The Zulu handed the British one of the biggest disasters in their colonial history. Ignoring orders to the contrary, Viscount Chelmsford led his troops into Zululand in 1879, establishing a camp at Islandlwana. But, while Chelmsford and about half his men were away trying to intercept a Zulu force, the camp was hit by a surprise attack. When the Viscount returned the next day, the area was strewn with bodies: of the 1600 troops, all but 55 Europeans and 300 natives had been killed.Armed with new information from recent excavation of the battle site, and important never-before-published documents, Adrian Greaves challenges all previous interpretations of the attack that proved once and for all that the British army was not invincible.