page_title: Shaka
section_title: Social and military revolution
hierarchical_section_title: Shaka / Social and military revolution
caption_attribution_description: English: Zulu warriors
context_page_description: Shaka kaSenzangakhona, also known as Shaka Zulu, was the King of the Zulu Kingdom from 1816 to 1828. He was one of the most influential monarchs of the Zulu Kingdom.
  Shaka was born in the lunar month of uNtulikazi in the year of 1787 near present-day Melmoth, KwaZulu-Natal Province, the son of the Zulu chief Senzangakhona. Spurned as an illegitimate son, Shaka spent his childhood in his mother's settlements, where he was initiated into an ibutho lempi, serving as a warrior under Dingiswayo.
  Shaka further refined the ibutho military system and, with the Mthethwa empire's support over the next several years, forged alliances with his smaller neighbours to counter the growing threat from Ndwandwe raids from the north. The initial Zulu maneuvers were primarily defensive, as Shaka preferred to apply pressure diplomatically, with an occasional strategic assassination. His reforms of local society built on existing structures. Although he preferred social and propagandistic political methods, he also engaged in a number of battles.
  He was ultimately assassinated by his half brothers Dingane and Mhlangana.
context_section_description: Some older histories have doubted the military and social innovations customarily attributed to Shaka, denying them outright, or attributing them variously to European influences. More modern researchers argue that such explanations fall short, and that the general Zulu culture, which included other tribes and clans, contained a number of practices that Shaka could have drawn on to fulfill his objectives, whether in raiding, conquest or hegemony. Some of these practices are shown below.
caption: Shaka's military innovations – such as the iklwa, the age-grade regimental system, and encirclement tactics – helped make the Zulu one of the most powerful nations in southern and southeastern Africa.[13]
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