On the same day as the Battle of Rorke’s Drift in January 1879, just a few miles away, a force of British regular redcoats plus native colonial troops was surrounded and destroyed by a massive Zulu army of 25,000 men. Some 1,500 or more British and colonial soldiers and ancillaries were killed, with few survivors. The disaster came as a complete shock to an Army and a Government that had fatally underestimated the military power and organisation of the Zulu. This talk covers the background to the Zulu War, the strengths and weaknesses of the two sides, and the events leading up to and including that fateful day.