The Outcomes of the Boer War

In May 1902, the Peace of Vereeniging was signed and The Transvaal and the Orange Free State became part of the British Empire. There were many changes in Britain as well.

Army Reforms

The Esher Reforms:

• Improvements to army organisation through better defined roles, such as that of the chief of the general staff, who had responsibility for planning and training.
• Improved training and professionalism through the introduction of new drill books and the establishment of the military training base at Salisbury Plain and officer training at Camberley.
• New and better weapons were introduced such as an improved Lee-Enfield Rifle.

The Haldane Reforms: 

• The British Expeditionary Force (BEF), a permanent, battle-ready fighting force was introduced. The BEF made an important contribution during the First World War.
• The organisation of the Territorial Army (TA) was improved and it was strengthened. The TA also played an important role during the First World War.

The combined impact of these Army Reforms made the British Army stronger, more effective and more efficient.

Social Reforms 

The Liberal Reforms of 1906 - 1914

These were a range of measures designed to improve the health and well-being of the poorest in society. The reforms were introduced partly as a result of the Boer War. The Interdepartmental Committee of Physical Deterioration of 1904 highlighted how poverty and associated problems such as rickets weakened the physical condition of British people. Among the measures were:

• The Free School Meals Act of 1906 where local authorities could provide meals for the poorest children in schools.
• The National Insurance Act of 1911 made it compulsory for the poorest workers and workers in industries most prone to unemployment to participate in a government-backed scheme to provide insurance against sickness and unemployment.
• Measures were also taken to restrict exploitation of workers and provide medical checks for school children.

http://www.ibatpv.org/projects/wars/boerwar/effects.htm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_7yNjQquik

Key Battles of the Boer War

First Phase (October 1899 - June 1900) : British defeats

On the 12th October 1899, the Boers declared war on the British after the British refused to withdraw the troops they had gathered on the borders of Boer territory. The British suffered a series of humiliating defeats during Black Week and at Spion Kop, and were besieged at Ladysmith, Kimberley and Mafeking. The commander of British forces was General Buller.

Second Phase (February 1900 - June 1900) : British victories

The British managed to break or relieve the sieges and capture key Boer settlements. In February 1900, Kimberley and Ladysmith were relieved, while Bloemfontein was captured in March, and Mafeking finally relieved in May. By June 1900, with Boer capitals Johannesburg and Pretoria taken, the British believed that they had won. The British commander during the second phase was Field Marshall Lord Roberts.

Third Phase (late 1900 and throughout 1901) : Guerrilla war

The Boers fought back with a determined guerrilla campaign. Boer commandos attacked British railways and supply lines. The British responded by destroying Boer farms, clearing Boer areas and establishing concentration camps. Eventually they gained the upper hand and in May 1902 the Peace of Vereeniging was signed: The Transvaal and the Orange Free State became part of the British Empire. The British commander during the third phase was Field Marshall Horatio Kitchener.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Battles_of_the_Second_Boer_War

The People of the Boer War

Chamberlain

Joseph Chamberlain (1836-1914) became Colonial Secretary in Prime Minister Salisbury's government in 1895. He could have been placed in a more senior role however, wanted this job as he would be in control of Britain's colonies. He wanted to forge a closer union between the colonies and Britain, bring together the diverse collection of territories to create an Empire. Chamberlain was pro Boer. But not everybody shared his enthusiasm for the Boer War and subsequently he became the target of the anti-war movements anger. His rivalry with David Lloyd George was legendary. Chamberlains party represented the Conservative Party and imperialism. In 1900 Chamberlains party would storm home under the banner of social imperialism and the coming victory in the Boer War.

Lloyd George

David Lloyd George (1863-1945) was Prime Minister from 1916 to 1922 and becaradicalism and earned notoriety for his opposition to the Boer War. Lloyd George had a huge rivalry with Chamberlain. But in 1906 there was a change as Lloyd George had his hands on the levers of power in Britain and Chamberlains legacy was consigned to the dustbin of history. Lloyd George stressed that the British Empire needed to be based on freedom, but he wasn't an opponent of the British Empire.
me known for his

Milner

Alfred Milner (1854-1925) was selected by Chamberlain to become the most important diplomat in South Africa - the High Commissioner. Although Milner didn't have the power to declare war, his political union with Chamberlain unquestionably made it happen. They both had the same views on the Boer Republics. Milner saw the British as a superior race compared to the Boers. In his opinion the British aristocracy ruled the world and his views allowed the thinking for ethnic cleansing and concentration camps, which came around in a couple of years.

Kitchener

Lord Herbert Kitchener (1850-1916) was a senior British Army Officer and colonial administrator who won fame for his imperial campaigns and later played a central role in the First World War. He felt that the press needed to be controlled and introduced greater censorship during the guerrilla phase of the war in 1900-1901.

Roberts

Frederick Roberts (1832-1914) was a British soldier who was one of the most successful commanders of the 19th Century. He realised the value of  the press in maintaining morale and in generating a positive public image. He tries to get press support by supplying war correspondents with information and allowing them to use army telegraph systems to relay dispatches to London.

Hobhouse

Emily Hobhouse (1860-1926) was a British welfare campaigner. Much like Florence Nightingale and Mary Seacole during the Crimean War, Emily Hobhouse traveled overseas to explore the cruelties of war. In 1901, she visited the concentration camps of Bloemfontein and was shocked by the suffering of the Boer women and children in the camps. She famously took the photograph of the young Boer girl Lizzie Van Zyl who was starving to death. She increased the pressure on leading politicians to come out against the war. And around the country a growing anti-war movement was repulsed by the photograph of what the camps had done to Van Zyl. Hobhouse's photography also continued the tradition of photography bringing people at home closer to the reality of war.

Hobson

John Hobson (1858-1940) was an English economist and critic of imperialism. Hobson was a Marxist writer. He wrote regularly in the anti-war newspaper, The Manchester Guardian. The newspaper, edited by C.P.Scott. gave regular column space to Marxist writers like Hobson to argue fiercely against the war before, during and after it. In The Guardian, Hobson even exposed the fact that Chinese slaves were being used in the gold mines to increase profits further for the fat cats of the Empire. The Marxist political party of the day, the Labour Party was just starting to grow in strength and size, organizing itself through trade unions - ready for a political fight against the aristocracy. Marxists like Hobson would be at the front of the fight, questioning how on earth British working class soldiers were dying for gold profits that go to the aristocrats in South Africa.

Campbell-Bannerman

Henry Campbell-Bannerman (1838-1908) was the leader of the Liberal Party during the Boer War. He wanted to become the next Prime Minister replacing Robert Salisbury of the Conservative Party. But in a time of war that would be incredibly hard because the country was largely supportive of the war and the Empire and the Conservative Party best represented such views. The Liberal Party was less supportive of imperialism and the Boer War, but even if he was strongly against the war, Campbell-Bannerman couldn't come out and say so because in a highly jingoistic country like Britain, it would be equal to political suicide. It took Hobhouse exposing the conditions in the concentration camps to make him finally speak out against the war. He moved the Liberal Party to an anti-war position in the following years but unlike Lloyd George, could never say he fully opposed the war from start until end.

Causes of the Boer War

Countries involved

The Second Boer War was fought between the British Empire and the Boer Republic of South Africa. The British controlled parts of southern Africa while the Boers, who were the descendants of Dutch settlers to the region and usually farmers, controlled the Orange Free State and the Transvaal.

Causes of the war

• Strategic: the British were interested in expanding their empire in southern Africa as this region was of key strategic importance to them as a route to India and other parts of the British Empire. They did not want to see the Boers join their territories to German possessions nearby.
• Gold: Boer regions became more attractive to British miners and speculators such as Cecil Rhodes when gold was discovered there in 1886. The discovery of gold also worried the British as they felt that with this new wealth Boer areas would become too powerful.
• The Uitlanders: the British were annoyed that the so-called Uitlanders, the mainly British foreigners living in Boer lands, were denied the vote in the Transvaal and the Orange Free State. 

http://www1.somerset.gov.uk/archives/sli/boer.htm

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/victorians/boer_wars_01.shtml