The Boer War

Book Description

The Boer War was an epic both of heroism and of barbarism. Fought by the British against the Dutch inhabitants of South Aftrica, the Boer War had an extraordinary cast of characters including Commanders-in chief buller, Roberts and Kitchener, Winston Churchill, Arthur Conan Doyle, Emily Hobhouse, Rudyard Kipling, and Gandhi. The war revealed the ineptitude of the British military, and exposed the corrupt underside of British imperialism . For the first time, Judd and Surridge debunk several myths. There was not, for instance, a straightforward divide between the Boers and British. In fact, the overriding aim of both sides was to maintain European supremacy and to keep Africans and Indians "in their place." Giving us a sense of how the Apartheid era was born, The Boer War is a gripping read.

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excellent history of the worst imperial war
Vivid writing, primary sources, comprehensive understanding
Totally engrossing book
Sensational book
Eerie parallels to Vietnam

Boer War
Thomas Pakenham
Manufacturer: Harper Perennial
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0380720019

Book Description

The Boers of South Africa responded to Britain's annexation of the gold-and-diamond-rich Transvaal region by declaring war on October 11, 1899. The English believed the fighting would be over by Christmas -- never dreaming they were on the brink of one of the longest, bloodiest, most costly and humiliating military campaigns in their history.

Mammoth in scope and scholarship, as vivid, fast-moving and breathtakingly compelling as the finest fiction. Thomas Pakenham's The Boer War is the definitive account of this extraordinary conflict -- a war precipitated by greed and marked by almost inconcievable blundering and brutalities . . . and whose shattering repercussions can be felt to this very day.

Customer Reviews:

excellent history of the worst imperial war.......2007-01-24

Pakenham's work remains a standard in the history of the Boer War, not only for its scope, but for its clarity and readability. He certainly covers the gamut of the war, but those interested in the causes and precursors to the war would be better served with a different work, as those details are lost in his description of military aspects.

As I suggest for many works of this scope and quality, if there is one book you must read on the Second South Africa War, make it this one.

Vivid writing, primary sources, comprehensive understanding.......2004-10-14

Atr the outset, it should be noted that this book could be usefully supplemented by reading COMMANDO by Deneys Reitz - A Boer journal ,of the Boer War.
Much of the horror of 20th century warfare - trench warfare, concentration camps, shooting or otherwise mistreating prisoners - was carried out in the Boer war. Some readers, and I am a general reader not an historian, will have been aware of elements of the Boer War such as the shooting of prisoners by Lt "Breaker Morant" which was and is something of a cause celebre in Australia retold in books, plays and a fine contemporary film. But the one feeling I have after reading this fine book by Mr Pakenham is a far greater sympathy for the Boers and a much better appreciation of the contribution and sacrifice that black Africans made in what was touted as a "white man's" war. In fact it was a black man's war too with c100,000 black riflemen seeing duty, and fighting in effect for the right to vote. Mr Pakenham provides evidence to suggest that the successful survival by the British at the siege of Mafeking was made possible by the sacrifice of black Africans.
Item: 3500 horses perished in one day in one cavalry charge.
Item: 400,000 horses, mules, donkeys died in total
Item: Lord Kitchener invented the concentration camp using a Spanish model re Cubans
Item: The British military and politicians did not care about the thousands of women and children in concentration camps and as the result of disgusting conditions many many died as a result.
Item: It was not superior marksmanship or courage that won, but the application of the knowledge that defence was superior to attack with the new, smokeless, high velocity, weapons.
The book is very well written, with a reliance on much primary source material, especially diaries and letters of the major British protagonists
including Sir Alfred Milner, High Commissioner for South Africa and Lt Governor of Cape Colony who is revealed in his own words as a thoroughly despicable character. The reader also gets a very real feeling for the exigencies of the landscape, the boredom of routine for the military, the clash of battle where the stones on the ground or the mud on the banks of a river become as frighteningly real as the whizz and splat of dum dum bullets. Clearly the writer has experienced the landscape firsthand. The reader also gets a very real picture of the characters involved, their weaknesses and strengths, including some ordinary and very likeable soldiers or "Tommy's".
The likely causes and consequences of the war are made clear to the reader. The usual suspects - imperial supremacy of the British; greed for gold, diamonds; denial of franchise; nationalism - are covered and a re-evaluation of the protaganists undertaken. It is a fair and balanced re-assessment of the task faced by General Sir Redvers Buller and his inability to overcome it whilst appreciating his intelligent appraisal of the situation he found himself in. On the other hand it reveals Lord Kitchener as arrogant and hard working but overrated and over-compensated for his role. The book also emphasises the CRITICAL role of transport and supply.
We are still living with the consequences of it today but one redeeming reality is that democracy and a free press are likely to inhibit a repetition. What was that? Guantanomo Bay? Oil? Imperialism? Franchise? Prisons?

Totally engrossing book.......2004-09-21

Exposing the origins of the war as basically blatant attempt by jingoistic imperialists like Milner, in Britain, in league with Cecil Rhodes and his (...)cronies, to grab power (and gold, and diamond) in South Africa. It must be said that the Boers were not exactly victims in the war, prior to that they had inflicted much sufferings on the Blacks and were now getting their just desserts for past sins.

The British Army also came out of this war with a sullied reputation for sexual depravity (Lord kitchener, Baden Powell, Douglas Haig), inept generalship. plunder, pillage, indiscrminate and wanton destruction of life and property, as well as pioneering the use of concentration camps for Boer women and children, who were deliberatedly left out in the cold to rot, and die from hunger, disease and assorted inhumane treatments.

What is amazing was that the Boers were totally reconciled with their imperial masters and co-colonists in one generation, and would enlist en masse in fighting for the rotten British Empire in the Great War. Apparently, the deal was struck that high sounding Victorian Britain would look the other way on the mistreatment and apartheid policies in South Africa, provided the Boers pay fealty to their London masters after the peace.

The Boer War, in essence, was a war fought between 2 unscrupulous, greedy races over the spoils, both material and human, of Africa.

Sensational book.......2003-09-14

I'm very pleased that Thomas Pakenham's classic has been reissued as an affordable paperback. Now I can stop borrowing the library's hardcover copy. This is without doubt the finest, most authoritative general history of the Boer War. Pakenham's lively writing style makes the book readable and enjoyable, and the scholarship is so good that you know what you are reading is reliable.

Eerie parallels to Vietnam.......2003-04-29

There is much to commend about Thomas Pakenhamýs history of the Boer War. The nature and origins of the conflict are cogently presented. He describes the main actors in the tale ý Alfred Milner, Cecil Rhodes, Paul Kruger, Jan Smuts, etc. ý with a dramatic flair that greatly adds to the readability of the book and turns the history of the conflict into a clash of personalities as much as a clash of empire. The author also does a superb job putting the events of the Boer War in the context of the Victorian Age and the last days of Splendid Isolation of the British Empire. Finally, the book has a number of detailed, but easy to follow maps that greatly enhance the readers ability to follow and digest the narrative (those who frequently read military history understand that this isnýt a trivial point).

Ironically, however, the thing that struck me the most about this book was something the author never commented on at all: the remarkable historical parallels between the Boer War and the US war in Vietnam sixty-five years later. In light of salient differences in the conflicts (time, place, technology, people, the outcome -- the British ýwoný-- etc.), the wars followed a similar trajectory and the British and American forces developed similar responses to similar challenges.

To begin with, the British and American forces suffered from a significant handicap in intelligence collection and mobility, a disadvantage neither side was ever able to overcome. Second, both the British and Americans deployed massive amounts of troops to the theater, but only a small fraction were ever able to engage the enemy, creating an extremely long and cumbersome ýtailý with precious few ýteeth.ý Third, the inability to effectively hold territory or engage the enemy in open battle deprived the British and Americans of traditional battlefield metrics, and ultimately led to the use of enemy ýbody countý (Kitchener called it ýthe bagý but it was the same idea in principle) as the ineffective but de facto measurement of success. Fourth, the challenge of keeping the civilian population separated from the marauding guerillas led the British and Americans to the same response, including locking local populations up in protected communities (called ýlaagersý in South Africa and ýhamletsý in Vietnam) and the creation of a protective fence to prevent the enemy from penetrating territory ostensibly held by local forces. Fifth, attempts to fight the enemy on even terms led both the British and Americans to develop their own version of guerillas to fight along side friendly locals (the carbineers in South Africa ý including the famous Breaker Morant ý and the Marine Corpsý Ruff-Puffs in Vietnam). Finally, the British and American war efforts were gravely undermined by massive public unrest against the war on the home front.

For those with a keen interest in military history in general or colonial/anti-insurgency campaigns in particular, this book is not to be missed.

Average customer rating:

Informative, enjoyable, definitive

Superb

An excellent non-academic history of the war...

The Great Anglo-Boer War
Byron, Farwell
Manufacturer: W. W. Norton & Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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The Boer War 1899-1902 (Essential Histories)

Queen Victoria's Little Wars

Armies of the Raj: From the Mutiny to Independence, 1858-1947

Commando: A Boer Journal of the Boer War

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ASIN: 0393306593

Customer Reviews:

Informative, enjoyable, definitive.......2006-08-22

Quite easily the best book on the topic of the second Anglo-Boer war. If there were but one book you read concerning this timely subject, it is this one. The author leads the reader on a fast-paced but thorough and enjoyable tour of the people and places involved. The intermixture of battlefield strategic and tactical decisions are interspersed with human stories of the men who carried out the orders and the political forces that fueled the conflict. A must have for the panoramic big picture with detail enough to satisfy the most avid military historian. It is a work I come back to again and again.

Superb.......2006-05-12

Simply put, one of the greatest, most detailed and yet most readable histories, military or otherwise, to ever have been published. If you have even a passing interest in history, this book is for you. The parallels that can be drawn to our present day situation in the middle east are shocking, and this book was written quite a while ago.

An excellent non-academic history of the war..........2000-11-04

This is an absorbing, well written account of a neglected (by American readers anyways) war at the turn of the last century. Rather than being a dry academic text, Farwell's writing style serves to bring the war to life 100 years after the fact.

Coupled with other accounts of the war, like Goodbye Dolly Gray (another excellent book) written by Rayne Kruger, the average reader can understand some of the causal factors of South Africa's apartied system and gain an insight into the history of a long troubled region.

Book Description

This book examines the uniforms, equipment, history and organisation of the armies that fought in the Boer War. Both sides are covered, and the campaigns summarised. Uniforms are shown in full illustrated detail.

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The Boer War: 1899-1902
David Smurthwaite
Manufacturer: Hamlyn
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0600607739

Book Description

The Boer War pitted the might of the British Empire (with more than half a million men mobilized) against 80,000 South African Boers--and this detailed and lavishly illustrated history goes right to the heart of the struggle. A timeline gives at-a-glance information on what spurred the conflict and how the events unfolded, while eyewitness accounts from soldiers of all ranks describe the brutality from both viewpoints. The in-depth narrative, by a renowned historian, studies the strategies, politics, and social implications of the strife, and looks at some of the major figures involved--including Winston Churchill. In more than 200 pictures, including hundreds of vintage photographs, follow the road to war, the first offensives, the guerrilla fighting, and finally the road to peace. Illuminating.

The Boer War: Historiography and Annotated Bibliography (Bibliographies of Battles and Leaders)

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No Bore

The Boer War: Historiography and Annotated Bibliography (Bibliographies of Battles and Leaders)
Fred R. van Hartesveldt
Manufacturer: Greenwood Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0313306273

Book Description

One hundred years after the Boer War, the British continue to debate what went wrong, while the war has significant nationalist overtones in today's South Africa. This book examines changes in interpretations of the war and provides a bibliography of major sources on the Boer War, now sometimes called the South African War. The bibliography focuses on the military history, but also includes some historical accounts of the political debate. The first part of the book provides an extended historiographical essay, while part two provides an annotated bibliography of the titles discussed in part one. Historiographical questions concerning the Boer War are numerous. Discussions of military operations focus on the early use of modern weaponry and the effect of guerrilla tactics on a traditional force, while other historians debate the question of British military leadership and organization. Questions also revolve around British imperialism and the "scramble for Africa." Frequently called the second war for freedom by South African authors, the war was the reason that South Africa, unlike other British colonies, gained independence without majority rule. This makes the war of continuing relevance to the turmoil in South Africa, the collapse of the minority government, and the continuing problems of the current government. This book will provide a useful tool for those wishing to research the war.

Customer Reviews:

No Bore.......2000-08-27

Academic accounts of regional conflicts are often dry and tedious reads. Dr. van Hartesveldt's retelling of the history of this conflict is engaging and accessible. He gives life to the stories of the men who fought in this bitter struggle and provides an understanding of the importance of the Boer war in the greater story of the rise and fall of the British empire. An enjoyable and enlightening read.

The Boer War 1899-1902 (Essential Histories)

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The Cliff Notes of military history
Putting "Breaker Morant" Into Context
Another excellent Essential History from Osprey
Excellent Summary of a Landmark Conflict

The Boer War 1899-1902 (Essential Histories)
Gregory Fremont-Barnes
Manufacturer: Osprey Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1841763969
Release Date: 2003-04-20

Book Description

Victorious in its previous campaigns in Africa against native armies, Britain now confronted an altogether different foe. The Boers proved to be formidable opponents, masterfully compensating for inferior numbers with grim determination, resourcefulness and strong religious faith. Their mobility, expert use of cover, and knowledge of the terrain, in which they employed powerful long-range magazine rifles, gave them initial advantages. By contrast the British suffered from inadequate transport, insufficient mounted troops and poor intelligence. Despite marshalling the immense resources of their empire, the British were to be severely tested in a war which one general described as ‘the graveyard of many a soldier’s reputation’.

Customer Reviews:

The Cliff Notes of military history.......2006-04-03

The "Essential Histories" series from Osprey could easily be compared to the Cliff Notes series. They'll give you a nice introduction to a topic you are not familiar with, but no real depth. Most volumns are under 100 pages; therefore, don't expect many "man in the trenches" stories.

This book is what this series does best: present a little understood period of military history with some background, goals of participants, and outcome.

Putting "Breaker Morant" Into Context.......2005-10-07

I had little knowledge of, nor interest in, the Boer War until I saw the movie "Breaker Morant", the story of the court martial of three (Australian) junior officers serving in a special unit of the British Army in that war.

Two of them were executed, and the third, Lt. George Witton was sentenced to life in prison(later commuted). Witton later wrote a book about this, entitled "Scapegoats of the Empire", making the case that the three of them were sold out by the high command and sacrificed to political expediency. Although I first saw the movie "Breaker Morant" about twenty years ago, I had often wondered about Witton's book, and how he actually told the story. I was under the impression that the book was out of print, but recently found it quite easily and reasonably priced through Amazon. So, I ordered it, and "The Boer War: 1899 -1902 (Essential Histories)" was recommended as a companion volume. So, I ordered that one, too. This book on the Boer War was helpful in setting Witton's book into the overall context of the type of grinding guerilla war the British were facing and why Witton's unit was given orders (denied during the court martial) not to take prisoners. (In addition, the British high command had adopted a "scorched earth policy" to try to bring the plucky Boer farmers to their knees, and confined Boer women and children to concentration camps under the most wretched conditons. So, the book on the Boer War help set the context for Witton's book, which was essentially the story of the raw deal he and Lts. Morant and Handcock received at the hands of the generals and the politicians.

Another excellent Essential History from Osprey.......2005-06-14

I knew next to nothing about the Boer War when I sat down to read this book. Though I can't truly claim to be an expert on the subject now, I almost feel as though I am one, because this book is so well written. The narrative is very easy to follow and the plentiful maps and photographs are close to superb. Plus, the discussion of the centuries preceeding the actual war, though brief, put the war in context quite nicely. There really isn't anything more to say except that if you want a short introduction to the Boer War, then buy and read this book!

Excellent Summary of a Landmark Conflict.......2003-05-11

While the Boer War of 1899-1902 has been overshadowed in collective memory by the two world wars, in many respects the conflict was one of the first modern wars. The conflict was also unusual for its mobile operations over vast areas, its protracted guerrilla phase and in particular, the tactical successes by a small armed citizenry against a much larger, professional military force. Historian Gregory Fremont-Barnes does a wonderful job in Osprey's Essential Histories #52, The Boer War 1899-1902, in describing this landmark conflict. Even after a century, there are many lessons to be learned from a study of the Boer War by military professionals and this volume is an excellent starting place. The Boer War 1899-1902 is also one of the best volumes in the Essential Histories series.

After a short introduction and chronology, The Boer War 1899-1902 provides an excellent 10-page section on the background to the war. Interestingly, the discovery of diamonds and gold in South Africa in the 19th Century and its relationship to the crisis that led to war might seem analogous with the modern relationship between oil and international security. The six-page section on opposing sides is also quite good; in particular, the author notes the Boer's advantage in tactical mobility due to all their troops being mounted, and the possession of a small, but efficient artillery arm. In the section on the outbreak of the war, the author notes how both sides were inclined to seek war as a solution and how the Boers imported large quantities of weapons and ammunition just before the conflict began. The actual campaign narrative is 35 pages in length and is supported by ten maps (South Africa 1899, principal theater of operations, the siege of Ladysmith, the Battle of Colenso, the Battle of Spion Kop, the siege of Mafeking, Lord Robert's advance, the siege of Kimberley, the blockhouse system, and Smut's invasion of the Cape Colony). The section on "portrait of a soldier" profiles Deneys Reitz, a Boer commando who wrote a postwar memoir, while "portrait of a civilian" profiles Emily Hobhouse, an Englishwoman who attempted to improve the welfare of interned Boer civilians. Final sections cover how the war ended and its consequences. The bibliography is also quite good and more extensive than most other Osprey volumes, and the illustrations throughout are also excellent.

The series of military defeats that the British forces suffered in the first three months of the conflict are amazing by any standard; expert Boer rifle marksmanship, efficient artillery, knowledge of the terrain and cunning selection of defensive positions allowed the farmers-turned-soldiers to annihilate one British battalion after another. Most of the rest of the British army was cut-off and besieged in isolated posts like Ladysmith, Kimberly and Mafeking. Indeed, had the Boer's used their initial advantages to push on and seize the vital coastal ports, the British might not have been in a position to relieve their besieged garrisons for some time and the war might have been ended much sooner. As Fremont-Barnes narrative reveals, the Boers were very successful throughout the war on the tactical level, but on the operational level they were overly conservative and unimaginative. On the other hand, it seems almost incredible that so many British commanders could persist in frontal assaults against entrenched Boer positions, even after ample evidence that this was disastrous. The British had important deficiencies in tactical mobility and intelligence that left them unable to come to grip with their foes in the initial stages of the war. The British also had a tendency to split up their forces too much, based upon their innate (but false) sense of tactical superiority. Time and again, small British columns were surprised and overwhelmed. In the end, the British were able to win the conventional phase of the war by using overwhelming and concentrated force, as well as rectifying their mobility problems by widespread use of cavalry. The guerrilla phase was won by the controversial policies of "scorched earth," internment camps and blockhouses to contain the free-riding Boer commandos.

Fremont-Barnes' narrative is full of interesting insights that are applicable to other conflicts, in other times. One British officer notes that the seizure of the Boer capitals seems to have had little impact on their will to resist: "the Boers set no store by them [the capitals] apparently; neither Bloemfontein nor Pretoria have been seriously defended, and they go on fighting after their loss just as if nothing had happened." Barnes also notes that the British army found it relatively easy to control the few towns and even the rail lines, but found it almost impossible to control the vast stretches of open veldt upon which the Boer commando roamed (although in a few years, the arrival of aircraft would have made life tougher for the Boers) - which is still a problem familiar to modern military personnel in places like Somalia, Afghanistan and the Balkans.

Ultimately, the British achieved a military victory after committing 450,000 troops to subdue an enemy that never had more than 60,000 troops. Nor was victory cheap; the war cost Britain £200 million and 22,000 dead. Oddly, the victory was a hollow one. Fremont-Barnes notes that, "the greatest paradox of the war was the fact that, though Britain emerged the victor in the military sense, the Boers clearly won the peace. Within a decade of the end of hostilities all four South African Crown colonies had been unified into a self-governing union dominated by Afrikaners. The Boer republics had gone to war in the name of liberty and now they had achieved it."

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Ian Hamilton's March (The Boer War) (The Boer War)
Winston S. Churchill
Manufacturer: Wildside Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0809500523
Release Date: 2007-04-18

Book Description

This book is a continuation of those letters to the Morning Post newspaper on the South African War, which have been published under the title "London to Ladysmith via Pretoria." The main event with which the second series deals is the march of Lieutenant-General Ian Hamilton's column on the flank of Lord Roberts's main army from Bloemfontein to Pretoria.

The Boer Wars (2): 1898-1902 (Men-at-Arms)

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Good information but no artwork descriptions

The Boer Wars (2): 1898-1902 (Men-at-Arms)
Ian Knight
Manufacturer: Osprey Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1855326132
Release Date: 1997-03-15

Book Description

On 11 October 1899 the Second Boer War between the British and the Boers began. The war saw the most powerful professional army in the world pitted against the unconventional tactics of the undisciplined Boers. Although the Boers were finally forced to surrender in May 1902 the war had taken its toll on their opponents who lost some 8,000 troops killed in action with a further 13,000 dying from disease. This book covers the organisation, uniforms and very different tactics involved in the conflict, from guerrilla warfare to a final war of attrition that the Boers could not hope to win.

Customer Reviews:

Good information but no artwork descriptions.......2001-07-20

This is a good chance to have a general overview of that important conflict that marked the transition to modern XX century warfare and the last colonial war of the Victorian British Empire. Information is very complete considering the limited 40 pages. Art work could be more detailed but this is the style of this artist. Art work descriptions are short and undetailed, dissapointing in this point. A very good choice...

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Encyclopedia of the Boer War
Martin Marix Evans
Manufacturer: ABC-Clio Inc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Library Binding
ASIN: 1851093427

Book Description

The only comprehensive encyclopedia on the Boer War available, this volume offers A-to-Z entries on the war's origins, military strategy and tactics, main battles and sieges, major political and military figures, weaponry, and several related topics. Entries include: Afrikaner uprisings, Battle of Elands River Post, Commandant-General Louis Botha, concentration camps, General Sir Redvers Buller, Lieutenant H. H. "Breaker" Morant, Maxim-Vickers machine gun, Siege of Ladysmith, Winston Churchill, and much more!

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