Book excerpt: The slaughter at Hlobane was second only to that at Isandlwana two months earlier, which ravaged morale in the British Army. This was in part responsible for the highly questionable conduct of some of the officers when faced with the enemy at Hlobane, leading to the British rout at Devil's Pass. Without defeat at Hlobane, however, victory at Kambula might not have been possible: the warriors of the leading Zulu regiments, over-confident after their resounding success, were easily provoked into an ill-judged attack on the enemy camp at Kambula, and exhausted themselves before the British survivors of the previous day's battle set out in pursuit, leaving 1,000 Zulu dead on the Zunguin Plain.