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Military History – South Africa – Europe – England 19th Century
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British, were eventually defeated in their turn. The relations between British and Boer
governments had, through the imposition and maladministration of taxes, decayed to such a point that
the latter sued for independence. When it was refused, they fought and, in the First Boer War or First
War of Independence, 1880–81, won. The defeats suffered at Langs Nek and Majuba Hill would be
remembered with bitterness by British regiments who were prevented from avenging themselves
because the Liberal government in Britain was eager to seek peace.
The stability of the Boer independence was overturned by the pressures that followed the
discovery of gold on the Witwatersrand in 1886. Huge numbers of foreigners, uitlanders,poured in
and, after a time, demanded political recognition. Cecil Rhodes, by now a diamond and gold magnate
of immense wealth and influence, put further pressure on the Boers by occupying Mashonaland, now
part of Zimbabwe, as an individual imperialist and then, in 1895, attempting to overthrow the
government of the South African Republic (formerly Transvaal) with the raid commanded by his
crony, Dr Jameson. Although the raid was unsuccessful and Rhodes was subsequently discredited, the
British, in the shape of Sir Alfred Milner, maintained their political pressure on the Boer President
Kruger, and, in 1899, the Second Boer War began.
The Anglo-Boer War 1889–1902
The Boers had made good use of the revenues generated by gold and were well armed, both with
modern high-velocity rifles and with up-to-date artillery. They were able to put some 40,000 men in
the field against half the number of British and soon had Mafeking, on the western border with
Bechuanaland, Kimberley in the Northern Cape and Ladysmith in Natal under siege. However, this
was an error on the part of the Boers. Although British supply lines were long and relief would take
immense time and effort, the Boers had abandoned the strategy that made best use of their mobility.
The British government appears to have been rather neglectful of the problems that the army
would face in dealing with the farmers of the Boer republics. Only Sir Redvers Buller, the British
Commander-in-Chief, appeared to have any doubts about a swift defeat for the Boers as Britain went
to war in October 1899. Innumerable colonial wars had been fought and won all over the world, and
this was, most thought, just like the rest. By the end of December their error was evident. Three
problem areas could be identified at that stage: logistics; the lack of new weapons; and the lack of
good maps. Later in the war two further problems had to be solved: the containment and defeat of
mobile forces; and the care of refugees and prisoners.
Before the war broke out Buller had written to the Prime Minister, Lord Salisbury, to point out
the deficiency of troops: “We have, say, 13,000 men in South Africa . . . I estimate that . . . we could
get 5,000 men from India in five weeks . . . 10,000 men from England in eleven weeks. . .”. The
number he estimated necessary for the immediate conduct of war was 50,000, nearly twice the
number that were actually in South Africa when the war began. In addition, men, rations, munitions of
war, guns, horses and carts all had to be brought up on
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