ZULU DAWN depicts the bloody Battle of Isandhlwana, in which 30,000 Zulu warriors wiped out nearly 1,500 British troops stationed in Natal. The film focuses most sharply on the preparations for battle and the political situation in the region at that time. Taking Zulu chief Cetshwayo's defiant stance on tribal customs as a declaration of war, General Lord Chelmsford sends in hundreds of British troops in order to squash the spear-carrying Africans with superior fire power. The sheer number of Zulus, however, overwhelms the British infantry.