AhC and question Zulu Boer alliance

Could those two groupings have worked together against the British (and possibly other Euroean powers)?

If this is not ASB would Britain have been forced to come to terms with such an alliance?
 
The problems are numerous. There is the problems of Racial discrimination by the Boers towards blacks which would trouble any negotiations. There is the problem of large amounts of hostility in the past, with such things as the death of Retief and blood river standing out. And lastly, there were border disputes between transvaal and Zululand. Those all make an alliance difficult.
 

Ceranthor

Banned
I think that the sheer scale of interracial animosity between the two might make things difficult, if not impossible. Blood River, Weenen, and a bunch of other massacres made the two pretty stark enemies. The Bantus typically didn't like the Boers and vice versa.

You could, however, have the Zulus ally with the Portuguese at Mozambique, who they did trade with occasionally. Just have them make a military alliance against the Gaza Nguni(who were a pain in the ass for the Portuguese OTL) and you could see some kind of prolonged friendship happening. The Zulus might become kind of a bodyguard for Mozambique, and the Portuguese could intervene for them on the international stage if ever the British or the Boers try and attack them.

As for an allliance with the Boers, keeping Shaka Zulu alive might help. His successor Dingane was terrified of the Boers( I think there was some prophecy about a "race from over the mountains" coming and destroying his kingdom), which is why he attacked them with such ferocity, ending in the Boers kicking his ass at Blood River and conquering half his realm. Shaka probably would have handled the whole situation better, which would have prevented relations between the two from going down the toilet. You could perhaps have them make an alliance against the Matabele kingdom in the north, which OTL was strongly opposed to the Boers; Zulu impis and Boer commandos working together could do wonders for establishing a real, lasting alliance between the two peoples.
 
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