When the British arrived at the battlefield, they were shocked by the tragedy. The Zulus were not savages who ate raw meat and drank blood. They also had their own traditions. For example, after obtaining the shovels produced by the Chinese, they would also dig large pits to bury the Zulu dead.
When the Zulus finished their work, the British rushed to the battlefield to see more than 10,000 naked British corpses scattered on the ground. Because the Zulus had stripped them of all their clothes, and because they would not be tanned after death, the white corpses on the ground looked particularly... Human. Flocks of vultures and jackals picked at the delicacies, making the corpses look particularly horrible. Gunshots rang out, and the British troops could only use their rifles to drive away the vultures and jackals before they could enter the area.
The British Expeditionary Force was no longer large enough to launch a large-scale attack. No matter how angry they were, the British troops could only collect the corpses first. Perhaps because of the heavy workload, or because they were too depressed, the British did not dig up the bodies of the Zulu soldiers next to them to vent their anger.
On March 16, 1890, the commander of the British Expeditionary Force, General Lawrence, resigned. On March 18, the newspapers finally broke the story. The news shook Europe so much that even the news of the China Army's attack after winter was placed in an inconspicuous position in the newspapers. Newspapers all over Britain and all over Europe were enthusiastically discussing the recent events. Although these newspapers had no idea what had happened in Africa, they did not even know who Britain was fighting with. But their ignorance of reality not only did not shut up the newspapers, but allowed them to let their imaginations run wild.
All kinds of irresponsible news emerged one after another in the newspapers, gloating that the British had actually lost more than 20,000 people, and even as many as 200,000. Those who pretended to be rational began with a series of articles and ended with imaginary explanations.
The carnival made the newspaper industry happy. Every country did not like the United Kingdom. In the past century, all the European countries had basically stood on the same side as the United Kingdom, the sh * t-stirrer, and had even been ruthlessly stabbed by the United Kingdom. Now, seeing that Britain had been defeated by a white country and a black country in distant Africa, the European countries could not find any other feeling but pleasure.
Then the news of the Zulu emissary requesting recognition from European countries and trying to establish formal diplomatic relations with them was dug out. This news had not been released for a long time. It was less than half a month ago, so it was considered a hot topic. The news that had previously appeared in the entertainment section quickly made its way to the official front page. Because of the lack of knowledge about the Zulu Kingdom, the newspaper used imagination instead of facts.
Of course, it was not just the newspaper industry that was using its imagination. Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany also let his imagination run wild. He ordered his servant to find a map of Africa and threw himself at the center of the huge table. In addition to the map, there were a lot of newspapers on the table.
The Berlin Conference on the partition of Africa was an international conference chaired by Prime Minister Bismarck. Because the conference determined the principle of "effective occupation" that the powerful countries could agree on, Germany didn't covet Africa that much. The German army defeated the French army and became the strongest army in Europe. But even the craziest German upper echelon probably didn't think that the German army could fight their way into Africa on foot. The German Navy was just a chrysalis of a butterfly.
But that didn't stop William II from giving up his hobby. The German emperor loved to look at maps and let his imagination run wild on them. No matter how far South Africa was from Germany, it didn't look that far from the ground.
"Your Majesty, we have brought the document from the Zulu Kingdom that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs received." The servant interrupted the emperor's research work and temporarily brought him back to reality.
"Oh? You found it? "William II was surprised at first, then delighted. Even he didn't think that the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs would keep such a document. If it was William II who received the black delegation, he would probably throw the document provided by the black delegation into the trash. Although the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs looked down on the black people of the Zulu Kingdom, they were able to keep the document according to the regulations. This made William II feel that his men were very qualified.
"… Uh, Your Majesty, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that there are a lot of German misuses in this part of the document. They listed the basic requirements of the Zulu Kingdom. I put it at the top, "the servant said.
William II picked up the document that the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs had sorted out. The words of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from the servant had successfully influenced William II's judgment. The young emperor didn't have the urge to read the "misuse of words."
The requirements put forward by the Zulu Kingdom were mainly divided into three parts. The first part was to state the history and legitimacy of the Zulu Kingdom itself. Germany had only been founded a few years ago. Although Prussia had a long history, the Zulu Kingdom claimed to have a 100-year history, which was enough to scare William II.
The second part was the size of the Zulu Kingdom. Rain Village? The map drawn by the Zulu king included most of the Drakensberg Mountains and the traditional Zulu land. In other words, most of the African tribes in the Drakensberg Mountains were probably vassals of the British. Most of the traditional Zulu land was now in the hands of the Boers.
William II didn't know this. He immediately leaned over the map and began to study the names carefully. Because of the limited strength of the navy, Germany occupied Togo, Cameroon, and German West Africa, which was Namibia in Vézé's other time and space. Namibia was next to the British Cape Town Colony, and the Germans' understanding of South Africa was not completely clueless.
"If the Boers and the Zulus join forces, they can destroy 20,000 British expeditionary forces. Then is it possible for them to counterattack the British Cape Town Colony? "The emperor 'muttered' to himself in front of his servant. The emperor's attendants were all excellent military school students. In addition to being good academically, they also came from a good family background. Most of these attendants had the word "Feng" in their names.
Upon hearing the emperor's words, the young attendant could not help but speak the truth. "Your Majesty, in our intelligence, the Boers and the Zulus have been at war for decades. It's unlikely that they will cooperate."
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