African Nebula, Issue 4, September 2011 A Comparative Study of Xiang Yu and Hannibal's Strategic Thinking with that of Shaka the Zulu of South Africa Zhe Zhang and Omon Osiki Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing China Abstract The name of Ji Xiang _Yu occupies an important place in the history of strategic thinking in Chinese history. His rise into limelight was occasioned by the opportunity provided by the decline in the political fortunes of the Late Qin Dynasty. Like Xiang Yu, Hannibal Baca, the famous North African military strategist was brought up to ac,cept strict and hard military discipline. He was excellent in military and diplomatic activities and helped to build a formidable force that could hold its own in the then Mediterranean World Several centuries after the exploits of these two great strategists, Africa south of the Sahara produced a military strategist of world acclaim. Shaka the Zulu was as shrewd and militarily strategic as both Xiang Yu and Hannibal to merit a place in the annals of the fathers of strategic thinking". This work analyzes the historical forces that shaped the strategic thinking of these historical figures and discusses their tremendous contributions to the development of military science and history. Keywords: Xiang Yu, Hannibal, Shaka, Strategic Thinking Introduction About the 3rd century BC, both the East (Asia) and West (Europe) were active on the stage of numerous wars that produced two outstanding heroes who changed the direction of warfare and strategic studies. The Chinese people are familiar with the king of Western Chu, Xiang Yu (BC 232 BC - 202 BC) who contributed to the military and political development of the area. In 208 BC, the anti-Qin rebellion led by Yijun gradually broke the defense of the Chu commander Xiang Liang, who died afterwards. Thereafter, the fortune of the Qin state hit the rocks. At this critical moment, Xiang Yu rose to the occasion and turned the tide of the Chu State. He led his troops in the Julu area and defeated the invaders of the Qin State in 207 Be. This act of bravery was the main indel ible contribution of Xiang Yu to the evolution of the Chinese political system. At the same time in North Africa, ancient Carthage produced the famous military strategist, Hannibal, in about 247 BC. These two heroes not only lived in the same era, coincidentally, the fate of their history and the trajectory of the wars they fought were very similar in both the way they organized their armies and how they deployed them in battlefields. Thus, both men are sometimes referred to as "masters of strategic th inking" (Yan, 1992: 20)_ But the third character In this analysis, Shaka the Zulu was successful all the way until his death caused by his bodyguard and his half brothers. Although there IS no evidence to indicate that Shaka ever read the lessons of strategy from the examples of 77