LEADERSHIP BY TERROR 185years in the regiments. Eager to ‘ wash their spears ’ in battle, they wanted
to practice their profession. Shedding blood was the culmination of their
years of training. Having been rigidly controlled during their training,
on the battlefi eld they could let go of their inhibitions and experience
war as a sort of catharsis.
In Shaka ’ s regimental system, his men found a new way of life:
comradeship, a sense of purpose, colorful dress, fl ashy weaponry, and
permission to indulge in violent behavior. They wanted the wealth,
prestige, power, and glory that battle could bring them. They wanted
to advance in the military or civilian bureaucratic system and become
one of the chief advisors to the king. They wanted to be attractive to
women and hear their praises sung after battle; they wanted to earn the
right to marriage. Eager for all these rewards, they urged Shaka, at least
during the early part of his rule, to send them on one campaign after
another. Sharing his fantasies of grandiosity and majesty, they clamored
for war.
This kind of collusion between leader and followers is the despot ’ s
major source of power. Totalitarian rulers cannot act alone; they need
people who are prepared to participate in their cruelty.
Indoctrination into Violence
The training to become a Zulu warrior glorifi ed violent killing and
involved a process of gradual brutalization and desensitization, which
progressed from watching experienced colleagues commit violent acts
to participating in violent acts oneself. This process involved divesting
target groups of human qualities (for example, Shaka belittled old men
and cowards). Researchers have demonstrated that violent socialization
of this sort makes people more prepared to commit atrocities (Von Lang
and Sibyll, 1983 ; Athens, 1992 ; Grossman, 1996 ; Rhodes, 2002 ). We
have seen ample evidence of that fact in concentration camps in Hitler ’ s
Germany, Stalin ’ s Russia, Mao ’ s China, and Karadzic ’ s Bosnia.
In fact, the socialization of the regiments was so effective that Shaka
and his generals had to work hard to control the violence; they had to
orchestrate activities, specifying that violence was permitted only at
certain times and certain places. How explosive this form of brutaliza-
tion could become is well - illustrated by the mass violence that erupted
when Shaka ’ s mother died.
Although Shaka ’ s men lived with violence every day, they felt pro-
tected by the cruelty they infl icted on others. Shaka convinced his men
that ‘ washing their spears ’ would help them overcome their own fear of