Review of "The Anglo-Boer War: Why Was It Fought? Who Was Responsible?," edited by Theodore Caldwell

 Review of

The Anglo-Boer War: Why Was It Fought? Who Was Responsible?, edited by Theodore Caldwell

Four out of five stars

A colonial war fought between Europeans

 The bulk of the original Europeans that settled in what became South Africa were of Dutch and French Huguenot extraction. They did very well, working the land and expanding their influence. When the Netherlands came under the control of revolutionary France, the British invaded and took control of the original Dutch colony in 1795. During the next several decades, there was continued unrest and occasional conflict between the Dutch and British.

 Starting in 1835, groups of the people of Dutch extraction, called Trekboers, moved northward into the African interior in order to avoid British control. Differences in everything from their views of religion, slavery and social structure led to constant friction between the Boers and the British. These problems reached a point of no return when it became clear that there was vast mineral wealth in the Boer areas of southern Africa. Those differences finally led to a brutal war between the British and the Boers.

 That war went poorly for the British at the beginning, as the Boers were masters at guerilla war and operated in small units that harassed the British massed forces. The British eventually responded by placing the Boers in concentration camps so the fighters would be cut off from their sources of food and other supplies.

 This book is a good primer on the immediate lead-up to the Boer War. The concentration is on the main personalities in both the Boer and British leadership. The war was not wildly popular in England, so the British political leaders had to develop justifications for the expense in lives and treasure. There was also the reality that the mighty British Empire could not allow itself to be bested by other colonial troops.

 The short analyses present both sides of the issues, each side had its reasons for fighting and one conclusion is pretty easy to make. Given the political circumstances of the time, the expanse of the empire and the potential involvement and interest of other European powers such as the Dutch, Portuguese and Germans, the war seemed inevitable. Both the Boer and British sides had extensive military prowess and their different approaches to governance, desire to control and the significant financial and commercial interests made the conflict almost essential. The eventual military outcome was largely predictable, for the British had a very powerful army at the time. While no definitive conclusion is made in this book, strong arguments are made implicating both sides in being responsible for the war.

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