I recently watched the 1979 movie Zulu Dawn and it reminded me of one of my dad’s favourite facts, which he used to repeat when the opportunity arose.
He stated that when the Zulu warriors were marching into battle they made such a noise that they could be heard coming from fifty miles away. This was used as a means to intimidate their opponents (it would be pretty intimidating!).
My dad thought it was pretty unlikely to be true himself but he obviously liked the ‘imagery’.
I doubt they could be heard fifty miles away but a large group of determined people making a lot of noise in unison can be heard at a great distance.
Another film worth watching is I[]Zulu!* with a very young Michael Caine. One of the scenes depicts the Zulu tribe on the march and the noise they made. While it was certainly heard at a distance, fifty miles would be out of the question. One can’t hear a train coming at more than a few miles.
The idea that you can hear several th0ousand people fifty miles a way is utterly ridiculous.I think more than likely there’s been confusion with the claim that a Zulu army could march 50 miles in day (though even this claim itself is a massive exaggeration)
Fifty miles is probably an error or an exaggeration, but I do not doubt that they could make a great racket slamming their assegais (spears) or knobkerries (war clubs) against their stiffened cowhide shields in cadence with their march. At Islandlwana they had 20,000 troops, although not all participated in the battle.
Descriptions of Greek battles mention the noise of any phalanx in battle to be deafening for probably the same reasons.
50 miles in a day may be an exaggeration, but it may not be by much if it is. Stonewall Jacksons ‘foot cavalry’ did a forced march of 35 miles in one day and their kit doubtless weighted more than that of the Zulus. The normal day’s march of a Roman Legion was 15 miles, Caesar was claimed to have made a forced march of 25 miles from his camp, put down rebels and forced marched the 25 miles back to camp at Gergovia in 24 hours, a march of 50 miles with a battle in the middle, pages 252-259 from here though that too could also be an exaggeration.
For an army50 miles is right on the edge of what’s possible. Though a Zuku warrior had less kit than say a Roman legionary, you also got to remember the area they operated in was very, very hot for a lot of the year. The real figure is reckoned to be more like a maximum 12 miles a day for Shaka’s Zulu army.
Though 50 miles is a long way from being the edge of realistic in terms of how far that sort of noise can be heard.
Just for comparision I live right next door to the site of the World’s 6th (currently) largest music festival and I remember the days when they had a much, much more lax attitude to noise restriction (and I’m guessing at the time it may well have been the World’s largest musical festival).
Wind is a factor on how far away you can hear the crowd and music sounds, but I’d say approx. 3miles was the furthest away you can hear anything from that festival and I’d be suprised if a Zulu army could make as much noise as almost 100,000 people and a number of huge PA systems.
Anyway, it does sound like its been a confusion between the alleged distance Zulu warriors could march in a day and the distance from which they could be heard. Not sure how I can break the news to dad that one of his favourite facts has no basis in reality, although to be fair he was pretty sceptical of it himself.
Although on the side-question of marching distance I do recall that as part of their assessment SAS applicants were required to cover fifty miles in twenty-four hours while carrying heavy equipment in all weather conditions.
Its mentioned under ‘Endurance’ there, forty miles in twenty hours. I believe it was reduced from fifty miles at some point.
Initially read about it in ‘Who Dares Wins’ by Tony Geraghty.
South Africa is a temperate country. The average high temperature for Durban, the capital of modern KwaZulu-Natal Province, is around the 70s year-round. The highest average high is 81 in December. Going inland, things get chillier until you hit the Drakenberg mountains, which get heavy snow in winter. Compared to, say, Rome, the Zulu Kingdom was rainy and mild year round.
It occurred to me to do the obvious thing and google “zulu 50 miles march” and oddly enough this thread is the first hit. That aside, there are a number sources making the 50 mile a day claim.
While I find the fifty miles per day figure questionable (although I asked an ex-army friend tonight and he said it was eminently possible) I also find the eight or twelve miles march per day figure unreasonably low.
As someone upthread noted the average walking speed is three or four miles per hour and people can certainly walk for extended periods at a time, and very fit people should be able to perform markedly better than that.
In fact when I was growing up myself and my friends used to walk between local villages several times in a night out (rural area, not much to do!) averaging about nine miles per night, before walking home, a further five miles. And that was just casually strolling and not in the least bit strenuous.
And what about persistance hunting?
It states that Kalahari bushmen will track their prey for two to five hours in high temperatures averaging 16 to 22 miles in doing so.
A significant difference between subsistence hunters and armies on the march, even primitive armies like the Impis, is that the latter have to bivouac and at times throw up hasty fortifications, all of which take time. Moreover, an army on a significant extended road march will have to forage, unless the army has prepared the route with food caches. Again, this takes time.
I was interested in your OP, and looked up several accounts of marching in the ancient world. I thought the Zulus would be comparable. This site goes into considerable detail about the Roman legion, including marching distances. Another site goes into detail about marching distances for Xenophon’s 10,000. Finally, here are some more links that discuss historical long marches. 1, 2.
50 miles is an insanely long distance for an army to march in one day, even considering 24 hours of continuous marching over flat land in temperate conditions. I can’t rule out that they did it once—Caesar’s account of Gergovia aside—but I doubt they kept it up for extended periods.
One hilarious thing you’ll find researching the subject are all of the message boards filled with guys trying to top each other (E.g.) “You think 30 miles was hard? We had to do (in XYZ regiment) 50 miles with 30 kg of kit, uphill through the snow, both ways, and then had to assault an entrenched ridge line.” And so on…
50 miles is a lot for an army “on the move”, but I saw that at least one link specified that distance was for training purposes, which is altogether different.
Hmmm… I could hear the recent U2 concert, mainly as a dull roar, five and a half miles away from the stadium. I don’t recall which way the wind was blowing, but it wasn’t noticeable IIRC. Which bring up the next question - is U2 louder than a Zulu army?
