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Military History – South Africa – Europe – England 19th Century
.Article – Online Historic Information | Military
.Page 56
C
Cape Colony, Invasions of
At the outbreak of the war there were minor Boer incursions into the British Cape Colony at
Stormberg and Aliwal North and, on the north-eastern border, the siege of Kimberley which, while
not of major strategic importance, was politically sensitive because of Cecil Rhodes’s presence in
the besieged town. After the fall of the capital cities of the Boer republics, the Boers had hopes of
fomenting uprisings by Afrikanders, people of Dutch descent like themselves, within Cape Colony.
However, these efforts enjoyed virtually no success. More serious were the invasions led by Hertzog,
Kritzinger and Smuts. The latter was still in progress at the end of the war. All of these made
demands on British resources, but none of them constituted a serious threat to the British control of
the Cape.
The fighting on the borders of the colony near Kimberley and Stormberg is dealt with elsewhere
in this book. The decision to invade the Cape and operate behind British lines was taken by President
Steyn and Chief-commandant Christiaan De Wet in November 1900 and further such incursions
followed. The motivation was partly to undermine British security within the colony by giving
sympathisers the chance to join the Boers, and partly to find somewhere to operate where reprisals in
the form of farm burning could not take place. In December Assistant Chief-commandant P. H.
Kritzinger and J. B. M. Hertzog each led commandos into the Cape, and De Wet attempted to do the
same without success. A loyalist militia was raised and martial law was declared in order to deal
with the problem. De Wet managed to cross the Orange River in February 1901 but was harried out in
a fortnight. Six months later, following a Boer conference held at Standerton in June 1901, Assistant
Commandant-general Jan Smuts led his men on a long swing through the colony, first through the
Stormberg Mountains and then southwards, before turning north-west to besiege O’Okiep. It was a
great adventure for young Deneys Reitz but was of small military significance.
See also:
Elands River Poort, Action at; Hertzog, Assistant Commandant-general James Barry Munnik;
O’Okiep, Siege of; Smuts, Assistant Commandant-general Jan.
Reference:
Burke, Peter, The Siege of O’Okiep (Bloemfontein, War Museum of the Boer Republics, 1995); De
Wet, Christiaan, Three Years War (London,
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