The Anglo-Boer War respectively the South African War - an overview

Seminar paper from the year 2006 in the subject History - Africa, grade: 1,3, University of Osnabrück, language: English, abstract: The Boer Wars at the dawn of the century highly influenced not only SouthAfrican history, especially in terms of the development of the apartheid system,but it additionally changed the possibilities of warfare. These conflicts betweenthe British Empire and the two independent Boer republics, the Orange Free Stateand the Transvaal (South African Republic) took place from 1880 to 1881 and1899 to 1902. Even though formally there have been two wars in a short period oftime, one usually focuses on the Second Boer War, also known as the SouthAfrican War, Anglo-Boereoorlog (Anglo-Boer War), Tweede Vryheidsoorlog(Second Freedom War) or "Tea-Time War". This paper will mainly concentrateon the South African War, even though background information will be provided.Historians ought not to ask "What if...?", since they have to focus on facts. Butignoring this guideline for a moment, fascinating questions arise: "What if thelarge deposits of gold and diamonds in the Transvaal were not found in the 1870sand 1880s? Would the British have fought for the rights of the uitlandersnevertheless?" These are two of the questions which will be dealt with (in 2.1)when reasoning the origins / causes of the war.Following, the paper will bring together the facts and some unusual features of theSouth African War. Its center of attention will be the Guerilla War starting of inSeptember 1900 and lasting till the Treaty of Vereeniging in May 1902, the end ofthe War.