The First Boer War (, literally "First Freedom War"), 1880-1881, also known as the First Anglo-Boer War, the Transvaal War or the Transvaal Rebellion, was a war fought from 16 December 1880 until 23 March 1881 between the United Kingdom and Boers of the Transvaal (as the South African Republic was known while under British administration). The war resulted in Britain’s accession to the establishment of the Second Republic.
Introduction
First Boer War
First Boer War | Introduction
16 December 1880 - 23 March 1881 1880–1881 16 December 1880 1880-1881
what is massospondylus?
user
Genus of sauropodomorph dinosaur
assistant
who discovered this species?
user
Joseph Millard Orpen
assistant
where was it found?
user
Upper Elliot Formation at Harrismith, South Africa
assistant
what other historic species have been discovered in the country mentioned above?
user
Hominid species; Australopithecus africanus, Australopithecus sediba, etc.
assistant
what are the different wars that have happened in this country?
user
Boer Wars
assistant
when did the first of these wars happen?
user
The First Boer War (, literally "First Freedom War"), 1880-1881, also known as the First Anglo-Boer War, the Transvaal War or the Transvaal Rebellion, was a war fought from 16 December 1880 until 23 March 1881 between the United Kingdom and Boers of the Transvaal (as the South African Republic was known while under British administration). The war resulted in Britain’s accession to the establishment of the Second Republic.
First Boer War | Introduction
The trigger for the war came when a Boer named Piet Bezuidenhout (see Gerhardminnebron) refused to pay an illegally inflated tax. Government officials seized his wagon and attempted to auction it off to pay the tax on 11 November 1880, but a hundred armed Boers disrupted the auction, assaulted the presiding sheriff, and reclaimed the wagon. The first shots of the war were fired when this group fought back against government troops who were sent after them. After the Transvaal formally declared independence from the United Kingdom, the war began on 16 December 1880 with shots fired by Transvaal Boers at Potchefstroom.
First Boer War | 1880–81 war
The first was a Boer defeat of a British column that was unprepared for actual conflict. The Boers demanded that the column halt while the British commander, Colonel Philip Anstruther, insisted on continuing to Pretoria. The Boers proceeded to overrun and force the surrender of the column. The new High Commissioner, General Sir George Pomeroy Colley, assembled units to avenge the British defeat. Colley was short on field experience and marched against the Boer forces who were laying siege to British garrisons and demanding their surrender. His brash tactics in assaulting the Boers led to the loss of a quarter of his troops in a series of engagements in later January and early February 1881.
South African Wars (1879–1915) | The First Boer War (1880–1881)
Belatedly Lanyon asked for troop reinforcements in December 1880 but was overtaken by events. The Boers revolted on 16 December 1880 and took action at Bronkhorstspruit against a British column of the 94th Foot who were returning to reinforce Pretoria.
First Boer War | Outbreak of war
Boer War usually refers to the Second Boer War (1899–1902), fought between the United Kingdom and the Boers of the Transvaal Republic and the Orange Free State. Boer War may also refer to:
Boer War (disambiguation) | Introduction
At the first battle at Bronkhorstspruit on 20 December 1880, Lieutenant-Colonel Philip Anstruther and 120 men of the 94th Foot (Connaught Rangers) were killed or wounded by Boer fire within minutes of the first shots. Boer losses totalled two killed and five wounded. This mainly Irish regiment was marching westward toward Pretoria, led by Lieutenant-Colonel Anstruther, when halted by a Boer commando group. They were halted when they approached a small stream called the Bronkhorstspruit, 38 miles from Pretoria. Its leader, Commandant Frans Joubert, (brother of General Piet Joubert), ordered Anstruther and the column to turn back, stating that the territory was now again a Boer Republic and therefore any further advance by the British would be deemed an act of war.
First Boer War | Action at Bronkhorstspruit
Friction between the British authorities and the Boer republics (as they were called) escalated into the First Boer War of 1880-1881 and the Second Boer War of 1899-1902.
De Zuid-Afrikaan | Context
Early British attempts to relieve these besieged garrisons met with mixed results. The British felt that the war would be ended quickly. They were ill-prepared to face the well-equipped Boers, losing a large number of men in their first attempts to push into places such as Magersfontein, Stormberg, and Colenso.
South African Wars (1879–1915) | The Second Boer War (1899–1902)
During this skirmish, the Boer "commando" was led by General Piet Cronjé. This led to the action at Bronkhorstspruit on 20 December 1880, where the Boers ambushed and destroyed a British Army convoy. From 22 December 1880 to 6 January 1881, British army garrisons all over the Transvaal became besieged. Although generally called a war, the actual engagements were of a relatively minor nature considering the few men involved on both sides and the short duration of the combat, lasting some ten weeks.
First Boer War | 1880–81 war
The British recognised the two Boer Republics in 1852 and 1854, but the annexation of the Transvaal in 1877 led to the First Boer War in 1880 and 1881. After British defeats, most heavily at the Battle of Majuba Hill, Transvaal independence was restored subject to certain conditions, but relations were uneasy.
List of battles in South Africa | First Boer War (16 December 1880 – 23 March 1881)
Colley was killed in the final assault, as the British lines fractured from a lack of leadership. This defeat shocked the British in South Africa and in the home islands. While many demanded vengeance, the British quietly conducted a settlement that gave the Boers independence with only nominal lip service paid to the authority of the Crown in an effort to allow the British to withdraw "with minimum embarrassment".
South African Wars (1879–1915) | The First Boer War (1880–1881)
In 1896, Cecil Rhodes, Prime Minister of the Cape Colony, attempted to overthrow the government of Paul Kruger who was then president of the South African Republic or the Transvaal, The so-called Jameson Raid failed. By 1899, tensions erupted into the Second Boer War, caused partly by the rejection of an ultimatum by the British. The Transvaal ultimatum had demanded that all disputes between the Orange Free State and the Transvaal (allied since 1897) be settled by arbitration and that British troops should leave. The lure of gold made it worth committing the vast resources of the British Empire and incurring the huge costs required to win that war.
First Boer War | Tensions among the governments
They [the Boers] asked me to identify him, and this I did. He was only wounded once, and that through the top of the skull. Death must have been instantaneous. From the direction of the wound, he must have been facing the Boers when hit.'
George Pomeroy Colley | First Boer War
However, the sharp lessons the British had learned during the First Boer War – which included Boer marksmanship, tactical flexibility and good use of ground – had largely been forgotten when the second war broke out 18 years later. Heavy casualties, as well as many setbacks, were incurred before the British were ultimately victorious.
First Boer War | Tensions among the governments
On 14 February hostilities were suspended, awaiting the outcome of peace negotiations initiated by an offer from Paul Kruger. During this time Colley's promised reinforcements arrived, with more to follow. The British government in the meantime had offered a Royal Commission investigation and possible troop withdrawal, and their attitude toward the Boers was conciliatory. Colley was critical of this stance and, while waiting for Kruger's final agreement, decided to attack again with a view to enabling the British government to negotiate from a position of strength. This resulted in the disaster of the Battle of Majuba Hill on 27 February 1881, the greatest defeat for the British.
First Boer War | Schuinshoogte
Furthermore, sharpshooting Boers had killed or wounded many senior officers.
First Boer War | Laing's Nek
The British defeating local natives to secure more land in 1879 only gave the Boers less competition to worry about and enabled them to focus on retaking the Transvaal. In 1881 the Boers rebelled and the First Anglo-Boer War ensued. In this war, power was regained by the Boers, though any possibility of expansion and alliance was blocked by the British. With the discovery of diamonds around 1885 in Griqualand, West Transvaal struggled with the Cape and the Free State for land, but to no avail.
South African Wars (1879–1915) | Sekhukhune Wars
This unfortunately did not have any effect, and the First Boer War formally broke out on 20 December 1880. The First Boer War was the first conflict since the American Revolution in which the British had been decisively defeated and forced to sign a peace treaty under unfavourable terms. It would see the introduction of the khaki uniform, marking the beginning of the end of the famous Redcoat. The Battle of Laing's Nek would be the last occasion on which a British regiment carried its official regimental colours into battle. The Pretoria Convention of 1881 was signed on 3 August 1881 and ratified on 25 October 1881 by the ZAR, where the is referred to by the name "Transvaal Territory".
South African Republic | First Boer War, 1880–1881
between the British Empire and the two independent Boer republics of the South African Republic (Transvaal Republic) and the Orange Free State.
List of battles in South Africa | Second Boer War (11 October 1899 – 31 May 1902)
The Boers were well armed and the war started when they struck first, besieging Ladysmith, Kimberley, and Mafeking in early 1900, and winning important battles at Colenso, Magersfontein and Stormberg. Staggered, under-prepared, and overconfident, the British responded bringing in modest numbers of soldiers and fought back with little initial success. Leadership and tactics changed, when General Redvers Buller was replaced by Lord Roberts and Lord Kitchener. They relieved the three besieged cities, and invaded the two Boer republics in late 1900. The onward marches of the British Army, well over 400,000 men, were so overwhelming that the Boers did not fight staged battles in defence of their homelands.
Second Boer War | Introduction
There were other more pressing concerns for the Boer Republics. The two territories of the Orange Free State and the Transvaal were squeezed between the British-ruled Cape Colony to the south and west, Zululand to the east and Matabeleland and Bechuanaland to the north. During the 1870s there was a series of skirmishes within the Transvaal between the Boers and indigenous local tribes. In particular intensifying struggles between the Boers and the Pedi led by Sekhukune I over labour and land resulted in the war of 1876, in which the attacking Boers were defeated, in part because of the firepower bought with the proceeds of early Pedi labour migration to the Kimberley diamond fields.
First Boer War | Zulu War
The First Anglo-Boer War (1880–1881), was a rebellion of Boers (farmers) against British rule in the Transvaal that re-established their independence. The conflict occurred against the backdrop of the Pretoria government becoming increasingly ineffective at dealing with growing claims on South African land from rival interests within the country. The Second War (1899–1902), by contrast, was a lengthy war—involving large numbers of troops from many British possessions, which ended with the conversion of the Boer republics into British colonies (with a promise of limited self-governance). These colonies later formed part of the Union of South Africa. The British fought directly against the Transvaal and the Orange Free State, defeating their forces first in open warfare and then in a long and bitter guerrilla campaign.
Lichtenburg, North West | Boer War
The First Boer War, also known as the First Anglo-Boer War or the Transvaal War, was fought from 16 December 1880 until 23 March 1881 and was the first clash between the British and the South African Republic (Z.A.R.) Boers. It was precipitated by Sir Theophilus Shepstone, who annexed the South African Republic (Transvaal Republic) for the British in 1877. The British consolidated their power over most of the colonies of South Africa in 1879 after the Anglo-Zulu War, and attempted to impose an unpopular system of confederation on the region. The Boers protested, and in December 1880 they revolted.
Military history of South Africa | First Anglo-Boer War
They saw this as the best way to come to terms with the fact of a white Afrikaner majority, as well as to promote their larger strategic interests in the area.
History of South Africa (1815–1910) | First Anglo-Boer War
By 6 January 1881, Boers had begun to besiege Lydenburg. The other five forts, with a minimum of fifty miles between any two, were at Wakkerstroom and Standerton in the south, Marabastad in the north and Potchefstroom and Rustenburg in the west. Boers begun to besiege Marabastad fort on 29 December 1880. The three main engagements of the war were all within about sixteen miles of each other, centred on the Battles of Laing's Nek (28 January 1881), Ingogo River (8 February 1881) and the rout at Majuba Hill (27 February 1881). These battles were the result of Colley's attempts to relieve the besieged forts.
First Boer War | Action at Bronkhorstspruit
The British army seized control of all of the Orange Free State and Transvaal, as Kruger and others in the Boer government went into hiding or fled the country. In conventional terms, the war was over. The British officially annexed the two countries in 1900. Back home, Britain's Conservative government wanted to capitalize on this success to call an early general election, dubbed by some the "khaki election". British military efforts were aided by Cape Colony, the Colony of Natal, Rhodesia, and some native African allies, and further supported by volunteers from the British Empire, including southern Africa, the Australian colonies, Canada, India and New Zealand.
Second Boer War | Introduction
In spite of the growing signs of conflict, Wolseley recommended the reduction of British garrisons in the region. Continued British indifference to Boer protests and increasing demands placed on the Boers triggered an all-out rebellion in late 1880. The issue that finally brought the conflict to a head was the seizure of a farm wagon over tax dues. The Boers held that the British seizure was illegal because they had never recognised the annexation of the Transvaal. 5,000 Boers assembled at a farm on 8 December and began deliberating a course of action. On 13 December they proclaimed the Transvaal's independence and intent to establish a republican government, raising the Vierkleur, the old republican flag, and beginning the "war of independence." This war had very little in the way of large-scale conflicts.
South African Wars (1879–1915) | The First Boer War (1880–1881)
The Second Boer War, fought from 11 October 1899 until 31 May 1902 and between the British Empire and the two independent Boer republics of the Orange Free State and the South African Republic (Transvaal Republic), resulted from the history of British encroachment into or involvement in areas already settled by Afrikaners – who were known colloquially as Boers ("farmers") – the descendants of the original Dutch settlers. This was exacerbated by the discovery of gold and diamonds in the South African Republic, after which many miners from British Empire countries migrated there. New Zealand decided to help fight for the Empire and sent 6,500 mounted troops to assist the British efforts, making the war New Zealand's first overseas military campaign.
Military history of New Zealand | Second Boer War (1899–1902)
The Boer positions were also out of rifle range from the summit. Once the Battle of Majuba Hill had begun, Colley's command and understanding of the dire situation seemed to deteriorate as the day went on, as he sent conflicting signals to the British forces at Mount Prospect by heliograph, first requesting reinforcements and then stating that the Boers were retreating. The poor leadership, intelligence and communications resulted in the deaths of many British soldiers and Colley himself. The First Boer War was the first conflict since the American War of Independence in which the British had been decisively defeated and forced to sign a peace treaty under unfavourable terms.
First Boer War | Outcome and impact
The Second Boer War (11 October 189931 May 1902) was fought between the British Empire and two independent Boer states, the South African Republic (Republic of Transvaal) and the Orange Free State, over the Empire's influence in South Africa. The trigger of the war was the discovery of diamonds and gold in the Boer states. The war is also known as the Boer War, Anglo-Boer War, or South African War. Initial Boer attacks were successful, and although British reinforcements later reversed these, the war continued for years with Boer guerrilla warfare, until harsh British counter-measures including a scorched earth policy brought the Boers to terms.
Second Boer War | Introduction
The British success in removing much of the "native problem" from the borders of the Boer Transvaal had unintended adverse consequences. The removal of British focus from its Boer issues allowed the Boers to concentrate on the continued British control of the Transvaal. General Wolseley was openly against any notion of Boer independence and issued statements that gatherings in protest of the British rule could lead to prosecution for treason. The Boers continued to push for their independence, to the point that the Boer leader Paul Kruger, who had initially preached caution against rushing to fight, began accepting that war was inevitable.
South African Wars (1879–1915) | The First Boer War (1880–1881)
Anstruther refused and ordered that ammunition be distributed. The Boers opened fire and the ambushed British troops were annihilated. In the ensuing engagement, the column lost 56 men dead and 92 wounded. With the majority of his troops dead or wounded, the dying Anstruther ordered surrender. The Boer uprising caught the six small British forts scattered around the Transvaal by surprise. They housed some 2,000 troops between them, including irregulars with as few as fifty soldiers at Lydenburg in the east which Anstruther had just left. Being isolated, and with so few men, all the forts could do was prepare for a siege, and wait to be relieved.
First Boer War | Action at Bronkhorstspruit
Elite units like the 92nd Highlanders had cut and run in the face of Boer irregulars. Nearly a hundred men had died, 132 had been wounded and 56 had surrendered to an irregular guerrilla force.
First Boer War | Majuba Hill
The Boer Republics successfully resisted British encroachments during the First Boer War (1880–1881) using guerrilla warfare tactics, which were well suited to local conditions. The British returned with greater numbers, more experience, and new strategy in the Second Boer War (1899–1902) but suffered heavy casualties through attrition; nonetheless, they were ultimately successful. Over 27,000 Boer women and children perished in the British concentration camps.
South Africa | Boer Wars
The First Boer War broke out when the British occupation government seized a wagon from Piet Bezuidenhoudt who had refused to pay a tax. When the government attempted to auction off the wagon to raise the tax money, supporters of Bezuidenhoudt seized it, and met government representatives who came after them with armed force.
List of historical acts of tax resistance | Tax resistance launches the First Boer War, 1880
The first ceremony was held on 26 June 1857, when Queen Victoria invested 62 of the 111 Crimean recipients in Hyde Park. The Second Boer War was fought from 11 October 1899 to 31 May 1902, between the British Empire and the two independent Boer republics of the Orange Free State and the South African Republic (Transvaal Republic). After a set of failed negotiations over foreigner land rights in the territories, led by Joseph Chamberlain, both sides issued ultimatums. When the ultimatums were rejected, war was declared. The war had three distinct phases. First, the Boers mounted pre-emptive strikes into British-held territory in Natal and the Cape Colony, besieging the British garrisons of Ladysmith, Mafeking and Kimberley.
List of Second Boer War Victoria Cross recipients | Introduction
The Pretoria Convention of 1881 was superseded in 1884 by the London Convention, and in which the British suzerainty over the South African Republic, was relinquished.
South African Republic | First Boer War, 1880–1881
In the 1880s, the Tswana country became an object of dispute between the Germans to the west, the Boers to the east, and the British in the Cape Colony to the south. Although the Tswana country had at the time almost no economic value, the "Missionaries Road" passed through it toward territory farther north. After the Germans annexed Damaraland and Namaqualand (modern Namibia) in 1884, the British annexed Bechuanaland in two parts in 1885: the Bechuanaland Protectorate (modern Botswana) and British Bechuanaland (later part of the Cape Colony).
First Boer War | Situation
The exact causes of the Second Anglo-Boer War in 1899 have been disputed ever since the events took place. Fault for the war has been placed on both sides, for different reasons. The Boers felt that the British intention was to again annex the Transvaal. Some feel that the British were coerced into war by the mining magnates; others that the British government manipulated the magnates into creating conditions that allowed the war to ignite. It appears that the British did not begin with the intention of annexation. They simply wanted to ensure that British strength and the regional economic and political stability of the British Empire remained unchanged.
South African Wars (1879–1915) | The Second Boer War (1899–1902)
Colley was determined to redeem himself and led forces, in the Battle of Majuba Hill, to seize the hill in spite of the chance of an armistice to end the war. He attacked with a small force that had no knowledge of the initial planning, no proper reconnaissance, and no heavy weapons support. They seized the hill and set up camp without taking the precaution of setting up defensive positions. When the British announced their position, the Boers were initially cowed, but then began covertly scaling the hill from the north, reaching the Highlander lines and attacking. The Highlanders attempted on separate occasions to warn Colley of the attack, but he ignored the reports.
South African Wars (1879–1915) | The First Boer War (1880–1881)
In a display of diplomacy before the beginning of the Battle, British commander Sir George Colley sent a message on 23 January 1881 to the Commandant-General of the Boers, Piet Joubert, calling on him to disband his forces or face the full might of Imperial Britain. He wrote "The men who follow you are, many of them ignorant, and know and understood a little of anything outside their own country. But you, who are well educated and have travelled, cannot but be aware how hopeless is the struggle you have embarked upon, and how little any accidental success gained can affect the ultimate result".
First Boer War | Laing's Nek
The first series of wars, the "Confederation Wars" in the late 1870s and early 1880s, were due in large part to the Confederation plan of the British Colonial Secretary, the Earl of Carnarvon and the disastrous attempts to enforce it. This scheme was intended to forge the diverse states of southern Africa into one single British controlled federation. This was strongly resisted by the Cape Colony, the Boer republics, and the independent African States. The Anglo-Zulu War and First Anglo-Boer War resulted from these attempts at annexation, while the Gun War and Ngcayechibi's War were caused in part by the imposition of new federation-inspired policies on the Cape and its neighbours.
South African Wars (1879–1915) | Military Conflicts
The British government, under Prime Minister William Gladstone, was conciliatory since it realised that any further action would require substantial troop reinforcements, and it was likely that the war would be costly, messy and protracted. Unwilling to get bogged down in a distant war, the British government ordered a truce. Sir Evelyn Wood (Colley's replacement) signed an armistice to end the war on 6 March, and subsequently a peace treaty was signed with Kruger at O'Neil's Cottage on 23 March 1881, bringing the war to an official end. In the final peace treaty, the Pretoria Convention, negotiated by a three-man Royal Commission, the British agreed to complete Boer self-government in the Transvaal under British suzerainty.
First Boer War | 1881 peace
The Second Boer War is strongly represented and subsequently almost every major campaign in which British troops have fought, including the Korean and Falklands Wars and the Gulf Crisis; the latter two are covered by contemporary interview transcripts. Many significant collections reflect the revolution in weapon technology in the 20th century and the re-evaluation of tactics and strategy which necessarily followed on from the invention of the tank and the development of air power. There is also much on the debate over nuclear issues.
Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives | Introduction
In the 19th century a series of events occurred in the southern part of the African continent, with the British from time to time attempting to set up a single unified state there, while at other times wanting to control less territory. Three prime factors fuelled British expansion into Southern Africa: Other potential colonisers included: The British annexation of the Transvaal in 1877 represented one of their biggest incursions into Southern Africa, but other expansions also occurred. In 1868 the British Empire annexed Basutoland (modern Lesotho in the Drakensberg mountains, surrounded by the Cape Colony, the Orange Free State and Natal), following an appeal from Moshoeshoe, the leader of a mixed group of mostly Sotho-speaking refugees from the Difaqane who sought British protection against both the Boers and the Zulus.
First Boer War | Situation
The Second Boer War started in October 1899 with a Boer offensive into the British-held Natal and Cape Colony areas. Congreve arrived in South Africa and was posted as a brigade major in the Ladysmith relief force. He was present at the Battle of Colenso when British troops commanded by Sir Redvers Buller attempted to cross the Tugela River to relieve the besieged city of Ladysmith. The Boers repelled all British attempts to cross the river, and was forced to retreat in one of their biggest defeats of the war.
Walter Norris Congreve | Second Boer War
The British troops went to war with what would prove to be antiquated tactics and in some cases antiquated weapons against the mobile Boer forces with the destructive fire of their modern Mausers, the latest Krupp field guns and their novel tactics. The middle of December was disastrous for the British Army. In a period known as Black Week (10–15 December 1899), the British suffered defeats on each of the three fronts. On 10 December, General Gatacre tried to recapture Stormberg railway junction about south of the Orange River. Gatacre's attack was marked by administrative and tactical blunders and the Battle of Stormberg ended in a British defeat, with 135 killed and wounded and two guns and over 600 troops captured.
Second Boer War | First British relief attempts
The Boers did eventually disperse, on the very day upon which Frere received the telegram announcing the government's censure. On his return to Cape Town, he found that his achievement had been eclipsed—first by 1 June 1879 death of Napoleon Eugene, Prince Imperial in Zululand, and then by the news that the government of the Transvaal and Natal, together with the high commissionership in the eastern part of South Africa, had been transferred from him to Sir Garnet Wolseley. Meanwhile, growing Boer resentment at Frere's policies erupted in December 1880 into the disastrous First Boer War. The First Boer War, with the humiliating British defeats at Bronkhorstspruit, Laing's Nek, Schuinshoogte and Majuba Hill led to the independence of the Boer Republics and the final end of Carnarvon's confederation scheme.
Henry Bartle Frere | Outbreak of Zulu and Boer Wars
'Dingan's Day', 16 December 1880, a Boer republic was proclaimed at Heidelberg, Transvaal. Colley telegraphed London to express doubt that a Boer revolt was unlikely. The Liberal Government was in disarray: while left-leaning MPs called on the cabinet and colonial office to withdraw from the Transvaal and 'end the war' the Queen's Speech indicated that Her Majesty required imperial authority be restored. Yet within the new year Colley found himself compelled to take immediate measures for the relief of the small garrisons of British troops scattered throughout that territory, and those already besieged. With the small force available about fifteen hundred men he at once proceeded to the extreme northern border of Natal, and in the course of January had several conflicts with the Boer forces, the principal being at Battle of Laing's Nek and Ingogo Heights, the former of which was unsuccessful.
George Pomeroy Colley | First Boer War
With the defeat of the Zulus, and the Pedi, the Transvaal Boers were able to give voice to the growing resentment against the 1877 British annexation of the Transvaal and complained that it had been a violation of the Sand River Convention of 1852, and the Bloemfontein Convention of 1854. Major-General Sir George Pomeroy Colley, after returning briefly to India, finally took over as Governor of Natal, Transvaal, High Commissioner of SE Africa and Military Commander in July 1880. Multiple commitments prevented Colley from visiting the Transvaal where he knew many of the senior Boers. Instead he relied on reports from the Administrator, Sir Owen Lanyon, who had no understanding of the Boer mood or capability.
First Boer War | Outbreak of war
Around 15,000 trekking Boers departed the Cape Colony and followed the eastern coast towards Natal. After Britain annexed Natal in 1843, they journeyed farther northwards into South Africa's vast eastern interior. There they established two independent Boer republics: the South African Republic (1852; also known as the Transvaal Republic) and the Orange Free State (1854). Britain recognised the two Boer republics in 1852 and 1854, but attempted British annexation of the Transvaal in 1877 led to the First Boer War in 1880–81. After Britain suffered defeats, particularly at the Battle of Majuba Hill (1881), the independence of the two republics was restored subject to certain conditions; relations, however, remained uneasy.
Second Boer War | Origins
The British worried about popular support for the war and wanted to push the Boers to make the first move toward actual hostilities. This occurred when the Transvaal issued an ultimatum on 9 October for the British to withdraw all troops from their borders and recall their reinforcements, or they would "regard the action as a formal declaration of war." Over time, the war has come to be viewed as a "White Man’s War." Recent scholarship has exposed this as untrue. Black people were used on both sides, primarily in non-combat roles, as labourers. The British employed armed black men as scouts or dispatch riders, and were going to employ unarmed black scouts, but decided to continue arming them when the Boers began shooting at the scouts and dispatch riders as spies.
South African Wars (1879–1915) | The Second Boer War (1899–1902)
The First Xhosa War broke out in 1779 between Boer frontiersmen and the Xhosa. In December 1779, an armed clash occurred, resulting from allegations of cattle theft by Xhosa people. This led to Adreaan Van Jaarsveld capturing a large number of cattle from the Xhosa and claiming to have driven them out of Zuurveld by July 1781.
Xhosa Wars | First war (1779–1781)
However, in 1880 the Boers, led by Kruger, arose, inflicting a number of relatively minor defeats upon the British army, culminating in the British defeat at the battle of Majuba; so ended what later became known as the First Boer War. Britain's forces in South Africa were enough to suppress this rebellion and a relief column was sent up from the Cape, this time however, politics intervened. By 1880 the Conservative government which had initiated the annexation had been replaced by a Liberal administration under Gladstone. Gladstone was no imperialist and had been a vigorous critic of the annexation from the start.
Jan Smuts in the South African Republic | The British Connection
As part of the First Boer War, the battle for Rooihuiskraal (Afrikaans for "Red House Kraal") took place in 1881 here. A Boer commando under the leadership of D.J. Erasmus Jr defeated Colonel Gildea, or "The Blasted Colonel" as they called him, the British Officer Commanding of the Pretoria Garrison. After the cornered British garrison tried to escape to Natal to join General George Pomeroy Colley, the Boers entrenched themselves behind a stone wall surrounding the animal stockade, and wounded the colonel in the backside, who was standing upright in his stirrups.
Centurion, Gauteng | First Anglo-Boer War
The Boers also employed black men during the war, who mostly helped with digging defensive emplacements and roads for the transport of weaponry. They served in this capacity primarily during the initial conventional phase of the war. The Second Boer War consisted of three phases. It began with a Boer offensive to besiege the garrisons at Ladysmith, Mafeking, and Kimberley, after a quick mobilisation of their commando units from each district, drawing up to 30–40,000 men. The Boers used a quick-hitting mobile style of war, based on their experiences fighting the British in the first Boer War, along with lessons learned from studying the American Civil War.
South African Wars (1879–1915) | The Second Boer War (1899–1902)
The Battle of Bronkhorstspruit was the first major engagement of the First Boer War. It took place by the Bronkhorst Spruit (river), a few miles east of the town of Bronkhorstspruit, Transvaal on 20 December 1880.
Battle of Bronkhorstspruit | Introduction
The majority of the territory of Natal was annexed by the British in 1843, and although the British government formally recognised the two remaining Boer republics in the 1850s, they then annexed the Transvaal in 1877. Tired of British aggression towards them, the Boers finally hit back, leading to the outbreak of the First Boer War. Lasting from 16 December 1880 until 23 March 1881, the First Boer War was a humiliating reversal for the British, who suffered a disastrous loss at the Battle of Majuba Hill on 27 February 1881, and were compelled to sign the Pretoria Convention, which granted the South African Republic self-government under a nominal British suzerainty.
Military history of Australia during the Second Boer War | Background
It would see the introduction of the khaki uniform, marking the beginning of the end of the famous Redcoat. The Battle of Laing's Nek would be the last occasion where a British regiment carried its official regimental colours into battle.
First Boer War | Outcome and impact
The war had three phases. In the first phase, the Boers mounted preemptive strikes into British-held territory in Natal and the Cape Colony, besieging the British garrisons of Ladysmith, Mafeking, and Kimberley. The Boers then won a series of tactical victories at Stormberg, Magersfontein, Colenso and Spion Kop. In the second phase, after the number of British troops was greatly increased under the command of Lord Roberts, the British launched another offensive in 1900 to relieve the sieges, this time achieving success. After Natal and the Cape Colony were secure, the British army was able to invade the Transvaal, and the republic's capital, Pretoria, was ultimately captured in June 1900.
Second Boer War | Phases
Other nations remained neutral with opinion often being hostile to the British. Inside the British Empire there also was significant opposition to the Second Boer War. As a result, the Boer cause attracted volunteers from neutral countries as well as from parts of the British Empire such as Ireland.
Second Boer War | Introduction
The Transvaal Boer republic was forcefully annexed by Britain in 1877, during Britain's attempt to consolidate the states of southern Africa under British rule. Long-standing Boer resentment turned into full-blown rebellion in the Transvaal and the first Anglo-Boer War, also known as the Boer Insurrection, broke out in 1880. The conflict ended almost as soon as it began with a decisive Boer victory at Battle of Majuba Hill (27 February 1881). The republic regained its independence as the "Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek" ("South African Republic"), or ZAR. Paul Kruger, one of the leaders of the uprising, became President of the ZAR in 1883.
History of South Africa | First Anglo-Boer War
There were two major conflicts with these indigenous people, the Anglo-Zulu War and the Bambatha Rebellion. British colonials also had two conflicts concerning the independence of Boer republics. In the First Boer War, the Boers became independent from British colonial control. Later, in the Second Boer War the Boers declared war on the Cape Colony over the placement of British troops. The British colonial forces eventually captured all Boer major cities and the formerly free South African Republic came under the control of the British. There were several conflicts started by British colonial settlers that the British government and army had to finish.
South African Wars (1879–1915) | Colonial British
However, no general uprising took place, and the situation in the Cape remained stalemated.
Second Boer War | Cape Colony
In fact, according to a 2011 BBC report, "most scholars prefer to call the war of 1899–1902 the South African War, thereby acknowledging that all South Africans, white and black, were affected by the war and that many were participants".
Second Boer War | Name
Long-standing Boer resentment turned into full-blown rebellion in the Transvaal (under British control from 1877), and the first Anglo-Boer War, known to Afrikaners as the "War of Independence", broke out in 1880. The conflict ended almost as soon as it began with a crushing Boer victory at Battle of Majuba Hill (27 February 1881). The republic regained its independence as the "Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek" ("South African Republic"), or ZAR. Paul Kruger, one of the leaders of the uprising, became President of the ZAR in 1883. Meanwhile, the British, who viewed their defeat at Majuba as an aberration, forged ahead with their desire to federate the Southern African colonies and republics.
History of South Africa (1815–1910) | First Anglo-Boer War
These two countries continued to exist for several decades, despite the First Boer War with Britain. However, later developments, including the discovery of diamonds and gold in these states, led to the Second Boer War. In this war, the Transvaal and Orange Free State were defeated and annexed by the overwhelmingly larger British forces, ceasing to exist on 31 May 1902, with the signing of the Treaty of Vereeniging. A new British dominion, the Union of South Africa, was established under the South Africa Act 1909, in which the Transvaal and the Orange Free State became provinces along with the Cape and Natal.
Boer Republics | International recognition
The origins of the war were complex and stemmed from more than a century of conflict between the Boers and Britain. Of particular immediate importance, however, was the question as to who would control and benefit most from the very lucrative Witwatersrand gold mines. The first European settlement in South Africa was founded at the Cape of Good Hope in 1652, and thereafter administered as part of the Dutch Cape Colony. The Cape was governed by the Dutch East India Company until its bankruptcy in the late 18th century, and thereafter directly by the Netherlands. The British occupied the Cape three times during the Napoleonic Wars as a result of political turmoil in the Netherlands, and the occupation became permanent after British forces defeated the Dutch at the Battle of Blaauwberg in 1806.
Second Boer War | Origins
The battles were small operations; most of the dead succumbed to disease. The war ended in victory for the British and the annexation of both Boer republics, which became the Transvaal Colony and the Orange River Colony.
Union of South Africa | Second Boer War (1899–1902)
The Second Boer War, also known as the Second Anglo-Boer War, the Second Freedom War (Afrikaans) and referred to as the South African War in modern times took place from 11 October 1899 – 31 May 1902. The war was fought between Great Britain and the two independent Boer republics of the Orange Free State and the South African Republic (referred to as the Transvaal by the British). After a protracted hard-fought war, the two independent republics lost and were absorbed into the British Empire. In all, the war had cost around 75,000 lives – 22,000 British soldiers (7,792 battle casualties, the rest through disease), 6,000–7,000 Boer Commandos, 20,000–28,000 Boer civilians, mostly women and children due to disease in concentration camps, and an estimated 20,000 black Africans, Boer allies, who died in their own separate concentration camps.
Military history of South Africa | Second Anglo-Boer War
Although he had requested reinforcements, these would not reach him until mid-February. Colley was, however, convinced that the garrisons would not survive until then. Consequently, at Newcastle, near the Transvaal border, he mustered a relief column (the Natal Field Force) of available men, although this amounted to only 1,200 troops. Colley's force was further weakened in that few were mounted, a serious disadvantage in the terrain and for that type of warfare. Most Boers were mounted and good riders. Nonetheless, Colley's force set out on 24 January 1881 northward for Laing's Nek "en route" to relieve Wakkerstroom and Standerton, the nearest forts.
First Boer War | Action at Bronkhorstspruit
The battles of Bronkhorstspruit, Laing's Nek, Schuinshoogte, and Majuba Hill proved disastrous for the British where they found themselves outmaneuvered and outperformed by the highly mobile and skilled Boer marksmen. With the British commander-in-chief of Natal, George Pomeroy Colley, killed at Majuba, and British garrisons under siege across the entire Transvaal, the British were unwilling to further involve themselves in a war which was already seen as lost. As a result, William Gladstone's British government signed a truce on 6 March, and in the final peace treaty on 23 March 1881, gave the Boers self-government in the South African Republic (Transvaal) under a theoretical British oversight.
Military history of South Africa | First Anglo-Boer War
The British forces in southern Africa were still composed mostly of infantry, while most of the Boers were skilled horsemen, who used their superior mobility to good advantage. Realising that continuing to engage the British in set-piece battles where British troops could utilize their superior numbers would result in a quick defeat, the Boers adopted tactics of hit-and-run guerilla attacks, picking off men, and disrupting supply lines. The Boers first struck at the Battle of Kraaipan on 12 October 1899. Late at night, 800 commandos rode south into the Cape Colony, attacking the British garrison at Kraaipan and cutting railway and telegraph lines.
Military history of Australia during the Second Boer War | Outbreak of hostilities
The British were forced to quickly revise their tactics. They concentrated on restricting the freedom of movement of the Boer commandos and depriving them of local support. The railway lines had provided vital lines of communication and supply, and as the British had advanced across South Africa, they had used armoured trains and had established fortified blockhouses at key points. They now built additional blockhouses (each housing 6–8 soldiers) and fortified these to protect supply routes against Boer raiders. Eventually some 8,000 such blockhouses were built across the two South African republics, radiating from the larger towns along principal routes.
Second Boer War | British response
After reinforcements arrived, the British won a series of skirmishes and eventually conquered the Zulu capital at Ulundi on 4 July 1879. This war to all intents and purposes signalled the end of the independent Zulu nation. The British consolidated their power over Natal, the Zulu kingdom and the Transvaal in 1879 after the Anglo-Zulu War. Sir Garnet Wolseley then turned to the Pedi in the Transvaal, and they were finally defeated by British troops in 1879.
First Boer War | Invasion of Zululand
The two Boer republics had collapsed without any bloodshed.
British Bechuanaland | History
In 1880, the First Boer War erupted between Transvaal Boers and British troops, resulting in relatively heavy losses on the British side leading to a truce in 1881. After two decades of uneasy peace between the groups, military conflict broke out again in 1899 in what would be the Second Boer War. This war significantly deteriorated the Boers' land and resources, a result largely attributable to the British's 'scorched earth' tactics. Nevertheless, the resistance had been strong enough to change the British's policy regarding the Afrikaners from suppression to concession and incorporation into the government of the colony.
History of South African nationality | Violent conflict between Boers and British
Although the Boers exploited their advantages to the full, their unconventional tactics, marksmanship and mobility do not fully explain the heavy British losses. Like the Boers, British soldiers were equipped with breech-loading rifles (the Martini-Henry), but they were (unlike the Boers) professionals, and the British Army had previously fought campaigns in difficult terrain and against an elusive enemy such as the tribesmen of the Northern Territories in modern-day Afghanistan. Historians lay much of the blame at the feet of the British command, in particular Major-General Sir George Pomeroy Colley, although poor intelligence and bad communications also contributed to their losses.
First Boer War | Outcome and impact
In the third and final phase, beginning in March 1900 and lasting a further two years, the Boers conducted a hard-fought guerrilla war, attacking British troop columns, telegraph sites, railways, and storage depots. To deny supplies to the Boer guerrillas, the British, now under the leadership of Lord Kitchener, adopted a scorched earth policy. They cleared whole areas, destroying Boer farms and moving the civilians into concentration camps.
Second Boer War | Phases
On 11 October 1899, the two Boer republics declared war on the United Kingdom. Immediately, commandos, armed with German rifles and artillery, and trained by the best European officers, marched into Natal and the Cape Colony. The hawkish Smuts, though, saw no service in the early stages of the war. His battlefield was Pretoria, where he served as President Paul Kruger's right-hand man. He wrote dispatches to generals, published propaganda, organised logistics, and liaised with Transvaal diplomats in Europe. With the initial successes of the war, came much of the credit for it. After the defeats inflicted upon the Boer forces at Ladysmith, Mafeking, and Paardeberg, the British forces, considerably outnumbering the Boers, flooded across the Orange River, and into the republics.
Jan Smuts in the Boer War | The War Begins
The filmmakers describe the story's background as follows: The Second Boer War, a conflict between the British Empire and the two independent Boer republics in South Africa, lasted from 11 October 1899 until 31 May 1902. With the British in nominal control of the republics by 1901, the Boer farmers adopted guerrilla warfare tactics: strike fast and hard causing as much damage to the enemy as possible, and then withdraw and vanish before enemy reinforcements could arrive. This strategy proved effective and the British were forced to revise their own tactics. The British retaliated with a "Scorched Earth" policy, bringing the Boers to their knees.
Tracker (2010 film) | Production
The Battle of Kraaipan was the first engagement of the Second Anglo-Boer War, fought at Kraaipan, South Africa on 12 October 1899. On the 11 October 1899 President Paul Kruger of the South African Republic in alliance with the Orange Free State declared war on the British. That night 800 men of the Potchefstroom and Lichtenburg commandos under General Koos de la Rey (one of General Piet Cronjé's field generals) attacked and captured the British garrison and railway siding at Kraaipan between Vryburg and Mafeking, some south west of Mafeking. Thus began the Second Anglo-Boer War. Under the orders of Cronjé the Mafeking railway and telegraph lines were cut on the same day.
Battle of Kraaipan | Introduction
In 1880 the 94th were widely distributed throughout the Transvaal, and one of the garrisons was established at Lydenburg (consisting of A and F Companies.) Capt Nairne was as usual in command of F Company. It was during the re-concentration of the companies in December 1880, in response to outbreaks of civil disorder by the Boers that A and F companies were ordered to march from Leydenberg to Pretoria. They were attacked at Bronkhorstspruit in what proved to be the opening clash of the First Boer War. The 94th lost one officer (Lieutenant Herbert Augustine Christopher Harrison) and 53 men killed in the carnage of the attack.
Stanford Norman McLeod Nairne | First Boer War of 1880
In preparation for hostilities, the Boers had acquired around one hundred of the latest Krupp field guns, all horse-drawn and dispersed among the various Kommando groups and several Le Creusot "Long Tom" siege guns. The Boers' skill in adapting themselves to become first-rate artillerymen shows them to have been a versatile adversary. The Transvaal also had an intelligence service that stretched across South Africa and of whose extent and efficiency the British were as yet unaware.
Second Boer War | Boer organisation and skills
President Steyn of the Orange Free State invited Milner and Kruger to attend a conference in Bloemfontein. The conference started on 30 May 1899 but negotiations quickly broke down, despite Kruger's offer of concessions. In September 1899, Chamberlain sent an ultimatum demanding full equality for British citizens resident in Transvaal. Kruger, seeing that war was inevitable, simultaneously issued his own ultimatum prior to receiving Chamberlain's. This gave Britain 48 hours to withdraw all their troops from the border of Transvaal or the Transvaal, allied with the Orange Free State, would declare war. News of the ultimatum reached London on the day it expired.
Second Boer War | Negotiations fail
Staggered, the British fought back, relieved its besieged cities, and prepared to invade first the Orange Free State, and then Transvaal in late 1900. The Boers refused to surrender or negotiate, and reverted to guerrilla warfare. After two years of hard fighting, Britain, using over 400,000 soldiers systematically destroyed the resistance, raising worldwide complaints about brutality. The Boers were fighting for their homes and families, who provided them with food and hiding places. The British solution was to forcefully relocate all the Boer civilians into heavily guarded concentration camps, where 28,000 died of disease. Then it systematically blocked off and tracked down the highly mobile Boer combat units.
Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury | Second Boer War
Maxwell was attached to Roberts's Light Horse during the Second Boer War 1899-1900. By early March 1900 the British had captured the two capital cities of the Boer republics, and the war entered a new face with a Boer guerrilla campaign to hit the British supply and communication lines. The first engagement of this new form of warfare was at Sanna's Post on 31 March where 1,500 Boers under the command of Christiaan De Wet attacked Bloemfontein's waterworks about east of the city, and ambushed a heavily escorted convoy, which caused 155 British casualties and the capture of seven guns, 117 wagons, and 428 British troops.
Francis Aylmer Maxwell | Second Boer War
The Boers struck first, besieging Ladysmith, Kimberley, and Mafeking in early 1900, and winning important battles at Colenso (15 December 1899), Magersfontein and Stormberg (10 December 1899). Staggered, the British fought back, relieved the besieged cities, and prepared to invade first the Orange Free State, and then Transvaal in late 1900. The Boers refused to surrender or negotiate, and reverted to guerrilla warfare. After two years of hard fighting, Britain, using over 400,000 soldiers, systematically destroyed Boer resistance, raising worldwide complaints about brutality. The Boers fought for their homes and families, which provided them with food and hiding places. The British responded by forcefully relocating all the Boer civilians into heavily guarded concentration camps, where about 28,000 died of disease, while British military forces systematically blocked off and tracked down the highly mobile Boer combat units.
Union of South Africa | Second Boer War (1899–1902)
The Second Boer War was fought from 11 October 1899 until 31 May 1902 between the British Empire and the Afrikaans-speaking Dutch settlers of two independent Boer republics, the South African Republic (Transvaal Republic) and the Orange Free State. It ended with a British victory and the annexation of both republics by the British Empire; both would eventually be incorporated into the Union of South Africa, a dominion of the British Empire, in 1910. In the Battle of Witpoort, British commander Edward Hutton had four companies of the Royal Irish Fusiliers, the 1st Mounted Infantry, which was made up of the 1st and 2nd Canadians (who had arrived in camp on 15 July), as well as the Australians of the Queensland Mounted Infantry.
Battle of Witpoort | Context
Towards the end of the war, British tactics of containment, denial, and harassment began to yield results against the guerrillas. The sourcing and co-ordination of intelligence became increasingly efficient with regular reporting from observers in the blockhouses, from units patrolling the fences and conducting "sweeper" operations, and from native Africans in rural areas who increasingly supplied intelligence, as the Scorched Earth policy took effect and they found themselves competing with the Boers for food supplies. Kitchener's forces at last began to seriously affect the Boers' fighting strength and freedom of manoeuvre, and made it harder for the Boers and their families to survive.
Second Boer War | The end of the war
At the battle of Schuinshoogte (also known as battle of the carrots) on 8 February 1881, another British force barely escaped destruction. General Colley had sought refuge with the Natal Field Force at Mount Prospect, three miles to the south, to await reinforcements. However, Colley was soon back in action. On 7 February, a mail escort on its way to Newcastle had been attacked by the Boers and forced back to Mount Prospect. The next day Colley, determined to keep his supplies and communication route open, escorted the mail wagon personally and this time with a larger escort. The Boers attacked the convoy at the Ingogo River crossing, but with a stronger force of some 400 men.
First Boer War | Schuinshoogte
British encroachment into areas of South Africa already settled by the Afrikaner Boers and the competition for resources and land that developed between them as a result, led to the Second Boer War in 1899. Pre-empting the deployment of British forces, the Afrikaner Republics of the Orange Free State and the Transvaal Republic under President Paul Kruger declared war on 11 October 1899, striking deep into the British territories of Natal and the Cape Colony. After the outbreak of war, plans for the dispatch of a combined Australian force were subsequently set aside by the British War Office and each of the six colonial governments sent separate contingents to serve with British formations, with two squadrons each of 125 men from New South Wales and Victoria, and one each from the other colonies.
Military history of Australia | Second Boer War, 1899–1902
Though some of these forts are today in ruins, a number of them have been preserved as national monuments.
Pretoria | Boer Wars
The last of the Boer forces surrendered in May 1902 and the war ended with the Treaty of Vereeniging in the same month. The war resulted in the creation of the Transvaal Colony which in 1910 was incorporated into the Union of South Africa. The treaty ended the existence of the South African Republic and the Orange Free State as Boer republics and placed them within the British Empire. The Boers referred to the two wars as the "Freedom Wars". Those Boers who wanted to continue the fight were known as ""bitter-einders"" (or "irreconcilables") and at the end of the war a number like Deneys Reitz chose exile rather than sign an undertaking that they would abide by the peace terms.
Military history of South Africa | Second Anglo-Boer War
King Cetshwayo then banished European missionaries from his land, and there were suggestions that he might also have become involved in inciting other native African peoples to rebel against the Boers in the Transvaal. The Transvaal Boers became more and more concerned, but King Cetshwayo's policy was to maintain good relations with the British in Natal in an effort to counter the Boer threat.
First Boer War | Zulu War
The firepower was not matched but the fight continued for several hours, but the Boer marksmen dominated the action until darkness, when a storm permitted Colley and the remainder of his troops to retreat back to Mount Prospect. In this engagement the British lost 139 officers and troops, half the original force that had set out to escort the mail convoy. Colley had been forced to leave behind many of the wounded to die of exposure. In the space of ten days he had lost one quarter of his field force, either dead or wounded. "One or two Pyrrhic victories like this and we shan't have an army left at all", Lieutenant Percival Marling wrote at the time.
First Boer War | Schuinshoogte
The southern part of the African continent was dominated in the 19th century by a set of struggles to create within it a single unified state. In 1868, Britain annexed Basutoland in the Drakensberg Mountains following an appeal from Moshoeshoe I, the king of the Sotho people, who sought British protection against the Boers. While the Berlin Conference of 1884–85 sought to draw boundaries between the European powers' African possessions, it also set the stage for further scrambles. Britain attempted to annex first the South African Republic in 1880, and then, in 1899, both the South African Republic and the Orange Free State.
Second Boer War | Background
During the First Boer War, the city was besieged by Republican forces in December 1880 and March 1881. The peace treaty which ended the war was signed in Pretoria on 3 August 1881 at the Pretoria Convention. The Second Boer War resulted in the end of the Transvaal Republic and start of British hegemony in South Africa. The city surrendered to British forces under Frederick Roberts on 5 June 1900 and the conflict was ended in Pretoria with the signing of the Peace of Vereeniging on 31 May 1902 at Melrose House. The Pretoria Forts were built for the defence of the city just prior to the Second Boer War.
Pretoria | Boer Wars
However it is instructive also to see them as outbreaks in a far larger wave of change and conflict affecting the subcontinent – beginning with the "Confederation Wars" of the 1870s and 80s; escalating with the rise of Cecil Rhodes and the struggle for control of gold and diamond resources; and leading up to the Second Anglo-Boer War and the Union of South Africa in 1910.
South African Wars (1879–1915) | Introduction
Following the British annexation of the Transvaal in 1877, Paul Kruger was a key figure in organizing the resistance which led to conflict with the British. The Boers fought two Boer Wars in the late 19th century to defend their internationally recognised independent countries, the republics of the Transvaal (the Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek, or ZAR) and the Orange Free State (OFS).
Boer | Anglo-Boer wars