Previous page | New search |
The free AfricaBib App for Android is available here
Book | Leiden University catalogue | WorldCat |
Title: | The Boer war |
Author: | Bossenbroek, M.P. |
Year: | 2014 |
Pages: | 446 |
Language: | English |
City of publisher: | Auckland Park |
Publisher: | Jacana Media |
ISBN: | 9781431410491 |
Geographic term: | South Africa |
Subjects: | Anglo-Boer wars guerrilla warfare concentration camps |
About persons: | Willem Johannes Leyds (1859-1940) Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (1874-1965) Deneys Reitz (1882-1944) |
Abstract: | This book brings a new perspective of the Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902), critically examining the involvement of the Netherlands using archive material from the Leyds Collection and the archives of the Netherlands-South African Railway Company. The author explores the war primarily through the engaging experiences of three men: 1. Willem Leyds, the Dutch lawyer who was to become the South African Republic state secretary and eventual European envoy; 2. Winston Churchill, then a British war-reporter; and 3. Deneys Reitz, a young Boer commando. The Boer War was fought by two insignificant Boer republics (the South African Republic - also known as Transvaal Republic - and Orange Free State) against British hegemony over the control over the Witwatersrand Gold Mines in Johannesburg, now part of the Republic of South Africa. The difference in status and resources between the British Empire and the two republics was enormous. The Boers were forced to use guerilla tactics, while the British resorted to scorched earth tactics and concentration camps. Against all odds and expectations, it took the British exceptional military and financial efforts to bring the conflict to an end. [ASC Leiden abstract] |