A Bloody Night

The Irish at Rorke’s Drift

By: Dan Harvey

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

The word Zulu means ‘heaven’, but for the suddenly besieged and minute British garrison at Rorke’s Drift, among them a key faction of Irish soldiers, it represented a hellish horde of warriors from the Zulu nation. In A Bloody Night, military historian Dan Harvey documents the terrifying struggle of these Irishmen as thousands of poorly armed but well-trained Zulus unexpectedly hurled themselves in a head-long, deadly onslaught against the hastily barricaded trading station and mission hospital. The battle, a defining clash in the 1879 Anglo-Zulu war, was a bare struggle for survival; the deeds and heroics of the Irish soldiers, muted within the grand narrative, were no less exceptional than that of their English counterparts. Dan Harvey brings captivating examples of their resilience to the fore, memorialising their feats of bravery. The defence of Rorke’s Drift was an epic encounter and an exceptional piece of soldiering. Its tale of courage in adversity against impossible odds endures; the little-known but significant role of those Irishmen present is no less absorbing a story, and all the more intriguing for its unheralded heroism.