1879, 'They defeat our generals; they convert our bishops; they have settled the fate of a great European dynasty'.Remarkable indeed, to have taken on the full might of the British Empire at its height, and won, if not the war, at least some of the battles. This book explains who the Zulus were, and how they achieved the fame as warriors which they enjoy to this day.

When Queen Victoria acceded to the British throne in 1837, British troops had recently concluded a war in southern Africa against the Xhosa people, and the seeds were already sown for a clash with the Boers. When she died in January 1901 Britain was fighting the Boers in one of the longest and costliest of the imperial colonial wars. This book details the history of Britain's numerous conflicts with the people of southern Africa, namely the Xhosa, Basotho, Tswana and Boers.Numerous illustrations, including rare photographs and colour plates, detail the dress, weaponry and organization of Victoria's enemies in the late 19th century.

The British Army in Queen Victoria's reign fought a series of regional campaigns against various African groups with complex military traditions well-suited to their environment.In many instances, the outcome of the ensuing fighting was by no means one-sided. This book focuses on the large-scale wars in northern Africa in which British regular troops were engaged throughout the 19th century, including those in Abyssinia, Asante, Egypt and the Sudan.Containing a number of rare contemporary photographs and eight colour plates, the book charts the history of these campaigns and describes the African groups against which they were waged.

Ian Knight's fascinating text examines the absorbing, dramatic and brutal history of the East India Company's exploits against Victoria's Indian enemies.By the time Queen Victoria came to the throne, India – some 1,600,000 square miles, ranging from soaring mountains to deserts and jungle swamps, populated by 400,000,000 people with a kaleidoscope of different cultures and religions – was firmly in the grip of a handful of British East India Company administrators, either ruling directly or through Indian nominees.However, the Company's search for a policy in western India embroiled it in a string of military campaigns, including one of the worst disasters ever to befall a British army.

Due to the spread of British strategic and commercial interests during the Victorian period, the British military was called upon to serve in theatres across the world.Some of the fighting was severe; it took nearly 30 years of intermittent warfare to suppress Maori opposition to settler expansion in New Zealand. In other areas it amounted to little more than skirmishing, as in Brooke's campaign against the pirates of Borneo and the Jamaican revolt of 1865.This book details these various 'small wars' and examines the qualities of the disparate peoples who opposed the spread of the British Empire.

This work is one of the most widley known military campaigns of the Victorian era. It contains graphic eyewitness accounts from both sides and additional chapters cover what remains to be seen today, in museums, the battlefields, and the lonely graves of the fallen.

'Ian Knight combines meticulous research with a depth of knowledge of his subject, and a knack for ferreting out unusual and illuminating details, with, crucially, a true flair for storytelling . . . Highly recommended' Journal of the Victorian Military SocietyIan Knight's Warriors in Scarlet is a comprehensive and stirring history of the Victorian army between 1837 to 1860, from the Battle of Bossendon Wood to the Crimean War, a period of seismic change as the rapid expansion of the empire saw the British army fighting in small wars across the world.An acclaimed military historian, Knight reveals the brutal reality of colonial conflict from both sides. Drawing on first-hand accounts he shows us the reality of life for the British soldier in this era – the drudgery of peacetime service for the ordinary soldier, the excitement and privations of posting overseas, the floggings and desertions, the regimental pride and comradeship.Knight vividly recreates the action on the ground, from bloody skirmishes in Southern Africa and siege warfare in New Zealand to disasters like the 1842 retreat from Kabul and Chillianwalla in the Punjab. British soldiers trained in tactics that had beaten Napoleon were forced to adapt when faced with warriors with very different skills fighting on their home ground, and yet the army won more than four-fifths of the battles they fought in this era. Knight describes how, by 1860 with their redcoats increasingly replaced by khaki, the British army was a more professional, efficient and increasingly ruthless fighting force.'Impressively researched and highly readable analysis' – Tony Pollard, Professor of Conflict History and Archaeology, University of Glasgow

Waged across an inhospitable terrain which varied from open African savannah to broken mountain country and arid semi-desert, the Anglo-Boer wars of 1880–81 and 1899–1902 pitted the British Army and its allies against the Boers’ commandos.The nature of warfare across these campaigns was shaped by the realities of the terrain and by Boer fighting techniques. Independent and individualistic, the Boers were not professional soldiers but a civilian militia who were bound by the terms of the ‘Commando system’ to come together to protect their community against an outside threat. By contrast the British Army was a full-time professional body with an established military ethos, but its over-dependence on conventional infantry tactics led to a string of Boer victories. This fully illustrated study examines the evolving nature of Boer military techniques, and contrasts them with the British experience, charting the development of effective British mounted tactics from the first faltering steps of 1881 through to the final successes of 1902.

The first 'bushrangers' or frontier outlaws were escaped or time-expired convicts, who took to the wilderness – 'the bush' – in New South Wales and on the island of TasmaniaInitially, the only Crown forces available were redcoats from the small, scattered garrisons, but by 1825 the problem of outlawry led to the formation of the first Mounted Police from these soldiers. The gold strikes of the 1860s attracted a new group of men who preferred to get rich by the gun rather than the shovel. The roads, and later railways, that linked the mines with the cities offered many tempting targets and were preyed upon by the bushrangers.This 1860s generation boasted many famous outlaws who passed into legend for their boldness. The last outbreak came in Victoria in 1880, when the notorious Kelly Gang staged several hold-ups and deliberately ambushed the pursuing police. Their last stand at Glenrowan has become a legendary episode in Australian history.Fully illustrated with some rare period photographs, this is the fascinating story of Australia’s most infamous outlaws and the men tasked with tracking them down.

In the early 1880s, Britain intervened in independent Egypt and seized control of the Suez Canal.British forces were soon deployed to Egypt’s southern colony, the Sudan, where they confronted a determined and capable foe amid some of the world’s most inhospitable terrain. In 1881 an Islamic fundamentalist revolt had broken out, led by a religious teacher named Muhammad Ahmad bin Abd Allah, who proclaimed himself al-Mahdi, ‘The Guided One’. In 1884, Mahdist forces besieged the Sudanese capital of Khartoum.Colonel Charles Gordon was sent to the city with orders to evacuate British personnel, but refused to leave. Although the British despatched a relief column to rescue Gordon, the Mahdists stormed Khartoum in January 1885 and he was killed. British troops abandoned much of the Sudan, but renewed their efforts to reconquer it in the late 1890s, in a bloody campaign that would decide the region’s fate for generations.Written by leading expert Ian Knight, this fully illustrated study examines the evolving forces, weapons and tactics employed by both sides in the Sudan, notably at the battles of Abu Klea (16–18 January 1885), Tofrek (22 March 1885) and Atbara (8 April 1898).

A myth-shattering study of the first clash between the Zulu kingdom and European interlopers and its dramatic effects on Boer and Zulu alike.By the 1830s, the Zulu kingdom was consolidating its power as the strongest African polity in the south-east, but was under growing pressure from British traders and hunters on the coast, and descendants of the early Dutch settlers at the Cape – the Boers. In 1837, the vanguard of the Boers' Great Trek migration reached the borders of Zulu territory, causing alarm. When the Boer leader Piet Retief and his followers were massacred in cold blood, war broke out. Although the initial Boer counter-attacks were defeated by the Zulus, in December 1838 a new Trekker offensive resulted in a nation-defining clash between Boer and Zulu at the battle of Blood River.In this ground-breaking and carefully balanced new work, containing stunning artwork and detailed maps, Ian Knight explores what has long been a controversial and partisan topic in South African history, placing the Zulus more squarely in this part of their history. Among the topics covered are the 1836 Boer/Ndebele conflict, the imbalance in technique and weaponry, the reasons why the British settlers allied themselves with the Boer Trekkers, and why the war was a key turning point in the use of traditional Zulu military techniques. This work also reveals that a Boer victory at Blood River was by no means a foregone conclusion.

The Anglo-Zulu War was a defining episode in British imperial history, and it is still a subject of intense interest. The Zulu victory at Isandlwana, the heroic British defence of Rorke's Drift and the eventual British triumph are among the most closely researched events of the colonial era. In this historical companion, Ian Knight, one of the foremost authorities on the war and the Zulu kingdom, provides an essential reference guide to a short, bloody campaign that had an enduring impact on the history of Britain and southern Africa. He gives succinct summaries of the issues, events, armies and individuals involved. His work is an invaluable resource for anyone who is interested in the history of the period, in the operations of the British army in southern Africa, and in the Zulu kingdom.

Between 1845 and 1872, various groups of Maori were involved in a series of wars of resistance against British settlers.The Maori had a fierce and long-established warrior tradition and subduing them took a lengthy British Army commitment, only surpassed in the Victorian period by that on the North-West Frontier of India. Warfare had been endemic in pre-colonial New Zealand and Maori groups maintained fortified villages or pas.By the 1860s many Maori had acquired firearms and had perfected their bush-warfare tactics. In the last phase of the wars a religious movement, Pai Maarire (‘Hau Hau’), inspired remarkable guerrilla leaders such as Te Kooti Arikirangi to renewed resistance.Featuring specially commissioned full-colour artwork and fascinating early photographs, this book tells the parallel stories of the fierce Maori resistance to British colonial expansion, and of the adaptation of British and local New Zealand forces to bush fighting.

The short but savage Anglo-Zulu War of 1879 pitched well-equipped but complacent British soldiers into combat with the Zulu, one of history’s finest fighting forces.The clashes between these two different armies prompted tactical innovation on both sides, as the British and their Zulu opponents sought to find the optimal combination of mobility, protection and firepower. This engrossing study traces the changing face of infantry combat in the Anglo-Zulu War. Three major engagements are detailed: the Zulu ambush at Nyezane, repulsed by the British using their established tactics; the shocking defeat and massacre of outmanoeuvred British forces in savage close-quarter fighting at iSandlwana; and the British victory at Khambula following their adoption of more condensed firing lines and prepared positions.A noted authority on this epic confrontation examines three pivotal clashes from the infantryman’s perspective on both sides to shed new light on the nature of colonial warfare ‘at the sharp end’.

The great host came steadily on, spreading out spreading out - spreading out till they seemed like a giant pair of nut-crackers opening round the little nut of Rorke's Drift. - Surgeon Major James Henry Reynolds V.C., Army Medical DepartmentOn 22 January 1879, during the final hour of the Battle of iSandlwana - one of the greatest disasters ever to befall British troops during the Victorian era - a very different story was about to unfold a few miles away at the mission station of Rorke's Drift. When a Zulu force of more than 3,000 warriors turned their attention to the small outpost, defended by around 150 British and Imperial troops, the odds of the British surviving were staggeringly low. The British victory that ensued, therefore, would go down as one of the most heroic actions of all time, and has enraptured military history enthusiasts for decades.Featuring a wide range of first-hand accounts and testimonies from those present during the Battle of Rorke's Drift, Rorke's Drift By Those Who Were There is a remarkable work of Anglo-Zulu military history by those who know the topic best, Lee Stevenson and Ian Knight. This updated edition of the classic work of the same name includes even more first-person accounts from the combatants on both the British and Zulu sides.Providing personal, microscopic accounts of events, while at the same time presenting a clear overview of the battle in its entirety, readers will gain an impressive, unique breadth of knowledge about one of the most awe-inspiring battles in British history.

"Yes you have beaten us; you had the best guns, but we have the best men . . . But we'll fight again in two or three years' time." - Prince Dabulamanzi kaMpande (who led the Zulu at Rorke's Drift)On 22 January 1879, during the final hour of the Battle of Isandlwana - one of the greatest disasters ever to befall British troops during the Victorian era - a very different story was about to unfold a few miles away at the mission station of Rorke's Drift. A Zulu force of more than 3,000 warriors had turned their attention to the small outpost, defended by around 150 British and Imperial troops. The odds of the British surviving were staggeringly low. The British victory that ensued, therefore, would go down as one of the most heroic actions of all time, and has fascinated military history enthusiasts for decades.In this classic work, Anglo-Zulu War experts Lee Stevenson, Alan Baynham-Jones and Ian Knight examine a wide range of personal testimonies from those present at Rorke's Drift, while also presenting a clear overview of the battle in its entirety. By reading this account, readers will gain an impressive, unique breadth of knowledge about one of the most epic battles in British history. This updated edition includes even more first-person accounts from the combatants on both the British and Zulu sides.Providing personal, microscopic accounts of events, while at the same time presenting a clear overview of the battle in its entirety, this second volume completes the collection of accounts of the defenders of Rorke's Drift and also includes contemporary accounts of those who saw the immediate aftermath of the battle.

A highly illustrated account of the greatest defeat suffered by the British Army during the Victorian era, from a world-leading authority.On 22 January 1879, a Zulu army of 24,000 warriors had moved undetected to within striking distance of the British camp in the shadow of Isandlwana Mountain. From the start the 1,700 defenders underestimated the danger descending upon them. They were swept aside with horrifying speed and the final stage of the battle consisted of desperate hand-to-hand fighting amid the British camp. Over 1,300 men were killed; scarcely 60 Europeans survived.Accompanied by maps and illustrations, Ian Knight employs new archaeological and historical research to provide a completely new interpretation of the course of the battle.

The Zulu War of 1879 remains one of the best known British colonial wars and included two battles whose names reverberate through history.At Isandlwana the Zulus inflicted a crushing defeat on the British; the British defence at Rorke's Drift followed and re-established British power. Yet as this book shows, there was more to the war than this. Six months of brutal fighting followed, until the Zulu kingdom was broken up, its king imprisoned and the whole structure of the Zulu state destroyed.This concise volume covers the war and explains the years of internecine strife that followed, until the British finally annexed Zululand as a colonial possession.

Their lifestyle of hunting for sport and profit honed the Boers' skills of field-craft, horsemanship, and marksmanship, making them a formidable force in the field and well suited to guerrilla operations.This book describes the life and combat experiences of a typical Boer in this key period. Using meticulously researched analysis and comment, and the experiences of a composite character, Johannes de Bruyn, a revealing portrait of Boer life and military operations is drawn. The actions at Laing's Neck, Majuba, the Zulu Civil War and the Second Anglo-Boer War are covered in this packed and informative treatment.

On 11 January 1879 the British Empire went to war with the independent kingdom of Zululand.The British anticipated a swift and decisive victory, placing great faith in modern firepower; no plans were made for suppressing the Zulu over a protracted period, or for providing defensive positions from which to occupy Zulu territory. However, the losses suffered at Isandlwana and Rorke’s Drift quickly altered the British approach; throughout the rest of the war, the British fortified almost every position they occupied in Zululand, from permanent column depots to temporary halts. This title explores British defensive techniques employed during the war, and how these related to contemporary engineering theory.Among the sites covered are Eshowe Mission Station, forts Pearson and Tenedos, and Rorke's Drift.

The Maori people of New Zealand were experienced field engineers and it was common practice to protect villages with surrounding entrenchments and wooden palisades, known as pas.However, it was not until 1845, with the first fighting between the Maori and the British, that it became clear just how strong and sophisticated the Maori fortifications were. For the best part of 20 years, the Maori held off the dominant and technologically superior British forces, by adapting and developing their defences in response to new British assaults.This book explores the evolution and design of Maori fortifications, and charts the course of a conflict that would ultimately see the British break the Maori pas, leading to a bitter guerrilla bush war.

A compact, detailed volume on one of the Victorian British Empire's key wars and the battles it comprised.In the late 1870s the British Imperial administration in the Cape colony in southern Africa began to view the Zulu kingdom as a challenge to its authority. To contain this perceived threat, the British engineered a war. The early campaigns went terribly wrong, with the decisive Zulu victory at Isandlwana. Ultimately however, the British won the war. The Zulus, primarily reliant on their skill with the stabbing spear, had no real defence or retaliation against the massed firepower of professional British soldiers.Ian Castle examines the British-Zulu war and its two key battles, Isandlwana and Khambula, with excellent black and white photographs accompanying the clear and detailed text.

A highly-illustrated account of this significant British defeat during the Second Boer War.In 1899 Great Britain was at the height of its Imperial power. The Queen Empress had been on the throne for more than 50 years, and her domain touched upon every continent. Yet, as this book describes, the the British army suffered a heavy defeat at the hands of a citizen militia whom the British professionals despised as back-wood farmers.Alongside battle maps and illustrations, Ian Knight explores two key battles and their origins, including the missteps that led to the extensive British casualties in one week in December 1899.

Zulu military organisation was extremely sophisticated.Warriors were organised into regiments with some form of basic uniform and shields were state-manufactured and owned. Yet, in spite of this sophistication, firearms were ill understood, and between 1816 and 1906 the Zulus maintained their primary reliance on hand-to-hand fighting.In this book Ian Knight investigates Zulu weaponry in detail, and also their society, beliefs and rituals, particularly with regard to ceremonies conducted before and after battles. Tactics, dress and customs are also carefully examined, making this a thorough account of the Zulu warrior.