Second Boer War

The causes

The Boers were settlers of Dutch origin who had founded independent republics in the interior of southern Africa. The discovery of gold on the Witwatersrand, in the Transvaal, attracted foreigners, the Uitlanders, who demanded political rights. London, which already controlled the Cape Colony, wanted to extend its hold over these riches and over the region. Negotiations failed, and in October 1899 the Boers declared war on the United Kingdom.

In the 1830s, Boer settlers leave the Cape Colony during the Great Trek and settle farther inland. The Transvaal and the Orange Free State are recognized by London in 1852 and 1854. In 1877, the United Kingdom annexes the Transvaal, but the Boers revolt and win at Majuba Hill in 1881. The London Convention of 1884 restores the autonomy of the Transvaal, under British suzerainty. In 1895, the Jameson Raid, launched from British territory to support an uprising by the Uitlanders, fails, and in June 1899 the Bloemfontein conference, led by High Commissioner Alfred Milner, fails to reach agreement on the right to vote.

The course of the war

At the start of the war, the Boers invaded neighbouring British territories and besieged Mafeking, Ladysmith and Kimberley. The British, defeated during the "Black Week" of December 1899, received reinforcements and regained the upper hand. In 1900, they lifted the sieges and took Johannesburg, then Pretoria, capital of the Transvaal. The Boer commandos then continued a guerrilla war: to subdue them, the British adopted scorched earth tactics, burning farms, crops and livestock. The families of fighters were gathered into camps, where sanitary conditions were very poor.

The conflict dragged on, and the commandos continued to strike at British lines of communication. In the United Kingdom, the campaigner Emily Hobhouse denounced the high death rate in the camps, especially among children. In 1902, negotiations led to the Treaty of Vereeniging: the Boers gave up their independence, in exchange for a promise of future self-government and aid for reconstruction.

In February 1900, at Paardeberg, the Boer general Piet Cronjé surrenders with his troops, a severe setback for the republics. The British, commanded by Lord Roberts, then take Bloemfontein, capital of the Orange Free State, in March. President Paul Kruger leaves the Transvaal for Europe in October 1900, where he will never return. The commandos nevertheless continue the fight in the countryside, under leaders such as Louis Botha and Christiaan de Wet, who escapes the British columns several times.

To protect the railway lines and water points, the British build lines of blockhouses, small forts linked by barbed wire, which restrict the movements of the commandos. The mobile columns of British cavalry, which hunt the Boers over great distances, wear down the horses and men on both sides. The commandos, poorly supplied, depend on farms and captured convoys, which exposes civilians to reprisals.

The African populations, who provide labor and services to both sides, are kept out of the peace negotiations. The Treaty of Vereeniging, signed on 31 May 1902, defers the question of the right to vote for Black populations, who remain without a voice in the agreement. In return, the Boers obtain the right to use Dutch in schools and courts, which preserves their language. Former Boer fighters thus find themselves in a position to negotiate with London.

The consequences

The Boer republics disappeared as independent states, but Afrikaner identity grew stronger. In 1910, the United Kingdom created the Union of South Africa, in which former Boer leaders, such as Louis Botha, held a major share of power. Largely excluded from the vote, Africans suffered segregation. The concentration camps left a painful memory, especially among Afrikaners.

In the following decades, the defeat fuels Afrikaner nationalism, which relies on the Afrikaans language and on secret societies such as the Broederbond, founded in 1918. After the National Party's electoral victory in 1948, segregation is systematized under the name apartheid, and historians debate the role that the memory of the war may have played in this development. The concentration camps remain a highly sensitive subject, and historians debate their causes, the responsibility of the British commanders and even the use of the term itself. The war also remains a central episode in British imperial history.

Timeline

1. 1899The Boers declare war on the United Kingdom after an ultimatum
2. 1900The British lift the siege of Mafeking and take Johannesburg, then Pretoria
3. 1901The British gather Boer civilians into concentration camps
4. 1902Treaty of Vereeniging: the Boer republics lose their independence

Key figures

• Paul Kruger, president of the Transvaal, a figure of Boer resistance
• Lord Kitchener, British commander who applies scorched earth tactics
• Louis Botha, Boer general, future prime minister of the South African Union
• Emily Hobhouse, British campaigner who denounces the camps