To What Extent Was the Jameson Raid of 1895-96 the Beginning of the Second Anglo-Boer War - Essay Example

Jameson Raid’s contribution to the beginning of the Second Anglo-Boer War By 1890s most of the parts of South Africa was under the British rule, including the Cape of Good Hope, Natal, Basutoland, Swaziland, Rhodesia, Bechuanaland, and other Bantu lands. By1879, Zulu land too has come under the British rule, fueling the Britishes’ desire for unifying South Africa under the Imprial British rule. The two independent Boer republics of Transvassal and Orange Free State ruled by the Boer leader of Dutch origin strongly resented the British encroachments in the region and maintained their firce desire for independence. The annexation of Transvasaal to Britain in 1877 lead to the first Boer War during the period from December 1880 to March 1881. However with the crushing victory of the Boer in this war, British agreed on granting the Boers self governance under the Pretoria Agreement (Laband 2005). In the years which followed, the discovery of gold and diamonds in the Transvassal region increased the appeal of the republic to the British who were vestly keen in capitalizing from the discovered fortunes and riches of the Transvassal land. Thus, there were many who backed the British Imperial plan to take over the two Boer republics under the British rule. Boer governments’ unfair treatment of the British and other expatriates who streamed in to the Transvassal by thousands of numbers was taken up by the British as a political issue, instigating a rift between the two parties.The expatriate community refered to as Uitlanders were prohibited of voting rights under the Uitlanders Franchise, and the British government demanded that they be granted equeal rights of the Transvassal citizens. It is in this backdrop of political conflicts, that the Jameson Raid, backed by British rulers in Cape Colony took place in 1895, failing in its attept to instigate the desired uprisal from the Uitlanderss against the Boer rule but contributing significanly in bringing about the second Boer War (Wikipedia) . First Boer War took place from Decembe 1880 to March 23, 1881, where the Boers rebelled against the annexation of their territory by the British. The beginning of the First Boer War was marked by the Boers ambushing and destroing a British army convoy at Bronkhorstpruit (Farwell 1976). The Boer troops were made up of the civilians who were attired in thir normal day to day clothing, allowing them easy camoflouge against the African terrain. In contrast, the British Infantry soldiors were in their scarlet red uniforms, making them easy targets for the expert marksmenship of the Boer snipers. Battles such as the Battle of Laing’s Nek, Battke of Schuinshoote and finally the Battle of Majuba Hill gave Boer’s decisive victories with very few Boer casualities. This war also known as the War of Independence allowed Boers to regain their independence on 1881(Doyl 1900). Though the British gave in to the deafeat in Transvassal in the First Boer War, their ambitions of forming a unified South Africa under the emprial British rule was by no means dampened.Thus, when the discovery of gold was made in 1886, in Witwatersrand which was a part of Gauteng Province, British intentions of taking over the ruling of the gold endowed Transvassal was rekindled. South Africa soon became the single largest gold producer in the world facilitating a dramatic economic growth of the Boer state and placed Transvaal in a prominent and leading economic state in South Africa, toppling Cape Colony from its dominance. With the importance of gold in the international financial system, the discovery of gold propelled Transvaal in to a prominent position in the global finance field. For Britain, which dominated the global industrial and trade activities through its imperial quests, a steady stream of gold was essential to facilitate its mercantile dealings. In this light, British viewed Boer’s state’s independence as a hindrance to their imperialistic quests in South Africa. In 1886, with the discovery of gold, many thousands of foriegners, mainly British, moved to ZAR with the aim of capitalising from new mining opportunities and these settlers formed shanty towns the like of Johannesburg in the areas surrounding the mines (Meiring 1986). These foreign settlers, who were refered to Uitlanders rapidly outnumbered the Boers on the Rand, the reef area of Witwatersrand, the source of over 40% of the total gold mined in the world (Thomson 2001). The Afrikaners, were not comfortable with the predominantly British settler’s prsesence. The populatoion increased rapidly past 100,000 in the 1890s and Boers were particularly resentful of the influx of Black labour which weakned the labour conditions by forcing the wages down due to abundant availability of cheap labour (Theal 1970, Wikipedia). During this period, the ZAR was ruled by Paul Kruger’s government . Kruger was a key figure in gaining independence from the British during the First Boer War and subsequently became the president of the South African Republic. He was a strong supporter of Boer independence and maintained a stringent stance against the influx of British who came in to the Transvaal for mining of gold and diamond (Gordon & Gordon 2001). Kruger’s strict policy towards foreigners, fueled by the resentment of British who were encroaching on the Boer rights to the economic wealth from Gold, imposed heavy taxes, maintained monopolised on dynamite which was essential commodity for mining and excluded the Uitlanders from voting rights. Kruger’s government maintained its policy despite British objections, further instigating the British, who had not lost their ambition to take over the Boer republics though they lost the first Boer War. During this time, the British rule in Cape Colony was in the hands of Cecil John Rhodes, a British who had made his fortunes in South Africa from mining diamonds. An ardent supporter of the British Imperial plan Rhodes believed that if Transvaal was allowed to grow at its current pace with the economic benefits of the gold mining, that the independent nation would surpass all nations in the region and be a threat to the Imperial British rule in South Africa (Wikipedia). One of his main concerns was the possibility of ZAR gaining access to a route to the sea, which was seen as a major economic draw back to the British. Thus, Cecil Rhodes was one of the key campaigners of British encroachments in to the Transvaal and the main instigator of the subsequent Second Boer War, which ensued (Elbourne 2004). While an number of interrelated factors, such as the conflicting political ideologies of imperialism and republicanism; the prospects of economic benefits of gold the ZAR offered for Briton if it were to be under British rule and the Uitlander franchise which marginalised the British settlers in Transvaal in their citizenship rights may have formed the backdrop to the political tensions between the British and the Boers, the Jameson Raid is seen as the starting - point which precipitated to the Second Boer War (Judd & Surridge 2003). The Second Boer War started in October1899 and lasted till May 1902, eventually ending with the surrender of the two independent Boer states, the ZAR and Orange Free State, to the British rule. While some of the Uitlanders were not concerned of the implications of the Uitlanders Franchise, most of the British setters felt marginalisation by the Kruger’s policies. Even though the Transvaal government created the Second Volksraad in 1890 in response to the Uitlanders demands for voting rights, the amendments did not give the Uitlanders outright voting powers. As per the Second Volksraad, the settlers were eligible for citizenship after 5 years. At the same time, those Uitlanders who have been naturalized for two years or more were allowed the voting rights. These amendments in the Second Volksraad were significant improvements compared to the First Volksraad which allowed voting rights to Uitlanders who had been in the country for a full 14 years or longer. However, the key British business people and the diplomats in Cape Colony were not satisfied with the changes granted through the Second Volksraad (Wikipedia). Their demands were for equal citizenship rights in terms of taxes, tariffs and other matters including rights of voting being applied to the whole of Uitlanders community in ZAR. Though most of the Uitlanders were hardly concerned of voting rights and was not keen in having a say in political matters, the British took this issue politically, as a means of precipitating a war situation (Colombia Encyclopedia). The Reform Movement which campaigned for the rights of the Uitlanders, originated with the involvement of number of successful mining and business personalities in Transvaal and received the full backing of the proponents of the British Imperial Plan, such as Cecil Rhodes the premier in Cape Colony, Joseph Chamberlain, the Colonial Secretary and Dr. Leander Starr Jameson. As Kruger’s government was not prepared to change their stance on the Uitlanders, the Reform Movement was considering an uprisal aiming to overthrow the Boer government. The Uitlanders uprising was to take place with the backing of troops invading Transvaal from Cape Colony under the leadership of Leander Starr Jameson, the Administrator General for the Metabeleland. The planning of the invasion was taking place in the Cape Colony with the involvement of Rhodes and Chamberlain while a force of approximately 600 men under the command of Jameson was positioned in the boarder of transvaal near Pitsani, to await the greenlight for the invasion, timed with the planned uprisial of the Uitlanderss in Johanessburg (McCracken 2003). The invasion, known as the Jameson Raid never achieved its intensions of overthrowing the Boer government, and the expected uprising of the Uitlanders in Johannesburg did not materialise. Instead of revolting as planned the Transvaal Uitlanders opted to celebrate the New Year, leaving Jameson’s troop to battle its own battles. Jameson who was positioned in the boarder of Transvaal was keen to initiate the invasion and took his own initiative to launch the raid on 29th December 1895, entering Transvaal without Rhodes or Chamberlain’s approval. Chamberlain who was involved from the beginning in planning the raid did not feel the timing was correct for the raid and felt that the raid would be unsuccessful. Fearing the repercussions the unsuccessful raid would bring up on the Company charter of British South African Trading Company, Chamberlain traveled to Britain, advising the Cape Colony administration to repudiate the actions of Jameson. The raiding party faced defensive Boer forces from early on as the planning was haphazard and mishaps in cutting off the wrong communication lines has allowed Boers to be alerted on the invasion. Jameson and his troops surrender on 2nd January 1896 at Doornkop near Krugersdorp, to the Kruger’s forces, bringing the offensive to its premature end (Longford 1984). The British government and the Cape Colony administration acknowledged no part in the raid and implicated that Jameson was acting in his own accord, and Jameson too kept his silence, taking the blame on his own without revealing the Cape Colony administration’s involvement in the failed invasion. Those who were captured by the Boers were later handed over to the British government for trial and Transvaal benefoted from a sizable £ 1 million compensation made by the British South Africa Company. Jameson who was tried in England for leading the raid was sentenses to 15 months in jail but later beacame the Prime Minister of the Cape Colony during the 1904 to 1908 period. Though the Jameson Raid failed in its aim of toppling the Boer government through the supporting of expected Utiliander uprising which never took place, it did much to bring about the Second Boer War (Longford 1984). Jameson Raid widened the rift between the British and the Boer and this situation was further agrevated by the so called "Kruger telegram" from the German Emperor, Kaiser Wilhelm II. The communication congratulated the Boers in crushing the raid and offered German support, should there be a need in future. Germany at that time was already percieved anti–British, and the naval arms race between Germany and Britain was straining the Anglo German relationships. British saw the Kruger telegram as an infringment on affairs of the British territories by the Germans. With the failed attempt of the raid, the need for identifying an issue that can be used to cause a political conflict was in the agenda of the British imperialists. The continued lack fo response from the Boer government on the call for citizenship rights to British settleor was taken up for this cause. A major military build up was inituated in the Cape of Good Hope, and the Boer government’s inartia in granting equal rights to the Britishes in Transvaal was used as the justification for these military preparations. The British administartors in Cape Colony were confident in defeating the Boers in a second war, having learned their lessons during the deafet to the Boers in the first war. Therefore, they were keen to create a war situation. In response to this military build up in the Transvaal boarder by the British, Kruger consolidated his alliances with the neighboring independent republic of Orange Free State. Approaches were also made to the Germans and Portuguese for alliances and assistance should ZAR need to fight a war with the British for the second time. On the 30th May 1899, the President of the Orange Feee State, Martinus Steyn, organized a negotiatoon conference between Kruger and Sir Alfred Milner, the governor of Cape Colony but the negotiations quickly broke down and no respite was achieved to the turmoil (Wikipedia). Subsequently, in September 1899, Jospeh Chamberlain issed an ultimatum to the Kruger government, demanding full equality for British citizens resident in Transvaal. The Boers were sure of the inevitability of a second war by this time and had actually anticipated the situation since the Jameson Raid. Thus an ultimatum was issued concurrently by Kruger, prior to receiving Chamberlains which gave the British troops a 48 hour period to withdraw from the border of Transvaal. The ultimatum also stated that unless this was complied, the Transvaal will declare war on British and that Orange Free State will join force with them in alligience. The culmination point of all these politiclal tension which has been brewing between the British and the Boers errupted in to the Second Boer War which was fought from Octomber 11, 1899 to May 31, 1902, ultimately granting victory to the British Imperial rule. Although many factors such as the Uitlanders Franchise, the Kruger Telegram and the opposing views of Rhode and Kruger may have paved way to the political tension, which precipitated in to the Second Boer War, many historians see Jameson Raid as the marking of exacerbation of the situation. Even though British never acknowledged their involvement in the raid, and cited the incident as an individual effort of Jameson, the Kruger government was not deceived by the open repudiation by the British. It is in this light that Kruger negotiated and consolidated the support of Orange Free State as well as Germany and Portugal , gearing the nation for a war situation. It is therefore evident that the Jameson Raid, though a failed mission in its own goals, aided the British in attaining their overall objective of creating a war situation for the second time, which they saw as the means of annexing the two independent Boer states, completing their unification process of the South Africa under the British Imperial rule. References Amery, Leopold, S. The Times History of the War in South Africa. London: S. Low, Marston and Co, 1900. Beinart, William. Twentieth-Century South Africa. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001. Christopher, A. J. The Atlas of Changing South Africa. 2nd ed., Oxford: Routledge, 2000. Deegan, Heather. The Politics of the New South Africa. Essex: Longman, 2000. Doyl, Arthur C.: The Great Boer War. London: Smith Elder, 1900. Elbourne, Elizabeth. Blood Ground: Colonialism, Missions, and the Contest for Christianity in the Cape Colony and Britain, 1799-1853. Montreal: McGill- Queens University Press, 2002. pp. 400-423. 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