1. Resisting British Control
The SOUTH african war 1899 – 1902
Introduction...

2. The SOUTH african war 1899 – 1902
“The British public expected the war against the Boers to be over by Christmas. It proved to be the longest (two and three-quarter years), the most expensive (over 200 million Pounds), the bloodiest (at least British, Boer and African lives) and the most humiliating war for Britain between 1815 and 1914”
Thomas Pakenham

3. Who were involved?
Boer men, women and children, mainly farmers who lived in the Transvaal (SAR) and the Orange Free State and spoke Afrikaans or Dutch
British soldiers who came from Britain and its colonies, including the Cape and Natal
African people from all over South Africa

4. Factors that led to the war
Revenge: Remember Majuba!
Control of gold mining interests
The Jameson Raid

5. Revenge: Remember majuba!
1877: British annexed Orange Free State & Transvaal
Boers were angry – went to war in 1890
Defeated British at the Battle of Majuba (27 February 1881)
First Vryheidsoorlog (War of Liberation)
The British wanted revenge: they were humiliated

6. Control of gold mining interests
Gold discovered in 1886 on the Witwatersrand (in Transvaal)
Made Transvaal wealthy
Mostly British immigrants seeking fortune (Called the Uitlanders)
Not happy with having little political power
Demanded to have a voice in the affairs of the Transvaal
Which areas were under british control??
What was Britain worried about? Harbours, gold, diamonds… why important?

7. The Jameson Raid
Cecil John Rhodes wanted to see all of South Africa united under British control
Did not like the fact that the Boer republics had access to the rest of the world through the Delagoa Bay harbour
Jan 1896: plans to attack Johannesburg and take over Transvaal with help from Uitlanders
Terrible failure: Rhodes asked for reinforcements that never came
Boers saw the raid as declaration of war though war only came in 1899

8. Activity
Read p. 130 – 133
Do Activity 6 in pairs (write answers on a piece of paper) (p. 133)
Report back