mrw311 - Anthology

The Boer Wars

       Beginning in December of 1880 and ending with British defeat in March of 1881, the First Boer War served as a rude awakening to the British Army as their methods of enforcing colonial power were becoming obsolete in light of newer military technologies. The Boer commandos, being nothing more than the farmers of particular districts organized into militias, were a non-standard army and as a result were able to outfit themselves as they pleased. Each man, when called to action, dressed as he felt appropriate (the khaki of farmers clothes proved excellent for blending in with African landscape) and brought his own horse and rifle. The Boers, as a result of their lifestyle that necessitated the use of horse and rifle to provide for themselves and their families, were excellent marksmen and cavalry troops and their non-traditional mobile, cover based fighting style made them a difficult enemy to fight. Additionally, the British soldiers at the time still wore traditional army regalia which was brightly colored, thus making them easy targets for Boer sharpshooters (a lesson the British army also learned in the American Revolution, as the colonials would fire upon the brightly colored, mounted officers in regiments from the woods much to the dismay of the British as they found such conduct unsporting).
      In October of 1899, the Second Boer War erupted and the British were once again underprepared to engage the Boer commandos. Underestimating the fighting capacity and adaptiveness of the Boer soldiers, the British suffered several defeats at the beginning of the war as the Boers were better equipped with imported Mauser smokeless rifles and Krupp field guns. Additionally, the Boer use of cover, trenches, and mobile fighting beguiled the British while allowing the Boers to maintain their lethal distance from the less accurate British soldiers. In response to these defeats, in 1900 the British would send the largest force in their history till that time to South Africa to fight the Boer soldiers. Relying on scorched earth policies and internment, the British pushed hard into South Africa and began destroying the infrastructure that the Boer commandos relied on to keep fighting - houses, farmsteads, towns were razed and the citizens interned to ensure that the Boer fighters could not refresh themselves at these locations. After two years of fighting and much criticism at home and abroad, in May of 1902 the British Empire would declare victory and gain control of the Orange Free State and Transvaal, an outcome that would leave a nasty mark on the waning British Empire. 

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