Strategy Moves: 14 complete attack and defense strategies for competitive advantage

Chapter 1. You can win with ten or lose with a hundred: Two examples from the field of war

	“Victory belongs to those who make fewer mistakes.”
	--Lord Arwell

Introduction

This chapter employs two military examples to show how large armies can lose and small armies can win. The results all depend upon the rules of engagement you follow. We will use two examples from the Zulu War against the British in South Africa. On the morning of 22 January 1879, a British invasion force of over 5000 men was heavily defeated by the Zulu army at Isandlwana. Then in the afternoon of that same day, little more than one hundred British soldiers achieved an astonishing victory at Rorke’s Drift.

The Zulu War^[1]

At about 8 p.m. on 22 January 1879, Lieutenant General Lord ...