Many modern day writers on the Boer War endeavour to convince their readers that Christiaan de Wet was some sort of military genius. With tedious predictability, Pakenham, for example, lists him as one of the ‘great generals’ of the war – a list...
One hundred years ago today, with the First World War still very much underway, the Royal Naval Air Service[i] and the army’s Royal Flying Corps were amalgamated to form the Royal Air Force – the world’s first independent Air Force[ii] and, at...
On March 19th, 1982, a group of Argentinian scrap metal workers docked in South Georgia (about 850 miles east of the Falklands) and raised the Argentine flag. Whether or not this was authorised by Galtieri’s government is still unclear, but...
When is a valid source not a valid source? Well, according to many writers on the Boer War: ‘when it doesn’t support the much-cherished myth’. Written by a leading ‘Defender of the Myth’™, one of the more mindlessly entertaining reviews of...
Claiming that the Boers taught the British army everything from marksmanship to camouflage is a popular pursuit for those of a certain persuasion, but few ever take a moment to consider what the British (who, let us not forget, won the war)...
The last couple of years have seen a lot of discussion about the way the British Empire and the men of that time are perceived; the irony of a South African student who was involved in the ludicrous ‘Rhodes Must Fall’ campaign in Cape Town then...
Louis Botha’s War – The Campaign in German South-West Africa, 1914-1915 Adam Cruise, Zebra Press With most attention focused on the Western Front, the ‘other’ theatres of the Great War rarely get much attention. Even in comparison to...
The popular myth of the Boer War (ie. basically, that the Boers were the innocent victims, desperate only to be left in peace until they were invaded by millions of rapacious Tommies who couldn’t shoot straight and thus lost all the battles, but...
The award many refer to as ‘The Boer War Medal’ is in fact ‘The Queen’s South Africa Medal’[i]. So familiar is the medal to aficionados of the conflict that the cover of the National Army Museum’s Book of the Boer War, for example, used the image...
In 2007, at the height of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, ‘Help for Heroes’ burst onto the scene, the aim of the new charity being to support and help injured British servicemen. An excellent and well-run organisation which does brilliant work...
The Siege of Ladysmith commenced on the 2nd of November 1899. A week thereafter, on the 9th, the Boers made an effort to rush the town’s defences, but were repulsed with relative ease. Indeed, so chastened were they after the mauling they...
For those without any sort of military background, some of the nomenclature of the units which served in the Boer War can be a little bewildering. This is especially so, given that unit sizes / names have changed over time leading to yet more...
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