This book offers an account of this understudied conflict dating from the early stage of European colonialism in Africa, and unpacks the complex regional relationships between different communities in the first half of 19th century.
This is the first general history of the concentration camps of the Anglo-Boer or South African War in over fifty years, and the first to use in depth the very rich and extensive official documents in South African and British archives. It provides a fresh perspective on a topic that has understandably aroused huge emotions because of the great numbers of Afrikaners, especially women and children, who died in the camps. This fascinating social history overturns many of the previously held assumptions and conclusions on all sides, and is sure to stimulate debate. Rather than viewing the camps simply as the product of the scorched-earth policies of the war, the author sets them in the larger context of colonialism at the end of the 19th century, arguing that British views on poverty, poor relief and the management of colonial societies all shaped their administration. The book also attempts to explain why the camps were so badly administered in the first place, and why reform was so slow, suggesting that divided responsibility, ignorance, political opportunism and a failure to understand the needs of such institutions all played their part.
This “fascinating” biography of a South African-born warrior provides a window into a full century of military conflicts(Adam Makos, New York Times–bestselling author of A Higher Call). Four-War Boer traces Pieter Krueler’s highly colorful life from the Second Boer War, where he first served as a fourteen-year-old scout, to his service in World War I with the German army in East Africa to the Spanish Civil War to World War II, this time with the Allies, and on into the latter part of the twentieth century, when he served as a mercenary during the 1960s Congo Crisis. Later, in his eighties, he became a civilian trainer for the original Selous Scouts of Rhodesia and, later still, a trainer for South African commandos. The book follows Krueler through a remarkable career that included, among other adventures, leading native African soldiers on extremely dangerous missions in the Belgian Congo; volunteering as a mercenary during the Spanish Civil War, during which he worked with the Pyrenees Basque movement; serving as a coast watcher to keep South Africa safe from German incursion; and fighting alongside Michael Hoare during the 1960s Congo Crisis. A chapter is devoted to the formation of Rhodesia’s highly elite Selous Scouts, along with highlights of several previously classified missions. This material includes a wealth of new information, and breaks the secrecy surrounding Rhodesian and South African special operations, as unveiled through the experience of a man who was a founding father of counterinsurgency in Africa. Based on six years of historical research through hard-to-find secondary and published primary sources, as well as extensive interviews with Krueler himself, and interviews with German officers and others who knew and worked with him, this biography is filled with extensive first-person testimony that gives it the immediacy of a memoir.
The story of the battle for independence from the British Empire in South Africa by “a vivid chronicler of military forces, generals, and wars” (Kirkus Reviews). The Great Boer War (1899-1902), more properly known as the Great Anglo-Boer War, was one of the last romantic wars, pitting a sturdy, stubborn pioneer people fighting to establish the independence of their tiny nation against the British Empire at its peak of power and self-confidence. It was fought in the barren vastness of the South African veldt, and it produced in almost equal measure extraordinary feats of personal heroism, unbelievable examples of folly and stupidity, and many incidents of humor and tragedy. Byron Farwell traces the war’s origins; the slow mounting of the British efforts to overthrow the Afrikaners; the bungling and bickering of the British command; the remarkable series of bloody battles that almost consistently ended in victory for the Boers over the much more numerous British forces; political developments in London and Pretoria; the sieges of Ladysmith, Mafeking and Kimberley; the concentration camps into which Boer families were herded; and the exhausting guerrilla warfare of the last few years when the Boer armies were finally driven from the field. The Great Boer War is a definitive history of a dramatic conflict by the author of Queen Victoria’s Little Wars, “a leading popular military historian” (Publishers Weekly).
On the afternoon of Monday 4 June 1900, the young State Attorney of the South African Republic bade a sad farewell to his wife and child whom he was never to see again and left Pretoria to join the Boer commandos. He had braved shot and shell to put the government's sole source of finance for the continuing war - less than half a million pounds sterling in gold and coins - on a special train to President Kruger in the Eastern Transvaal. The next day, Lord Robert's army entered the capital. Jan Smuts came to play an important role in the South African war of 1899-1902. His memoirs are recorded here, and they present an account of the critical events from the fall of Pretoria to the reorganization of the commandos in December that year.
Victorious in its previous campaigns in Africa against native armies, Britain now confronted an altogether different foe. The Boers proved to be formidable opponents, masterfully compensating for inferior numbers with grim determination, resourcefulness and strong religious faith. Their mobility, expert use of cover, and knowledge of the terrain, in which they employed powerful long-range magazine rifles, gave them initial advantages. By contrast the British suffered from inadequate transport, insufficient mounted troops and poor intelligence. Despite marshalling the immense resources of their empire, the British were to be severely tested in a war which one general described as 'the graveyard of many a soldier's reputation'.
On 11 October 1899 the Second Boer War between the British and the Boers began. The war saw the most powerful professional army in the world pitted against the unconventional tactics of the undisciplined Boers. Although the Boers were finally forced to surrender in May 1902 the war had taken its toll on their opponents who lost some 8,000 troops killed in action with a further 13,000 dying from disease. This book covers the organisation, uniforms and very different tactics involved in the conflict, from guerrilla warfare to a final war of attrition that the Boers could not hope to win.
From the bestselling author of Destiny of the Republic, this thrilling biographical account of the life and legacy of Wintson Churchill is a "nail-biter and top-notch character study rolled into one" (The New York Times). At the age of twenty-four, Winston Churchill was utterly convinced it was his destiny to become prime minister of England. He arrived in South Africa in 1899, valet and crates of vintage wine in tow, to cover the brutal colonial war the British were fighting with Boer rebels and jumpstart his political career. But just two weeks later, Churchill was taken prisoner. Remarkably, he pulled off a daring escape—traversing hundreds of miles of enemy territory, alone, with nothing but a crumpled wad of cash, four slabs of chocolate, and his wits to guide him. Bestselling author Candice Millard spins an epic story of bravery, savagery, and chance encounters with a cast of historical characters—including Rudyard Kipling, Lord Kitchener, and Mohandas Gandhi—with whom Churchill would later share the world stage. But Hero of the Empire is more than an extraordinary adventure story, for the lessons Churchill took from the Boer War would profoundly affect twentieth century history.
The British Expeditionary Force at the start of World War I was tiny by the standards of the other belligerent powers. Yet, when deployed to France in 1914, it prevailed against the German army because of its professionalism and tactical skill, strengths developed through hard lessons learned a dozen years earlier. In October 1899, the British went to war against the South African Boer republics of Transvaal and Orange Free State, expecting little resistance. A string of early defeats in the Boer War shook the military’s confidence. Historian Spencer Jones focuses on this bitter combat experience in From Boer War to World War, showing how it crucially shaped the British Army’s tactical development in the years that followed. Before the British Army faced the Boer republics, an aura of complacency had settled over the military. The Victorian era had been marked by years of easy defeats of crudely armed foes. The Boer War, however, brought the British face to face with what would become modern warfare. The sweeping, open terrain and advent of smokeless powder meant soldiers were picked off before they knew where shots had been fired from. The infantry’s standard close-order formations spelled disaster against the well-armed, entrenched Boers. Although the British Army ultimately adapted its strategy and overcame the Boers in 1902, the duration and cost of the war led to public outcry and introspection within the military. Jones draws on previously underutilized sources as he explores the key tactical lessons derived from the war, such as maximizing firepower and using natural cover, and he shows how these new ideas were incorporated in training and used to effect a thorough overhaul of the British Army. The first book to address specific connections between the Boer War and the opening months of World War I, Jones’s fresh interpretation adds to the historiography of both wars by emphasizing the continuity between them.