Boer War - Impact at home Flashcards
Hobhouse - British claims about the concentration camps
-The British authorities insisted that the camps were made out of military and humanitarian necessity.
-The policy of internment began under Roberts and became official under Kitchener
Who was Emily Hobhouse?
-Best remembered for her efforts to bring to the attention of the British Public the plight of tens of thousands of Boer civilians in concentrations camps between 1900 and 1902
-Visited camps in South Africa on her own initiative and with the sponsorship of a relied society
-Horrified by what she saw, she drew up a report of her findings which led to radical improvement in camp conditions and ultimately saved thousands of lives
-Hobhouse was supported by the Committee of the distress fund for South African Women and Children, Hobhouse, branded a “Pro-Boer’ due to her vociferous yet peaceful anti-war campaigning
-Hobhouse played a decisive part in exposing the inhumanity of her government’s policy, thereby setting a host a reforms that went far in alleviating the suffering of thousands of innocent civilians
What did Hobhouse find at the concentration camps
-The numerous occupants had to share inadequate rations. She moved on to inspect other camps, including Norval’s Pont, Allwal North, Springfontein, Kimberling and Mafeking
-Almost everywhere she encountered squalid conditions
-In general she found appalling conditions of overcrowding and woefully inadequate sanitation as well as poor food and tainted water supplies, and insufficient medical care.
-As well as it the absence of beds, furniture and schooling for children
-She returned to Bloemfontein on the 22nd of April, only to discover that the population has doubled in size to nearly 4000 people in the six weeks since her first visit.
Hobhouse trying to fix the issues with the military
-She fought hard to draw the attention of the military authorities to the most immediate needs such as better facilities, food, medicine, clothing, soap and every manner of basic amenities
-She was unable to secure these changes, and subsequently decided to return home to publicise her findings and exert pressure on the government.
Hobhouse applying pressure on the government
-Hobhouse published her report in June 1901
-It contained stark and sometimes exaggerated facts. Her tone was moderate and her recommendations were compelling
-The government was forced onto the defensive, and could no longer ignore the issue
-The government appointed Mallicent Fawcett to head a commission to report upon the issue
Who was Fawcett and what was she sent to do?
-In 1901, Fawcett and her ladies-only commission were allowed by the government to report on the concentration camps and discredit Emily Hobhouse’s findings
-They were allowed as these industrious ladies all believed that the war was just and that meant certain unpleasant measures directed at the civilian population was justified, otherwise the Fawcett commission was quite diverse
-But if there were hopes that the commission would add a ladylike coat of whitewash to the camp, but they did not and while it is difficult to be objective in a war, they tried to be fair
Fawcett Commission’s recommendations
-Fawcett and her commission confirmed Emily Hobhouse’s report to be accurate and her proposed reforms to be long overdue
-Rations needed to be increased and with vegetables
-Nurses, camp matrons, and an inspector of the camps needed
-Provide water boilers for drinking water, more coal for cooking, sterilizing apparatus for typhoid patients, wood for making beds rather than sleeping in the ground
Fawcett Commission’s findings
-They were impressed by Norvals Pont and agreed with Hobhouse’s recommendation that Cole Bowen should be made the travelling camp inspector
They were shocked by the Bloemfontein camp where there was no arrangements to sterilize linen infected by typhoid patients and at Brandfort where an epidemic killed 1/10 of inmates
They blamed grossly incompetent staff and recommended complete reorganization
Fall in mortality rate in the camps after the Fawcett Commission’s recomendations
In total the mortality rate of white camps was at 35% in October 1901
In fact the common-sense of the Fawcett commission had a great effect in declining the mortality rate to down to 2%, which was less than Glasgow
Amount of dead in the camps by the end of the war
-At the end of the war, the appalling scale of the tragedy could be viewed, almost 28,000 Boers had died in the 46 concentration camps
-Women accounted for nearly 2/3 of the adult deaths
-80% of the deaths were children under the age of 16
-The Camps did not represent a deliberate policy of genocide, but they may rightfully be condemned as the product of gross indifference by British government officials remote from the scene.
Costs of the Second Boer War for the British Empire
-Around 100,000 British and Imperial casualties
-What was meant to be a quick war turned into three years
-Eventually a total of 450,000 men were sent to fight
-Cost Britain over £200 million in total
-Total costs of repatriation of Boers and reconstruction of destroyed homesteads cost around £16.5 million
What lessons were learnt by the British Army by their experience fighting in South Africa? - tactics
-Britain had learned its lesson from being beaten by the Boers, who would never be able to win against the strategical might of the British Empire, which meant that the British Army was ready for the German Empire which was a closer match
-The war had mostly been fought on open ground, with the attacker exposed to accurate repeating rifle fire, from men in trenches with smokeless gunpowder. Very similar to the methods of WW1
-Contradictory, success also depended upon superior mobility with the use of cavalry, cavalry turned out to be useless in WW1 due to things like barbed wire
-Virtually every regiment in the Army had served in South Africa creating valuable experience
What lessons were learnt by the British Army by their experience fighting in South Africa? - army organisation
The Esher Committee of 1904:
–The office of Commander-in-Chief was abolished and replaced by the Army Council which was accountable to the cabinet through the Secretary of State for War
–Established the Committee of Imperial Defence which helped co-ordinate between the relevant government departments and armed forces across the empire
-In 1907 the Secretary of State for War, Haldane, created a general staff and the various volunteer units were combined into and replaced by the Territorial Army, specified at home defence
What effects did the Boer war have on the political spectrum in Britain?
A sizeable minority of the population in the Liberals, socialists, Irish Nationalists vehemently opposed the war from the start
-Also a number of influential anti-war groups like the Stop the War Committee and the League against Aggression and Militarism
-The Labour Party stood by their anti-war convictions as the believed the conflict was a capitalist war, while other Labour leaders announced that in a national emergency they were Britons first and socialists second
-Labour’s criticism was muted as they were unwilling rock the boat while they were making the Labour Representation Committee, which sought to bring together the main socialist groups and interested trade unions
-Most outspoken opponents of the war were Irish Nationalists as they empathised with the Boers as fellow victims of Imperialist aggression
Who benefited, politically, from the war?
-Anger at government mismanagement in 1899 gave the Liberals much to exploit as Salisbury’s failure to provide decisive leadership mean the Leader of the Commons found himself in a key role
-The Liberal leader, Campbell-Bannerman accused Chamberlain of precipitating an unnecessary war but he could not defend the Boers while they were occupying British territory
-In September 1900 Salisbury called a general election and Chamberlain declared that ‘every vote against the government is a vote given to the Boers’
-The Conservative-Unionists were returned with a similarly large majority as 1895, but this was arguably less a vote in support of the war and more due to the Liberal disorganisation due to financial problems from wealthy backers abandoning it due to some of the anti-imperialist members
