Read complete books and articles on: Boer War (South African War)

South African War - or Boer War, 1899–1902, war of the South African Republic (Transvaal) and the Orange Free State against Great Britain.

Background

South African War - or Boer War, 1899–1902, war of the South African Republic (Transvaal) and the Orange Free State against Great Britain.

Background

Beginning with the acquisition in 1814 of the Cape of Good Hope, Great Britain gradually increased its territorial possessions in S Africa and by the late 19th cent. it held Natal, Basutoland, Swaziland, Rhodesia, Bechuanaland, and other Bantu lands. The Boers (Dutch), already settled in some of these areas, strongly resented British incursions. Resentment was especially marked in the Transvaal (headed by the strongly anti-British Paul Kruger), which had actually been annexed (1877–81) to Great Britain.

Anti-British sentiment was further inflamed after the discovery (1886) of gold in the Witwatersrand brought a great influx of prospectors (mainly British) into the Transvaal. Soon almost all the newly established mines as well as much of the commerce passed into British hands. The Boer government, to protect itself from the growing number of foreigners, denied these Uitlanders [foreigners] citizenship and taxed them heavily, despite British objections. In 1895 the Jameson raid (see Jameson, Sir Leander Starr), which Transvaalers considered an officially sponsored plot to seize their country, aggravated the situation, and in 1896 the Transvaal and the Orange Free State (see Free State) formed a military alliance to protect their independence.

The War

The British, after the appointment (1897) of Sir Alfred Milner as high commissioner for their South African territories, determined upon a showdown in defense of what they considered their commercial rights. Troops were dispatched from Britain, and, after Boer protestations were refused, the Transvaal and the Orange Free State declared war (Oct. 12, 1899). The Boer forces, well equipped by Germany, were larger than those immediately available to the British, and they scored impressive victories in the areas adjacent to the Boer territories. In the Cape Colony, Mafikeng was captured and Kimberley besieged; in Natal, Ladysmith was placed under siege. Reinforcements under the command of Sir Redvers Buller were sent from Britain.

Buller's failure to dislodge the Boers led to his replacement by Gen. Lord Roberts, with Kitchener as his chief of staff. They landed in 1900 with heavy reinforcements and soon won victories; Kimberley and Ladysmith were relieved, and General Cronje was forced to surrender. Roberts advanced into the Orange Free State, captured its capital, Bloemfontein, and occupied the entire territory by May. By the end of June, Mafikeng had been relieved, the Transvaal invaded, and Johannesburg and Pretoria captured. The Boer states were formally annexed and Kruger, a fugitive in Europe, appealed in vain for help there.

Roberts, believing the war to be over, left South Africa and delegated the mopping up to Kitchener. The Boers, however, continued an extensive and coordinated guerrilla war. Under their leaders, including Smuts, De Wet, and Botha, they disrupted communications, attacked outposts and, with their intimate knowledge of the countryside, eluded capture. Kitchener soon realized that final victory lay only in the systematic destruction of these guerrilla units. Boer women and children were herded into concentration camps (where many died), and chains of blockhouses were erected that cut off large areas. Dragnets of troops went through the guerrilla country section by section, and by 1902, the British force (about 350,000) had reduced to final submission the Boer troops (approximately 60,000). The Treaty of Vereeniging (May 31, 1902) ended hostilities.

The War's Aftermath

The Boers accepted British sovereignty in exchange for a promise of responsible government in the near future. Great Britain agreed to grant a £3 million indemnity for property destruction and promised not to assess taxes to cover the expenses of the war. Amnesty was granted to all who had not violated the rules of war and repatriation to those who accepted the British king. British loss of life was over 5,000; the Boers lost about 3,700 people. The war left much bitterness, which continued to affect the political life of the Union of South Africa (organized 1910).

Bibliography

See L. Amery, ed., The Times History of the War in South Africa (7 vol., 1900–1909); D. Reitz, Commando: A Boer Journal of the Boer War (new ed. 1945, repr. 1970); E. Holt, The Boer War (1958); W. B. Pemberton, Battles of the Boer War (1964); T. C. Caldwell, ed., The Anglo-Boer War (1965); G. H. L. Le May, British Supremacy in South Africa (1965); J. M. Selby, The Boer War (1969); P. Warwick, Black People and the South African War, 1899–1902 (1983).

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16 of the Best Books and Articles on: Boer War (South African War)

as selected by Questia librarians

1.

Great Powers and Little Wars: The Limits of Power (Chap. 5 "The Boer War") » Read Now
by A. Hamish Ion, E. J. Errington. 246 pgs.

Collections: History, Entire Library

This volume addresses a timely subject--the question of small wars and the limits of power from a historical perspective. The theme is developed through case studies of small wars that the Great Powers conducted in Africa and Asia during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. This historical...
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This volume addresses a timely subject--the question of small wars and the limits of power from a historical perspective. The theme is developed through case studies of small wars that the Great Powers conducted in Africa and Asia during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. This historical overview clearly shows the dangers inherent for a metropolitan government and its armed forces once such military operations are undertaken. Importantly, these examples from the past stand as a warning against current and future misapplication of military strength and the misuse of military forces.
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2.

Three Years' War (1899-1902) » Read Now
by Christiaan Rudolf De Wet. 452 pgs.

Collections: History, Entire Library

...429 THREE YEARS WAR CHAPTER I I...of sausages and "Boer biscuits." 1...made a prisoner of war. This happened when...dividing line between Boer and British...
3.

The Militant Suffrage Movement: Citizenship and Resistance in Britain, 1860-1930 (Chap. 2 "The South African War and After, 1899-1906") » Read Now
by Laura E. Nym Mayhall. 214 pgs.

Collections: History, Entire Library

The image of middle-class women chaining themselves to the rails of 10 Downing Street, smashing windows of public buildings, and going on hunger strikes in the cause of "votes for women" have become visually synonymous with the British suffragette movement over the past century. Their story has...
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The image of middle-class women chaining themselves to the rails of 10 Downing Street, smashing windows of public buildings, and going on hunger strikes in the cause of "votes for women" have become visually synonymous with the British suffragette movement over the past century. Their story has become a defining moment in feminist history, in effect separating women's fight for voting rights from contemporary issues in British political history and disconnecting their militancy from other forms of political activism in Britain in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Drawing upon private papers, pamphlets, newspapers, and the records of a range of suffrage and political organizations, Laura E. Nym Mayhall examines militancy as both a political idea and a set of practices that suffragettes employed to challenge their exclusion from the political nation. She traces the development of the suffragettes' concept of resistance from its origins within radical liberal discourse in the 1860s, to its emergence as political practice during Britain's involvement in the South African War, its reliance on dramatic spectacle by suffragette organizations, and its memorialization following enfranchisement. She reads closely the language and tactics militants used, analyzing their challenges in the courtroom, on the street, and through legislation as reasoned actions of female citizens. The differences in strategy among militants are highlighted, not just in the use of violence, but also in their acceptance and rejection of the authority of the law and their definitions of the ideal relationship between individuals and the state. Variations in the nature of protest continued even during World War I, when most suffragettes suspended their activities to serve the nation's war effort, while others joined peace movements, opposed the state's reduction of civil liberties in wartime, and continued the struggle for suffrage. Mayhall's revealing account of the militant suffrage movement sheds new light upon the social history of gender but, more importantly, it connects this movement to the political and intellectual history of Britain. Not only did militancy play an essential role in the achievement of women's political rights but it also contributed to the practice of engaged citizenship and the growth of liberal democracy.
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4.

Empire: The British Imperial Experience, from 1765 to the Present (Chap. 13 "The Battle of Spion Kop, 1900 Crisis, War and Union in South Africa") » Read Now
by Denis Judd . 518 pgs.

Collections: History, Entire Library

...OF JOSEPH CHAMBERLAIN THE BOER WAR THE ADVENTURES OF LONG JOHN...outback. From the Indian Mutiny to the Boer War, the British Empire assumed a size...Khartoum and the early...
5.

Divide and Rule: The Partition of Africa, 1880-1914 (Chap. VI "Boers and Britons in South Africa, 1890-1902") » Read Now
by H. L. Wesseling, Arnold J. Pomerans. 446 pgs.

Collections: History, Entire Library

The partition of Africa was one of the most spectacular episodes in modern history. For Europeans, Africa was still an unknown continent in 1880. Thirty years later almost all of it was under European control. This race for colonies went hand in hand with a host of thrilling exploits and dramatic...
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The partition of Africa was one of the most spectacular episodes in modern history. For Europeans, Africa was still an unknown continent in 1880. Thirty years later almost all of it was under European control. This race for colonies went hand in hand with a host of thrilling exploits and dramatic conflicts, of which Stanley's exploration of the Congo and Gordon's death in Khartoum are just two examples.
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6.

Imperial Policy and South Africa, 1902-10 (Chap. II "South Africa: The War, and Formulation of Ideas on the Settlement") » Read Now
by G. B. Pyrah. 272 pgs.

Collections: History, Entire Library

...public interest in the Empire. The Boer War administered a rude shock to many...assimilation in South Africa following the Boer War neither won the confidence nor...
7.

The Boers in East Africa: Ethnicity and Identity (Chap. 2 "Events in the South") » Read Now
by Brian M. Du Toit. 209 pgs.

Collections: History, Entire Library

At the end of the Anglo-Boer War in May 1902, the defeated Boers emigrated en masse out of South Africa. They had three diverse destinations: a large group went to Argentina, a smaller group to the American southwest (Mexico and the Texas-New Mexico border area), and a third group to East Africa. In...
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At the end of the Anglo-Boer War in May 1902, the defeated Boers emigrated en masse out of South Africa. They had three diverse destinations: a large group went to Argentina, a smaller group to the American southwest (Mexico and the Texas-New Mexico border area), and a third group to East Africa. In both the large migrations, to Argentina and East Africa, the different denominations of the Dutch Reformed Church established congregations and sent dominees (ministers), who were regularly replaced by new dominees fresh from South Africa. The dominees became important agents in the preservation of Afrikaner ethnicity and instruments in return migrations, decades later, of Afrikaans speakers to South Africa.
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8.

The Founder: Cecil Rhodes and the Pursuit of Power (Chap. 22 "'Equal Rights for Civilized Men': The Last Hurrah and the Guns of October") » Read Now
by Robert I. Rotberg, Miles F. Shore. 804 pgs.

Collections: History, Entire Library

Cecil Rhodes was an imposing figure, tall, robust-looking, with a leonine head, a man so charismatic that one contemporary claimed that "belief in Rhodes was a substitute for religion." But he was certainly a man of contradictions. He was a dreamy idealist whose favorite book was The Meditations of...
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Cecil Rhodes was an imposing figure, tall, robust-looking, with a leonine head, a man so charismatic that one contemporary claimed that "belief in Rhodes was a substitute for religion." But he was certainly a man of contradictions. He was a dreamy idealist whose favorite book was The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius and a ruthless businessman whose guiding principle was "every man has his price." He supported invidious racial laws in South Africa, and invented and sponsored the world-renowned Rhodes Scholarships. Though his own education and intellectual talents were unprepossessing, he dominated the British Empire and became one of the leading figures in the English-speaking world, the confidant of Queen Victoria and Kaiser Wilhelm, and a man of vast wealth and world-wide influence. Based on seventeen years of research, this monumental volume offers the definitive biography of one of the most controversial figures of the nineteenth century. Rhodes was truly larger than life, and this book captures that life in fascinating detail. It offers an astute portrait of Rhodes' childhood and adolescence, informed by insights from modern psychology; it vividly depicts life on a nineteenth-century African cotton farm (Rhodes' first venture) and in mining camps around Kimberley and the Witwatersrand; it traces the surreptitious stock buyouts and mergers that allowed Rhodes to gain control over 90% of the world's diamond production by age thirty-five; it describes his campaigns against African populations that allowed him to establish Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia); and it discusses the poorly planned, disastrous raid on the Transvaal that destroyed Rhodes' reputation. A conqueror and colonial monarch, Cecil Rhodes presided arrogantly over the fate of southern Africa. But he also built lasting economic institutions, furthered transportation and communication links, improved agriculture, and fervently believed that he used his wealth and power to advance the best interests of the British Empire and Africa. This biography illuminates a complex and fascinating life, a life both evil and good.
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9.

The Imperial Idea and Its Enemies: A Study in British Power (Chap. III "The Impact of War: The Boer War") » Read Now
by A. P. Thornton. 388 pgs.

Collections: History, Entire Library
10.

The Background of Anti-English Feeling in Germany, 1890-1902 (Chap. VI "Public Opinion during the Boer War, 1899-1902") » Read Now
by Pauline Relyea Anderson. 386 pgs.

Collections: History, Entire Library

...VI. Public Opinion during the Boer War, 1899-1902 285...England severely at the time of the Boer War. This criticism sprang from real sympathy...so it seemed to Germans...
11.

Twentieth-Century Britain (Chap. I "Beginnings" and Chap. III "Conservatism in Decline") » Read Now
by Alfred F. Havighurst. 592 pgs.

Collections: History, Entire Library
12.

The Milner Papers: South Africa 1899-1905, Vol. II » Read Now
by Cecil Headlam, Alfred Milner. 622 pgs.

Collections: History, Entire Library
13.

The Boer War: Historiography and Annotated Bibliography » Read Now
by Fred R. van Hartesveldt. 272 pgs.

Collections: History, Entire Library

One hundred years after the Boer War, the British continue to debate what went wrong, while the war has significant nationalist overtones in today's South Africa. This book examines changes in interpretations of the war and provides a bibliography of major sources on the Boer War, now sometimes...
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One hundred years after the Boer War, the British continue to debate what went wrong, while the war has significant nationalist overtones in today's South Africa. This book examines changes in interpretations of the war and provides a bibliography of major sources on the Boer War, now sometimes called the South African War. The bibliography focuses on the military history, but also includes some historical accounts of the political debate. The first part of the book provides an extended historiographical essay, while part two provides an annotated bibliography of the titles discussed in part one.
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14.

Guerrilla Warfare: A Historical, Biographical, and Bibliographical Sourcebook (Chap. 6 "The Boer War") » Read Now
by Anthony James Joes, Robin Higham. 312 pgs.

Collections: History, Entire Library

From the Carolina Swamp Fox to the Afghan Mujahideen, this book analyzes 40 guerrilla struggles across five continents, profiles important figures, and gives extensive bibliographical information. With an emphasis on causes and effects, Part I surveys all major guerrilla struggles and many less well...
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From the Carolina Swamp Fox to the Afghan Mujahideen, this book analyzes 40 guerrilla struggles across five continents, profiles important figures, and gives extensive bibliographical information. With an emphasis on causes and effects, Part I surveys all major guerrilla struggles and many less well known wars from the American Revolution to 20th century post-colonial conflicts. Drawing a distinction between guerrilla warfare and terrorism, the author focuses on guerrilla activity. He seeks answers to such questions as the genesis and context of an insurgency and what factors are common to many conflicts. Part II profiles guerrilla chieftains, military commanders, government officials, party leaders, and theorists who exerted notable influence.
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15.

War Stories and Poems (Part Two "Boar War") » Read Now
by Rudyard Kipling, Andrew Rutherford. 416 pgs.

Collections: Literature, Entire Library

A unique anthology of Kipling's war stories and poems, from the frontier wars of empire to the Boer War and the First World War.
16.

The "Hysterical" Emily Hobhouse and Boer War Concentration Camp Controversy, in Western Journal of Communication » Read Now
by Jr. Marouf Hasian. 26 pgs.

Collections: Entire Library