Feature History - First Boer War

this video is brought to you by curiosity stream get 31 days of streaming completely free using the link curiosity stream comm slash feature history well you can wait till the end to hear more hello or as they say in Afrikaans hello and welcome to future history featuring the Boer War no not that one because today instead of delving into the massive topic that is the second Boer War I thought there was some worth in discussing the often overlooked first war and being able to cover all the history that led up to the anglo-boer conflicts that we all know of and then I can do the second war later on to keep you guys subscribe for something so looking back into history we can figure out why the British colonized South Africa why the Border's a South Africa look the way they do and most importantly why do they speak Dutch to start doing all that let me move us all the way back in the timeline to the 17th century but briefly before I do that yes I know they speak Afrikaans you can stop writing that comment and now let's continue in the latter half of the 1600s Europe was firmly in its Age of Exploration a time where sailors and settlers ventured to foreign shores and discovered things that had most likely been discovered several times before in that vein the Dutch East India Company would begin settling on the Cape Peninsula of southern Africa establishing the area as the Cape of Good Hope a resupply station for sailors on their way to the Dutch East Indies skilled farmers would be prompted to sail the months-long voyage to work the land and so the Cape became a society of farmers and it just so happens the Dutch word for farmer is boar so skipping about a century of the Alpha mentioned farming it was in 1806 that the Netherlands Republic was forcibly incorporated into Napoleon's new empire and thus the British quickly concluded that Dutch colonies when our free game and said about annexing a lot in the name of securing trade routes in this time of war that time of war came to its end in in 15 and Britain and her allies established the New Kingdom of Netherlands which saw all its colonies returned with the exception of some South American territories and the Cape which became a permanent part of the British Empire the 1820s saw British people arriving to the Cape and settling as neighbours to the old Dutch colonists the Cape Colony was expanded under British campaigns and so English language and culture was beginning to take over the 1830s saw basic rights for black Africans and the abolishment of slavery and the boys were very uneasy with this rapid social change in their culture and politics in response the Boers would undertake the Great Trek in 1835 looking to move into the South African interior and found their homeland separate from British law and the British led them the Boers could pioneer the exploration and save their empire the effort with the credit to the conquest and slaughters of Shaka Zulu large swathe of land were left unpopulated and so the Boers were able to with limited resistance from native Africans established three Republic's along the Val River Orange River and eastern coast the coastal Natalia Republic was quickly gobbled up by the British wanting a new port but for the other two Republic's the Orange Free State and transferred Republic they would be recognized as independent nations in 1852 through a series of conventions that sought to standardize relations and slavery law and while that deal managed to stand for some time it was moving into the 1870s that pressure from other European colonists saw the British government wanting to push for a Confederation as had been seen in Canada between British and French colonies however the Boer and even local British colonists were firmly against that but then diamonds would be discovered on the borders of the Boer Republic's and so Britain would begin encroaching further and further on board territory with the transfer government vastly unpopular and facing Bank see from costly campaigns against native Africans the threats mounting from Zulu build up under King Quechua Oh seemed dire the British would move soldiers into the area in 1877 and declare the Republic annexed for the sake of its protection the Boers not wishing to find themselves at a war on two fronts were confined to passive resistance the British would use the trans file as part of launching their own attack on the Zulu Kingdom in 1879 which saw several embarrassing defeats for the British but it wasn't long before reinforcements were able to defeat the zoo it was then with the Zulu gone and passive resistance having done nothing the Boers began to take up arms Paul Kruger and several other notable Transvaal Boers would repeatedly point out the British had violated the conventions of 1852 and in December of 1880 would gather together in a triumvirate and declared the Transvaal Republic once again independent as part of Boer defense since the 17th century they had relied on a commando system and under the triumvirate it would be law all men between the ages of 16 to 60 were eligible for conscription and in times of war they would report to their local townships bringing with them their own horses arms and food to last the first couple weeks War Society was one based on self-sufficient farmers whose horses and rifles were their lifestyles and their armies would be no different the first news of Independence would reach the British in quite a strained way a convoy of reinforcements on route 2 transfer as capital of Pretoria were met by a small group of Boers who informed them they were marching on sovereign territory and this would be an act of war that small group soon turned out to be hundreds of Boers who ambushed the British with accurate fire and the column was massacred the many small Garrison's of British troops came under siege from locals and would be the governor of both the form of Bourne natal and transferred colonies sir George Coley that saw to counter this rebellion by January 1881 he had mustered together a relief force and despite feelings in the British government that this conflict would be best avoided he marched his soldiers in almost immediately he met an entrenched and outnumbering war force at Lang's neck with some gusto and artillery fire cavalry would charge again and again over broken ground and come out on the losing side against accurate and consistent fire after taking heavy casualties and losing several offices to Boer marksmen Kali was put on the retreat the ball is then took up guerrilla tactics and entered the natal colony raiding communication and supply lines collie re routed his relief force into an escort and met the Boers at the Battle of in gogo once again outnumbered and they're bright red uniforms nice easy targets for Boer marksmen the British lost again by February it was clear the government wasn't going to support this war the Anglo Zulu War of the past had been costly and unpopular and the plans for a South African Confederation were already on the cutting floor it was ordered that hostilities be suspended and a Royal Commission would start discussing the terms of a drawl but this wasn't going to deter Colley instead the general gathered the few hundred men he still could and took to majubi Hill which he saw as a strategic stronghold over the nearby Boer War camp once he had taken the summit the Boers crept up on the hill advancing the cover fire tactics a tactic that rendered traditional volley fire useless it wasn't long before the British were outflanked and placed on a chaotic route the defeat would have been devastating for Kali if it weren't for the fact that he was shot dead with the main combatant of this war gone and the most humiliating battle in British history written down the transfer would win itself a very favourable treaty the Pretoria convention saw British troops withdrawn and the Republic returned its self-governance the only caveat would be that the Boers accepted to Queens nominal rule which only lasted a few years before even that was dropped in the London convention of 1884 so this short war seems pretty cut-and-dry the Boers had won a decisive victory but that was only for the fact that the British Empire allowed it it was considered better to accept defeat at a time where the war we've been too costly and the Empire had bigger concerns in India at the time Seau Africa wasn't really high on the agenda of British politicians and so the games of government and economy had handicapped the military in this war the reality of Boer independence is that it lasted only on bought time more and more interests would pour into Africa as a scramble ramped up in the beginning of a gold rush in the transfer so the Republic blessed with money immigrants and curse with foreign interest the first Boer War would be one of the last times at the frontier lifestyle could beat out a colonial and business interest entering the twentieth century a second war a bigger war was inevitable and of course this was nowhere near the first time the world had seen this in fact over on curiosity stream you can tune into the series the butterfly effect and learn all about how the California Gold Rush saw war Massacre and the destruction of the frontier all the way back in the mid nineteenth century after that the series has many more episodes on different events and curiosity stream itself has thousands of more documentaries and original as you can check out the streaming service covers history science nature technology society and beyond and when you NAB yourself a subscription to curiosity stream you can also get one to nebula which is a website for education channels like myself where we host our video libraries as well as exclusive content with so much on offer why not head over to curiosity stream comm search feature history and get yourself a 31 day free trial and as always thanks to the patrons still need to get around to making an update video on the patreon but that was a bit busy doing this video so you know swings around about anyways hope everyone enjoyed yeah yeah there see you next time

Channel: Feature History

Views: 426,105

Keywords: Feature History, History, Education, Entertainment, Academic, Presentation, Boer War, War, Warfare, 19th Century, Boer, South Africa, Britian, British Empire, Colonial, Age of Exploration, Dutch, Africa, Guerilla, Commando, Paul Kruger, George Colley, Battle of Majuba Hill, Zulu, First Boer War, Anglo-Boer Wars, Transvaal, Orange Free State, South African Republic, Battle of Laing's Neck, Battle of Ingogo, Pretoria, Independence, Rebellion, Confederation, Commonwealth

Id: Bj0VNF9USnM

Length: 11min 13sec (673 seconds)

Published: Mon Dec 02 2019