Battles & Wars › Industrial wars › Colonial conquest of Africa (Scramble for Africa)
Second Boer War
October 1899 – May 1902· War· Middle East & Africa
Well documentedSolid records, physical evidence or scientific consensus.
Britain fought the two Boer republics of southern Africa for control of the region and its gold, winning after a long guerrilla war.
See it on the Battles & Wars map →What happened
Gold found near Johannesburg in 1886 drew British and other foreign miners to the Boer-run Transvaal. Disputes over their rights, and British imperial ambitions, led to war in 1899. Boer mounted riflemen besieged British towns and inflicted shocking defeats. Britain sent about 450,000 troops and took the Boer capitals in 1900, but Boer commandos fought on. Britain answered by burning farms and holding civilians in camps, where about 26,000 Boer women and children and at least 14,000 Black Africans died. Peace came in 1902.
Why it matters
Britain's largest war between 1815 and 1914, it exposed army weaknesses that spurred reforms before 1914 and made 'concentration camp' a byword.
How we know
British army and parliamentary records, Emily Hobhouse's reports on the camps, Boer memoirs, camp registers and photographs, and the Treaty of Vereeniging.
Still debated
Black Africans' role and deaths were long ignored and remain undercounted; historians still weigh gold against imperial strategy as Britain's main motive.
Connections (3)
▸Second Boer War was Britain's costliest war in Colonial conquest of Africa (Scramble for Africa)Well documented
The connection
The Boer War was the climax of Britain's push to control southern Africa, from the Cape to the gold fields. It cost Britain about £200 million and roughly 22,000 soldiers' lives, mostly to disease, far more than any other colonial campaign. Victory united the region under British rule as the Union of South Africa (1910), run by its white minority.
When and how
South Africa, 1899–1902: Britain against the South African Republic (Transvaal) and the Orange Free State, under Lords Roberts and Kitchener; Treaty of Vereeniging, May 31, 1902.
How we know
Treasury and War Office figures, the 1903 Royal Commission on the War in South Africa, and casualty registers.
Debates and open questions
Whether it belongs to the 'scramble' is debated: it was a war between Britain and white settler republics, though fought on African land with much African involvement.
▸Second Boer War featured Boer commandos, an early model of Guerrilla and insurgent warfareWell documented
The connection
After Britain took the Boer capitals in 1900, Boer fighters split into mounted commandos that raided railways and supply columns across the open veld. Britain answered with lines of blockhouses, burned farms and camps for civilians. That pattern, mobile raiders backed by the population and a counter-campaign aimed at the population, recurred in later insurgencies.
When and how
South Africa, 1900–1902, with Boer commanders such as Christiaan de Wet and Jan Smuts against British forces under Lord Kitchener.
How we know
British military records, Boer memoirs such as Deneys Reitz's Commando, and Emily Hobhouse's reports on the camps document the guerrilla phase in detail.
Debates and open questions
Calling it an 'early model' is debatable, since guerrilla war is far older; its influence on later theorists was indirect.
▸Breech-loading and bolt-action rifles gave Boer marksmen long range in the Second Boer WarWell documented
The connection
The Boer republics bought tens of thousands of German Mauser rifles before the war. With smokeless powder, which gave off no telltale smoke, and clips of five rounds, Boer farmers firing from hidden trenches could hit British troops at long range. In 'Black Week', December 1899, the British lost at Stormberg, Magersfontein and Colenso.
When and how
South Africa, 1899–1902; Boer forces of the Transvaal and Orange Free State against the British Army.
How we know
British and Boer accounts, Mauser export records, and British army inquiries after the war, which pushed reforms in marksmanship.
Debates and open questions
How much the Mauser itself mattered, versus Boer fieldcraft, mobility and British tactical errors, is debated; Britain's Lee-Metford was a comparable rifle.