MEP8 The Boer War Of 1899-1902

Question 1

Who were the boers?

Answer 1

Descendants of Dutch settlers were mostly farmers in Southern Africa and their colony was named cape colony

Question 2

When did the British invade the boers?

Answer 2

1806 and it became part of the British empire

Question 3

How did the boers react to Britain taking over?

Answer 3

They left cape colony and headed north and set up 2 new colonies

Question 4

When was the first boer war and what happened?

Answer 4

1867-81
In 1867 diamonds were discovered in the new boer states. The British tried to get the Boers to unite their states with the British ones but the Boers refused. A war began but the British could not defeat the Boers.

Question 5

When was the second Boer war?

Answer 5

1899-1902

Question 6

What lead to the second Boer war?

Answer 6

• 1886: gold discovered in the Boer states
• Cecil Rhodes opened mines inside the Boer territory and British workers flooded in
• Boer leader Paul Kruger refused to give the British workers any political rights
  Rhodes sponsored a plan to overthrow Kruger and replace him
• Rhodes plan failed and relations between British and Boers grew tense
• The British placed more troops along the border
• Then war broke out

Question 7

What were some Boer victories?

Answer 7

• Early in the war the small Boer army stunned the British with a series of victories
• The Boers were highly skilled fighters, armed with new model guns and knew the terrain very well
• Boers mainly fought in small groups (5-12 fighters) so they were hard to detect
• 1900 the British responded by sending half a million troops using latest technology to fight approx 50,000 Boer soldiers
• The Boers refused to surrender and carried out dozens of small raids on British camps, railways, mines.

Question 8

How did the British respond to the Boers victories?

Answer 8

• British commander general Kitchener introduced a scorched earth policy
• Boer men, women and children were rounded up into concentration camps. Of 116,000 Boers put in these camps 28,000 (mainly children) died.
• There were black concentration camps too an estimated 130,000 black civilians (mainly farm labours on Boer farms) were rounded up 20,000 died.

Question 9

When and how was there finally peace at last?

Answer 9

By 1902, both sides were exhausted but the Boers surrendered and peace talks began
- It was agreed that the Boer states would become British colonies but the Boers were promised they could make many key decisions
- 1910 Boer states rejoined with the cape colony and became known as South Africa and was classed as a dominion rather than a colony and ran its own affairs

Question 10

What were some consequences of the second Boer war ?

Answer 10

• Around 450,000 British soldiers fought and nearly 6,000 died and a later 16,000 died from illness or injuries sustained during battle.
• The Boers lost 7,000 of their 90,000 soldiers and 28,000 civilians.