Paul Kruger

Paul Kruger was president of the South African Republic and a leading Boer political figure during conflict with British imperial power. His leadership is closely associated with the tensions that led to the Second Boer War.

Kruger had taken part in the Great Trek as a boy and rose through the political and military institutions of the Transvaal, eventually becoming commandant-general. After Britain annexed the republic in 1877, he emerged as a leading advocate for restored Boer self-government and helped lead the movement that culminated in victory in the First Boer War. As president from 1883, he defended the republic’s independence while struggling with the political consequences of the Witwatersrand gold rush, the growing uitlander population and increasingly confrontational relations with Britain.

In G. A. Henty’s The Young Colonists, Historical figures including Cetshwayo kaMpande and Paul Kruger connect the fictional action directly to the documented events. Military action is combined with travel, escape and survival, so the wider conflict is repeatedly experienced through immediate personal danger. In G. A. Henty’s With Buller in Natal, Historical figures including Paul Kruger connect the fictional action directly to the documented events. Further fictional perspectives on Paul Kruger can be found in G. A. Henty’s With Roberts to Pretoria. For broader historical treatment of Paul Kruger, see Captivating History’s The Boer War, Lawrence James’ Empires in the Sun, and Captivating History’s History of South Africa.