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' Second Freedom War ', 11 October 1899 – 31 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, Anglo–Boer War, or South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer republics (the South African Republic and Orange Free State) over the Empire's influence in Southern Africa.
- Orange Free State
The Orange Free State (Dutch: Oranje Vrijstaat; Afrikaans:...
- Boer Republics
Boer republics and Griqua states in Southern Africa, 19th...
- First Boer War
The First Boer War (Afrikaans: Eerste Vryheidsoorlog,...
- Boer Wars
The Second Boer War, also known as the Second Anglo-Boer...
- South African Republic
The South African Republic (Dutch: Zuid-Afrikaansche...
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We would like to show you a description here but the site...
- Orange Free State
- Overview
- Underlying causes
- Initial Boer success
- British resurgence
- Boer guerrilla warfare and the British response
South African War, war fought from October 11, 1899, to May 31, 1902, between Great Britain and the two Boer (Afrikaner) republics—the South African Republic (Transvaal) and the Orange Free State—resulting in British victory.
Although it was the largest and most costly war in which the British engaged between the Napoleonic Wars and World War I (spending more than £200 million), it was fought between wholly unequal protagonists. The total British military strength in Southern Africa reached nearly 500,000 men, whereas the Boers could muster no more than about 88,000. But the British were fighting in a hostile country over difficult terrain, with long lines of communications, while the Boers, mainly on the defensive, were able to use modern rifle fire to good effect at a time when attacking forces had no means of overcoming it. The conflict provided a foretaste of warfare fought with breach-loading rifles and machine guns, with the advantage to the defenders, that was to characterize World War I.
The causes of the war have provoked intense debates among historians and remain as unresolved today as during the war itself. British politicians claimed they were defending their “suzerainty” over the South African Republic (SAR) enshrined in the Pretoria and (disputably) London conventions of 1881 and 1884, respectively. Many historians stress that in reality the contest was for control of the rich Witwatersrand gold-mining complex located in the SAR. It was the largest gold-mining complex in the world at a time when the world’s monetary systems, preeminently the British, were increasingly dependent upon gold. Although there were many Uitlanders (foreigners; i.e., non-Dutch/Boer and in this case primarily British) working in the Witwatersrand gold-mining industry, the complex itself was beyond direct British control. Also, the discovery of gold on the Witwatersrand in 1886 allowed the SAR to make progress with modernization efforts and vie with Britain for domination in Southern Africa.
After 1897 Britain—through Alfred Milner, its high commissioner for South Africa—maneuvered to undermine the political independence of the SAR and demanded the modification of the Boer republic’s constitution to grant political rights to the primarily British Uitlanders, thereby providing them with a dominant role in formulating state policy that would presumably be more pro-British than the current policy of the SAR. In an effort to prevent a conflict between Britain and the SAR, Marthinus Steyn, president of the Orange Free State, hosted the unsuccessful Bloemfontein Conference in May–June 1899 between Milner and Paul Kruger, president of the SAR. Kruger did offer to make concessions to Britain, but they were deemed insufficient by Milner. After the conference, Milner requested that the British government send additional troops to reinforce the British garrison in Southern Africa; they began arriving in August and September. The buildup of troops alarmed the Boers, and Kruger offered additional Uitlander-related concessions, which were again rejected by Milner.
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A History of War
The course of the war can be divided into three periods. During the first phase, the British in Southern Africa were unprepared and militarily weak. Boer armies attacked on two fronts: into the British colony of Natal from the SAR and into the northern Cape Colony from the Orange Free State. The northern districts of the Cape Colony rebelled against the British and joined the Boer forces. In late 1899 and early 1900, the Boers defeated the British in a number of major engagements and besieged the key towns of Ladysmith, Mafeking (Mafikeng), and Kimberley. Particularly of note among Boer victories in this period are those that occurred at Magersfontein, Colesberg, and Stormberg, during what became known as Black Week (December 10–15, 1899).
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Kruger’s October 1899 offensive had taken the British by surprise, and it accounts for the early Boer victories. However, the arrival of large numbers of British reinforcements by early 1900 made an eventual Boer defeat inevitable. In this second phase the British, under Lords Kitchener and Roberts, relieved the besieged towns, beat the Boer armies...
At the end of 1900 the war entered upon its most destructive phase. For 15 months, Boer commandos, under the brilliant leadership of generals such as Christiaan Rudolf de Wet and Jacobus Hercules de la Rey, held British troops at bay, using hit-and-run guerrilla tactics. They harried the British army bases and communications, and large rural areas of the SAR and the Orange Free State (which the British had annexed as the Crown Colony of the Transvaal and the Orange River Colony, respectively) remained out of British control.
Kitchener responded with barbed wire and blockhouses along the railways, but when these failed he retaliated with a scorched-earth policy. The farms of Boers and Africans alike were destroyed, and the inhabitants of the countryside were rounded up and held in segregated concentration camps, often under horrific conditions; several thousand died during their incarceration. The plight of the Boer women and children in the carelessly run, unhygienic camps became an international outrage, attracting the attention of such humanitarians as British social worker Emily Hobhouse.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
South African War, or Boer War, War fought between Great Britain and the two Boer (see Afrikaner) republics—the South African Republic and the Orange Free State—from 1899 to 1902.
Learn about the Boer War (1899-1902), a colonial conflict between Britain and the Boer republics in South Africa. Explore the origins, battles, tactics, and consequences of the war through objects, maps, and images.
Learn about the causes, events and consequences of the Second Anglo-Boer War, also known as the South African War, which lasted from 1899 to 1902. Explore the conflicting political ideologies, the discovery of gold, the Jameson Raid and the Uitlander franchise that led to the war.
This guide provides a brief overview of Anglo-Boer War records held at The National Archives. The guidance refers mainly to the Second Boer War, 1899-1902, better known as the South African...
Dec 19, 2022 · Also known as the South African War or the Anglo-Boer War, the Second Boer War was an absolutely brutal war fought between Great Britain (The British Empire) and two Boer nations: the Orange Free State and the South African Republic (SAR) or Transvaal. The war lasted almost three years, beginning on October 11, 1899, and ending on May 31, 1902.
