The disaster at Isandlwana in 1879 focused the attention of the British public on a corner of the empire in which they had previously taken little interest - a war between the British Empire and the Zulu Kingdom. This text is a study of how the war came about. There is general agreement that it was in some sense an outcome of Colonial Secretary Lord Carnarvon's attempt to confederate South Africa. But was it simply an unintended by-product of the attempt to implement the confederation scheme? Or did this scheme positively require the destruction of the Zulu kingdom (as well as other African states) in order to make South Africa safe for white supremacy and British capital? ""Ploughshare of War"" is a study of the causes of the war and seeks to resolve these debates by bringing to bear additional evidence gathered from numerous sources over many years. It not only examines in detail South African events in the 1870s, but also reveals the global forces that were changing British imperial policy in this period.