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The Anglo-Boer War in South Africa : South African history

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The Anglo-Boer War in South Africa : South African history

After the Voortrekkers were defeated by the British in Natal in 1842, the Great Trek moved on further north-east and eventually the trekkers settled north and south of the Vaal river. First, they formed the independent Transvaal to the north, which would later become the South African Republic.

In the meantime, the Cape Colony had spread further and all the land between the Vaal and Orange rivers was declared British territory in 1848. The English, however, had not taken into account the strong resistance of the Boers who had already settled there. Because the area was economically of little interest to them, they soon gave it up again. On the 23rd of February 1854, the contract of Bloemfontein was signed, which led to the foundation of the Orange Free State.The “Oranje Vrystaat” developed into a politically and economically successful republic. But this positive process was overshadowed by various negative events in the second Boer state, the South African Republic in Transvaal (today Mpumalanga). By now British sentiment was in favoured of amalgamating their own colonies and the Boer republics into one union, with the primary purpose of gaining possession of the Transvaal gold mines.

The Premier of the Cape Colony, Sir Cecil Rhodes, first tried to achieve this union through a putsch that failed due to wariness on the part of Paul Kruger, President of the Boer Republic. Soon the new Governor of the Cape, Lord Alfred Milner, succeeded with the use of armed force. The Orange Free State, which had formed an alliance with the South African Republic, became involved in the conflict. On February 11, 1899 a war broke out between these two Boer Republics and the two British colonies of Cape and Natal.

The “Boer War” lasted three years. On the side of the Afrikaners there were 52,000 soldiers fighting against a contingent of 450,000 men under British command. The Afrikaners did initially achieve some spectacular successes, but very soon the tables turned. On March 13, 1900 Bloemfontein was occupied and on the 24th of May, the Orange Free State was declared British territory. Shortly afterwards Johannesburg and Pretoria fell, and on the 1st of September, Transvaal was annexed as a British colony.

Then the Boers started a guerrilla war that was gruelling for everyone involved. The British, under General Lord Kitchener responded with unequalled severity and brutality. The Boer commandos were hunted systematically, the fields devastated, the harvests destroyed. The women and children, who were left destitute and homeless, were kept under horrific conditions in huge concentration camps. In total, more than 27,000 women and children died from famine, exhaustion and disease.

Eventually the Boers realized that any further resistance would demand more senseless sacrifices, and peace negotiations began. On the 31st of May 1902, a peace contract was signed. Both Boer Republics became British Crown Colonies.

The South African History:

- The Landing at the Cape
- The Expansion of the Trek Boers
- The Great Trek
- The Xhosa People
- The Zulu Kingdom
- The Battle of Blood River
- The Anglo-Boer War
- The Apartheid Era
- The Democratic South Africa
- The Colony of Natal

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