The Great Boer War

by Farwell, Byron

• ISBN13: 9781848840140
• ISBN10: 1848840144
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2009-09-19
• Publisher: Pen & Sword

Summary

The Great Boer War (1899 - 1902) more properly the Great Anglo-Boer War was one of the last romantic wars, pitting a sturdy, stubborn pioneer people fighting to establish the independence of their tiny nation against the British Empire at its peak of power and self-confidence. It was fought in the barren vastness of the South African veldt, and it produced in almost equal measure extraordinary feats of personal heroism, unbelievable examples of folly and stupidity, and many incidents of humour and tragedy. Byron Farwell traces the war's origins, the slow mounting of the British efforts to overthrow the Afrikaners, the bungling and bickering of the British command, the remarkable series of bloody battles that almost consistently ended in victory for the Boers over the much more numerous British forces, political developments in London and Pretoria, the sieges of Ladysmith, Mafeking and Kimberley, the concentration camps into which Boer families were herded and the exhausting guerrilla warfare of the last few years when the Boer armies were finally driven from the field.The Great Boer War is a definitive history of a dramatic conflict by a master story teller and historian. Byron Farwell served as an officer in the North African and Italian campaigns in World War II and also in the Korean War. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1964, and is the author of Queen Victoria's Little Wars, also published by Pen & Sword.

Author Biography

Byron Farwell served as an officer in the North African and Italian campaigns in World War II and also in the Korean War. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1964.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements	p. x
Preface	p. xi
Prologue
The Birth of a People	p. 3
Voortrekkers and Their Republics	p. 7
The First Anglo-Boer War	p. 13
The Jameson Raid	p. 21
Moving Towards War	p. 27
Eve of War	p. 37
War Begins	p. 51
Talana: The First Battle	p. 60
Elandslaagte	p. 68
The Battle of Ladysmith	p. 76
Buller	p. 84
Methuen	p. 91
Magersfontein	p. 101
Stormberg Junction	p. 113
Before Colenso	p. 121
Colenso	p. 127
Black Week	p. 139
Lord Roberts and Lord Kitchener	p. 151
Tabanyama: Prelude to Spion Kop	p. 157
Spion Kop	p. 166
After Spion Kop: Vaal Krantz	p. 183
The Great Flank March	p. 190
The Siege of Kimberley	p. 196
Paardeberg	p. 208
The Siege of Ladysmith	p. 216
Bloemfontein	p. 234
Decisions at Kroonstad	p. 251
The Boer Revival	p. 256
On the March to Pretoria	p. 263
Mafeking	p. 269
Pretoria	p. 286
After Pretoria: Roodewal and Brandwater Basin	p. 298
Advance to Komatipoort	p. 306
The End of the Second Act	p. 312
Commandos in Cape Colony	p. 323
Smuts's Invasion of the Cape	p. 336
Fighting the Guerrillas	p. 348
Soldiering on the Veld	p. 365
Guerrilla Life	p. 378
The Concentration Camps and Emily Hobhouse	p. 392
The Concentration Camps: The Ladies Committee	p. 411
Prisoners of War	p. 420
Vereeniging: The Bitter End	p. 429
Epilogue: The Dust Settles	p. 444
Glossary	p. 455
Notes	p. 456
Select Bibliography	p. 470
Index	p. 479
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