The Boer War: 1899-1902

[Music] [Music] your snave [Music] in the last few years of the 19th century British Dominion in southern Africa was for the first time seriously challenged friction distrust and political rivalry between the boa republics of the transphile and the orange free state and the British dominions of natal in the cape that push the region almost to the brink of War in 1852 the dutch-speaking peoples of the transphile had been granted limited rights of self-government by Britain then the Paramount Imperial power in the region [Music] two years later similar rights were granted to the Orange River territory Behind These concessions lay a calculated disregard for what the British believed to be an arid inhospitable and generally Barren intellect this perception encouraged a belief that the Boer republics would remain financially dependent on the comparatively richer Coastal territories and militarily in awe of Britain for most of the remaining years of the 19th century this situation did indeed prevail Coastal ports grew and prospered diamond mining in the northern Cape throughout the town of Kimberley and brought an influx of Migrant workers to the region Railways were built and further settlements established [Music] development filled northwards along the railway lines to the interior the orange free state has now become grew modestly maintaining close economic ties with the cake to its North the transphile pursued its own perilous and impoverished course [Music] both republics shared a sloping and often mountainous Plateau that ran from the drakensberg and the Great Eastern escarpment of the transfer to the wide and empty expanses of the Western Cape both republics were agriculturally poor and hence sparsely populated that these problems were exacerbated in the transferral by its isolation and by its proximity to the war-like and hostile African nations of the interior [Music] for nearly two centuries the British had lived in comparative harmony with these nations recording them political recognition and some measure of autonomy in the administration of their own affairs [Music] yet by 1877 relations between these nations and the transphile have become so fraught that the British High Commissioner in Cape Town sir battle freyr was compelled to intervene by annexing the transfer and by sending troops into zululand foreign [Music] [Music] subsequent incorporation of their lands within the territory of natal brought a brief period of peace to the region the peace lasted only until December 1880. when Paul Kruger led a rebellion of transvile boars inflicting defeats on the British at the battles of Lang's neck Mount Prospect and majuba Hill [Music] although not militarily decisive these reverses dissuaded Britain from any further involvement in the Affairs of the transfer by the convention of Pretoria in 1881 the British Prime Minister William Gladstone consented to an arrangement restoring self-government to the transfer while reserving some nominal rights of supervision to Britain in 1883 Kruger was elected president the Republic once again reverted to its preferred path of isolation and self-sufficiency there the story might have ended but in 1886 there occurred an event which was to change Britain's attitude to the transvile profoundly gold was discovered in an area known by the boers as the ridge of Whitewater [Music] for some years this had been concentrated on alluvial deposits in the west of the country on the vitvatus Rand the Prospectors encountered a reef of gold-bearing quartz some 30 miles in length [Music] gold production skyrocketed in 1886 production accounted for less than 0.2 percent of world output and virtually all the trans files foreign earnings in 1887 production travel still accounting for less than one percent of world output but in the following year gold production Rose an astonishing 10 food by 1893 the trans file was producing almost a fifth of the world's gold by 1898 the gold fields of the transfer had overtaken America as the world's single largest gold producer accounting for an incredible 30 percent of total World output immense wealth flooded the transphile the town of Johannesburg sprang up in the shadow of the ramp to National Finance followed quickly on the heels of the early Prospectors transforming the diggings into a major industry prosperity and capital investment in mine workings and Machinery brought in their turn even greater levels of immigration Johannesburg teamed with the new arrivals Mine Workers and laborers from the cape Engineers from Europe and America entrepreneurs and Fortune hunters from all over the world such an influx however threatened a traditional dominance of the native dutch-speaking population and there were other ramifications in the space of a Dozen Years the trans vial had been elevated from one of the poorest to one of the richest countries in the world inexorably and contrary to all Britain's designs economic power began to shift not only within southern Africa but within the World At Large towards the seemingly inexhaustible gold-bearing reefs of the round in 1895 an abortive attempt to topple Kruger's government was mounted by Dr Leander Starr Jameson the Jameson raid as it became known ended in Fiasco Jameson's force of some 500 Colonial volunteers was interceptable and rounded up as it Advanced through the Western France file towards Johannesburg [Music] [Applause] [Music] yeah the raid only further exacerbated the already strained relations between Britain and the transfer for behind Jemison lay the burgeoning Ambitions of Cecil Rhodes have been the driving force behind the development of Kimberley in 1890 he had been elected prime minister of the cape and had combined this office with his considerable Financial interests both in Kimberley and in the round [Music] more ominously Rhodes and Jemison had been encouraged in their Enterprise by Britain's Colonial secretary Joseph chamber The Raid also exacerbated relations between Kruger's government and those who he termed the utlanders or Outsiders they were the quite mainly English-speaking immigrants regarding them only as a necessary evil Krueger refused to give them any form of political representation burden them with discriminatory taxes [Music] to Chamberlain the treatment of The Outlanders was only part of the problem he faced in the region since 1873 International Trade increasingly based on gold as the principal standard of monetary exchange had grown dramatically and at the center of this busy International System of Commerce and finance underpinned by the gold fields of the Rand was the city of London [Applause] [Music] for Chamberlain the reintegration of the transphile within a british-dominated union of South Africa had become a pressing necessity the man Chamberlain chose to engineer this Union was Alfred Milner as High Commissioner for South Africa Milner had a claim under the terms of the agreements of 1881 to some vaguely defined authority over the trans files of herds Milner used this authority to Institute a subtle campaign of coercion designed to bully the transphile into either submitting to Chamberlain's designs for the region or breaking completely thus precipitating a war [Music] Kruger however proved a Wily opponent numerous evasive and insubstantial compromises were floated while the state revenues were increasingly diverted to the purchase of arms and ammunition the military Alliance was concluded with the orange free state and Kruger took every opportunity to fate the Free State president Martinez stain however believed that war could yet be avoided and in June 1899 he hosted a conference between Kruger and Milner in the free state capital of bloomfonte [Music] stressed and intransigence on both sides contributed to the failure of this last attempt to achieve a negotiated settlement collapse after four days ensured that war became inevitable the campaign vilifying Kruger was mounted in the British press the Grievances of the utlander community were highlighted and the conflict was presented as one between an ignorant greedy and pernicious State and the legitimate rights of the utlanders championed by Britain the Press campaign was reinforced by military preparations and by intimidating political and diplomatic developments in mid-september 10 000 troops were embarked for South Africa [Music] a few days later General Penn Simons commanding the natal Garrison Advanced troops to Dundee the Frontier Town situated within rapid Striking Distance of both the free state and the trans file the effect was immediate Kruger ordered a general mobilization of the trans file five days later the Free State mobilized in Johannesburg there was panic rumors of the imminent arrest or expulsion of the British utlander Community precipitated a general Exodus towards the comparative safety of the British colonies and the coast [Music] an ultimatum was delivered to the British by Frank Reitz the transphile state Secretary the ultimatum drafted by Kruger's attorney general Yan smutz demanded the immediate withdrawal of all British forces and the recall of all forces in transit or at sea the expiry of the alternator and the declaration of war on October the 11th found the British as yet unprepared for a major conflict the government ordered the mobilization of reserves and the early embarkation of an Army Corps first troop ships left for South Africa within a few days carrying the nucleus of what would grow to become the largest army Britain had ever sent overseas in South Africa the boar offensive was launched quickly and on a broad front in the west large forces Advanced towards Kimberley and mafiki in the south free state Commandos invaded the populist districts of the Southern cape but the principal weight of the offensive fell not on the cape but on the top where pen Simons had rashly committed the bulk of the available British forces in the region to the defense of Ladysmith and Dundee [Music] no first engagements between these two forces were marked by high casualties and some confusion on both sides at talana Hill outside Dundee the boers were checked and then driven back but amongst the casualties was Penn Simons mortally wounded in the fighting the British now found themselves in danger of gradual encirclement by growing numbers of birds the new commander-in-chief of Britain's forces in southern Africa was General Sir George White had landed in Durban on October the 7th he had sanctioned Simon stand at Dundee and then set about reinforcing The Garrison at Ladysmith now white ordered the remnants of Simon's Force to retreat to Ladysmith where he intended to make a second stand with a combined force of 13 000 troops white planned to engage the Enemy by striking out towards their main force in strength intelligence reports placed this Force some four miles to the north of Ladysmith on October the 30th the British Advanced into the hills to the east of Ladysmith intending to swing around the Left Flank of the boar positions but the attack floundered into empty space [Music] during the night the birds had shifted their positions outflanking the British the disaster cost white 1 300 casualties sent his forces reeling back into Ladysmith in disorder and confusion three days later the rail and Telegraph links to the town were cut [Music] the war can be seen clearly as having two distinct phases the first phase covers the period of conventional Warfare and the attempts to relieve the Ladysmith Garrison and to relieve the towns of Kimberley and mafiki these towns had been invested within a few days of the outbreak of war and confirmed the boa strategy of seizing control of the rail links in the region but the boers also had other reasons for investing these towns Kimberley was the largest and richest town in the cape other than Cape Town itself and its ownership had been a matter of some dispute between the orange free state and Britain another great attraction for the boers was Cecil Rhodes their old enemy had been locked up in Kimberley with the Garrison of four and a half thousand Cape volunteers the boers had never forgiven Rhodes for his part in the Jemison raid and regarded him as the embodiment of Britain's Imperial Ambitions in the region a capture of Roads would be a political coup damaging British morale and settling some old scores the investment of Kimberley was marked in the early stages by intermittent skirmishes and artillery duels and in the latter by food shortages though these were mostly borne by the native population for the white South Africans locked up in Kimberley the principal discomfort lay in the substitution of horse flesh for beef but for natives rationing was strict scurvy and malnutrition were endemic mortality soared to an appalling 93.5 percent at mafiking the privations were if anything worse and The Siege harsher and more enduring Colonel Robert baden-powell commanded a Garrison of about a thousand men this Force had been hastily assembled and stationed in mavicing to pose an ostensible threat to the transphal's Northwestern Frontier the rationale behind the plan was to distract the transfer and draw a substantial part of her military strength away from the vulnerable Southern cape mavicing was of dubious strategic value to either side the northern Cape was arid and sparsely populated the town itself was little more than a railway siding lying 250 miles to the north of Kimberley the severing of the rail and Telegraph systems at Kimberley effectively isolated mafiking rendering its investment largely meaningless the small Force commanded by Baden Powell was incapable of mounting a significant attack on the transfer but the mere threat succeeded in its aim of tying down significant Bohr forces at a critical time in the conflict The Siege was to last for seven months intermittent and sometimes heavy shelling and a pattern of small but deadly engagements contrasted strangely with Baden Powell's efforts to maintain morale Siege newspaper was published concerts and Theatrical Productions were staged and the trivial paraphernalia of daily life were given peculiar emphasis [Music] during The Siege the antics of Baden Powell and the stoical determinedly ordinary behavior of many of its inhabitants turned mafiking into a symbol of national resolve foreign [Music] power of an immortality as enduring as any of his peers there was no similarly sentimental affection for the situation at Ladysmith there twelve thousand of Her Majesty's finest soldiers were locked up in a squalid sweltering and sordid little side show the laughing stock of the world the man selected to redeem this situation was General Sir redver's Buller Buller was one of the most respected and experienced soldiers in the British army he had served extensively throughout the empire in Africa bulla had served under field Marshal woolsley in the Ashanti war and in the kapha and Zulu Wars when Woolsey became commander-in-chief of the British Army in 1895. Buller as Protege and Ally Rose accordingly taking command at Aldershot and emerging as The Heir Apparent to the Supreme military office in the British Empire [Music] in southern Africa however Buller was confronted with a difficult dilemma his original plan had been to assemble his forces in the cape and Advance across the Orange River to bloemfontaine and then to Johannesburg and Pretoria but this would mean the sacrifice of whites not inconsiderable force at Ladysmith a grave blow to Britain's International Prestige and to British morale Buller had also warned white not to advance beyond the two gala River and it was to redeem this blunder that bulla himself was compelled to abandon his earlier plan and Advance through natal to the formidable natural fastnesses on the two gala's Northern back [Music] bulla's Army although numerically superior to the boa forces arrayed against it faced a variety of handicaps in southern Africa December is one of the hottest months of the year temperatures in the shade can rise to well over 100 degrees Fahrenheit fresh water a rare enough commodity in any season is virtually unobtainable in the Arid Hinterlands of Northern natal the Army in consequence was effectively Tethered to the railway line linking it with Durban and the coast [Music] as well as these constraints Buller also faced an invigorated and radically strengthened enemy in late November the transfer of commandant General Pete Uber had been badly injured in a fall from his horse yubo was taken back to Pretoria and his place in the field was taken by Louis Botha bota had emerged as a brilliant and dynamic leader in the very first weeks of the war and yuba's injury now enabled him to set a trap for Buller fortifying the together on either side of the Railway Bridge and crossings just outside the town of kalensa buller's first attempt to force the together at the very center of Boater's defensive Cordon was to be merely the third in a series of disasters that befell the British in what became known as black week [Music] Buller had given Sir William gattacker command of the third infantry division and instructed him to stem the incursions of the boa Commandos in the southern cape Gatica however had embarked on a straightforward advance and attack upon the main boa Force ensconced at stormberg Junction the battle lasted only a few minutes [Music] thank you less than 100 casualties were sustained on both sides but the reports which gold Buller were not the casualty figures but the accounts of British infantry retreating in panic and confusion and of the 600 captives taken by the boers the following day news came of an even greater disaster the first Infantry Division commanded by Lord Methuen had been plodding doggedly along the line of the Railway towards Kimberley at Belmont on November the 23rd and at graspin two days later boa forces had retreated after a short skirmish at the Battle of the Moda River on November the 28th Matthew and sustained over 500 casualties in a frontal assault on the boa positions [Applause] tack had carried and the boers were yet again pushed back at magazfontaine on December the 11th the boers stood fur and inflicted a shattering blow to methuen's division the reverse at Magus Fontaine cost First infantry a further 1 000 casualties so Gravely damaged its morale that Matthew and was forced to withdraw to the model where he remained on the defensive for three months on December the 13th bolo's artillery opened on the boa positions on the tugail two days later the attack went in by midday the battle had all but ended Buller had lost well over a thousand casualties and 12 field guards not a yard of ground had been won the disasters of black week were characterized in every case by fundamental errors of strategy compounded by grave structural and tactical deficiencies deeply rooted in the British army [Music] at stormberg Junction gatic is Advance upon the boar positions had been marked by confusion disorganization and delays no preliminary scouting preceded the actual attack and the Infantry was caught in a murderous Crossfire at magazfonte Matthew and infantry was caught in close formation against heavily fortified boa entrenchments several hundred yards further forward and in a quite different position than the British had expected Ula himself had been caught in a similar snare the boers had built prodigious Earthworks along the crest of Hills overlooking the tagala it was these positions that bulla's artillery had bludgeoned remorselessly for two days but the real positions just as formidable were well concealed and sighted at the base of the hills on the banks of the river when the boa gunfire erupted bulla's infantry was advancing in quarter column and his doomed guns were unlimbering and deploying well within accurate rifle range of the boa entrenchments [Applause] to the British officer in 1899 quarter column and close order Maneuvers were both indispensable and reassuringly familiar and they were effective tactics against alarmed tribal Warriors or native Rebels but they were not good tactics when advancing across open ground towards fixed entrenchments manned by men with magazine rifles and prototype machine guns although small by European standards the British army was a professional Army the men signed on for the Shilling a day for a minimum of six years life in the Army was exceptionally hard and commissions for enlisted men were virtually unheard of the ranks were consequently not a place for men of ambition means or education much of the British army was composed of regiments raised in Ireland or the Highland areas of Scotland the men For Whom the Army whatever its shortcomings promised a temporary Refuge from the Vicious Cycle of rural destitution and urban poverty thank you the offices were by contrast drawn from The Other Extreme the sons of Britain's substantial aristocracy furthermore the Army was principally designed for putting down native rebellions and to most of the offices the boar invasion was essentially just another native Rebellion this perceived role of the Army and the social Gulf between officers and Men was reflected in the training regimes and the prevailing tactical doctrines in the army the emphasis was on discipline and on keeping the men in order little importance was attached to Marksmanship and the soldiers were given only rudimentary instruction in aiming and firing the overriding Tactical doctrines which had persisted throughout the 19th century placed the emphasis on firing by volley and on close order marching advances much of a soldier's service was spent in endlessly Drilling in these maneuvers yet for all that the British infantryman in 1899 was a remarkable fellow rarely able to read write or even shoot properly it was often capable of incredible almost Reckless courage and of enduring hardships with a common soldier's humor and stoical resignation the boa Army could not have been more different it was a true Citizen's Army every man between the ages of 16 and 60 was eligible for service and required by law to provide his own horse and rifle [Music] since 1895 this Elementary provision had been augmented by the state and at the outbreak of War virtually all those eligible for service possessed at least one good horse and the latest German Mauser seven millimeter rifle [Music] the Moser was indisputably the best rifle in the world it was a high velocity long range rifle designed to be rapidly reloaded with clips of five smokeless powder cartridges at a distance the absence of smoke made the rifle fire almost invisible [Music] closer ranges and fired horizontally into advancing formations the high velocity bullets were capable of killing or wounding more than one soldier at a time the boys could shoot at the time when all military textbooks agreed on the impossibility of directing accurate rifle fire at distances greater than 800 yards the boers untoted in modern military Theory demonstrated an alarmingly consistent accuracy at 1200 yards it was this fatal combination of entrenchments a accuracy and volume of horizontal fire that turned the Strategic and tactical blunders of black wheat into disasters [Music] 15 years later the British army would find itself on the banks of another to go just as ill prepared and just as vulnerable and as on the together the British infantry on the psalm would have to pay the butcher's boom for Buller black week was a personal disaster two days after losing his guns outside kalenso he was replaced as commander-in-chief in South Africa by Field Marshal Roberts in contrast to Buller Roberts had spent most of his service life in the east in 1858 Roberts had won the Victoria Cross as a lieutenant in the Indian Mutiny after further distinguished service in the second Afghan war of 1878. Robert served as commander-in-chief in India and then in Ireland at 67 Roberts knew he was approaching the end of his service career his ultimate ambition to succeed Wolseley as commander-in-chief of the army had for years appeared blocked by buller's preferment as woolsley's Protege and Ally in the battle for kalenso Robert's rivalry with Buller had been given a further tragic twist among the casualties had been Robert's only son Lieutenant Freddie Roberts had been killed in a brave but ultimately vain attempt to rescue buller's guns abandoned on the vulnerable Southern Bank of the tugala Robert's appointment was to Signal a new determination by Britain the disasters of black week had unnerved the government and shaken public confidence in the army continuing investment of white at Ladysmith and of the garrisons at Kimberley and mafiking threatened to undermine Britain's credibility in the eyes of the world [Music] in the first months of the war boers had proved themselves formidable enemies their generals more imaginative and more daring than their British counterparts [Music] in the absence of quality Britain at least could always rely upon quantity 1900 would find the full weight of the Empire brought to bear on the conflict volunteers from Britain would be joined by volunteers from Canada Australia and New Zealand by the end of the war nearly half a million British and Colonial troops would see service in the region [Music] thank you foreign [Music] thank you foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] in 1899 the bull republics of the transphile in the orange free state had gone to war with Britain invading the British dominions of natal and the cape and laying Siege to the towns of Ladysmith Kimberley and mafiki the transphile president Paul Kruger that believed that war was inevitable people's Independence was Gravely threatened by Britain's Imperial Ambitions for the region [Music] in the last decade of the 19th century gold mining had transformed the transfer from one of the poorest to one of the richest countries in the world upsetting the balance of power and undermining Britain's hitherto Undisputed dominance in the area gold also enabled the boers to arm themselves with the most modern European weapons enhancing their traditional Marksmanship to an astonishing accuracy [Music] in the first months of their War the boers had inflicted a series of crushing reverses on the British foreign [Music] Ted them from following up these victories and overrunning large areas of the cape the new century found them holding essentially defensive positions on the frontiers of their own lands time however was not on their side for months British troops had been disembarking in the cape ports in ever increasing numbers in December General Buller had been replaced as commander-in-chief of Britain's forces in the region by Field Marshal Roberts Robert's appointment signaled if anything a hardening of resolve Roberts arrived in Cape Town on January the 10th 1900. fresh troops were now arriving every day by the end of the war there would be almost a quarter of a million British and Colonial soldiers in the region [Music] by the beginning of February there were 50 000 in the southern Cape alone [Music] it was this Army that Roberts now led across the Orange River and into the free state at ramdan Roberts detached a division of Cavalry under the command of General John French and sent this Force sweeping around the principal boa forces encamped at magazfonte on February the 13th French seized clip drip on the Moda River establishing a passage of the river for the following divisions of Robert's main article on February the 15th French reached the outskirts of Kimberley simultaneously dissolving the investment precipitating a general Retreat of the remaining boa forces between Kimberley and the model [Music] two days later units of French's Cavalry intercepted the main bore Force retreating eastwards along the modder to bloemfonte almost immediately units from Robert's Main Army began arriving from the south and by noon of the following day nearly 5 000 boars were surrounded by 17 000 British infantry supported by artillery the boers held out for 10 days demonstrating remarkable resilience in the face of overwhelming odds and almost ceaseless shelling [Music] capitulation on February 27th brought Britain her first major victory of the war [Music] no transfers [Music] [Laughter] in the town however bullet's efforts to relieve Ladysmith had met with two further disasters in mid-January Ola had seized two bridgeheads across the together after a flank March of some 20 miles the operation had been conducted so laboriously that such a lack of coordination that the boers had been able to fortify The High Ground commanding the North Bank of the river on January the 23rd Buller launched his offensive against spion [ __ ] the precipitous and Rocky cragg in the center of the rage in the early hours of the following morning the British stormed over the crest of the Hill routing the boils and seizing an exposed Ridge [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] 24 hours the fighting raged back and forth the boers holding adjacent Peaks maintained a tainted Crossfire on the British positions casualties were appalling throughout the 24th the flanks of spion carpet team passage of reinforcements ascending and the stretcher teams Bringing Down the wounded Daybreak on the 25th found the summit abandoned [Music] the British had withdrawn undercover of Darkness they had suffered nearly 1500 casualties more even than they had sustained at kalenso [Music] for two days the boa pickets on spion cup watched as the Caravans and ambulance wagons of buller's army found their way back over the plane and across the together towards the waiting field hospitals behind the flanks of Mount Alice further effort at Val Krantz in early February produced only a further crop of casualties and another ignominious Retreat across the dugel [Music] for his fourth and final effort to force the river Buller employed tactics that were by the standards of the time quite revolutionary after seizing The High Ground to the east of calenzo by a flank attack Buller sent his inventory across the river under cover of a rolling artillery screen [Music] set piece frontal attacks and on keeping the men in order instead individual units were encouraged to show initiative and stealth and to advance independently and in stages as the opportunities arose the artillery was now employed for the first time in direct support of the Infantry providing creeping barrages and concentrating on enemy strong points and obstacles to the main infantry thrust there were of course mistakes and misunderstandings the new tactics proved the key to unlocking the line of hills and ridges blocking the road to Ladysmith [Music] remember the 22 last emerged from the mountain flanks of the together and began advancing across the empty felt towards Ladysmith yeah for bullet a journey from kalenso had been one of the longest and most arduous in his entire career playing no decisive victory in the field when their fortifications on the together had been breached the boers had melted away to the north there in the high passes of Northern natal they would stand and face Buller again five days after Buller reached Ladysmith Gatica occupied stormberg [Music] 13th Roberts entered the undefended free state capital of bloemfonte for the bars any hopes of a decisive Victory were now beginning to remember Roberts was to remain in bloemfontein for six weeks initially this was seen as a period of consolidation rest and resupply troops were exhausted their uniforms were tattered and their boots disintegrating on their feet Cavalry needed new horses and the Army in general needed fresh supplies of ammunition and field rations for the troops problems of Supply had become chronic the further north the Army had advanced bloomfontein marked the effective limit of the first stage of that advance in single track Railway link to the cape provided an increasingly tenuous and congested supply line the town itself suffered from a congestion that completely overwhelmed both the water supply and the rudimentary sanitation system [Music] [Applause] [Music] a typhoid epidemic swept through the camps clustered on the added felt around bloemfonte [Music] by the beginning of April the epidemic had claimed over a thousand lives and was to rage intermittently for the remainder of the conflict of the 20 000 British troops who were to lose their lives in the Boer War more than half would die of typhoid the early months of 1900 also saw the first opening charts in the second phase of the war in February the Free State leader Christian David had seized a convoy of 200 Wagons at vataval drift oh in March that had surprised another Supply column that on spruit 20 miles outside lemfonte capturing over a hundred wagons more than 400 prisoners and seven guns [Music] in April the vet struck again at reddersburg and at veteran taking a further 600 captives before being driven off by relief columns from Robert's Main Army although dismissed at the time of the last desperate actions of a defeated enemy the raids marked the beginning of the Guerrilla War an increasingly bitter conflict that would persist for a further two years on May the 17th mafiking was at last relieved by flying columns from the North and South on the 24th the free state was formally incorporated as a dependent territory of the British Empire two days later first units of Robert's colossal Army reached the VA and began advancing through the trans valve towards Johannesburg five days later Roberts reached Johannesburg capturing the gold mines and the deserted commercial capital of the round on June the 5th Roberts entered Pretoria found it like Johannesburg largely deserted and undefended Kruger had abandoned the capital fleeing with the remnants of his government to the Mozambique Frontier in September he would sail for Europe never to return throughout the First Southern winter of the war from May through to August Bullard Advanced steadily elbowing his way through the drakensberg over the natal passes in contrast with his earlier battles on the tagala bulla's new methods were a model of economy and effectiveness that every tortuous twist in turn he outmaneuvered boater serving his forces and driving the boers out onto the far less defensible planes of the Eastern transfer at the end of August Buller fought the last set-piece battle of the war the remnants of both his army and still some seven thousand strong that entrenched themselves along a line of Hills ridges and Ravines commanding the railway line connecting the trans vowel to the Mozambique Frontier and the coast in the center of the range one Hill proved the Tactical key to botha's position using the by now well-practiced techniques of tightly coordinated artillery and infantry assaults Buller seized the hill at minimal cost thereby collapsing the entire bore front and leading through the subsequent flight into exile for the next two months Hulu's forces Advanced through the Eastern transfer chasing a disability and disintegrating the Brewer Army from without to Ridout in a string of engagements Among The Ravines and escarpments of the northern drakensberg bulla's veterans suffered less than 100 casualties [Music] it was also very different in the West Roberts had not defeated the Free State army or the boa forces in the western transfer [Applause] he had merely swept them aside believing that the capture of their capitals would compel the boers to surrender [Applause] [Music] it was a fatal error of judgment the boers were not an urban people and had no European sentimentality for their towns even the formal annexation of the trans file in October 1900 failed to impress upon them that the war was lost [Music] as the great columns lumbered over the veldt or toiled along the tracks of the Railway they encountered almost no resistance to their Passage [Music] in their wake boa Commando struck savagely attacking garrisons snapping up convoys cutting the rail and Telegraph lines and riding away with as much plunder as they could carry by now many of the Commandos were equipping themselves with captured British weapons perilous and sometimes dilapidated state of Robert's supply lines ensured them a ready supply of ammunition in a raid on the rail station at rudavao the vet captured so much equipment that after loading his horses and wagons and even his prisoners with booty he was forced to put to the torch a surplus worth almost half a million pounds at the end of the year Buller and Roberts left for London Roberts to be awarded a peerage and to be appointed commander-in-chief of the Army in succession to Wolseley Bullard to be made a scapegoat for the humiliations of the previous year the new commander-in-chief of Britain's forces in the region and the man charged with rounding up the remaining Renegades was General Kitchener Kitchener had earned a reputation in the Sudan for vigorous and determined leadership he had served as Robert's Chief of Staff during the Long March from Cape Town to Pretoria he knew the country and the people yet it was to take kitchen a further 18 months to bring the war to an end throughout the long South African Summer from November 1900 through to March 1901 the boa Commandos ranged with seeming impunity over the vent the vet in the free state now renamed the Orange River colony Louis voter in the Eastern transphile and Coastal array in the mountain ranges of the West and these were merely the largest groups there were many more ranging in size from a couple of dozen to a couple of thousand [Applause] nor were they disorganized even the small groups could combine together highly effectively individual apparently localized actions were often accompanied by a campaign of sabotage over a wide area disrupting Communications and isolating The Garrison or other strategic focus of the attack in March an exasperated Kitchener embarked on a strategy of subduing the region area by area military this involved massive coordinated drives conducted by thousands of troops block houses built originally to protect the railway lines were augmented and the proliferation of structures sprang up along the tracks barbed wire was strung up Telegraph Lions laid and rudimentary alarm systems devised and installed armored trains equipped with searchlights steamed up and down the lines deal and concrete fibers of a Great Net in which Kitchener hoped to catch his elusive prey the policy of house burning instituted by Roberts as a reprisal for raids on his Communications was now systematically intensified under Kitchener this became the land clearance policy all the homesteads within a given area of operations were put to the torch the all- livestock provisions and stores unless condeered by the Army were also destroyed the dispossessed population was transferred to camps situated close to the railway lines the concentration camps as they came to be called although intended as internment centers were also meant to be places of safety some albeit Spartan comfort and many of the early camps did indeed fulfill these modest intentions sheer numbers swept up off the velt and into the camps very quickly overwhelmed them typhoid and scurvy bore tragic witness to overcrowding lack of Sanitation and malnutrition [Music] but the most distressing and harrowing killers were as often the diseases of childhood fastening themselves on the weak the undernourished and the helpless the death toll climbed steadily in the worst month a October 1901 3156 fatalities mainly of children were recorded such figures representing an annual mean death rate of nearly 35 percent and an even more alarming sixty percent for children fueled an already growing concern in Britain about the cost purpose and morality of the war [Music] public attention had first been drawn to the problems and conditions in the camps by Emily hobhouse a liberal campaigner and founder of the South African women and children distress fund hop House's continuing campaign on behalf of these innocent victims threatened to further undermine public support for the conflict redoubled efforts were made to improve conditions sort out the ramshackle administration of the system gradually the situation was brought under control the death toll began to decline yet it remains one of the darker chapters in Britain's history in all nearly 28 000 poor civilians died in the camps roughly a quarter of all those interned and almost a sixth of the entire boa population foreign to add to these troubles Kitchener was little nearer after a year to subduing resistance in the region at first the drives had appeared moderately successful between March and October 1901 captives had averaged 2 000 a month initially boa prisoners had been transported from the cape to the island of Saint Helena British possession situated off the Atlantic coast of Africa as numbers grew Ceylon and later India and Bermuda were used to quarter captives [Music] by August 1901 nearly 30 000 prisoners were either in transit or confinement [Music] on the whole the distant prisoner of war camps were well organized and administered and comparatively free of the afflictions that had ravaged the concentration camps [Music] the principal scourges that affected almost equally both armies were boredom homesickness and the sense that the war might drag on forever [Music] such a prospect horrified Kitchener by now the war was casting Britain two million pounds a week Kitchener was under pressure either to cut costs or to bring the war to an end yet despite all his efforts and all the expense of his complicated strategies the end still appeared at distant Prospect indeed it was becoming clear that many of the groups caught between the columns and the railway lines were composed of the old the sick and the disheartened somehow the leaders and fittest and most determined bands always managed to slip the net who were these elusive almost invisible men their leaders like boater or the vet were often men of vision and ability the men themselves seasoned veterans Resolute and inured to hardships were mainly Farmers or the sons of farmers they were men with a deep sense of family religion and community the descendants of European calvinist dissenters who had come to Africa in search of freedom [Music] they were not professional soldiers indeed they were hard men to discipline the lack of formal structures of command and the Reliance of the Boer commanders on persuasion contrasted markedly with the rigid discipline of the British army but when they did fight after the tactics had been agreed that the objectives clarified [Music] they fought with a personal commitment that quite outweighed any perceived lack of professional polish [Music] those that now remained have made that commitment long ago they were the bitter Embers men pledged to fight to the very end [Music] to the last bullet [Music] throughout 1901 the raids continued [Music] a light fast Commando under Yan smuts crossed over the Orange River and invaded the cape wiping out a squadron of Lancers trying to Bar its path in the same month voter pounced on a battalion of mounted infantry on the transvaal natal Frontier and after cutting up the Battalion stripped the survivors and sent them naked back to their own lines it was a humiliation that was becoming all too common in the type of war in which the boers were now engaged there was simply no room for prisoners the only realistic alternative to letting them go was to kill them and although there were atrocities not many but some and no end of complaints about the other side's Behavior killing of prisoners was comparatively rare indeed for the boers it would have been largely pointless the British Empire was vast and the number of troops that could be raised and trained and sent to Africa was almost Limitless earlier expectations of igniting a rebellion amongst the cape dutch-speaking population proved baseless the hopes of undermining Britain's resolve looked increasingly precarious in the face of kitchener's grim determination the great drives were working not well but sufficiently every month found a few more bitter Enders caught in the net and for the boers the reservoir was nearly empty second winter of the war had been exceptionally severe [Music] horses and men had suffered terribly under Kitchener the land had become Barren and desolate and the supply lines all but impregnable for the boers in their mountain fastnesses or riding like fugitives over the belt a third winter beckoned the prospect of a slow capitulation to hunger and exposure [Music] other considerations also intervened Emily hobhouse's campaign had been effective and had put a stop to any further internment ironically just when the camps were being restored to an acceptable standard and just when they were most needed the land clearance policy the house burnings and the cruel program of desertification remained largely unaffected only now the onset of the third winter those rendered destitute had nowhere to go there were also ominous stirings amongst the native population foreign policy of containment many of the African Frontier tribes had been armed by the British [Music] ostensibly for the purposes of self-defense and for the defense of their own areas there were old scores still to be settled in early May 1902 Zulu impis settled one long-running dispute by attacking and wiping out a well-armed boar Commando operating in the Eastern transfer as the sky is darkened and the Autumn Reigns turned once more to sleep the bitter Enders must have looked out from their icy fastnesses and seen on one side these dangerous stirrings on their Frontiers and on the other they're women and children wandering destitute and defenseless on the vault and they must have known that at last The Bitter End had come the remaining weeks of May 1902 were largely spent in hammering out the final terms of the surrender there were disagreements and disunity on both sides amongst the boers there were those like the vet who would set their hearts on a grim and defiant end and who now set their faces against any talk of surrender but there were others like boater and smuts for whom a peace even an ignominious one represented the last remaining opportunity to rescue rescue anything from the war there were differences too between Kitchener and Milner and these were further Complicated by growing pressures from the ram gold production had grown steadily in the previous year but it still remained less than 40 percent of pre-war levels Milner needed peace to restore stability and production to the ramp but it had to be a piece that peed Britain [Music] 's in Kitchener wanted peace at almost any price [Music] the last 18 months have been a personal nightmare in the Autumn of the previous year he had tried unsuccessfully to reach a settlement with the boys and in October he had seen the culmination of the campaign against bullet resulting in buller's dismissal from the Army he feared that his might well be the next head for the chop any workable compromise acceptable to Milner could be assured of kitchener's blessing the final terms were agreed on the 31st of May and the formal surrender was signed that night in kitchener's headquarters in Pretoria for the number of men involved the war had been the most expensive Britain had ever fought nearly half a million British and Colonial troops had seen service in southern Africa in purely financial terms the war had cast more than 200 million pounds [Music] in the first few weeks of Peace the remaining Commandos rode in off the veldt to surrender their weapons and to take the oath of allegiance to the new government [Music] many had lost far more than their independence often the Farms they returned to had been burned to the ground their livestock slaughtered and their families diminished through hunger and disease there was bitterness towards Britain and towards English-speaking people in general and there were deep divides within bore Society itself in the latter phase of the war many boars out of need or self-interest had taken service under the British flag [Music] mostly these men had performed only auxiliary duties but their service had earned them the hatred of their fellows and ensured that the war left more than merely physical scars on the region [Music] reconstruction was the key to Milner's strategy for peace and his first priority was to restore the Rand to full productivity the gold mines he believed would provide the finance for sustained Economic Development consolidating Britain's military Victory through the political benefits of growing prosperity reconstruction for the boers was if anything an even more urgent requirement and in 1902 voter De La Rey and the vet came to Britain to raise funds for the task on their arrival at Southampton they found none of the animosity that had been prevalent at the outset of the conflict indeed they were treated not as enemies but as Heroes reflecting as well as a popular admiration for their exploits a profound change in public attitudes in Britain bota recognized that politically there was still a great deal at stake and that the future of his Nation depended on the unity of his people in 1904 bota and Jan smutz founded a new political party dedicated to Bridging the divisions in boa society and appealing to the broadest cross-section of the white South African population gradually the Rand recovered its productivity the achieving pre-war levels of output in 1904. but Milner's strategy proved in the event less effective than boaters in 1906 the liberal party was elected to power in Britain [Music] and the new prime minister Campbell Bannerman granted self-government to the transphile within months of coming to power in the subsequent election Louis Botha became prime minister of the transvaal and Jan smutz minister of Education in 1909 Milner's strategy for the region was again confounded when the Constitutional Convention recommended the unification of the four territories within a single self-governing state in 1910 Chamberlain's vision of a United South Africa finally came in to be ironically two of his most formidable enemies were to serve successively as prime minister Louis bota and Jan smutz aligning their country with Britain through two world wars and more than four Decades of peace and cooperation [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] foreign [Music]

Channel: Valorous TV

Views: 425,932

Keywords: Boer War, War, History, Churchhill, Gandhi, Valor, ValorousTV, British Empire, Germany

Id: Lw9X-nVbkfc

Length: 80min 55sec (4855 seconds)

Published: Fri Feb 24 2023