This war was the first war of the 20th century and is interesting from a variety of points of view.
For example, both conflicting parties massively used smokeless gunpowder, rapid-fire guns, shrapnel, machine guns and magazine rifles on it, which forever changed the tactics of the infantry, forcing it to hide in trenches and trenches, attack in thin chains instead of the usual formation and, removing bright uniforms, dress up in khaki …
This war also "enriched" us with concepts such as sniper, commando, sabotage warfare, scorched earth tactics and concentration camp.
It was not only the first "attempt to bring Freedom and Democracy" to countries rich in minerals. But also, probably, the first war, where military operations, in addition to the battlefield, were transferred to the information space. Indeed, by the beginning of the 20th century, mankind was already using telegraph, photography and cinema with might and main, and the newspaper became a familiar attribute of every home.
Thanks to all of the above, the man in the street around the world could learn about changes in the military situation literally within a few hours. And not just read about events, but also see them in photographs and screens of cinematographs.
The confrontation between the British and the Boers began almost a hundred years before the events described, when Great Britain laid eyes on the Cape Colony belonging to the Netherlands.
First, having annexed these lands, they also bought them later, however, so cunningly that in reality they did not pay a penny. However, this gave the right to one of the heavyweights of the information war, Arthur Conan Doyle, to write the following lines in his book on the Anglo-Boer War: on this one. We own it on two grounds - by right of conquest and by right of purchase."
Soon, the British created unbearable conditions for the Boers, banning teaching and paperwork in the Dutch language and declaring English the state language. Plus, England in 1833 officially banned slavery, which was the basis of the Boer economy. True, the "good" British appointed a ransom for each slave. But, firstly, the ransom itself was half the accepted price, and secondly, it could only be obtained in London, and then not in money, but in government bonds, in which poorly educated Boers simply did not understand.
In general, the Boers realized that there would be no life for them here, packed up their belongings and rushed north, founding two new colonies there: the Transvaal and the Orange Republic.
It is worth saying a few words about the Boers themselves. The Boer War made them heroes and victims in the eyes of the whole world.
But the Boers lived off the labor of slaves on their farms. And they mined the land for these farms, clearing it from the local black population with the help of rifles.
This is how Mark Twain, who visited southern Africa around this time, describes the Boers: “The Boers are very pious, deeply ignorant, stupid, stubborn, intolerant, unscrupulous, hospitable, honest in relations with whites, cruel towards their black servants … they are absolutely all it is equal to what is happening in the world."
Such a patriarchal life could have continued for a very long time, but here in 1867, on the border of the Orange Republic and the Cape Colony, the world's largest diamond deposit was found. A stream of crooks and adventurers poured into the country, one of whom was Cecil John Rhodes, the future founder of De Beers, as well as two new English colonies, modestly named after him in Southern and Northern Rhodesia.
England again tried to annex the Boer territories, which led to 1 Boer War, which the British, in fact, wasted.
But the troubles of the Boers did not end there, in 1886 gold was found in the Transvaal. A stream of crooks poured into the country again, mainly the British, who dreamed of instantly enriching themselves. The Boers, who continued to sit on their farms, in principle did not mind, but imposed a high tax on the visiting Outlander (foreigners).
Soon the number of "come in large numbers" almost equaled the number of locals. Moreover, foreigners began to demand civil rights for themselves louder and louder. To this end, a human rights NGO, the Reform Committee, was even created, funded by Cecil Rhodes and other mining kings. A funny addition - while claiming civil rights in the Transvaal, the Oitlander, however, did not want to give up British citizenship.
In 1895, Rhodes, by then the Prime Minister of the Cape Colony, with the assistance of the Colonial Secretary Joseph Chamberlain, sponsored a certain Dr. Jameson, who, having assembled a detachment, invaded the territory of the Transvaal. According to Jameson's plan, his performance was to be the signal for the Oitlander uprising. However, the uprising did not occur, and Jameson's detachment was surrounded and taken prisoner.
The unlucky doctor ended up in prison (which is typical, in English, since he was extradited by the authorities of the Transvaal to the British), Rhodes lost his post as prime minister of the colony, and Chamberlain was saved only by the timely destruction of documents.
This raid, however, not only inspired Rudyard Kipling to write his famous poem "If", but also made it clear to the British government that without a good war the annexation of gold mining regions in Africa will not work. However, the then government of Lord Salisbury was not disposed to war, rightly relying on the "peaceful seizure" of the Boer republics by the growing mass of Oitlander.
But Rhodes, who dreamed of building a railway line across Africa, could not wait, since Germany, gaining strength, was also actively engaged in the construction of African railways (oh, those pipelines … transport routes).
They had to put pressure on the government using public opinion.
And here is the time for a small retreat - when I was collecting materials on the Anglo-Boer War, I was surprised to learn that the British themselves are accused of unleashing this war … guess who? Jewish banking capital !!!
The De Beers company was able to become a leader and monopolist in the diamond trading market only after it received the support of the Rothschild trading house. The gold mined in the Transvaal also went straight to London banks, among whose owners there were traditionally many Jews.
By the way, British politicians quite rightly remarked that "the Treasury does not receive a single farthing from the Transvaal or any other gold mines." These incomes were received by private owners of banks.
So, the new governor of the Cape Colony, Alfred Milner (whom future historians will call "media-advanced", since he not only knew how to use the press, but also managed to work in the newspaper himself) sends reports to the metropolis greatly exaggerating the plight of the Oitlander in the Transvaal and sends a secret intelligence report in which the Boers look bad.
British newspapers, moreover belonging to different parties and trends, write approximately the same articles, portraying Boers as savages, villains, cruel slave owners and religious fanatics. Articles, for greater clarity, are illustrated with beautifully drawn pictures.
Interestingly, years later, historians have figured out the reason for this unanimity - almost all information about the "real" state of affairs, the British press took from two newspapers published in Cape Town: "Johannesburg Star" and "Cape Times", by a "surprising" coincidence, belonging to Rhodes. Also, thanks to pressure from Rhodes and Milner, the head of the local Reuters news agency, who held an anti-war stance, was fired. After that, Reuters joined the chorus of militant Democrats.
However, it is hardly worth blaming only Jewish bankers for unleashing the war. The hysteria around the Boers lay on fertile ground. The British sincerely believed that they were born to rule the world and any obstacle in the implementation of this plan was perceived as an insult. There was even a special term, "jingoism", meaning the extreme stage of the imperial chauvinism of the British.
Here is what Chamberlain, not unknown to us, said: “Firstly, I believe in the British Empire, and secondly, I believe in the British race. I believe the British are the greatest Imperial race the world has ever known."
A striking example of "jingoism" was Rhodes, who dreamed that Africa belonged to Britain "from Cairo to Cape Town," and those ordinary workers and shopkeepers who threw stormy festivities after each British victory and threw stones at the windows of the houses of pro-Boer-minded Quakers.
When in Stratford-upon-Avon, Shakespeare's hometown, a drunken crowd of patriots broke the windows of the homes of anti-war Quakers, the writer of Christian novels and Scripture Explanations Maria Correli addressed the thugs with a speech in which she congratulated them on how good they defended the honor of the Motherland, and said: "If Shakespeare rose from the grave, he would join you."
The confrontation between the Boers and the British in British newspapers was presented as a confrontation between the Anglo-Saxon and Dutch races and was mixed around the honor and dignity of the nation. (In fact, before that, the Boers had kicked the British ass twice). It was announced that if England once again yielded to the Boers, this would lead to the collapse of the entire British Empire, for the people in Australia and Canada would no longer respect her. An old bike was pulled out about Russia's claims to India and traces of Russian influence on the Boers were “found”. (Russia in general was a very profitable card, because the term "jingoism" itself arose during the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-78, after England sent a squadron into Turkish waters to counter the advance of Russian troops).
But most of all, England was worried about the increasingly strengthening its position in Africa, the German Empire. In the 90s, Germany nevertheless built a railway linking the Transvaal and the German colonies on the Atlantic coast. And a little later, she extended a branch to the Indian Ocean. These roads not only violated the English monopoly on the import and export of goods from the Boer republics, but also made it possible to bring the newest Mauser rifles sold to the Boers by Germany (in many ways superior to the British Lee Metford rifles), machine guns and artillery.
The German Kaiser Wilhelm II, after the Jameson raid, even wanted to take the Boer colonies under his protectorate and send troops there. He publicly stated that "he will not allow England to break the Transvaal."
However, just before the war, it was possible to come to an agreement with Wilhelm, "dividing" the Belgian colonies in Africa with him on paper and ceding several islands in the Samoa archipelago.
So, public opinion was prepared, the people demanded Boer blood, the government did not mind.
Unprecedented pressure on the Boer republics began on the diplomatic front, simultaneously with the build-up of British forces in southern Africa.
After lengthy negotiations, the President of the Transvaal Paul Kruger actually agreed to all the requirements for citizenship and the rights of the Outlander and even surpassed them in some way. This put England in a somewhat embarrassing position, since the reason for starting a war actually disappeared. Then Britain simply rejected these proposals, as well as the proposal to resort to arbitration, saying that "they were late."
The Russian ambassador to Great Britain, Staal, in his regular report sent in September 1899 to St. Petersburg to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia Lamzdorf, reported: “Chamberlain does not change his course of action: he is responding to the concessions of the Boers with new requirements. In his address to the Americans through the newspaper World, Kruger says: “Every country has the right to defend its subjects, but England does not protect the British, but seeks to turn them into subjects of the Transvaal by threats and violence. This points to a second thought: it is not naturalization that the Oitlander wants, but our land rich in gold. " Krueger is right. But he is mistaken in asserting that power is not right, but right is power. The righteousness of the matter will not save the independence of the Transvaal, and the only question is whether it will be lost by voluntary submission or after a struggle. Preparations for war are underway on both sides, and the issue will be resolved in a few days."
So already Paul Kruger, the president of the Transvaal, had to present an ultimatum to Britain, demanding the withdrawal of his troops from Natal and the Cape Colony.
British newspapers greeted the ultimatum with a friendly laugh, calling it "an extravagant farce" and "tinsel of the silent state."
And therefore, on October 12, 1899, without waiting for the strengthening of the British, the Boer troops crossed the border. The war has begun.
This war is divided into three stages. Boer offensive. British Retaliatory Offensive and Guerrilla Warfare. I will not describe the course of hostilities, but I will dwell on the information war in more detail.
Although the Boers themselves did not particularly distinguished themselves in the information war, by that time Britain had managed to acquire a considerable number of ill-wishers around the world. First of all, these were Russia, France, Germany and, of course, Holland. Their joint merit was that the future war was declared a "war between the whites", which, in fact, was not so little, because the rules adopted at the Hague conference held six months before these events, convened, by the way, at the initiative of Russia.
And, of course, the sympathies of most of the "civilized" world were on the side of the Boers.
Throughout the war, the Russian press wrote about the Boers with constant enthusiasm and even diligently emphasized their resemblance to the Russians, an example of which was the high religiosity of the Boers, their propensity for agriculture, as well as the habit of wearing thick beards. The ability to ride and shoot accurately made it possible to compare the Boers with the Cossacks.
Thanks to numerous articles, the average Russian high school student knew the geography of South Africa, probably better than his native province.
Several songs were written, one of which - "Transvaal, Transvaal, my country, you are all on fire" - became truly popular and, according to folklorists, was sung with might and main until the 2nd World War.
Thin brochures of the Rose Burger print series, which had developed a truly African passion against the backdrop of the Boer War, were sold on every corner.
75 issues of this series have sold one hundred thousand copies.
Only a few liberal newspapers sided with England. Explaining her greed - by caring for the people. And the militant at that time imperial chauvinism - the unity of the interests of the government and the people inherent in democracy.
In other newspapers and magazines, England is quite rightly described as a greedy and deceitful villain. And her army, not so fairly, is a bunch of cowards attacking only in a ratio of 10 to 1.
Double standards were boldly used. For example, the poisoning of wells with boers was considered a military trick. And a similar action on the part of the British is barbaric.
All successes of the Boer army were exalted to the skies, and any successes of the British were subject to doubts and ridicule.
Lieutenant Edrikhin, seconded to South Africa during the war as a correspondent for the Novoye Vremya newspaper (and, apparently, a former employee of Russian intelligence), wrote under the pseudonym Vandam, already during the Boer War warned his compatriots: “It is bad to have the Anglo-Saxon as an enemy, but God forbid to have him as a friend … The main enemy of the Anglo-Saxons on the way to world domination is the Russian people."
Louis Boussinard's novel "Captain Rip the Head", written in 1901, which, probably since then, has been read by every generation of boys around the world (except England, they "do not know" about him there), very clearly reflects the attitude of continental Europe to that war.
Such a powerful informational support led to the fact that a stream of volunteers from all over the world poured into the army of the Boers. The majority were Dutch (about 650), French (400), Germans (550), Americans (300), Italians (200), Swedes (150), Irish (200), and Russians (about 225).
However, the Boers themselves did not welcome this stream too much. Kruger even wrote an article, the general meaning of which boiled down to: "We did not invite you, but since we have arrived, you are welcome." Also, the Boers almost did not accept foreigners into their detachments - "commando", formed from the inhabitants of one locality. So the foreign volunteers formed 13 units of their own.
In the course of the war, the Boers also practically did not use the possibilities of the press. Although the British gave plenty of reasons. They did not even disclose the official numbers of their losses and those of the enemy, which forced the world to use British data.
But the British did not miss the opportunity to scandal loudly. For example, accusing the Boers of cruel treatment of prisoners. Only after the American ambassador, having visited the British prisoners, assured the whole world that they were being kept with the maximum, "as far as possible in the given conditions," they had to leave this topic.
But at the same time, they did not stop accusing the Boers of barbarism and cruelty, assuring that they were finishing off the wounded, destroying the civilian population friendly to England, and even shooting their own comrades who wanted to go over to the side of the British. The newspapers were filled with "genuine" testimonies of the Boer atrocities. According to the English historian Philip Knightley, "there were practically no restrictions on such inventions."
Considerable forces were thrown into this information war. More than a hundred people were sent to the front from Reuters alone. Plus, every major London newspaper sent an average of 20 employees, and smaller British newspapers preferred to have at least one journalist in South Africa.
Among this army of correspondents there were many information heavyweights whose names will no longer tell us anything.
However, it is worth mentioning the names of Arthur Conan Doyle, who went to this war as a military doctor, and Rudyard Kipling, who was personally acquainted with Rhodes. Winston Churchill, representing the Morning Post, was also there. As a matter of fact, it was this war, the Boer captivity and the escape from it, vividly described in his reports, that marked the beginning of his political career.
Numerous photographs and endless newsreels created a “presence effect” in the viewer and made an indelible impression. Including in cinematographs, staged films such as "The Boers Attack the Red Cross Tent" were shown, filmed in the English city of Blackburn, and issued as real newsreels. (Sounds familiar, doesn't it?)
But sometimes the British had incidents, for example, one English general accused the Boers of "using the forbidden dum-dum bullets, captured by them from the British and allowed to be used only in the British troops."
But, probably, the height of cynicism was the announcement in the newspapers that the son of the Boer commander D. Herzog had died in captivity, which read: "A prisoner of war D. Herzog died in Port Elizabeth at the age of eight years."
The British, by the way, in contrast to the Boers, who treated the prisoners in a downright chivalrous exemplary manner, could not boast of being "exemplary". Captive Boers, in order to avoid escapes, were driven onto sea vessels and taken to St. Helena, Bermuda, Ceylon and India. And, again, the age range of "prisoners of war" ranged from 6 (six) to 80 years old.
The crush, lack of fresh food and normal medical care led to high deaths among prisoners of war. According to the British themselves, 24,000 captive Boers were buried far from their homeland. (The numbers are especially surprising when you consider that the Boer army, although it could collect 80 thousand, but in reality rarely exceeded 30-40 thousand people. However, given the age range of "prisoners of war", one can understand that the entire male population of the Boer republics was appointed as such.)
But the British dealt with the civilian population of the Boer republics even worse, after, having suffered defeat in the "correct" war, the Boers went over to partisan actions.
The commander of the British army, Lord Kitchener, responded by resorting to scorched earth tactics. Boer farms were burned, their livestock and crops were destroyed, water sources were polluted, and civilians, mainly women and children, were driven to concentration camps.
According to historians, from 100 to 200 thousand people were herded into these camps, mainly women and children. The conditions of detention were truly bestial. More than 26 thousand - 4177 women and 22,074 children - died of hunger and disease. (50% of all imprisoned children under the age of 16 died, and 70% - under the age of 8).
Wanting to save the shaky reputation of "gentlemen", the British called these concentration camps "Places of Salvation", stating that people come there voluntarily, seeking protection from local blacks. Which could be partly true, since the British distributed firearms to local tribes and gave their "go-ahead" to looting and shooting Boers.
And, nevertheless, Boer women stubbornly tried to avoid being "invited" to such "Places of Salvation", preferring to wander and starve in freedom. However, the "fight against slavery" did not prevent the British from driving the former Boer slaves into separate camps and using them in auxiliary work for the army, or simply in the diamond mines. From 14 to 20 thousand "freed slaves" died in these camps, unable to bear the joys of such "freedom".
Finally, an abundance of journalists began to work against the British themselves. The information about the horrific conditions of the camps in which the representatives of the "white race" were kept, and the photographs of children dying of hunger, outraged the whole world, and even the British public.
41-year-old Englishwoman Emily Hobhouse visited several of these camps, after which she began a violent campaign against the existing order there. After meeting with her, the English liberal leader, Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman, publicly declared that the war had been won "by barbaric methods."
The authority of Britain, already undermined by the military successes of the Boers at the beginning of the war and the fact that, even having achieved more than tenfold superiority in manpower, not to mention technology, England for more than two years was not able to achieve victory, strongly staggered.
And after the use of "scorched earth tactics" and concentration camps, the moral authority of Britain fell below the plinth. The Boer War is said to have ended the prim Victorian era.
Finally, on May 31, 1902, the Boers, fearing for the lives of their wives and children, were forced to capitulate. The Transvaal Republic and the Orange Republic were annexed by Britain. However, thanks to their courage, stubborn resistance and sympathy of the world community, the Boers were able to negotiate an amnesty for all participants in the war, to obtain the right to self-government and the use of the Dutch language in schools and courts. The British even had to pay compensation for the destroyed farms and houses.
The Boers also received the right to continue to exploit and destroy the black population of Africa, which became the foundation of the future policy of apartheid.
