Almost at the same time that Napoleon's army swept across Europe, a black warrior in Southeast Africa led a few troops to the south, making a weak tribe a kingdom that ruled southern Africa, thus becoming the most famous figure in South Africa's history. Some people call it Napoleon in Africa. He is Shajia, the founder of Zulu Kingdom.
The prince leads a wandering life.
/kloc-In the late 8th century, Zulu tribe was a weak tribe of Ng'Uni with a population of only 1500. 1786, Chief Sinzangkona fell in love with Randy, the daughter of the late Chief of Rangni tribe, and soon got Randy pregnant. Having children out of wedlock was a big violation at that time. The Lonnie tribe asked Sinzankona to marry Randy, and the elders of the Zulu tribe were also extremely angry. Under pressure, Sinzangkona denied it and accused Randy of being pregnant, which was caused by intestinal parasites (Shajia/Chaka). Murder will out. Facing the fact of pregnancy, Zinzangennako had to marry Randy, but only let her be the third wife. Perhaps out of self-mockery, after his son was born, Sinzankona named him Shajia; Randy named it to impress his son with this insult. Although he has a family and children, Randy's married life is not happy. Mother and son are either looked down upon or insulted. At the age of six, Shajia began to look after his father's sheep with other shepherds. Once I accidentally let a dog eat a sheep. His father was so angry that he drove them all out of the palace.
Randy was forced to leave Zulu tribe with Shajia and return to his mother's family, Lonnie tribe. However, what awaits them here is still secular prejudice and discrimination from others; Shajia is called a fatherless wild child by his friends and often becomes the object of their teasing and ridicule. Mother and son were forced to live a wandering life, from one priest to another tribe. Since the end of18th century, the persistent drought and famine in southern Africa have led to frequent wars between tribes in Ng'Uni, and gradually formed a situation in which two tribes competed for hegemony: the Mtewa tribe led by Dingiswayo and the Ndewande tribe led by Zewad. In this war-torn era, the hardships of Shajia's mother and son can be imagined. In about 1803, Randy took Shajia to his home in menstruation, Mteva, and Sheikh Ding Giswayo kindly took them in and let them live a stable life. Despite living in the palace, Sharjah was laughed at by his friends, who hated Sharjah's claim that he was of royal blood.
Someone who makes the earth uneasy by sitting.
Born and raised in this environment, Sharjah had only one friend, that is, his mother. She often told him stories about his royal lineage and the root of his suffering, and taught him to be strong and get ahead. Sharjah's growing environment not only made him hardworking, firm and brave, but also made him have a strong desire for power and revenge. At the age of 2 1, Shajia was over 1.9 meters tall and strong, surpassing his peers. Once, in order to protect his sheep, he killed a leopard with a spear and a stick alone. He is also very good at controlling children of the same age and becoming their recognized leader. 16 years old, becoming the little leader of the shepherd boy. At the age of 2 1, Sharjah became a member of Mutwa's army. Military life turned a new page in his life. Here, he has real friends and friendships that were impossible before; The battlefield provided him with a stage to show his bravery and skillful skills, so he lived a comfortable life like a duck to water.
At that time, conflicts between tribes were mainly caused by fighting for pastures, and the weapons used were light spears. During the battle, the two sides were forty or fifty yards apart and threw spears at each other. Once one side can't resist the retreat, the other side will pursue it. If the loser drops his weapon when retreating, it means surrender, and the winner will not pursue. In this way of fighting, both sides have less damage and forgetfulness. Sharjah thinks this mode of war is stupid and absurd. Not only is there no threat to the enemy to throw a light spear at a long distance, but the enemy will also throw the thrown spear back. He advocated close combat, protecting himself with cowhide shields, stabbing the enemy with spears, and physically destroying the enemy. In order to facilitate the assassination, he designed a short-handled broad-edged spear (iklwa) instead of a light spear. The spear with short handle and wide blade later became the main weapon of Zulu people. Short-handled broad-edged spears and melee tactics soon showed their power in combat. 18 10 years, in the battle with the Qi tribe in butler, the enemy was caught off guard and fled in defeat. Sharjah's brave wit and unique strategic and tactical ability won Dingiswayo's admiration. Dingiswayo not only gave him many livestock, but also promoted him to commander, commanding 65,438+000 soldiers. From then on, Sharjah not only lived a rich life, but also became an influential figure.
Shajia began to turn his 65,438+000 soldiers into a well-trained war machine, and adopted a brand-new bison formation in tactics: he divided his troops into three parts, with a small number of troops (two horns) deployed forward on the two wings of the main force (head) and a reserve force behind the main force (chest). When fighting, when the two corners form the enemy's encirclement, the main force begins to attack and destroy the enemy in the encirclement; Once needed, the reserve forces will keep up with the support; On the other hand, Sharjah commanded from a nearby height and coordinated the actions of various armies through messengers. In the battle with Endedway, Shajia was appointed as the commander-in-chief of the army, and his bison tactics also achieved great success and defeated the enemy in one fell swoop. Dingiswayo gave Shajia many material rewards, and then appointed him commander in chief.
Sharjah fought bravely and tactfully, and adopted the tactics of physically destroying the enemy. People call him nodumehlezi-a man who will make the earth uneasy when sitting.
March into the kingdom
One day, when Sinzankona came to pay tribute to Dingiswayo, he found that his son was already a big shot. He was very happy and promised to pass on the throne to him. However, after his death in 18 16, Sougou Jana, the son of Eighth Lady, succeeded him as chief. Shajia was very angry after hearing this. Dingiswayo supported Sharjah to seize the position of Zulu Chief and gave him an army. Sharjah led the army to kill sogou Jana easily and became the chief of Zulu tribe. The first thing Sharjah did when he came to power was to execute those who despised and bullied his mother or him. He also built a new palace on the Modi River and named it "bulawayo" (meaning slaughterhouse). At this time, the territory of Zulu tribe is about 65,438+000 square miles, and Shajia can reach any part of the territory from his palace in less than an hour.
When Sharjah came to power, he led the small tribe to March into the empire.
He first reorganized the Zulu army. Use buffalo array, short-handled wide-bladed spear, cowhide shield and hand-to-hand combat against the enemy. No matter which tribe they come from, they will be organized into legions according to the age of the soldiers and stationed in different barracks. Each regiment is not only a military unit, but also bears the responsibility of feeding the allocated livestock. Soldiers are only allowed to speak Zulu dialect. In this way, soldiers can not only form a sense of identity, but also be self-sufficient to some extent. In the battle, the policy of extinction was adopted, especially for those who were unfriendly to their mother and son before, and the survivors who were willing to serve him were merged into Zulu tribe. Sharjah trains soldiers with strict discipline and in an almost cruel way. His battle slogan is: "Win or die." Every soldier must be absolutely loyal to him, obey military discipline, and be executed if he violates it. Soldiers are not allowed to get married, only after the dissolution of the army. When he found that the rough leather sandals worn by Zulu people were not conducive to sports warfare, he ordered soldiers not to wear shoes when training and fighting, whether on the pointed stone road or through the thorny jungle, vast desert areas and rivers. Forced marching training, with weapons and equipment, has to travel 70 kilometers every day, and on the way, I have to find food in the jungle to satisfy my hunger. Sharjah did everything a soldier was asked to do and lived a simple life. Sharjah was quickly trained into an army of 500 people. They were hardworking, brave and good at fighting.
Sharjah attacked the Lonnie tribe first. Everyone was executed except those who treated their mother and son well. Then, the Qi tribe was slaughtered in the official residence, and there were few survivors. He brought all the captured girls into the harem, so that the number of harem wives reached 1200. However, he did not call them wives, but sisters. In fact, no one really became his wife. He doesn't like having children, for fear that they will grow up against him. So he slept with many ladies-in-waiting, but none of them gave birth to his children. Even if she gets pregnant occasionally, she will be put to death by him.
In less than a year, the population of Zulu tribe tripled.
18 17, the Ndewandwe army led by Zewad defeated the Mtewa people, and Dingiswayo was killed, which triggered a scuffle between the tribes controlled by the Mtewa tribe. Sharjah took the opportunity to annex these tribes and greatly enhanced his strength. Sharjah has started a new round of sports. Within two years, Shajia defeated the Ndewandwe tribe and the Kwabu tribe, which threatened him the most, and then attacked and destroyed the small tribe south of Zulu territory. By 1823, Natal area was in ruins.
During the ten-year war, Sharjah was invincible and a huge Zulu kingdom was established. /kloc-more than 0/00 ethnic groups merged into the Zulu kingdom, covering the southern coastal areas of South Africa and KwaZulu-Natal region (including Zimbabwe, Swaziland and South Africa today), covering an area of 2 million square kilometers, with a population of about 250,000 and an army of 50,000. Later, Europeans called people living in Zulu Zulu. Zulu kingdom was built on bones, and it is estimated that about 2 million people were killed, most of them were conquered tribes.
Zulu hero
After defeating the Ndewan Wade tribe, Sharjah moved his capital to the bank of the Mlatuz River, where he built 65,438+0,400 houses. His mother Randy has been living a comfortable life in the palace. Sharjah's mother died in the palace. He was very sad and completely crazy, killing 7000 people at once. Terrible rule will never last long, and it will inevitably arouse the resistance of his subordinates. Shajiayu, who had been in office for only 12 years, was assassinated by his half-brothers Danjani and Muhanjana on September 22nd, 828. The next day, he was buried in Stanger. It is said that his last words before he died were: "Here comes the white man."
It is not an exaggeration to say that Shajia is a tyrant, but he unified many tribes in southern Africa into a kingdom, ending the long-term scuffle between tribes, which not only benefited the economic development of southern Africa, but also gradually integrated different tribes, thus promoting the formation of a new Zulu nationality; At the same time, he carried out a series of military reforms, which enhanced the overall military strength of Zulu, not only making Zulu the most powerful force in southern Africa, but also making Zulu one of the few African tribes that can defeat the British invaders in the future. Therefore, in the eyes of Zulu people, he is "a symbol of vitality, strength and independence", a national hero of Zulu people and the pride of Zulu people.
To commemorate their national hero, Zulu people not only built the Sharjah Monument, but also held a rally in Stanger every year to commemorate him.