Minooka TAP's presentation on the Boers War.

2. Which war could these be?
1. Fighting against the British for independence?
2. Fighting the natives to take their land?
3. Fighting over the gold rush?
4. Putting innocent people in concentration camps?
5. Guerilla warfare in an unknown environment?
6. The oppressions of Blacks?
7. the fight to keep slavery?

3. The Boers War
“AMERICAN REVOLUTIONARY WAR REVISITED”

4. Who are the players? “protagonists”
Orange Free State
Transvaal
The British Empire

5. The British Empire
The British Empire was by far the
largest empire in the world by
1900.
Most of the territories held by
the crown gave their empire an
advantage in the trading markets
with most of the worlds
commodities travelling through
British ports.

6. Wait…what is a Boer?
Boer stands for farmer.
A south African with Dutch and/or German descendants. Came to South Africa between 1500-
1600
The early descendants arrive due to the trading post of the Dutch Indian trading company.
The Boers are living within South Africa and constantly wanting their freedom.

7. The Boers…
The Boers claim they bought land from the native Zulu nation through legal means.
The Zulu claim the land was stolen and that the were never asked.
December 16, 1838 they dispute came to a head…….at bloody river. When 12,000 Zulus
attacked 500 Boers.
The Boers killed over 3,000 Zulu warriors and they only suffered minor causalities. The Boers
formed a circle with their wagons and held off the attack using their rifles.
After the battle the Boers made Black Africans into their slaves, similar to the Americas.

8. The Boers finding their own land
Once the Boers had established their own farms and way of life, they wanted to withdraw from the
empire and form their own nation. The were searching for their own freedom.
They set up two free and independent territories, The Orange Free State and The Transvaal. They
lived peacefully with their British counter parts until diamonds and gold was discovered with in their
territories. The capitals of Pretoria and Bloemfontein
With in these territories they Boers relied heavily on slavery to keep their farms working and mines
functioning. The British had outlawed slavery in the 1833 law, which caused friction with the Boers.

9. Early tactics
The war got underway when the Boers found some biggest deposit of gold that the world had ever seen. The British
wanted that power on the economic markets.
The war started with the James Raid- 600 British attempted to incite a rebellion in the mines.. The Boers held their
ground and killed most of the British force. Paul Kruger gained European support, especially from the Germans.
The Boers decided to go on the offensive and take the fighting to the British. Paul Kruger, president of the Transvaal had
acted quickly to arm and supply his army with the very best weapons and cannons from Europe.
The Boers went on a sieging campaign to attempt to break the spirits and trading ability of the British. The most famous
of these sieges was at Ladysmith.
The Boers planned back fired by making the British press and population see the sieges as unfair and unnecessary. Paul
Krugar was seen as a villain in Britian and a hero in the rest of Europe.

10. The War begins…1899-1902
Once the Boers decided to keep their way of life, the empire challenged them and decided to send
troops.
As the War begins, the Boers “army” is simply a ragtag group of farmers that fight when they want
and how they want. Very undisciplined. A total army of 25,000
The British army is very well suited to put down revolts. Recently the army was in Asia stopping
natives from retaking their own lands. (India) A total army of 250,000
The Irish also send troops to help to Boers fight against the British.
The British had help from their colonies including the Australians.
http://youtu.be/LPJXPp5TsQQ

11. The early battles “set piece”- Spion Kop
The British go on the offensive on a large scale.
This battle was located just outside of the Orange Free State near Drakensburg, SA
The British Army was trying to stop the Boers from attacking their cities and decided to take the
battle to the Boers. Most of the battles were being won by the British at the time due to their
training and superior numbers.
During this battle, the British saw an opportunity to take a hill he held the Boers artillery. The
approached the hill at night under silence and made their way up. After a grueling climb the
British commander decided to rest his men.
In the morning, they continued their advance under heavy fog and fire.

12. Oops……
When the fog lifted the British troops realized they were on the wrong hill and surrounded by
canon fire.

13. Aftermath of Spion Kop
243 British dead and 1250 wounded
Both sides were going to surrender but the British stop fighting first.
Boers then claimed victory.
This battle inspired the Boers to reorganize and fight harder than before.
Notables in battle:
Winston Churchill fought at the battle and Mohandas Gandhi was a stretcher bearer.

15. Black South Africans during the war
Some were forced to work as slaves or work small jobs for both armies.
Some were used to be mail through enemy lines.
Some had to build bomb shelters for the whites in their towns.
Most Black Africans died as collateral damage due to bombing of cities.
There were even some Blacks armed to fight for both sides during the war. This was very
controversial to most whites. Many feared that if Blacks were given guns then they would want
more like their freedom.
At one point during the war, food became so short that many Black Africans were kicked out of
their homes and forced to march to the north. Both sides refused to help and thousands deid of
starvation.

16. During the war…
Since the early war was fought between “gentlemen”, there was no fighting on Sundays.
Many of the soldiers and people caught up would relax as if nothing was happening.
One of the most famous plays of the times was constantly reproduced to help distract people
from the blood shed.
http://youtu.be/hlTisI_HSgw

17. New tactics…
The Boers began to lose more and more ground to the British forces. Eventually losing their ability to
fight at all.
Eventually the British were able to capture both capital cities for the Orange Free State and the
Transvaal. (Pretoria and Bloemfontein)
The British had to try something new, now that a set piece war was over the Guerrilla war had just
begun.
Even with their capitals captured the Boers continued to fight which lead the British to a policy of
“Scorched Earth” The British burned everything that could help the farmers continue to fight.
The British army began to burn, destroy, loot and kill all the innocent people in their way.

18. Concentration Camps?
The Scorched Earth policy left the British with a problem, what to do with the women and
children that lost their home and what to do with the ones still helping the cause.
The British decided to move them into camps so that the families couldn’t restock the Boers
with supplies.
Their were 45 tented camps for the Boers and 65 for the Black Africans.
The camps were barely supplied with food and was very unsanitary.
Most of the prisoners there caught diseases and starved.
27,927 Boers died and 22,000 of them were children
14,154 Black Africans died, some say there was over 20,000 deaths
Eventually the British people learned of the camps and made their government change the
conditions.

19. Bad conditions

20. Notables…
Sam Hughes- Was the Canadian Minister of Defense and an officer that helped to bring the
Canadians
John McCrae- The poet who wrote “Flanders Field”. He was an artillery man.
Harry Morant- “The Breaker” Aussie convicted of killing Afrikaners and became folk hero
Winston Churchill- Prime Minister of the UK and an officer/writer during the war
Mohandas Gandhi- was in India to fight against treatment of Indians, served as a body carrier
Percy Fitzpatrick- Writer and activist for the British against the Boers
Herbert Kitchener- Was leader of British troops during the end of the Boer War
Christiaan De Wet- commander of Boers for the OFS and later a huge negotiator

21. After math…
http://youtu.be/3CdkEKOuHS0
The British continued to pursue the Boers fighters. Eventually the Boers themselves knew tht
they could no long keep up the fight. The Boers eventually surrender and give up.
The war showed the rest of the world that the British were still the most powerful empire on
Earth and were still willing to protect that empire.
Eventually the South Africans got their independence May 31, 1910.
A lot of the notable people involved in the war take on folk hero status in the years that follow.