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Military History – South Africa – Europe – England 19th Century
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championships, at which cash prizes were awarded. Ammunition was issued free for this
purpose, as were 200 rounds when, just before the outbreak of war, the Boer government exchanged
new Mauser rifles for the burghers’ old Martini-Henrys and wanted to ensure the owners were
familiar with their new weapons. These competitions took place two or three times a year as did
Field Days on which various martial activities were undertaken. A mock battle might take place or a
number of simulated attacks were undertaken on supposed enemy positions. In the period immediately
before the outbreak of war the frequency of field days increased and they became common once again
during the guerrilla phase when boredom was a problem during the numerous periods of inactivity.
See also:
Boer Tactics.
Reference:
Hall, Darrell, ed. Fransjohan Pretorius and Gilbert Torlage, The Hall Handbook of the Anglo-Boer
War (Pietermaritizburg, University of Natal Press, 1999); Pretorius, Fransjohan, Life on
Commando during the Anglo-Boer War 1899–1902 (Cape Town, Human & Rousseau, 1999).
Boer Republics
At the outbreak of war in 1899 the British faced the forces of two Boer Republics. The principal
combatant was the South African Republic (Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek), which the British knew
by its former name of the Transvaal, and the secondary adversary, entering the war in support of the
ZAR, was the Orange Free State. These republics were the final consolidation of a number of lesser
republics that had formed since the Great Trek in 1836 and illustrate the diversity of Boer political
opinion.
A first republic was set up at Thaba ’Nchu in 1837 but the original Voortrekkers to the area,
Hendrick Potgieter and Piet Uys, were not elected to the government and, in annoyance, took their
followers across the Vaal to set up another at Potchefstroom. Meanwhile Piet Retief led the
expansion into Natal against Zulu resistance, lost his life and was avenged at Blood River by Andries
Pretorius who founded Natalia. Other republics came and went at Utrecht and Lydenburg while
Natalia faded away. The Sand River Convention of 1852 recognised the Transvaal which was
actually three republics and the Bloemfontein Convention recognised the Orange Free State which
was, in fact, the amalgam of two republics. The divisions between the various groups of Boers were
not apparent to outsiders, and would resurface under the strains of warfare as bitter-enders stubbornly
fought on, hands-uppers withdrew from the conflict and joiners threw in their lot with the British.
See also:
Bitter-enders; Hands-uppers; Joiners.
Reference:
Troup, Freda, South Africa: An Historical Introduction (London, Eyre Methuen, 1972).
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