This is for all of my summary notes about “The second Boer War, 1899–1902”. This is from the Edexcel specification for A-Level History.
This document includes information from my own research, books I have read, the main textbook, my teacher and revision guides – it is detailed and has all...
How effectively did the British meet the challenges faced
in South Africa?
Introduction
- Second Boer War (1899—1902) fought by British against the Boers.
- Boers were of Dutch origin (descendants of first Europeans to settle in South Africa)
- The British in the 19th century established 2 colonies (Cape Colony + Natal).
- the Boers held Orange Free State and Transvaal.
- 1877: Britain annexed the Transvaal.
- 1879: suppressed the Zulus in the Zulu War.
- The Boers resented British intrusion = fought the First Boer War (1880-1881).
- 1881: Pretoria peace deal = favoured the Boers +
- 1884: London Convention = left the Boers in control of Transvaal.
- Discovery of gold in the 1880s = inrush of foreign settlers (uitlanders), who by the 1890s outnumbered
Afrikaans speakers.
- The Transvaal government refused outlanders voting rights + distrust between Transvaal's president
Kruger and British high commissioner Milner = increased tensions.
Steps to war
- 1895: Jameson Raid = was a ploy to give Britain an excuse to intervene in the Transvaal on the side of the
‘outlanders'.
- Its failure led to Cecil Rhodes' resignation as premier of Cape Colony + the unifying of the Boers under
Kruger.
- In Britain: Jameson Raid = portrayed as a heroic attempt to help settlers oppressed by anti-democratic, racist
Boers.
- high commissioner Milner insisted that Britain had a right of control over the Boer republics.
- The Orange Free State = became Transvaal's ally + both sides began to mobilise.
- Boers issued an ultimatum demanding withdrawal of British troops from their frontiers
- Britain REFUSED = and war began on 11 October 1899, with the Boers attacking Cape Colony and Natal.
The nature of the British army
Army strength
- Had 250,000 regular troops in total.
- Commission had been abandoned.
- The Boers (around 50.000 men) at first outnumbered the British (27,000). but the British sent
reinforcements by sea.
- SO; by 1 December 1899, there were 84.000 British soldiers in South Africa.
Importance of railways
- British = controlled railways.
- set up the Department of Military Railways and a specialist unit of railway engineers to repair and
extend the rail network.
- British generals planned to use the railways between key towns to invade the Boer strongholds of
Orange Free State and Transvaal.
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