Belligerents:

Great Britain.
The Transvaal and Orange Free State.

Cause:

The premature annexation of the Transvaal in 1877 was resented by the majority of the Boers. In 1880 a formidable rebellion broke out, a small British force was sent out which met with determined opposition at Laing’s Nek and Ingogo, and on February 27, 1881, was defeated at Majuba Hill. The Boers regained their independence under the suzerainty of Great Britain.

Cecil Rhodes, with vast ideas of Imperial expansion, became the dominating influence in South Africa. In 1884 Bechuanaland was annexed. In 1889 Rhodes founded the British South Africa Company. In 1896, after a successful conflict with the Matabeles, Buluwayo was captured and Matabeleland added to the territory of Rhodesia. In 1886 gold had been discovered in the Transvaal, and a great cosmopolitan city arose at Johannesburg. This resulted in an enormous influx of Europeans and the decision of the Boers to exclude them from any share in the political life of the country. Behind Rhodes, who became Prime Minister of Cape Colony in 1895, great financial interests grew up and exerted considerable influence. Under the presidency of Kruger the Boers adopted a more and more hostile attitude towards the Outlanders. In 1895 the Jameson Raid, which was connived at by the authorities, revived Kruger’s power, which had been waning, and made the Boers arm in preparation for a further surprise.

Occasion:

A promise of intervention was sent by the British Government in reply to a petition from the Outlanders in 1899. Attempts to reach a compromise with Kruger failed. Both sides were preparing for war, and the mining interests exerted great pressure. On October 9, 1899, the Transvaal issued an Ultimatum.

Course of the War:

The Boers invaded Natal and Cape Colony; Ladysmith, Mafeking, and Kimberley were invested. British defeats at Magersfontein, Stormberg, and Colenso (December 1899) led to Lord Roberts being sent out to supersede General Buller. Kimberley and Ladysmith were relieved, Bloemfontein fell. In May 1900 Mafeking was relieved, and in June Johannesburg and Pretoria were occupied. The attempt to insist on unconditional surrender prolonged the war for two more years.

Political Result:

By the Treaty of Vereeniging, May 1902, the Transvaal lost its independence. The Orange Free State had been annexed in 1900. Under pressure from the financial interests Chinese were introduced to work the gold-mines. This was one of the chief reasons for the fall of the Conservative Government in 1906. Campbell-Bannerman, who became Prime Minister, solved the problem of the future of the Transvaal by granting them full self-government, and the importation of Chinese was stopped.

Remarks:

The origin of the war can be directly traced to far less worthy causes than that of redressing the grievances of the Outlanders. The war was unnecessarily prolonged by an underestimate of the strength of the Boers and the desire to humiliate them. But the grant of self-government was the act that saved the war from being barren in results and from being the precursor of further trouble. The Union of South Africa was established in 1909.

The Powers of Europe, with the exception of Italy, adopted an unfriendly attitude towards Great Britain during the war.