There were two
Boer wars, one in
1880-81 and the second in 1899-1902 both between the British and the settlers
of Dutch origin (called Boere, Afrikaners or Voortrekkers) in South Africa
that put an end to the two independent republics that they had founded.
The first clash was precipitated by Sir Theophilus Shepstone who tried
to annex the Transvaal (the South African Republic) for the British in
1877 after the Zulu War. The Boers protested and in 1880 revolted. The
Boers dressed in earthtone khaki clothes, whereas the British uniforms
were bright red, a stark contrast to the African landscape, which enabled
the Boers to easily snipe British troops from a distance. After a British
force under George Pomeroy-Collery was heavily defeated at the Battle of
Majuba Hill in February 1881 the British government of Gladstone gave the
Boers self-government in the Transvaal under a theoretical British oversight.
But there was continued pressure on the Boers, as following the discovery
of gold in the Transvaal in 1885 at Witwatersrand Reef there was a rush
of non-Boer settlers, uitlanders. The new settlers were poorly regarded
by the Boers and in return there was pressure to remove their government.
In 1896 Cecil Rhodes sponsored the ineffective coup d'etat of the Jameson
Raid and the failure to gain improved rights for Britons was used as an
excuse to justify a major military build up in the Cape.
The Boers, under Paul Kruger, struck first. The Boers attacked into
Cape Colony and Natal between October 1899 and January 1900. The Boers
were able to successfully besiege the British garrisons in the towns of
Ladysmith, Mafeking (defended by troops headed by Robert Baden-Powell)
and Kimberley and inflicted three separate defeats on the British in one
week, December 10 to 15, 1899. It was not until reinforcements arrived
on February 14, 1900 that British troops commanded by Frederick Roberts
could launch counter-offences to relieve the garrisons (the relief of Mafeking
on May 18, 1900 provoked riotous celebrations in England) and enabled the
British to take Bloemfontein on March 13 and the Boer capital, Pretoria,
on June 5. Boer units fought for two more years as guerrillas, the British,
now under the command of Lord Kitchener, responded by constructing blockhouses,
destroying farms and confiscating food to prevent them from falling into
Boer hands and placing Boer civilians in concentration camps.
The last of the Boers surrendered in May 1902 and the war ended with
the Treaty of Vereeniging in the same month. 22,000 British troops had
died and over 25,000 Boer civilians. The treaty ended the existence of
the Transvaal and the Orange Free State as Boer republics and placed them
within the British Empire. But the Boers were given £3m in compensation
and were promised self-government in time (the Union of South Africa was
established in 1910). The Boers referred to the two wars as the Freedom
Wars.
See also History
of South Africa
