The Boer War

Name: The Boer War
Rating: 4.22 (2098 reviews)

by Thomas Pakenham

First published 1979

Amazon

4.2(2,098)

Thomas Pakenham reconstructs the conflict that began in October 1899 when the South African Republic and the Orange Free State declared war on Britain. He follows the political confrontation between Paul Kruger, Alfred Milner and Joseph Chamberlain, the influence of the Transvaal goldfields, and the early campaigns in Natal and the Cape. Boer victories, the sieges of Ladysmith, Kimberley and Mafeking, and the costly British attempts to relieve them expose how badly imperial confidence had misjudged a mobile enemy fighting on familiar ground.

The narrative then traces the British advance under Frederick Roberts and Herbert Kitchener, the occupation of the Boer capitals and the prolonged guerrilla war led by commanders including Louis Botha, Christiaan de Wet and Jan Smuts. Pakenham gives sustained attention to scorched-earth operations, concentration camps, African participation and suffering, and the political calculations that ended in the Treaty of Vereeniging. The result is a military and political history of a war that reshaped southern Africa and damaged Britain’s assumptions about imperial power.

Historical Periods

Second Boer War1899–1902 CE

Genres

Court & Political Fiction

Historical people

Paul Kruger1825–1904 Frederick Roberts, 1st Earl Roberts1832–1914 Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener1850–1916 Joseph Chamberlain1836–1914 Alfred Milner, 1st Viscount Milner1854–1925 Louis Botha1862–1919 Christiaan de Wet1854–1922 Jan Smuts1870–1950 Cecil Rhodes1853–1902