British Involvement In South Africa

Question 1

What were the Dutch settlers reaction to British taking over in 1796

Answer 1

The Boers ignored their new governors and moved away from the administration centres.
They were fiercely independent

Question 2

Where did the Boers move to and what was their journey called

Answer 2

The Boers began to move away from the cape colony
Established themselves in orange free state and Transvaal
It was called the great Trek

Question 3

What happened in 1852

Answer 3

British allowed the Boers self government and republic of Transvaal was born, followed by orange free state

Question 4

Why did British change their mind on allowing the Boers self government in their states

Answer 4

after the discovery of diamonds in 1867 British views unsurprisingly changed.

Question 5

Who are the Bantu people

Answer 5

Label for the number of groups of ethnic people in Africa who speak Bantu languages
Includes Zulu people

Question 6

What year were diamonds discovered

Answer 6

1867

Question 7

What year did British propose a federation with the Boers and what was their response

Answer 7

1875 - Boers reject probably as they feared being controlled

Question 8

Result of the first Boer war

Answer 8

Boers inflicted a humiliating defeat on 400 British troops in February 1881

Question 9

What was the effect on the Bantu people during all this expansion

Answer 9

Little thought given to them
Increased wealth of the region kept in hands of the settlers
Limited to living in segregated areas

Question 10

Who were the Uitlander’s

Answer 10

European foreigner living in Transvaal

Question 11

What was the Jameson raid (1895-96) and it’s outcome?

Answer 11

Led by Cecil Rhoades , wanted to overthrow Kruger’s republic, wanted to establish pro British government
Resulted in : embarrassment of the British government; the replacement of Cecil Rhodes as prime minister of the Cape Colony; and the strengthening of Boer dominance of the Transvaal and its gold mines.

Question 12

Who was chamberlain at this time

Answer 12

Colonial Secretary (1895)

Question 13

Who was Cecil Rhoades ?

Answer 13

Prime Minister of Cape Coloney

Question 14

Who was Kruger

Answer 14

Boer leader

Question 15

Who was Alfred Milner?

Answer 15

Became High Commissioner to SA in 1897

Question 16

Why did Boer war start in 1899

Answer 16

Kruger placed restriction on the Uitlander’s possibly to put people of coming or to drive them out
Josef chamberlain made colonial Secretary in 1895 and Sir Alfred Milner the new British High Commissioner in 1897. Both were high imperialists who wanted to unite SA under British flag
The embarrassing Jameson raid was seen as deceleration of war by Boers
Following years saw uneasiness between them and Boers armed up in following yrs
Finally when Milner broke of talks with Kruger during the Bloemfontein Conference (31 May-5 June 1899), British troops dispatched to SA in September 1899

Question 17

Why did the boers attack first and what did this allow Britain to do

Answer 17

British reinforcements were on the republics borders and so the Boers launched a preemptive strike by invading Cape province and laying siege to three cities
This allowed Britain to act as if Boers had started it and therefore go to war with public backing

Question 18

What happens in stage 1 of war (October 1899-January 1900)

Answer 18

Boer offensive

At first, the Boer republican fighters were successful in three major offensives.
• Their commandos invaded northern Natal and besieged the town of Ladysmith, invaded Cape Colony

Question 19

Stage two of war :

January-June, 1900

Answer 19

With heavy reinforcements and the assumption of overall command by Lord Roberts with Lord Kitchener as his Chief of Staff, the British fought back.
• Imperial troops eventually relieved the besieged towns of Ladysmith (28th February 1900), Kimberley (15 February 1900) and Mafeking (18th May 1900).

The Transvaal was annexed on 1st September 1900.

Question 20

Guerilla tactics during stage three of Boer war (Nov1900-May1902)

Answer 20

Boers abandoned the British style of warfare and increased their reliance on small and mobile military units.
• The mobility of these units enabled them to capture supplies, disrupt communications and undertake raids on the army of occupation.
• They were very successful in evading capture.

Question 21

Brtitish frustration towards guerilla tactics during stage three of Boer war (1900-1902) resulted in :

Answer 21

In response, the British embarked on a scorched earth policy to deny supplies to the
fighters. Approximately 30,000 farms were burnt.
Built large barbed wire fencing guarded by 50000 troops
Captured displaced Boer families ,These refugees were sent to concentration camps around South Africa.

Question 22

Effect of British concentration camps

Answer 22

• A report after the war concluded that 27,927 Boers (of whom 22,074 were children under 16) and 14,154 black Africans had died of starvation, disease and exposure in the concentration camps

British treatment of Boer civilians was widely condemned in Europe

Question 23

Consequences of Boer war for Britain

Answer 23

Lost sense of invincibility
Exposed British moral and military shortcomings
Shook British confidence
£230m cost
Support for war initially but divided opinion later on.
Concerns over ‘national efficiency’ End of splendid isolation

Question 24

Consequences of Boer war for South Africa

Answer 24

Peace of Vereeniging was ‘generous’
Transvaal and OFS granted self government in 1907, Union of South Africa in 1910
Black African rights largely ignored

Question 25

Consequences of Boer war for empire

Answer 25

Exposed cost of enforcing British control
Air of invincibility damaged?
First nail in imperial coffin?
But imperialism survived and Empire was largely peaceful up to 1914

Question 26

What was the Pretoria Convention

Answer 26

Signed in 1881 after British defeat in first Boer war

Allowed South Africa republic self government