Second Boer War: Difference between revisions

| combatant1 = {{collapsible list

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| {{flagicon image|Flag of the Cape Colony 1876-1910.svg|23px}} [[British Cape Colony|Cape Colony]]

| {{flagicon image|Flag of the Natal Colony 1875-1910.svg|23px}} [[Natal Colony]]

| {{flagcountry|Austria-Hungary}}

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| commander2 = {{flagicon|South African Republic}} '''[[Paul Kruger]]'''{{br}}{{flagicon|South African Republic}} [[Koos de la Rey]]{{br}}{{flagicon|South African Republic}} [[Louis Botha]]{{br}}{{flagicon|South African Republic}} [[Schalk W. Burger]]{{br}}{{flagicon|South African Republic}} [[Piet Cronjé]]{{POW}}{{br}}{{flagicon|South African Republic}} [[Piet Joubert]]{{br}}{{flagicon|South African Republic}} [[Jan Smuts]]{{br}}{{flagicon|Orange Free State}} '''[[Martinus Theunis Steyn|Martinus Steyn]]'''{{br}}{{flagicon|Orange Free State}} [[Christiaan de Wet]]

| strength1 = '''British''':<br />347,000<br />'''Colonial''':<br />103,000–153,000<br />'''African auxiliaries''':<br />100,000<ref name="auto">{{cite web|url=http://www.sahistory.org.za/article/role-black-people-south-african-war|title=Role of Black people in the South African War|last=sahoboss|date=31 March 2011}}</ref>

}}

 

 

 

However, British fortunes changed when their commanding officer, [[Redvers Buller|General Redvers Buller]], was replaced by [[Frederick Roberts, 1st Earl Roberts|Lord Roberts]] and [[Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener|Lord Kitchener]], who relieved the besieged cities and invaded the Boer republics in early 1900 at the head of a 180,000-strong expeditionary force. The Boers, aware they were unable to resist such a large force, refrained from fighting [[pitched battle]]s, allowing the British to occupy both republics and their capitals, [[Pretoria]] and [[Bloemfontein]].<ref name="millard">{{cite book|last1=Millard|first1=Candice|title=Hero of the Empire: The Boer War, a daring escape, and the making of Winston Churchill|date=2016|publisher=Doubleday|isbn=978-0-385-53573-1|location=New York}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=The South African War 1899–1902|publisher=South African History Online|url=https://www.sahistory.org.za/article/south-african-war-1899-1902|access-date=2021-01-25|website=sahistory.org.za}}</ref><ref name=SAHonline>{{Cite web|title=Lord Roberts is appointed British supreme commander in South Africa|publisher=South African History Online|url=https://www.sahistory.org.za/dated-event/field-marshal-lord-roberts-appointed-british-supreme-commander-south-africa|access-date=2022-01-04|website=sahistory.org.za}}</ref> Boer politicians, including [[State President of the South African Republic|President of the South African Republic]] [[Paul Kruger]], either fled or went into hiding; the British Empire officially annexed the two republics in 1900. In Britain, the [[Unionist government, 1895–1905#Salisbury ministry|Conservative ministry]] led by [[Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury|Lord Salisbury]] attempted to capitalise on British military successes by calling an [[1900 United Kingdom general election|early general election]], dubbed by contemporary observers as a "[[khaki election]]". However, Boer fighters took to the hills and launched a guerrilla campaign, becoming known as ''[[bittereinder]]s''. Led by generals such as [[Louis Botha]], [[Jan Smuts]], [[Christiaan de Wet]], and [[Koos de la Rey]], Boer guerrillas used [[Hit-and-run tactics|hit-and-run attacks]] and [[ambush]]es against the British for two years.<ref name="bristolmercury">{{cite web |last1=Biggins |first1=David |title=Khaki Election of 1900 |url=https://www.angloboerwar.com/forum/8-events/8709-khaki-election-of-1900 |website=angloboerwar.com |date=June 2013 |access-date=27 November 2018}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=van der Waag|first=Ian|date=2005|title=Boer Generalship and Politics of Command|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/26061736|journal= War in History|volume= 12|issue=1|pages=15–43|doi=10.1191/0968344505wh306oa|jstor=26061736|s2cid=220749361 |via=Jstor}}</ref>

The failure to gain improved rights for uitlanders (notably the goldfields dynamite tax) became a pretext for war and a justification for a big military build-up in Cape Colony. The case for war was developed and espoused as far away as the Australian colonies.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Connolly|first=C. N.|date=1978-04-01|title=Manufacturing 'spontaneity': The Australian offers of troops for the Boer War|journal=Historical Studies|volume=18|issue=70|pages=106–117|doi=10.1080/10314617808595579|issn=0018-2559}}</ref> Cape Colony Governor Sir [[Alfred Milner]]; Rhodes; Chamberlain; and [[Randlord|mining syndicate owners]] such as Beit, [[Barney Barnato]], and [[Lionel Phillips]], favoured annexation of the Boer republics. Confident that the Boers would be quickly defeated, they planned and organised a short war, citing the uitlanders' grievances as the motivation for the conflict. In contrast, the influence of the war party within the British government was limited. UK Prime Minister, [[Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury|Lord Salisbury]], despised [[jingoism]] and jingoists.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.britishempire.me.uk/lordsalisbury.html|title=Lord Salisbury|last=Crowhurst|first=Peter|website=britishempire.me.uk|access-date=2020-04-08}}</ref> He was also uncertain of the abilities of the British Army. Despite both his moral and practical reservations, Salisbury led the United Kingdom to war in order to preserve the British Empire's prestige and feeling a sense of obligation to British South Africans.{{efn| Salisbury felt that the Transvaal, the Orange Free State, and Cape Boers aspired to a "Dutch South Africa". The achievement of such a state would damage British imperial prestige}} Salisbury also detested the Boers treatment of native Africans, referring to the [[London Convention (1884)|London Convention of 1884]], (following Britain's defeat in the first war), as an agreement "really in the interest of slavery".<ref name="Steele2000">{{Cite book|last=Steele |first=David |year=2000 |chapter=Salisbury and the Soldiers |editor-first=John |editor-last=Gooch |title=The Boer War: Direction, Experience and Image|location=London|publisher=Cass}}</ref>{{rp|7}}<ref name="Steele2000" />{{rp|6}} Salisbury was not alone in this concern. [[Roger Casement]], already well on the way to becoming an Irish Nationalist, was nevertheless happy to gather intelligence for the British against the Boers because of their cruelty to Africans.<ref>{{harvnb|Jeffery|2000|p=145}} cites {{harvnb|Inglis|1974|pp=53–55}}</ref>

 

 

The British government went against the advice of its generals (including Wolseley) and declined to send substantial reinforcements to South Africa before war broke out. Secretary of State for War Lansdowne did not believe the Boers were preparing for war and that if Britain were to send large numbers of troops to the region it would strike too aggressive a posture and possibly derail a negotiated settlement—or even encourage a Boer attack.{{sfn|Surridge|2000|p=24}}

=== First British relief attempts ===

 

 

On 31 October 1899, General Sir [[Redvers Henry Buller]], a much-respected commander, arrived in South Africa with the Army Corps, made up of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd divisions. Buller originally intended an offensive straight up the railway line leading from [[Cape Town]] through Bloemfontein to Pretoria. Finding on arrival that the British troops already in South Africa were under siege, he split his army corps into detachments to relieve the besieged garrisons. One division, led by Lieutenant General [[Paul Methuen, 3rd Baron Methuen|Lord Methuen]], was to follow the Western Railway to the north and relieve Kimberley and Mafeking. A smaller force of about 3,000, led by Major General [[William Forbes Gatacre|William Gatacre]], was to push north towards the railway junction at Stormberg and secure the [[Cape Midlands]] District from Boer raids and local rebellions by Boer inhabitants. Buller led the major part of the army corps to relieve Ladysmith to the east.

Roberts launched his main attack on 10 February 1900 and although hampered by a long supply route, managed to outflank the Boers defending [[Magersfontein]]. On 14 February, a cavalry division under French launched a major attack to relieve Kimberley. Although encountering severe fire, a massed cavalry charge split the Boer defences on 15 February, opening the way for French to enter Kimberley that evening, ending its 124 days' siege.

 

 

[[File:The Relief of Ladysmith by John Henry Frederick Bacon.jpg|thumb|The Relief of Ladysmith. Sir [[George White (British Army officer)|George Stuart White]] greets Major [[Hubert Gough]] on 28 February. Painting by [[John Henry Frederick Bacon]] (1868–1914).]]

 

== See also ==

* [[Bloemfontein Conference]]

* [[Bombardment in the Second Boer War]]

* [[British logistics in the Boer War]]

* [[First Italo-Ethiopian War|First Italo–Ethiopian War]]

* [[List of Second Boer War Victoria Cross recipients]]

* [[List of wars between democracies]]

* ''[[London to Ladysmith via Pretoria]]''

* [[Military history of South Africa]]

* [[Scramble for Africa]]

 

== Notes ==