Events of the Boer War Flashcards
What were the three main stages of the Boer War ?
- October 1899- January 1900
- January - June 1900
- June 1900- May 1902
What was the October 1899 - January 1900 period known as
Boer offensieve
How and where were the Boers successful in three major offensives ?
- their commandos invaded Northern Natal
- besieged the town of Ladysmith
- invaded Cape Colony to lay siege to the British garrisons in Kimberley and Mafeking
Where did the Boers suffer defeats during the Boer offensive ?
- British suffered defeats during ‘ Black Week’ Stormberg, Magersfantein, Tugela River
What was the January - June 1900 period known as ?
British response
What did the British response consist of ?
Consisted of fighting back with heavy reinforcement and the assumption of overall command by Lord Roberts with Lord Kitchener
What did the British response succeed in relieving ?
- Imperial troops relieved the besieged towns of Ladysmith, Kimberley and Mafeking
What did the British response succeed in conquering/ annexing ?
- March 1900 Roberts occupied Bloemfontein, the capital of the Cape Colony
- In May, the province was annexed.
Johannesburg and Pretoria were taken soon after
Transvaal annexed on 1st September 1900
What was the June 1900- May 1902 period known as/ for ?
Guerrilla warfare and the British response
Why did the Boers start guerrilla warfare ?
Due to their lack of success, Boers abandoned the British style of warfare and used guerrilla warfare
Impact of guerrilla warfare for the Boers ?
Enabled them to capture supplies, disrupt communications and undertake raids on the army of occupation.
This was successful
British response to Guerilla warfare ?
In response, British embarked on a scorch earth policy in which 30,000 farms were burnt.
- followed by a number of ‘ drives’ which had the intention of cornering the Boers
Impact of the ‘ drives’
- ## The’ drives’ produced large numbers of displaced Boer and African families.These refugees were sent to concentration camps
Info on concentration camps ?
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.
