South Africa - Boer War - N. S. W. Medical Corps in review near Cape Town, South Africa - 1900 - Underwood & Underwood Publishers - Real Photo Stereoscope Card #338645 The Second Boer War (11 October 1899 – 31 May 1902) - Fought between the British Empire and two Boer states, the South African Republic (Republic of Transvaal) and the Orange Free State, over the Empire's influence in South Africa - It is also known variously as the Boer War, Anglo-Boer War, or South African War. Initial Boer attacks were successful, and although British reinforcements later reversed these, the war continued for years with Boer guerrilla warfare, until harsh British counter-measures brought them to terms. - The war started with the British overconfident and under-prepared. - The Boers were well armed and struck first, besieging Ladysmith, Kimberley, and Mahikeng in early 1900, and winning important battles at Colenso, Magersfontein and Stormberg. - Staggered, the British brought in large numbers of soldiers and fought back. General Redvers Buller was replaced by Lord Roberts and Lord Kitchener. - They relieved the three besieged cities, and invaded the two Boer republics in late 1900. - The onward marches of the British Army, well over 400,000 men, were so overwhelming that the Boers did not fight staged battles in defense of their homeland. - The British 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 British officially annexed the two countries in 1900. Back home, Britain's Conservative government wanted to capitalize on this success and use it to maneuver an early general election, dubbed a "khaki election" to give the government another six years of power in London. - British military efforts were aided by Cape Colony, the Colony of Natal and some native African allies, and further supported by volunteers from the British Empire, including Southern Africa, the Australian colonies, Canada, India and New Zealand. - All other nations were neutral, but public opinion was largely hostile to the British. Inside the UK and its Empire there also was significant opposition to the Second Boer War. - 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. As guerrillas without uniforms, the Boer fighters easily blended into the farmlands, which provided hiding places, supplies, and horses. - The UK's response to guerilla warfare was to set up complex nets of block houses, strong points, and barbed wire fences, partitioning off the entire conquered territory. - In addition, civilian farms and live stock were destroyed in the scorched earth strategy. Survivors were forced into concentration camps. - Very large proportions of these civilians died of hunger and disease, especially the children. - British mounted infantry units systematically tracked down the highly mobile Boer guerrilla units. - The battles at this stage were small operations. Few died during combat, though many of disease. - The war ended in surrender and British terms with the Treaty of Vereeniging in May 1902. - Both former republics were incorporated into the Union of South Africa in 1910, as part of the British Empire. (source - Wikipedia) South African War, also called Boer War, Second Boer War, or Anglo-Boer War; to Afrikaners, also called Second War of Independence - War fought from October 11, 1899, to May 31, 1902, between Great Britain and the two Boer (Afrikaner) republics—the South African Republic (Transvaal) and the Orange Free State—resulting in British victory. - Although it was the largest and most costly war in which the British engaged between the Napoleonic Wars and World War I, it was fought between wholly unequal protagonists. - The total British military strength in Southern Africa reached nearly 500,000 men, whereas the Boers could muster no more than about 88,000. - But the British were fighting in a hostile country over difficult terrain, while the Boers were able to use modern rifle fire to good effect at a time when attacking forces had no means of overcoming it. - The conflict provided a foretaste of warfare fought with rifles and machine guns, with the advantage to the defenders. (https://www.britannica.com/event/South-African-War)