1879 — The Battle of Isandlwana

On January 22, 1879, some 20,000 Zulu warriors annihilated a British camp at Isandlwana, in South Africa. The British had invaded the independent Zulu Kingdom just 11 days earlier. Their commander split his force, and the Zulus encircled the camp with the classic horns-of-the-buffalo maneuver, killing over 1,300 British and colonial troops.

It was one of the worst defeats the British Army ever suffered, and the shockwave rattled Victorian Britain. Yet the triumph could not hold back the empire's full weight for long. Britain regrouped and conquered Zululand within months, even as Isandlwana entered legend as proof of what Zulu arms, united, could do.