week 8 - relations with indigenous people 1857 - 1890 Flashcards
first boer war:
causes
the expansion of the british empire.
problems within the transvaal government.
the british annexation of the transvaal.
boer opposition to british rule in the transvaal.
first boer war:
what did lord carnavon want?
to form a confederation of all the british colonies, independent boer republics and independent african groups in south africa under british control which would extend imperial influence - even cecil rhodes rejected it, saying that it was not a model that was applicable to the diverse region, and that conflict would result from outside involvement in southern africa at a time when state relations were particularly sensitive.
by 1876 he realised that he would not be able to achieve his goal peacefully and was prepared to use force to make the confederation a reality, a fact that was proved by the anglo-zulu war in 1879
first boer war:
shepstone and burgers
shepstone, sent to the transvaal as special commissioner.
he was vague about his real purpose. he used the weakness in the transvaal government by making the boers aware of the dangers of a bankrupt state and focusing on the government’s lack of control over black people like the pedi and the zulu.
demoralised the boers
burgers did very little tried to stop britain from taking over the transvaal - shepstone had told burgers what his intentions were and Burgers tried to convince the transvaal government to take the situation seriously, but they refused to see the urgency of the matter.
first boer war:
first conflict
first open conflict between the began in november 1880 in potchefstroom - bezuidenhout refused to pay extra fees on his wagon saying he already paid his taxes.
british authorities then confiscated the wagon.
11 november 1880 a commando of 100 men under cronje took back the wagon from the british bailiff and returned it to bezuidenhout.
following this, between 8 000 and 10 000 boers gathered at paardekraal, on 8 december 1880. as a result a triumvirate of leaders; kruger, joubert and pretorius were appointed.
13 december 1880 - the leaders proclaimed the restoration of the transvaal republic and three days later raised their vierkleur flag at heidelberg, thus rejecting british authority.
first boer war:
what did britain do to the natives?
taxed them higher
first boer war:
what did the boers lack?
lacked siege trains and artillery
first boer war:
boer advantages
they could storm hills by using zigzag tactics from cover to cover up the hillside, while sharpshooters provided covering fire.
tactical coordination was excellent. so was their intelligence and their transport system.
could mobilize more rapidly than any other military force in existence at the time and a fine sense of discipline which stressed self-direction.
boers, unlike the british, were not troubled by desertions, by moutbreaks of looting, or by alcoholic excesses
first boer war:
the pretoria convention
new republic was named the transvaal and was to be bean independent republic, but it still had to have its foreign relations and policies regarding black people approved by the british government.
new state was also not allowed to expand west, meaning that the transvaal was still under british influence. boer triumvirate was worried about some of the requirements, but they took over the rule of the transvaal on 10 august.
conditions put forward by the British government were unacceptable from thetransvalers’ point of view and in 1883 a delegation including paul kruger, the new president of the transvaal, left for london to review the agreement.
transvaal was to discuss about her political independence
british were to be the over rulers in transvaal and was granted internal independence
foreign affairs of transvaal were to remain under british hands
boers were to accept the british flag and recognize the queen of england
british goods were to have free entry in transvaal
uitlanders were to receive the civil rights in transvaal
boundaries of transvaal were defined
equal rights were extended to all people
britain was to have limited responsibility for african affairs through a representative in pretoria
first boer war:
london convention 1884
British influence over the south african republic was amended
stipulated that the south african republic had the right to enter into a treaty with the orange free state without approval from the british.
any other treaty with any other nation would require approval from the british subject to the british not taking longer than six months to advise the south african republic of such an approval or rejection.
