Course of the Second Boer War (AQA A-Level History): Revision Notes

Course of the Second Boer War

British and Boer military preparation

British readiness for war

British forces appeared well-prepared when war began in October 1899. The military had extensive experience from colonial campaigns across the empire, and mobilisation proceeded efficiently. The Royal Navy transported 450,000 troops and supplies over 6,000 miles without disruption. Despite this logistical achievement, the war quickly exposed flaws in British military planning and underestimation of Boer capabilities.

Boer military strength and limitations

The Boer republics faced enormous numerical disadvantages. The combined white population of Transvaal and Orange Free State totalled just 300,000 people, from which the Boers could field fewer than 60,000 combatants. The Boer army functioned as a civilian militia rather than a professional force. When threatened, adult male citizens in each district formed commando units, elected their own officers, and brought personal weapons and horses.

However, the Boers possessed substantial advantages that British commanders initially failed to appreciate:

The opening phase, October-December 1899

Boer offensive and Black Week

Britain suffered humiliating defeats during the war's first months. Boer forces seized the initiative, laying siege to three strategically important towns: Ladysmith in Natal, Kimberley in Cape Colony, and Mafeking in Bechuanaland. This offensive trapped British garrisons and forced the British to abandon their planned invasion of the republics.

British recovery and conventional victory, 1900

Reinforcement and new leadership

The British government responded to early defeats by deploying massive reinforcements. Troop numbers increased to 450,000, drawing on forces from across the empire. More importantly, the government appointed new commanders: Lord Roberts assumed overall command whilst Lord Kitchener served as his chief of staff. This leadership change proved decisive.

By mid-1900, British forces had relieved all three besieged towns. The capture of Ladysmith, Kimberley, and Mafeking, combined with victories in the field, created an impression of imminent British triumph. Paul Kruger fled to Europe whilst Roberts returned to Britain, celebrated as a military hero. British control of the main Boer towns suggested the war had effectively ended.

The relief of Mafeking

Guerrilla warfare phase, 1900-1902

Boer tactical adaptation

Boer generals refused to accept defeat despite losing their major towns. They initiated a guerrilla campaign that extended the war for two additional years. Boer commandos returned to their home districts where local populations could provide intelligence and supplies. Their tactics aimed to make British occupation unsustainable:

• Rapid strikes against isolated British positions
• Ambushes of military columns moving between towns
• Destruction of railway lines to disrupt British logistics
• Avoidance of pitched battles that would favour British numerical superiority

The Boers hoped these tactics would achieve two objectives: provoke Afrikaners in Cape Colony to rebel against British rule, and exhaust British willingness to continue an increasingly costly war.

British counter-insurgency measures

Territorial control and blockhouses

Kitchener, now commanding British forces, implemented systematic measures to suppress the guerrilla campaign. The vast size of the republics made controlling territory exceptionally difficult. As soon as British troops left a district, Boer commandos would return and re-establish their authority.

Kitchener divided Boer territory into zones separated by barbed wire barriers, restricting commando movement between regions. To maintain control of these zones, the British constructed approximately 8,000 fortified blockhouses, each garrisoned by six to eight soldiers. This network of small fortifications allowed British forces to monitor and respond to Boer movements more effectively.

Scorched-earth policy

Concentration camps

Establishment and conditions

Approximately 50 concentration camps housed Boer families forcibly removed from their farms as part of the scorched-earth campaign. Conditions in these camps proved catastrophic. Inadequate food supplies, poor sanitation, lack of shelter, shortage of medical facilities, and severe overcrowding created a health disaster. Disease spread rapidly through the camps.

Black African concentration camps

Tens of thousands of black Africans were also forcibly removed from Boer-controlled areas and placed in separate camps. Conditions in these camps were worse than those housing Boers. Record-keeping was less thorough, but over 12,000 black inmates are known to have died. The high death rate across all camps resulted from British military authorities' inadequate planning and indifference to civilian welfare.

Public criticism and reform

In 1901, radical Liberals led by David Lloyd George publicly denounced the concentration camps. Liberal leader Henry Campbell-Bannerman initially hesitated to support criticism during wartime, fearing it would divide his party and appear unpatriotic. However, Emily Hobhouse's detailed description of camp conditions in June 1901 created domestic and international outcry.

In November 1901, Chamberlain ordered Milner to implement immediate reforms to reduce mortality. Civil authorities assumed responsibility for camp administration from the military. By early 1902, the death rate for white inmates had fallen to two per cent, lower than death rates in many British cities. The improved conditions came too late for the 20,000 Boers who had already perished.

Kitchener's December 1901 instruction forbidding commanders from bringing in more women and children when 'clearing' rural areas represented a calculated attempt to appease critics whilst handicapping guerrilla fighters who now had to care for their families independently.

The role of black Africans

'A white man's war'?

Both Boers and British initially feared the consequences of arming black Africans. Memories of the Anglo-Zulu War (1879) and other conflicts with African peoples remained fresh. An unwritten understanding existed that the war would remain a conflict between white combatants, with the winner subsequently managing relations with the black majority population.

End of the war

The Treaty of Vereeniging

Kitchener's containment and harassment tactics eventually convinced even resistant Boer commanders that further fighting was futile. By early 1902, it became obvious to 'bitter-enders' that they could not achieve military victory. The Second Boer War officially concluded with the Treaty of Vereeniging in May 1902.

The peace terms reflected both British military victory and recognition that reconciliation required compromise:

• The Boers accepted British annexation of Transvaal and Orange Free State
• Britain promised to restore self-government 'at the earliest opportunity'
• Britain provided £3 million for reconstruction to help rebuild devastated farms and infrastructure

These terms aimed to transform defeated enemies into cooperative subjects of the British Empire.

Cost and casualties

The war's scale exceeded all initial expectations. Over 22,000 British soldiers died, though only approximately 8,000 fell in combat. Disease claimed the remainder, highlighting poor medical provision and sanitation in military camps. More than 7,000 Boer soldiers died in combat.

The civilian death toll, particularly among Boer women and children in concentration camps, created lasting bitterness. Over 20,000 Boer civilians died alongside more than 12,000 black Africans, casualties that resulted from British counter-insurgency methods rather than combat operations.

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