First Matabele War
The First Matabele War was fought between 1893 and 1894 in modern-day Zimbabwe. It pitted the British South Africa Company against the Ndebele (Matabele) Kingdom. Lobengula, king of the Ndebele, had tried to avoid outright war with the company's pioneers because he and his advisors were mindful of the destructive power of European-produced weapons on traditional Matabele impis (units of warriors) attacking in massed ranks. Lobengula reportedly could muster 80,000 spearmen and 20,000 riflemen, armed with Martini-Henry rifles, which were modern arms at that time. However, poor training meant that these were not used effectively.
| First Matabele War | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Matabele Wars | |||||||||
The Battle of the Shangani (25 October 1893), as depicted by Richard Caton Woodville Jr. (1856–1927) | |||||||||
| |||||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||||
|
British South Africa Company Tswana (Bechuana) | Ndebele Kingdom | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
|
Cecil Rhodes Leander Starr Jameson Major Allan Wilson † Major Patrick Forbes Khama III |
King Lobengula † Mjaan, Chief inDuna | ||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
|
750 Company troops 1000 Tswana |
80,000 spearmen 20,000 riflemen | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
| ca. 100 | Over 10,000 | ||||||||
The British South Africa Company had no more than 750 troops in the British South Africa Company's Police, with an undetermined number of possible colonial volunteers and an additional 700 Tswana (Bechuana) allies. Cecil Rhodes, who was Prime Minister of the Cape Colony and Leander Starr Jameson, the Administrator of Mashonaland also tried to avoid war to prevent loss of confidence in the future of the territory. Matters came to a head when Lobengula approved a raid to forcibly extract tribute from a Mashona chief in the district of the town of Fort Victoria, which inevitably led to a clash with the company.