The Battle of Rorkes Drift is certainly one of the most well-known actions from the history of the British Army. On 22 January 1879, simply hours just after the Zulu victory at Isandlwana, nearly 4,000 Zulus attack the mission station at Rorkes Drift just over the Buffalo River in Natal.
With around 140 men defending Rorkes Drift, you would be pardoned for guessing they had little possibility of survival, especially thinking about what happened to their colleagues at Isandlwana. All the same, together with in addition to being especially courageous soldiers, the defenders of Rorkes Drift were in possession of a weapon what would let them have an edge over the Zulus. The weapon in question was the Martini Henry rifle.
The .45 calibre rifle was capable of inflicting nasty injuries and when fired at a range of under 200 yards, a round could possibly very easily pass through a body and hit the person behind as well. The Martini Henry was a single shot, breech loading rifle and gave the British a large advantage over the Zulus who were just carrying their short stabbing spears (iklaws).
Although the Martini Henry was at fault partly for the defeat at Isandlwana, if properly maintained, it absolutely was an excellent weapon. To single the rifle out as the reason for the defeat at Isandlwana is extreme as there were a great many additional factors which contributed to the defeat.
At Rorkes Drift, the Martini Henry was vital to the British. As a store, there was a lot of ammo plus spare weapons plus the defensive area was a good deal smaller and for that reason was less difficult to defend in comparison to the position at Isandlwana. Brought to the British Army in 1871, the Martini Henry could fire up to 10 rounds per minute in the hands of any skilled soldier. The Martini Henry possessed a highly effective range of much more than 500m which resulted in providing the British could set eyes on the Zulu warriors, they could possibly begin eliminating them long before they got near enough for hand to hand fighting.
Despite the tremendous odds at Rorkes Drift, the British only lost roughly 10% of their men yet at the same time, they laid to rest almost 400 Zulus and it was viewed a similar number might have later died of their injuries. The British had beaten off the Zulu attack and were grateful to the Martini Henry rifle.