The British commander made a number of mistakes at Isandlwana. He failed to fortify the camp by arranging the supply wagons into a defensive ring or "laager".

The British column had previously been divided into 2 parts, the larger of which had marched off under Chelmsford's command...another major error!...as they were not there to help fight the Zulus when the battle came. (Custer made a mistake like that at Little Big Horn when he also divided his forces in the face of a more numerous enemy).

The British had optimistically assumed that their rifles were proof against any number of African natives...based on previous experience of a long series of victories against African tribes. This time they were wrong...although the Martini-Henry did wreak frightful casualties on the advancing Zulus until the British firing line was scattered and broken.

Better scouting could have given the British earlier notice of the Zulu armie's proximity to Isandlwana.

And the rifles did tend to jam...and the ammunition boxes were part of the problem...as was the attitude of certain quartermasters to insist on rigid protocol for giving out that ammunition.

All in all, it seems that things just happened too fast. For that, credit goes to the Zulus. They had used stealth to approach quite near, and they pressed the attack with impeccable courage despite suffering heavy losses. (It was said later that the flower of the Zulu army fell at Isandlwana and Rorke's Drift..."a spear thrust into the belly of the nation")

For the Zulus, it was the beginning of the end...just as Little Big Horn was for the free roaming tribes of the Lakota and Cheyenne. But at least they had their day of glory. For the British, it was a shocking tragedy and an embarrassment...one that stiffened their imperial resolve and made the end of Zulu self-rule inevitable.

There were further battles. In some of them the Zulus acquitted themselves fairly well, but the British avoided making any more fatal errors like those at Isandlwana. The denoument came a few months later at the Zulu capital Ulundi where a large and well-positioned British square formation easily massacred the remnants of the impis in a last battle that was a one-sided slaughter. Once again a technological empire had enforced its unbending will upon the recalcitrant Native who dares to defend the land he was born upon and thereby oppose the forces of "progress". (gentle sarcasm on my part)