The Second Boer War, a conflict that significantly shaped South Africa and the British Empire, began on October 11, 1899. It pitted the British Empire against two independent Boer states: the South African Republic (Republic of Transvaal) and the Orange Free State. The war arose from the Empire's desire to expand its influence in South Africa, while the Boers, Afrikaans-speaking farmers, sought to maintain their independence.
The origins of the Boer War lay in Britain's desire to unite the British South African territories of the Cape Colony and Natal with the Boer republics of the Orange Free State and the South African Republic (also known as the Transvaal).
A map illustrating the regions involved in the Second Boer War.
The Spark: Discovery of Gold and the Jameson Raid
After Britain’s humiliating defeat in the First Boer War (1880-81), Prime Minister Gladstone had been happy to agree the London Convention (1884) guaranteeing the independence of the Boer South African Republic. The discovery of massive gold deposits in Transvaal (1886) rekindled British imperialism.
The Jameson Raid (1895) was an attempt to overthrow the Republic engineered by Cecil Rhodes, then Prime Minister of Cape Colony. It was disastrously botched and its leaders captured, but the episode (and the British government’s tacit support of the raiders) made further war inevitable. The defence of Uitlanders, ‘outsiders’, drawn to prospect for gold, many of whom were British, was used as a pretext for a British military build-up.
Read also: South African Boer Goat Guide
The Jameson Raid of 1896 was an attempt to create an uprising among the Uitlanders in the SAR. Led by Dr Leander Starr Jameson and his British South Africa Company troops, its failure was a humiliation for Britain and the supporters of confederation.
Responding to the provocation, the Boers declared war in 1899 and, initially, once more outmanoeuvred the British with guerrilla warfare and outperformed them with their superior fast-loading Mauser rifles.
Initial Boer Offensives
The war started with a Boer attack on Ladysmith, Kimberley, and Mafeking in early 1900 and later victories at Colenso, Magersfontein and Stormberg. In October 1899 21,000 Boer troops from the South African Republic (Transvaal) and the Orange Free State invaded the British colony of Natal, attacking the garrison town of Ladysmith. Cutting the rail link to the colonial capital of Durban and defeating the first British relief effort at Colenso in December, the Boers besieged Ladysmith for 118 days.
While some Boer contingents advanced north into Bechuanaland, far into the west to Kuruman, and south to attack Middleburg and Stormberg, the major Boer efforts became concentrated on the sieges of the western border towns of Mafeking and Kimberley.
Key Sieges and Battles
- Ladysmith: About 13,500 troops - the majority British regulars - and 7,500 civilians - 2,500 of them Indians - were trapped. As the siege proceeded, the number of Boers in the trenches rarely exceeded 5,000. Encouraged to believe that relief was coming by General Sir Redvers Buller's advance, the Ladysmith garrison made a number of sorties to distract the Boers.
- Kimberley: Shortly after the SAR's ultimatum expired on 11 October 1899, 7,500 Orange Free State troops crossed the border into the Cape Colony with the intention of capturing Kimberley. They wished to gain control of the diamond mines, the railway and the supplies in the town. Kimberley had a garrison of 4,800 men, 600 of whom were regulars. Garrison Kekewich had to defend a civilian population of 50,000, as well as a perimeter 20 miles (32km) long. His task was hindered by a shortage of firearms.
- Mafeking: Mafeking was the most northerly town in the Cape Colony and had been claimed by the SAR prior to the outbreak of war. The town contained stocks of food, forage and railway material, which would have proved useful to the Boers. The commander of Mafeking was Colonel Robert Baden-Powell. At the outset of the siege, he had at his disposal 750 locally raised troops and a force of 400 irregulars formed from the townspeople.
The siege of Ladysmith was a key event in the early stages of the Boer War.
Read also: Property Practitioners Regulatory Authority
British Counter-Offensive and Guerrilla Warfare
Staggered, the British brought in large numbers of soldiers and fought back. General Redvers Buller was replaced by Lord Roberts and Lord Kitchener. The British army seized control of all of the Orange Free State and Transvaal, as the civilian leadership went into hiding or exile. In conventional terms, the war was over.
The Boers refused to surrender. They reverted to guerrilla warfare under new generals Louis Botha, Jan Smuts, Christiaan de Wet and Koos de la Rey. Two years of surprise attacks and quick escapes followed.
Boer Wars Explained – How Britain Fought in South Africa
Between 1899 and 1902, the British Army fought a bitter colonial war against the Boers in South Africa. Although outnumbered, the Boers were a skilled and determined enemy. British tactics, which had generally proved successful against poorly armed opponents, turned out to be disastrous when used against the Boers. The British launched frontal attacks on concealed Boer positions. These were ineffective and led to several defeats in December 1899.
Using modern rifles and smokeless powder, the Boers were able to snipe at British infantry from long distances before withdrawing to avoid any set-piece confrontation.
Read also: Discover Thula Thula
"Scorched Earth" Policy and Concentration Camps
To prevent the guerrillas from obtaining supplies, information and assistance, the British burnt thousands of farms and destroyed crops. The British also confined Boer families and black Africans in a network of concentration camps. As well as removing a means of support for the guerrillas, it was believed the presence of Boer families in the camps would make soldiers in the field surrender.
Accommodation in the camps was poor. Water and food were in short supply, and medical and sanitary facilities almost non-existent. Sickness became widespread. In all, 28,000 Boers, mainly women and children, died in the camps.
A Boer concentration camp during the Second Boer War.
The policy proved to be counter-productive. It aroused widespread criticism at home and abroad because of the fatalities. Emily Hobhouse was instrumental in raising public awareness of the camps. She also organised a relief effort to aid the victims.
Her campaign forced an embarrassed government to act. Milner’s civilian authorities took over the camps’ administration from the Army and conditions slowly improved.
The policy was also militarily flawed. By relieving the Boer 'bitter enders' of responsibility for their families, it allowed them to concentrate on fighting. Later on, Lord Kitchener reversed this policy and encouraged his men to leave Boer families to be cared for by the enemy.
Technological Innovations
The British Army used a variety of technological innovations during the war. Hydrogen-filled balloons were used for observation and directing artillery. Railways played an important part in the campaign and were frequently attacked by the Boers. To counter this threat, armoured trains regularly patrolled the main routes.
Steam traction engines were used to move heavy loads along roads and across countryside, thereby helping to conserve draught animals, which had only a short life expectancy in South Africa. A similar fate awaited the majority of horses used by the mounted troops. These animals were all too frequently put to work unacclimatised, ill-fed and ill-cared for.
The End of the War
While regular troops swept the countryside in a ‘scorched earth’ policy, mounted infantry units tracked down the remaining mobile Boer guerrillas, engaging in small skirmishes and ambushes. Eventually, these policies forced the Boers to seek terms. The war ended when the Boer leadership surrendered and accepted British terms with the Treaty of Vereeniging in May 1902.
On 31 May 1902, the Treaty of Vereeniging was signed and the Boers accepted British sovereignty but with limited self-government.
The signing of the Treaty of Vereeniging, marking the end of the Second Boer War.
Cost and Lessons Learned
The war mobilised the resources of the British Empire and cost the British government £210 million (over £25 billion today). It resulted in more than 120,000 British and Imperial casualties, including 22,000 dead. The writer Rudyard Kipling remarked of the war, 'We have had an imperial lesson.' But the British Army learned from its defeats at the hands of the Boers. Reforms in tactics, equipment and administration were introduced in the years after the conflict.
