The Second Boer War: the Idea of White Supremacy - Research Paper Example

The Boer War The Boer War (1899 – 1902) British imperialists deemed the Boer war as a rebellion on part of the South Africans in the 18th century, but the rebellion was vastly viewed as the ‘wars of independence’ by the inhabitants. The word ‘Boer’ was taken from Afrikaan language that literally means ‘Farmer’; the war was fought in order to protect the sovereignty of two independent South African states called Orange Free State and Transvaal republic. Although the first war was generally referred to as the ‘White Man’s War’, but by the second war, other segments of the population also got involved in the conflict and the war became a confrontation between the British Empire and both the Black and White factions of the South African population. 1 I. War Tactics The second Boer war was a lengthier affair than the first one, and even though the war ended up with the British as the victors, it was not as easy as they had imagined. As a matter of fact, the Boer commandoes did the most damage to the British army during the onset of the conflict, which was marked by three consecutive defeats on part of the British in the Battle of Stormberg, Magersfontein and Colenso; it resulted in them celebrating it as the Black Week. 2 Compared to the British troops, the Boers were not as disciplined and organized; they had no set uniform, and as soon as a confrontation broke out, they immediately gathered up to form a unit and elected a commander. The Boer troops had no proper uniforms or weapons and vastly depended on hunting guns in order to launch an offensive against the well-equipped British troops. Their weapons included field guns and pistols, and they were also armed with shotguns; most of the Boer troops often traveled with at least 8 days of supplies. Unlike the British troops, their marksmanship was not the result of intense training regimes, but was learned through experience. The Boers were not soldiers but mere hunters or farmers that earned them the name ‘Boer’. The people had no real access to ammunitions either, and when they ran out of proper weapons, they usually relied on stealing or capturing the weapons of the British. The British had realized that the only way they could subdue their opponent was by attacking their formation and not their position; which meant that they were trying to cut off their access to their supplies. Any sort of siege had seemed pointless for their excellent marksmanship that made any sort of progression towards their base completely pointless. They even had their ranges marked out with white stones and fired according to them and soon the British troops were ordered to avoid going near white stones on the ground. 3 Since the South Africans were devout Christians, many of the people did not believe in an armed conflict and were often optimistic that they will overpower the British just like they had done in the first war; hence, the troops were quite complacent as well. The Boer troops gained an upper-hand over the British as they had incorporated guerilla warfare tactics that focused on crippling the operational capacity of the British army. As a matter of fact, besides their highly skilled guerilla commandos, the British had made the mistake of underestimating their enemy and as a result were taken 4completely off-guard when they faced such fierce resistance from the Boer side. The commandoes carried out raids and worked to make surprise attacks on the enemies as they sought to inflict the greatest amount of damage and then vanish before the army can call for reinforcements. The Boers used their knowledge of the region to their full advantage and the vastness of the area made it difficult for the British to keep the violent upheavals at bay in the area. The guerilla warfare was a major setback to the British that during the beginning of the war, and they had lost control of half of the territory. The sporadic attacks were the biggest threat to the British, who were used to more organized form of attack that rendered them incapable of predicting the next move of their opponent. However, the British responded to their guerilla attacks by cutting down their sources and restricting their movement in the area. They took control of railway lines and controlling all the major routes in the cities. They used their little control in the city to build blockhouses in order to prevent raids from the Boers, and they also performed the function of protecting the supply routes for the British. Each block house was assigned to nearly 50,000 British troops, which made them more responsive in sending in reinforcements and supplies in case of guerilla attacks. The British had been immensely successful with their idea of building blockhouses, as the number of attacks drastically decreased and the Boers were forced to re-evaluate their war tactic. The British further realized that the idea of using cavalry in combat made them more susceptible to guerilla attacks as their mobility was vastly restricted. 5The British focused on providing more sophisticated training to the infantry, which was more effective countering attack and had greater mobility on the battlefield. As a matter of fact, the Boer wars involved the British and common wealth troops experimenting with a vast variety of war tactics and sophisticated weaponry that eventually aided the British Empire in another conflict that was brewing throughout the world and finally culminated in the First Great War. Moreover, this was the first time in history that the troops had used weapons like the machine guns and shrapnel shells. They were introduced to the idea of using aerial platforms; observation balloons, to gather information about their opponent and spot the proximity of the enemy. The idea was first introduced to the British by the Canadian troops. The British had called on for help from other common wealth nations, which rendered the Boers outnumbered ad ill-equipped compared to the technology and novel war tactics that each nation brought with it. The British further launched a counter-offensive in the form of the another military campaign that came to be known as ‘scorched earth’ and also began operating concentration camps that largely held women and children. II. Scorched Earth The ‘Scorched Earth’ policy was a military tactic that the British forces used in order to completely leave the Boer forces bereft of all their supplies. The policy was implemented by Lord Kitchener, who immediately launched the destruction of nearly thirty-thousand farm houses as soon as he assumed the position of the head of the British troops. 6His main purpose was to deprive the Boers of their food supply and even began destroying Boer towns. Many Boer troops had left their families behind and some often used these farms for sniping grounds. After the launch of the operation, the British troops tried to evacuate the area before destroying it completely, but drawing out cooperation from the Boers was a grueling task. Kitchener’s tactic was to play on the emotions of the Boers, who would immediately fear for the safety of their family and the lack of food and supplies would systematically break down their resistance as they would be coaxed into surrendering in order to reunite with their families. The captured women and children were then immediately transferred to concentration camps along with all the refugees. The camps had been initially meant to provide food and shelter to people, who were not directly involved in the war or had voluntarily surrendered. However, as soon as the policy had been implemented, everyone was transferred to the concentration camps that quickly garnered attention for its notorious living conditions that claimed the lives of numerous women, children and men, who succumbed to fatal diseases and malnutrition. Although, the British were heavily criticized for the damage inflicted on the environment and also on the horrid living conditions that the people in the camps were surviving in. 7 Emily Hobhouse, an eminent British Journalist brought this aspect to the knowledge of the general masses, by highlighting that the treatment of the women and children in the camps were no short of atrocious. They were deprived of basic necessities and sanitation facilities. The unhygienic environment had given rise to various illnesses and gradually many people were dying as a result of it that caused the death toll to rise exponentially. The daily rations were decreasing with the passage of each day and according to her, every person in the camp was practically being starved to death. 8Even though the British were known to carry out these atrocities, but in a war that had been protracted indefinitely, the policy of ‘Scorched Earth’ was indeed a necessity. The guerilla warfare was becoming fiercer by the day and the British had no counter offences against these attacks and the only plausible way was to cut off their access to their supplies. He further amplified the pressure of the Boer troops by transporting the Boer women and children to Eastern Transvaal, exposing them to the harsh climate of the region. The destruction of the property was authorized by the British Empire and Kitchener tried his best to only burn down the homesteads that had concrete evidences of Boer activities. It was important for Kitchener to make such a drastic move, for the Boers had tricked the British troops by waving the white flag; the sign of truce and were actively sniping at them as soon as they were lured out by the flag. The Boer responded to this move by attacking the communication lines of the British, but the British had control of the 16-mile radius of the Boer army bases and their attacks were completely futile. 9The increasing intensity of the attacks was a clear indication that the scorched earth policy had indeed rendered the Boers quite agitated and they were now looking for a new line of attack. The British had already subdued them partially, but during this time they launched another offensive in which other farms and homesteads were also burnt by officers, who assumed that the Scorched earth policy was to be applied on all the farmhouses and as a result many farms and towns were razed to the ground in retaliation to the Boer attacks.10 Kitchener further curtailed their access to resources by also sending a large number of Black members of the population to the concentration camps. The employment of this strategy by the British clearly indicated that they fully understood that the Boers were in dire need of the manpower of the Blacks and therefore, they need to cut down their manpower as well. The blacks sent to a completely different concentration camps, where any perished as a result of diseases and were vastly looked down upon by the British that actual death toll of the blacks remain unknown , as their deaths were never recorded. The counter used by the British was quite harsh, but as discussed earlier, this strategy was important to finally coerce the Boers in to surrendering and putting an end to the string of violence ended. The Boer troops yielded under the pressure and formally surrendered in 1902, but by that time many survivors of the war had lost their lives in the camps. There was no sufficient supply of food and water III. Black Contributions to the War The second Boer War ended with the Boers finally conceding their defeat to the British; however, it cannot be denied that there were some gaping flaws in the British Empire that led to the conflict in the first place. British imperialism had led to a rise in nationalistic spirit amongst the people that caused them to believe that they were superior to all other nation and automatically were given the right to rule over them. As a result of the British rule, there had been a rise in the number of cases involving racism in South Africa, as they further propagated the idea of white supremacy and as a result, widened the schism between the blacks and whites. As a matter of fact, the lack of acknowledgements for the blacks is one of the greatest upsetting facts regarding this conflict.11 The blacks were employed in a number of capacities, not only by the Boers but by the British as well. They were employed to drive wagons and were even promoted to the ranks of combatant officer and even spies. The divide between the blacks and whites was evident when the contribution of the black population went completely unnoticed. Long before the outbreak of war, the black population was not looked upon favorably by the whites and this social situation was further aggravated with the arrival off the British, who after the war were more interested in reconciling with the Boers or the whites than the blacks; they feared that if they showed too much support to the blacks they might lose the favor of the whites. 12Their attitudes were evident when the blacks were not even issued any medals, under the pretext that the blacks were not officially enlisted in the army. The Boer war had affected almost all fronts of life in South Africa and it was not just the whites or blacks, but it was the first unified resistance against the British. IV. Conclusion From a social perspective, the war was a decisive point in the South African history, for it greatly empowered the black population, who had witnessed the vicious discrimination that the British and Boers had subjected them to. Following the annexation, the British tried their best to anglicize the population, but it only escalated the nationalistic spirit of the South Africans. However, the black struggle for acceptance in the society was a lengthy movement, but its roots can be found in the Boer War as well. Besides a social impact, the most immediate impact of the war could be seen on the British military that learned valuable lessons as a result of the Boer wars. The Second Boer war laid down the foundations of modern warfare that brought new techniques to the knowledge of the British army like guerilla warfare and sniping techniques. This was also the first conflict in history in which they had actually used sophisticated weapons and observation balloons. The Boer war served as a preparatory ground for the British for a bloodier war that broke out only a few years later. 13World War 1 gave the British the opportunity to put their learning in to practice and have been known to launch similar counter attacks on their opponents during the Great War as well. The Boer had a significant impact not only on the South African society, which experienced a drastic change in the dynamics of their social and political structure, but the war was also a significant affair for the British, who were actively trying to expand their dominion and the war further helped them enhance their military expertise. Bibliography Craig, Dylan. (2009). the Weapons and Battles of the Second Anglo-Boer Wars. Heliograph Inc Fremont-Barnes, Gregory. (2003). the Boer War 1899 – 1902. Osprey Publishing. Jones, Maurig (1996). Blockhouses of the Boer War. Colonial Conquest. Jones, Spencer (2011). "Scouting for Soldiers: Reconnaissance and the British Cavalry 1899-1914". War in History. Lambert, John. (2002). Loyalty is its own reward: The South African War Experience of Natal’s “Loyal” Africans. David Philip Publisher Meiring, Jane. (2009). Against the Tide: A story of women in war. IUniverse Publishing. Nkuna, Nosipho. (1999). Black Involvement in the Anglo-Boer War, 1899 – 1902. Military History Journal Pretorius, Fransjohan . (2001). Scorched Earth. Human & Rousseau. Pretorius, Fransjohan (2001). “Boer Civilians and the Scorched Earth Policy of Lords Roberts and Kitchener in the South African War of 1899-1902”. University of Pretoria Press. Pretorius, Fransjohan. “The White Concentration Camps of the Anglo-Boer war: A debate without end”. Scielo South Africa; http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?pid=S0018-229X2010000200007&script=sci_arttext (accessed 27th March, 2013). Wessels, André (2000). "Afrikaners at War”. In Gooch, John. The Boer War. London: Cass Publishing Read More