The Boer War is also known by many other names. It has been called the Second Boer War, or the Anglo Boer War or even the South African War.
The first Boer War was a somewhat short conflict that came about when the Dutch settlers of the Transvaal rebelled against the British and regained their independence that they had given up to get British help in their battles against the Zulu’s.
The Second Boer War came about as a result of resentment between British immigrants and the Dutch Settlers of the Transvaal and Orange Free State. After the discovery of Diamonds in Kimberley and Gold in the Transvaal, British miners started pouring into the areas of the Transvaal Republic and the Cape Colony bordering the Orange Free State, leading the Boers to literally make them second class citizens by making them pay higher taxes and refusing them voting rights. They eventually rebelled and the British Empire became involved.
On October 11th 1899, the beginning of the prolonged and bloody conflict began, with a series of disasters for the British troops, the Boers invaded Natal and moved deep into the Cape Colony besieging Both Mafeking and Kimberley. However in December 1899 Lord Roberts became Commander in Chief of the British forces with Lord Kitchener as his chief of Staff and so with the arrival of large numbers of British reinforcements the tide turned, and the British captured Bloemfontein – the capital of the Orange Free State and Johannesburg and Pretoria in the Transvaal Republic.
After their defeats, the Boers realized that they would have no option but to change their fighting methods to Guerrilla tactics. In order to crush the Boer fighters, the British then decided on a loathsome move and began a policy of imprisoning Boer women and children, as well as their servants, in concentration camps. More than 26,000 of these innocent people died in the concentration camps due to disease and poor nutrition as they were kept literally on starvation rations. This action broke the Boers and the cruelty of the British concentration camp policy has never been forgotten by them.
After three years of bitter fighting and enormous casualties on both sides, the Boers had little choice but to agree to the demands of the British and the treaty of Vereeniging made the Transvaal and the Orange Free State into British Colonies.