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Besieged by the Zulus: Eshowe 1879

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While the world knows about Rorke's Drift from the famous 1964 film "Zulu," another British garrison faced an even longer ordeal during the Anglo Zulu War of 1879. This is the story of the Siege of Eshowe - 71 days of isolation, disease, and determination deep in Zululand.

Following the catastrophic defeat at the Battle of Isandlwana on 22nd January 1879, Colonel Pearson's Number 1 Column found itself cut off at Eshowe Mission Station. While Lord Chelmsford's centre column had been destroyed and the defenders of Rorke's Drift earned immortality in a single night's fighting, Pearson's 1,400 men faced over two months surrounded by Zulu warriors.

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The battle of Petropavlovsk 1854, during the Crimean War.
A forgotten battle on Russia's remote Siberian Pacific coast.

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In the summer of 1854, while the world's attention was focused on events in the Crimea, a combined British and French naval squadron was sailing towards the isolated Russian port of Petropavlovsk on the Kamchatka Peninsula. What should have been a straightforward victory for the overwhelmingly superior Allied fleet instead became a humiliating disaster that the Admiralty would later describe as "that melancholy failure at Petropavlovsk."

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The forgotten story of the White Indian Mutiny.

Following the Indian Sepoy Revolt, which began in 1857, the British government took over ruling India from the East India Company.

As part of that transfer, they proposed that the European regiments within the EIC army would become part of the regular British army.

Believing that their pay and promotion opportunities would be adversely impacted and the traditions of their old regiments (some older than almost all British army regiments) wold be eradicated the men of the European Regiments mutinied.

Chris Green is The History Chap; telling stories that brings the past to life.

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The Battle of Firket (also called the battle of Ferkeh or Firka), 7th June 1896, Sudan.
It was the opening battle in General Kitchener's invasion of the Mahdist, fundametal Muslim state, that would end with his victory at the battle of Omdurman two years later.

Chris Green is The History Chap; telling stories that brings the past to life.

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The Epic SAS battle in Oman - the battle of Mirbat 1972

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In July 1972, nine SAS soldiers faced impossible odds in a forgotten battle that helped shape the Cold War. The Battle of Mirbat stands as one of the most extraordinary feats in British Army history - a modern-day Rorke's Drift where elite Special Forces held the line against overwhelming communist forces.

Deep in the mountains of Oman's Dhofar province, a Marxist insurgency backed by China and the Soviet Union threatened to topple the Sultan and seize control of the strategic Strait of Hormuz. The Dhofar Rebellion had raged for a decade, with communist guerrillas controlling vast swathes of territory and pushing toward the vital oil routes of the Persian Gulf.

Standing in their way was a small SAS team stationed in the coastal town of Mirbat. On the morning of 19 July 1972, over 400 heavily-armed PFLOAG fighters descended from the hills in a coordinated assault designed to deliver a knockout blow to the Sultan's forces. Their target: nine British Army Special Forces soldiers and a handful of local allies defending an old fort.

What followed was four hours of desperate fighting that would become legendary within the SAS Regiment. Sergeant Talaiasi Labalaba single-handedly operated a 25-pounder artillery gun - normally requiring six men - while under sustained enemy fire. Captain Mike Kealy coordinated the defense with extraordinary calm as bullets flew around him. When Labalaba was wounded, Trooper Tommy Tobin volunteered for a suicide mission to reach the isolated gun position.

This is the incredible true story of courage under fire, of professional soldiers who refused to yield when everything seemed lost. The Battle of Mirbat was more than just a military engagement - it was a turning point in the Dhofar Rebellion that secured Oman's future and protected Western interests in the Gulf during the height of the Cold War.

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Chris Green is The History Chap; telling stories that bring British History to life.

The Shangani Patrol: Major Wilson’s Last Stand Against Impossible Odds (1893)

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On December 4th, 1893, near the banks of the Shangani River in what is now Zimbabwe, fewer than 30 British soldiers under Major Allan Wilson made their final stand against over 3,000 Matabele warriors.

Surrounded, outnumbered, and cut off from reinforcements by a raging river, these men fought until their ammunition ran out.

Legend says that as the enemy made their final charge, the survivors stood and sang "God Save the Queen" before meeting their fate.

This dramatic last stand became the stuff of British imperial legend, shaping white Rhodesian identity for eight decades. But what brought these men to this desperate moment in the African wilderness?

The story begins with Cecil Rhodes and his British South Africa Company's expansion into Mashonaland in 1890.

To the west lay the powerful Matabele kingdom under King Lobengula, who continued traditional raids against the Shona people - now living on white settler farms.

When Dr. Leander Starr Jameson declared war in October 1893, two columns advanced into Matabele territory, devastating the kingdom's forces with modern rifles and Maxim guns.

After capturing the burning capital of Bulawayo, Major Patrick Forbes led a flying column in pursuit of the fleeing king., Lobengula. The force included the ambitious Major Allan Wilson, experienced Boer frontiersman Piet Raaff, and American scout Frederick Burnham.

Wilson's led a small patrol across the Shangani river on December 3rd in pursuit of the king.. During the night, he found himself surrounded by thousands of warriors.

The 29 men formed a defensive ring using their horses as cover and fought for hours against overwhelming odds. Matabele accounts describe Wilson being shot six times but continuing to fight, and wounded men passing ammunition with their teeth.

In the end, seven men remained standing. They removed their hats, shook hands, and sang a hymn, legend has it that it was "God Save The Queen"

The legend of the Shangani Patrol became embedded in Rhodesian mythology until Zimbabwe's independence in 1980.

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The Castle Hill Rebellion: When Irish Revolutionaries Fought British Redcoats in Australia (1804)

Chris Green is The History Chap; telling stories that brings the past to life.

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On the morning of March 5th, 1804, the sound of musket fire echoed across the hills northwest of Sydney, marking the largest convict uprising in Australian history.

But these weren't ordinary criminals - they were seasoned Irish revolutionaries who had already battled British forces during the 1798 United Irishmen revolt, and now they were making one final desperate bid for freedom on the other side of the world.

This is the extraordinary story of the Castle Hill Rebellion, also known as the Battle of Vinegar Hill, when 300 Irish political prisoners led by Philip Cunningham attempted to seize control of the New South Wales penal colony, capture ships, and sail home to rejoin what they believed was an ongoing revolution in Ireland.

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Chris Green is The History Chap, telling stories from British history.

This is the moment in 1843 when for 5 months the British occupied Hawaii.

Not part of some master plan, but because a Royal Navy officer went way beyond his orders!

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