Anglo-Boer War and Union
Anglo-Boer War and Union
The Anglo-Boer war and Union; in 1899 gold led directly to the Anglo-Boer War that lasted three years. President Paul Kruger of the ZAR and the High Commissioner of the Cape Colony, the imperialist Lord Milner, disagreed on the “Uitlanders” rights. That induced Kruger to pre-empt a British declaration of war in 1899.
The war lasted three years. They also used trenches for the first time. This developed into probably the first real guerrilla-style warfare. In the end, the so-called “scorched earth” policy of the British, with the resultant concentration camps for Whites and labour camps for Blacks, led to the signing of the Peace Agreement of Vereeniging in 1902.
The Peace Agreement
The peace agreement was ‘generous’ to the losers. The four colonies (Cape, Natal, Orange Free State and Transvaal) met at a National Convention in 1908 to lay the new country’s foundation. On 31 May 1910 the Union of South Africa, a self-governing dominion within the British Empire, came into being.
However, the majority Black population was virtually excluded from the negotiations leading to Union, and the result was that they were deprived of more land. Black dissatisfaction resulted in the South African National Native (later African National) Congress (ANC) formation as early as 1912. Afterwards, the South African Communist Party also developed.
We offer several tours to the various battlefields and surrounding areas. These tours also include the Anglo Zulu wars and some of the other smaller skirmishes from the 1870s to the early 1900s. The tours depart from Durban, the closest major city where you can travel to join them. See options hereunder:
1-Day Anglo Zulu Battlefields Tour
2-Day Battlefields tour including Anglo Zulu and Anglo Boar skirmishes
3-Day Battlefields tour also including the Boer wars against Zulu armies, also called Zulu Impies