The 20000 strong Zulu force was able to defeat the small British contingent and force Lord Chelmsford to revise his plans for invading Zululand but, although only 350 of the 1500 British survived, the loss of several thousand of their men by the Zulus was more crucial in the total picture of the campaign. The news of the British defeat appalled the nation where the public was used to easy victories over such indigenous opponents and this was to be the worst single dayAs loss of British troops between the Napoleonic Wars and the Great War. The vitriol and satire heaped on the British performance by parliament and press was unheard of for the time. Ian Beckett contributes this early volume to the 'in Focus' series where the aim is to provide important and significant coverage of the war as opposed to the lightweight style of other paperback series of this type. The 50000-word text allows the author to meet the needs of many historians and students at all levels evaluating this important period in the British Empire.