The trekkers—called Voortrekkers after 1880[4]—had to defend themselves after the betrayal murder of chief Trekker leader Piet Retief and his entire entourage, and ten days later the Weenen/Bloukrans massacre where "not a soul was spared.

[7] Immediately after the UmGungundlovu massacre, Dingane sent out his impis (regiments) to attack several Trekker encampments at night time, killing an estimated 500 men, women, children, and servants, most notably at Blaukraans.

After the Battle of Blood River, the Dingane-Retief treaty written by Jan Gerritze Bantjes was found on Retief's bodily remains,[9] providing a driving force for an overt alliance against Dingane between Prince Mpande and Pretorius.

On 26 November 1838, Andries Pretorius (1798–1853) was appointed as Commander of 64 wagons and 464+ heavily armed Boer combatants directed against Dingane at UmGungundlovu with Jan Gerritze Bantjes (1817–1882) as his war secretary.

Dingane's royal residence at UmGungundlovu was naturally protected against attack by hilly and rocky terrain all around, as well as an access route via Italeni passing through a narrow gorge called a defile.

Trekker leader Hendrik Potgieter had abandoned all hope of engaging Dingane in UmGungundlovu after losing the battle of Italeni, and subsequently had migrated with his group out of Natal.

Proven UmGungundlovu defense tactics were to attack Trekker commandos in the rocky and hilly terrain on the narrowing access route at Italeni, thereby neutralising the advantages mounted riflemen had over spear-carrying foot soldiers.

The problem for Pretorius was that he had somehow to find a way to make Dingane's soldiers attack him in a defensive laager position at a place of his choice, far away from UmGungundlovu and Italeni.

With the intelligence received at Danskraal, Pretorius became confident enough to propose a vow to God, which demanded the celebration, by the commando and their posterity, of the coming victory over Dingane.

The covenant included that a church would be built in honour of God, should the commando be successful and reach UmGungundlovu alive in order to diminish the power of Dingane.

From Wasbank they slowly and daily moved closer to the site of the Battle of Blood River, practising laager defence tactics every evening for a week long.

On Saturday, 15 December 1838, after the Trekker wagons crossed the Buffalo River 10 km SW of the actual battle site and still 80 kilometres (50 mi) from their target UmGungundlovu, an advance scouting party including Pretorius got news of a large Zulu force in rugged terrain to the east trying to lure the Boers into a trap as had been the case in April the same year with fatal consequences.

While Cilliers wanted to ride out and attack, Pretorius declined the opportunity to engage Dingane's soldiers away from their base as had been the trap at Italeni valley.

Movable wooden barriers and ladders which could be quickly opened for cavalry were fastened between the wagon wheels to prevent intruders, with two smoothbore, short barrel artillery pieces positioned at the corners.

[12] Andries Pretorius had brought a 6-pound naval carronade with him from the Cape, mounted on a gun carriage improvised from a wagon axle, and named Grietjie.

According to Afrikaner traditions, the Zulu were afraid to attack at the night due to superstitions and the eerie glow of lamps which the Boers hung on sjamboks [whip-stocks] around the laager.

[11] General Ndlela and his crack troops, the Black and White Shields, remained on the other side of the river, observing Dambuza's men at the laager from a safe position across the hippo pool.

According to the South African Department of Art and Culture: In ceremonies that lasted about three days, izinyanga zempi, specialist war doctors, prepared izinteleze medicines which made warriors invincible in the face of their opponents.

After more than two hours of fierce battle, the Commander in Chief gave orders that the gates be opened and mounted men sent to fight the enemy in fast attacks, as the enemy near constantly stormed the laager time and again, and he feared the ammunition would soon run out.With the power of their firearms and with their ox wagons in a laager formation and some effective tactics, the Boers fought off the Zulu.

Four days after the Battle of Blood River, the Trekker commando arrived at King Dingane's great kraal UmGungundlovu (near present-day Eshowe), only to find it deserted and in ashes.

[21] Following the Battle of Maqongqe in January 1840, the forces of Mpande did not wait for Pretorius' cavalry to arrive, and they attacked the remaining regiments of Dingane, who were again under the command of General Ndlela.

This is stated in the official guidebook of the Voortrekker Monument (unveiled during the centenary celebrations of the Great Trek on 16 December 1949) that Afrikaners were a nation of heroes exemplifies the conclusions drawn from such events.

In 1971 a laager of 64 ox wagons cast in bronze (by Unifront Foundry in Edenvale – Fanie de Klerk and Jack Cowlard) was erected, and unveiled on 16 December 1972.

[27] At 16 December 1998 inauguration of the most recent version of the monument, the Zulu politician and then Minister of Home Affairs, Mangosuthu Buthelezi, apologised to the Afrikaner nation for the death of Piet Retief and the subsequent suffering.

On the Day of Reconciliation 2019, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa described the Voortrekkers as invaders and the Zulu army as "Freedom Fighters".

[29][30] Dirk Hermann, managing director of the trade union Solidarity, criticised this historical claim as inaccurate and as a "criminalisation of Afrikaner history", and emphasised the reconciliatory message of politician Mangosuthu Buthelezi.