Research Essay

            From October 1899 to May 1902, Great Britain engaged in a very destructive war against the two Boer republics, the Transvaal and Orange Free State, in South Africa as part of their goal to maintain and expand the British Empire in the New Imperialism. Amidst competition among the leading European nations for control over African countries and their natural resources in the New Imperialism, the British were determined to have their stake in the scramble for Africa (McKay 681). Their attention was drawn to the Transvaal and Orange Free State republics of South Africa when gold was discovered there in 1886, convincing them of South Africa’s importance to their colonial expansions. As Great Britain made their imperial motives clear to the South Africans, the Boers, who had lived in the northern republics for years, were as determined to defend their land from British imperialism and face the world’s leading imperial nation. This clash between the British and Boers led to a tragic war called the South African War, or the Anglo-Boer War, that was a large colonial conflict in the twentieth century. From my research, it was evident that the South African War was not only destructive for the soldiers on both sides but also for the Boer and black native civilians living in South Africa who had nothing to do with the conflict.

            The Boers suffered heavily throughout the course of the South African War. Since the entry of the British capitalists into South Africa, the Boers resolved to fight to keep their isolated community free of British influence. They found their freedom and independence under serious threat as British colonial officials grew in power and influence in South Africa. With the support of Jewish financiers like Barney Barnato and Alfred Beit who were actively involved in the mining industry in the country, the British gained control over the diamond industry in South Africa and a large part of the gold industry in the world. Though the Boers made their living from farming and not mining, they felt threatened by the British ambitious goals with the mining industry and their increasing influence through it. It was a clear sign to the Boers that the British had the purpose of establishing imperial rule over the northern regions that they claimed their own. A group of 10,000 Boers had moved there in the Great Trek of 1835-1842 to avoid British rule in the Cape Colony and had lived there for years. At the start of the war, some of the Boer families had been there for seven generations. To the Boers who were against imperialism and would never submit to foreign rule, fighting the British meant fighting for their lives –their land, freedom, and way of life. In facing the large British force, the Transvaal and Orange Free State required all male burghers to have a rifle and supply of bullets and shells. All Boer males between the ages of 16 and 60 were also encouraged to fight. This meant that the Boers who fought were mostly farmers and informal soldiers. As a result of the war, the Boers did not just live to farm and meet their everyday needs but to fight to be able to keep their independence and political rights. Over 7,000 Boer fighters lost their lives in the war.

            
           In addition to the casualties suffered by the Boer fighters who wanted only to live in freedom, the hard-fought war also had tragic effects on Boer and black native civilians. From my research, scholars argue that the war was not only a military clash between British and Boer combatants but also against civilians. As the British brutally responded to the Boers’ guerilla tactics after they had occupied the two Boer republics, they made sure that the civilian population would not be able to provide any support to the guerilla fighters. The British commander, General Kitchener, ordered his troops to burn down farms and villages, wipe out the livestock and crops, and force women and children into concentration camps. According to reports of the British ruthless acts, about 30,000 farms were burned down, 18 concentration camps held a record of 116,572 Boers, and almost 28,000 of them, mostly children under the age of 16 and women, died in the camps. The reformer Emily Hobhouse visited the camps and reported all that she saw, informing the world of what the civilians in the hands of the British. Because of the terrible conditions in the camps, the Boer prisoners mainly died from deadly epidemics such as typhoid, dysentery, and measles that easily spread, and most children died from undernourishment and starvation. The western world was horrified to know that the British went as far as destroying the civilians’ way of life and imprisoning them in camps where they died in thousands. Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman, who would later become Prime Minister, described the way the British dealt with the civilians as “methods of barbarism.” John Dillon, a Member of Parliament, also spoke out against the actions of the British and argued that Europe would urgently take action if Germany had treated the French civilians in the same way in their takeover of Paris in 1870. The black natives, on the other hand, were also directly affected by the war. Although the British initially gave blacks noncombatant roles as scouts and dispatch runners, they eventually armed at least 10,000 of them and placed them in direct combat. As the British did this, it was interesting to find that it increased the racial tensions between the Boers and black Africans. The Boers feared that the blacks would rise to a higher level in society than them as they worked with the British, while they were in the lowest status as enemies of the British. However, about 115,000 blacks who did not serve in the war were also taken to the camps, where more than 12,000 of them died.
           
           The British conquest of South Africa in the Boer War of 1899-1902 showed the aggressive and determined attitude of the British about imperialism. Despite the presence of the Boers in the South African areas that were abundant in gold and diamonds, the British resolved to fight for imperial rule over the country. Believing that they could easily take over South Africa and defeat the Boers and black Africans, they first established themselves there as influential capitalists and financiers and in the process, provoked the Boers to go to war against them. As the Boers proved to be strong-willed and tough fighters however, the British resorted to policies that brought terrible destruction to the lives of the civilians and more division between the Boer and black native groups in South Africa.

Africans in the Boer War

http://samilitaryhistory.org/vol113nn.html

         This source discusses the involvement of black natives in the South African War. Nkuna begins by talking about the noncombatant roles of the natives in the conflict. He explains that they were not armed and directly involved in combat until later in the war. They initially worked as trench diggers, scouts, dispatch runners, cattle-raiders, and drivers. However, as some of the natives proved to be brave on the battlefield and loyal to their white masters, the British and Boers saw the need for their support. While some natives were forced to fight, many voluntarily committed to active involvement with the goal to fight the Boers and reclaim the lands that had been taken from them. Nkuna gives examples of the natives’ war efforts and contributions. In the takeover of Mafeking, 500 armed Barolong and Bakgatla men fearlessly attacked a Boer fort to keep the Boers from taking over the town. Black scouts were also particularly helpful to the British Army, who depended on the information they gave about the Boers’ movements. Nkuna then discusses how the natives were affected by the British policy to destroy Boer farms and livelihood. Black civilians were taken from the farms into separate concentration camps to keep them from providing any support to the Boers.  They suffered severely from the poor sanitation in the camps, where deadly diseases such as typhoid, diarrhea, and dysentery broke out and killed thousands of women and children. Nkuna also mentions that there is currently no accurate record of the number of deaths of blacks in the camps as most of camp leaders did not even record the deaths of black prisoners. In his final point, Nkuna questions the non-issuing of medals to black natives after the war and the unmarked graves of many of those who lost their lives. Thus, the black natives gave so much to the war but never received the acknowledgement and honor they deserved from the British and Boers. Black civilians were also deeply affected by the brutal acts of the British against the Boers.

            Nosipho Nkuna is an education officer at the South African National Museum of Military History. He uses a variety of reliable sources as he brings to light the experiences of black natives in the Boer War. He does a great job focusing on the role of the black natives in the war. Overall, he makes the point that, while the war brought pain and injustice to the natives, they played an important role in it and would always be remembered whether they were in direct combat or not. Nkuna’s work on the involvement of blacks in the Boer War is published on the Military History Journal sponsored by The South African Military History Society.  

The Boer War's Black Victims

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/469216.stm

In this source, Vine shares his interview with Khumo Morwe, aged 109, who had lived through the South African War. She had witnessed many significant events in South African history, but according to her, it was the takeover of Mafeking during the Boer war that she remembered most. She shared about being there when Boer soldiers surrounded the town to fight the British and drive them out. She remembered hearing the bell, which would ring every time the Boers attacked. The bell was a sign for them to go into the trenches that had been dug in the village as a hiding place. Vine writes that her story was an example of how the native Africans were involved in the war and suffered just as much as the British and Boers did, a reminder of how the South Africans were affected by the war. During the time that the article was written, black South Africans had just recently been allowed to publicly talk about their experiences in the war. This detail is important to my research because it exposes how the black natives had been restricted even with regards to sharing their role in the war. Vine then gives details about the war, saying that it served as a warning of the events that would happen in the trench warfare in World War I a decade later. Vine also discusses the natives’ demand for payment from the British for their service in the war. The Barolong tribe had specifically asked UK Prime Minister Tony Blair for the money their ancestors deserved for their support in the war, plus a 100 years’ worth of interest. In truth, the South African natives would never get the money, and this shows how much the British owe them.

Jeremy Vine is a British author, journalist, and news presenter for the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). He started working in Africa in 1997 and is highly experienced with the historical and political issues there, specifically in South Africa. His writing on his interview with Khumo Morwe provides an example of what the natives experienced. This is helpful to my research because it gives information on how the black South Africans were affected by the war.

The Horrors of the Boer War

http://www.ihr.org/jhr/v18/v18n3p14_Weber.html

In this source, Weber provides details about important aspects of the South African War. First, he discusses the start of the conflict among the white settlers as the discovery of gold and diamonds in the areas claimed by the Boers drew British and Jewish capitalists to South Africa. Using details from historian Pakenham’s study, Weber explains the secret conspiracy between the British and Jewish financiers in their goal to threaten the independence of the Boers and provoke them to go to war. Weber also talks about the Jameson Raid, which made the imperial motive of the British clear to the Boers. In this raid, the British believed they could easily seize control of the Boer republics and tried to with only 500 men; however, they were captured and put on trial by the Transvaal authorities. Weber explains that the failure of the raid did not discourage the British to keep fighting for their imperial ideas. As the war officially began, the British had prepared 47,000 men while the two Boer republics shared their troops and weapons to fight against the British. Though the British outnumbered them and fought with more advanced technology, the Boers were determined to drive the British out and used a guerilla campaign against them. Weber then discusses the British intense response, which historians would describe as “methods of barbarism.” He focuses on this topic in one section and gives details of the British ruthless actions. In addition to deceiving at least 10,000 natives to help them fight the Boers, the British also targeted civilians. They destroyed the Boers’ livestock, farms, and crops and took prisoners of war and their families to concentration camps, where 27,927 Boers would die and of whom 26,251 were defenseless women and children. With these details, Weber argues that the South African War was more than just a conflict among combatants but also a campaign against civilians. He further supports this argument by discussing the efforts of influential men in Parliament such as John Dillon, Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman, David Lloyd George, and Philip Stanhope to speak out against the savage acts of the British against Boer civilians. He also mentions that many countries at that time sympathized with the Boers and did not support the brutal actions of the British but claimed they did for fear of the consequences of criticizing the British.

            Mark Weber is a historian whose work has been published on various periodicals. He is the Director of the Institute for Historical Review. He uses a variety of credible sources, including primary sources, throughout this source. Most of the primary sources he uses are orders written to troops, reports of witnesses regarding war events, and records of historians. Weber’s argument appears to defend the cause of the Boers, while condemning the British for involving civilians in their forceful takeover of South Africa. All in all, the document provides useful information for my research as it explains the effects of the war on life in South Africa.

Great Britain's Determination to Conquer South Africa

http://dl.lib.brown.edu/mjp/render.php?view=mjp_object&id=mjp.2005.00.079

          In this source, the writer, DeBoer-Langworth, focuses on how the Boer War was one of Great Britain’s major colonial conflicts and an important forerunner for its involvement in World War I. She explains that the war demanded so much from Great Britain and caused so much violence and casualties in South Africa. According to her, new studies of the war’s causes and results tell us that it involved the entire population of South Africa and caused divisions in the Boer and African groups. She explains that the British efforts to take control over the Transvaal, where gold was found, led the Boers, who had political control over the area, to declare war against them.  Most of the article focuses on the main events in the three phases of the war –the initial success of the Boer commandos, the British success in taking over the Boer’s Orange Free State territory and the cities of Johannesburg and Pretoria, and the guerilla war that led the British to respond in more violence, greatly affecting the civilian population. DeBoer-Langworth uses these details about the war as pieces of evidence to express what it took for the British to fight the war and conquer South Africa as well as how much violence and casualties the Boers and natives suffered from the war. She argues that the war brought much humiliation to Great Britain as they needed better military tactics to fight against the aggressive population of the Boers and natives and resorted to extremely atrocious treatment of civilians. Many in Great Britain argued against the necessity of the war as they learned about what the Boers and natives suffered in the concentration camps in the hands of the British. DeBoar-Langworth states that they referred to the British use of camps as “methods of barbarism.” The details in the source about the causes of the war, the three phases of it, the violence, technology used, and the war’s effects make it a persuasive argument for how disruptive the war was for all the groups involved. She does not exactly compare the British and the Boers in terms of which group suffered the most but rather focuses on how both were affected, specifically how the British developed a negative political reputation from the war and how their experience would prepare them for World War I in 1914.

            Carol DeBoer-Langworth is a lecturer at Brown University. She uses various primary sources and scholarly sources like Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Great Boar War and Sol Plaatje’s Mafeking Diary: A Black Man’s View of a White Man’s War in her argument. She may seem biased against the British for their imperialistic goals that provoked the war and the violence they caused in South Africa, but she is only proving her point about the significance of the war as one of Great Britian’s major colonial conflicts and how it helped prepare them for World War I. Overall, the source is reliable and well researched.

European Conquest of South Africa

http://prospectjournal.ucsd.edu/index.php/2010/05/crushing-south-africa-the-collective-impact-of-european-conquest/
           In this source, the writer, Narisa Silver, analyzes the complex relationship among the British, Boers, and native Africans in the South African War, or the Boer War. Silver explains how the relations among the groups affected the result of the war. Although the British won the war and were the primary force in the conquest of South Africa, Silver argues that the Boers also contributed to the loss of the native Africans. To support this argument, she compares the goals that the British and the Boers had with South Africa and how each European group fought for their interests. The British were imperialistic and highly aggressive to take over the country because of their rich mining resources, while the Boers also believed in white supremacy but were nationalistic and felt destined to protect the country they had lived in for years from the British imperialists. Silver explains the strategy of the British to first educate the natives on the European way of life and then assume authoritarian rule over them. The natives tried to fight back against the British through violent guerilla attacks, but they also had the Boers to deal with. Silver argues that the Boers felt threatened by the British influence and felt degraded that they were treated as inferior as the black natives. Thus, it can be argued that the Boers helped the British conquer the natives by also profiting off the mines and taking their resources. However, Silver also points out that this is not a strong argument because the two European groups had different intentions for being in South Africa and in conflict with the natives. Overall, Silver presents a persuasive argument on the importance of understanding the specific roles that the British and the Boers had in the conquest of South Africa. She argues that, like the British, the Boers fought for superiority over the black natives and took resources from them as well.

          Narisa Silver is an Undergraduate Researcher at the University of California, San Diego. She incorporates scholarly sources in her argument and is clearly not biased as she examines both European groups in the war and does not exactly take a side between the two groups. The information she presents about the British and the Boers roles in the war were effective support for her argument on how both the British and the Boers contributed to the conquest of South Africa. Altogether, her writing is a reliable source and is published on the Prospect Journal of International Affairs at University of California, San Diego.