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Causes of the Boer War

The causes of the Boer War (aka Second Anglo-Boer War, South Africa War, and Second War of Freedom, 1899-1902) stretched back to the early 19th century and competition for land and resources between British and Boer settlers. The rivalry turned to animosity as the century progressed, accentuated by discoveries of diamonds and gold, and further fuelled by mutual suspicions of uncontrolled imperialism and nationalism. A brief war in 1880-81 and a failed coup d'etat in 1895 pushed the two sides even further apart until the coming of a second, much larger conflict proved unstoppable.

The varied causes of the conflict, commonly referred to at the time simply as the South Africa War and fought between the Boer republics of Transvaal and Orange Free State and the British colonies of Cape Colony and Natal, included:

Competition for agricultural land.

Competition to control valuable natural resources like diamonds and gold.

The British claim of suzerainty over the foreign policy of the Boer republics.

Boer dissatisfaction with Britain's prohibition of the use of slaves in Southern Africa.

British dissatisfaction at the discriminatory treatment of non-Boers in the Boer republics.

Boer resentment at the increasing influence of Anglo-Saxon culture in the republics.

British resentment over the Boers' continuing raids on neighbouring African peoples, which caused regional instability.

Boer suspicions aroused by the Jameson Raid, an unofficial British attempt to take over Transvaal.

British suspicion that the Boers wished to form an alliance with Germany, which would threaten Britain's regional dominance.

Britain wanted to create a single union of Southern African states.

Competition for Land

The Boers were settlers in Southern Africa with Dutch ancestry (and that of certain other European countries, notably Germany and France). The name Boer means "farmer." They were also known as Afrikaners because they spoke Afrikaans. These settlers "were tough, independent-minded and Calvinist, and later developed a trenchant anti-Britishness" (Reid, 71). They had first arrived in the 17th century, and they eventually created two republics: Transvaal (1852) and Orange Free State (1854). These republics were created after the Great Trek of the 1830s, a Boer migration away from British control in the south. The Boers had not agreed with the British policy of abolishing slavery and resented the increasing influence of Anglo-Saxon culture on their own.

Meanwhile, British settlers, who had arrived later than the Boers, created the colonies of Cape Colony (1806) and Natal (1843), principally to safeguard the Cape of Good Hope, an important stopping point on shipping routes between Europe and Asia. Both the British and the Boers had acquired their land at the expense of African states.

Both the British and the Boers had acquired their land at the expense of African states, continuously expanding their territory in search of more land suitable for farming and to control trade routes. The British made Griqualand a crown colony in 1871 and merged it with Cape Colony in 1873. The British defeated the Zulu Kingdom in the Anglo-Zulu War of 1879. Zululand became a crown colony in 1887 and was absorbed into Natal in 1897. British expansion continued with the establishment of the Basutoland Protectorate (modern Lesotho, 1884), British Bechuanaland and the Bechuanaland Protectorate (modern Botswana, 1885), and Swaziland (1893). The acquisition of these territories backfired spectacularly since the Boers were released from fighting Africans and could now concentrate their fight for territorial expansion against the British.

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A Gallery of the Boer Wars

Throughout the 19th century, British and Boer settlers (people of largely Dutch ancestry) in Southern Africa were frequent rivals as they established new settlements and competed for resources. At the expense of African peoples in the region, the British founded the colonies of Cape Colony (1806) and Natal (1843), and the Boers created the two neighbouring republics of Transvaal (1852) and Orange Free State (1854). The British and Boer rivalry broke out into open warfare in the First Anglo-Boer War of 1880-1881 and again in the much larger Boer War of 1899-1902. This gallery of images tells the story of this rivalry, one eventually won by the British Empire, which formed the single colony of South Africa in 1910.

The Boer conflicts had a high cost, the Second Boer War alone cost Britain £200 million (equivalent to 21 thousand million today). More and more voices in Britain, among which was that of the economist and social scientist J. A. Hobson (1858-1940), began to question the point of imperialist foreign policy both from an economic and moral perspective.

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Boer War: Imperialism v. Nationalism in Southern Africa

The Boer War (aka Second Anglo-Boer War, South Africa War, and Second War of Freedom, 1899-1902) was won by the British but only after it employed controversial policies such as scorched-earth tactics and civilian concentration camps, both intended to deprive the Boers of logistical support. A watershed conflict, the Boer War involved technologically advanced weaponry, was followed closely by the British public thanks to newsreels and photography, and was one of the first major wars where civilian deaths far outweighed those of combatants.

Causes of the War

The British and Boers had long been rivals in Southern Africa, competing for land and resources between themselves and African kingdoms throughout the 19th century. The Boers were settlers in Southern Africa with Dutch ancestry (and that of certain other European countries, notably Germany and France). The name Boer means "farmer." They were also known as Afrikaners because they spoke Afrikaans. They had first arrived in the 17th century, and they eventually created two republics: Transvaal (1852) and Orange Free State (1854). These republics were created after the Great Trek of the 1830s, a Boer migration away from British control in the south. The Boers had not agreed with the British policy of abolishing slavery and resented the increasing influence of Anglo-Saxon culture on their own. Meanwhile, British settlers created the colonies of Cape Colony (1806) and Natal (1843), principally to safeguard the Cape of Good Hope, an important stopping point on shipping routes between Europe and Asia. Both the British and the Boers had acquired their land at the expense of African states.

The British claimed a nominal suzerainty over the Boer republics, one which the Boers rejected. The regional rivalry heated up considerably following the discovery of diamonds in Griqualand in 1867. The British made Griqualand a crown colony in 1871 and merged it with Cape Colony in 1873. The blatant British takeover of the diamond mines at Kimberley was bitterly resented by the Boers. Then gold was discovered in 1886 in Witwatersrand in Transvaal. The British, who heavily invested in the mines, were equally bitter that these new riches were controlled by the Boers.

The Boer republics continued to expand, but a loss to the Pedi gave the British the excuse to annex Transvaal in January 1877, claiming that only a British military presence would guarantee security. This led to the First Anglo-Boer War (1880-81), really a series of skirmishes, which the Boers won. The peace conventions that followed contained ambiguous wording regarding British suzerainty over the Boer republics.

The British were also expanding their borders and had defeated the Zulu Kingdom in the Anglo-Zulu War of 1879. Zululand became a crown colony in 1887 and was absorbed into Natal in 1897. British expansion continued with the establishment of the Basutoland Protectorate (modern Lesotho, 1884), British Bechuanaland and the Bechuanaland Protectorate (modern Botswana, 1885), and Swaziland (1893). The acquisition of these territories backfired spectacularly, since the Boers were released from fighting Africans and could now concentrate on their fight for territorial expansion against the British.

Anglo-Boer relations sank to new depths with the Jameson Raid at the end of 1885. Unhappy at the Boer control of the Rand mines and the discriminatory laws against British residents in Transvaal, a group of mine owners attempted a coup. The raid failed completely, and the British authorities disowned it. The president of Transvaal, Paul Kruger (1825-1904), responded by buying weapons from Germany and France and forming a military alliance with the Orange Free State. This, in turn, convinced British colonial authorities that a Boer-German alliance could seriously threaten British dominance in Southern Africa and scupper the ambition to create a single British-controlled colony, the Union of South Africa. Kruger's discrimination against non-Boer White residents, called Uitlanders ('Outsiders') by the Boers, gave what the British considered a moral justification for war. With the British mobilising reserve troops, Kruger issued a 48-hour ultimatum to the British government on 9 October 1899, demanding that British troops be withdrawn from Transvaal's borders. The British refused to comply, and war was declared on 11 October.

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