A Shaka link: he was a pain in real life, too

[Miznia]

(It's legal to just post a link, isn't it?)

I didn't know anything about Shaka in real life (dislike him intensely in the game), but this link convinces me that he really was pretty hard to get along with -

http://campus.northpark.edu/history/WebChron/Africa/ShakaZulu.html

[nato]

Cool link!

Some other "Shaka was not nice" stuff I've read...

Before him, warfare in that area was very low intensity. The big reason Shaka was so successful was he introduced the idea of fighting to kill, and pounced on all the people who were fighting "nice".

His conquests were so brutal they called it "the Crushing".

He never let any of his warriors marry until they were ... um like 30 or 40 or something.

I read that when his mother died, he went on a mother killing spree so that everyone else would suffer too. He even killed mother cows, so that even the calfs would know what it was to lose thier mother!

And his worst deed ... he made the whole Zulus-with-spears overrun British-with-rifles thing possible ... thus creating the one example that comes up in EVERY SINGLE civ combat discussion thread OVER AND OVER ...

[Tuberski]

Originally posted by nato


And his worst deed ... he made the whole Zulus-with-spears overrun British-with-rifles thing possible ... thus creating the one example that comes up in EVERY SINGLE civ combat discussion thread OVER AND OVER ...

[Changmai Beagle]

quote:

Originally posted by nato


And his worst deed ... he made the whole Zulus-with-spears overrun British-with-rifles thing possible ... thus creating the one example that comes up in EVERY SINGLE civ combat discussion thread OVER AND OVER ...


Was that Shaka? From reading the link he appeared pro-European. If not, which Zulu leader destroyed the British rifles - before being unable to root out the Engineers at Rorke's Drift. (Strange how I can't remember anything except where the engineers won ) Tsk. Tsk.

[Coracle]

For the historically ignorant, Cetswayo was the Zulu king in the war against the British; Shaka was long dead having been assassinated by his own people for being a maniac.

If Firaxis had ANY brains, they would have picked Menelek, the great Christian king of Ethiopia, of the 1890's. He gave the Italians a beating that made Isandhlwana look small.

[nato]

I did not say Shaka was king during Rorke's Drift, I said he made it possible. Shaka turned the Zulus into a military machine, made the conquests, and set things up so that the Zulu victory could happen ... that was what I was getting at.

More proof that people come to forums just to disagree ... sheesh.

One thing I do remember is something about one of Shaka's last commands was for the Zulus to never attack riflemen in a fortified position. So if he had been around he would not have ordered the disastrous (for the Zulus) attack on that little building after the big vicotory.

[Inverse Icarus]

what the... every time i meet shaka he's polite or gracious. it's that bismark that loathes the sight of me.

(maybe it's because i'm a warlike civ and the zulu admire that )

[Miznia]

For the historically ignorant, Cetswayo was the Zulu king in the war against the British; Shaka was long dead having been assassinated by his own people for being a maniac.
If Firaxis had ANY brains, they would have picked Menelek, the great Christian king of Ethiopia, of the 1890's. He gave the Italians a beating that made Isandhlwana look small.

No no no! Picking Ethiopia for such a reason is just as bad as picking the Zulus was way back when. "Kicked ass against the odds in a famous battle" should not be the criteria for civ-inclusion!

(My game has Mali )

[siredgar]

I have to say when I need to fight a war, Shaka will always join me. He loves war. He cannot live without it. Although I don't like him because he's a big backstabber, too.