Boer War

The Boer Wars was the name given to the South African Wars of 1880-1881 and 1899-1902, that were fought between the British and the descendants of the Dutch settlers (Boers) in South Africa. After the first Boer War William Gladstone granted the Boers self-government in the Transvaal. A few years after being granted their independence the British took it away again. The Boers, under the leadership of Paul Kruger, were given military equipment from Germany and the Boers immediately had a series of successes on the borders of Capr Colony and Natal between October 1899 and January 1900. Even though the Boers only had 88 000 soldiers, they had outstanding leadership that lead them to victory. In 1900 reinforcements arrived for the British(who were getting wrecked by the Boers) and with these "fresh legs" the Boers were surrounded and captured and had no choice but to surrender. The British then went on to seize the two capital cities and gained the upper hand in the war. Just wen the British thought they had the war won, the Boers made a come back, adopting a guerrilla style of war fare. This proved to be very effecting against the British soldiers.

But as soon as the Boers made their come back, the British regained control by setting up lines of fences all over, reducing the Boers freedom to move around so easily, along with inside information given to them by Local African natives.

In all, the war had cost around 75,000 lives. 22,000 British soldiers (7,792 battle casualties, the rest through disease), 6,000 – 7,000 Boer soldiers, 20,000 – 28,000 Boer civilians and perhaps 20,000 indigenous Africans. The last of the Boers surrendered in May 1902 and the war ended with the signing of the Treaty of Vereeniging in the same month.

The Boers were given £3,000,000 for reconstruction and were promised eventual self-government, which in my opinion defeats the whole purpose of the war. The second Boer war started because the British took the freedom of the Boers and after three additional years of fighting and bloodshed they lose the war and get it back anyway.