This, together with a fear of the black majority, may partly explain the implementation of the policy of apartheid (racial segregation). Firstly, he continued Roberts’ 'scorched earth' policy, in which the republics were deliberately and systematically devastated to deprive the guerrillas of food and shelter. With the coming of Union in 1910, these aspirations were again frustrated which led to the founding of the South African Native National Congress in 1912. On 13 March 1900, Lord Roberts, the British commander in chief, occupied Bloemfontein and on 5 June 1900 he took Pretoria.
Railways played an important part in the campaign and were frequently attacked by the Boers.To counter this threat, armoured trains regularly patrolled the main routes. Boer War Between 1899 and 1902, the British Army fought a bitter colonial war against the Boers in South Africa. It lasted 217 days and was the longest of the war.By the time the town was relieved on 17 May, battle casualties on both sides had reached 463. The men were shipped out of the country to keep them from fighting, but their wives and their children were forced into the camps, which were quickly become overcrowded and understocked.
Once the enemy was located by efficient scouting, the commando would approach in a solid column under cover of dead ground in order to get within effective rifle range. When in 1886 a second major mineral find was made at an outcrop on a large ridge some thirty miles south of the Boer capital at Pretoria, it reignited British imperial interests. With both republican capitals in British hands, he annexed the Free State as the Orange River Colony on 24 May 1900 and the Transvaal on 1 September 1900. The Second Boer War (11 October 1899 – 31 May 1902) was fought between the British Empire and two independent Boer states, the South African Republic (Republic of Transvaal) and the Orange Free State, over the Empire's influence in South Africa.The trigger of the war was the discovery of diamonds and gold in the Boer states. How did the wars in South African shake British prestige so badly and cause a major re-evaluation of military tactics in the years before World War One?These are wars of many names. Herds of livestock were wiped out and crops were burnt.The bad administration of the camps led to poor quality of food, unhygienic conditions and inadequate medical arrangements. Later, he helped build Britain’s first mass army during the First World War.Field Marshal Jan Christiaan Smuts successfully led troops against Britain in the Boer War.
The British empire had been shaken by its efforts to force two small nations into submission, just a decade before World War One.The war had devastated the Afrikaaners economically and psychologically. After initial setbacks and a long period of guerrilla warfare, the British eventually prevailed, but not without adopting controversial tactics. The first Boer War broke out on 16 December 1880 with a skirmish between the British garrison in Potchefstroom and a 'commando' under General Piet Cronjé. For the British they were the Boer Wars, for the Boers, the Wars of Independence. After Cronje left on 19 November and command devolved to General J Snyman, the siege became less energetic. The Indian Ambulance Corps consisted of 300 free Indians and 800 indentured workers from sugar estates, who were sent to the front by their employers.Shortly after the SAR's ultimatum expired on 11 October 1899, 7,500 Orange Free State troops crossed the border into Cape Colony with the intention of capturing Kimberley. Sickness became widespread.