Boer War encyclopedia topics

First Boer War

The First Boer War (1880–1881), also known as the "Transvaal War," was a relatively brief conflict in which Boer settlers successfully resisted a British attempt to annex the Transvaal, and re-established an independent republic. This conflict is remarkable for its British:Boer casualty ratio of 10:1.

Second Boer War

The Second Boer War (1899–1902), by contrast, was a lengthy war involving large numbers of troops from many British possessions, which ended with the conversion of the Boer republics into British colonies, with a promise of limited self-government. These colonies later formed part of the Union of South Africa.

Last surviving veteran

The last veteran was George Frederick Ives (1881-1993), a trooper in the Imperial Yeomanry.

Significance

The Boer War was a major turning point in British history, since after the war, much the whole of the world seemed to be anti-British. This led to a change in approach to foreign policy from Britain who now set about looking for more allies. To this end, we can see the 1902 treaty with Japan in particular as a sign that Britain feared attack on its Far Eastern empire and saw this alliance as an opportunity to strengthen their stance in the Far East. This war led to a change from "splendid isolation" policy to a policy that involved looking for allies and improving world relations.

Bibliography

Beck, Roger B. (2000). The History of South Africa. Westport, CT: Greenwood. ISBN 031330730X.
Davenport, T. R. H., and Christopher Saunders (2000). South Africa: A Modern History, 5th ed. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 0312233760.
Jackson, Tabitha (1999). The Boer War. Basingstoke, U.K.: Channel 4 Books/Macmillan. ISBN 075221702X.
Judd, Denis, and Keith Surridge (2003). The Boer War. Basingstoke, U.K.: Palgrave Macmillan. . ISBN 0719561698 (paperback).
Pakenham, Thomas (1979). The Boer War. New York: Random House. ISBN 0394427424.
Plaatje, Sol T. (1990). Mafeking Diary: A Black Man’s View of a White Man's War. Ohio University Press. ISBN 0821409441.
Reitz, Deneys (1930). Commando: A Boer Journal of the Boer War. London: Faber and Faber. . ISBN 1432612239 (2005 reissue).
van Hartesveldt, Fred R. (2000). The Boer War. Greenwood Press. ISBN 0313306273.