1876, Sir Seps Tong, Governor of British natal province, went to Transvaal to lobby him to accept British rule. Due to financial difficulties and large-scale conflicts with the Zulu kingdom in the east, Transvaal accepted the request for merger with Britain. 1877 in April, Britain issued a statement that Transvaal became a British colony and appointed Sir Sipes Tong as the Chief Executive. Transvaal province Chairman Borges resigned.
1879 after the Zulu war, Britain destroyed the Zulu kingdom and lifted the greatest threat to the Boers. During the three years when the British ruled Transvaal, they did not begin to improve the living conditions of the middle and lower class Boers, nor did they increase investment to improve the local financial, economic and political life. On the contrary, they allowed British businessmen to speculate on land and collected taxes owed to transvaal province from the Boers, which caused widespread dissatisfaction among the Boers. 1880 12 17, the conflict between Boer citizens and British troops broke out in Strum, Bochev. 12 On February 20th, two companies of the British 94th Regiment stationed in Leidenberg rushed to Pretoria, where they were ambushed by Boer militia in Brownhorst Sprite, Brancas, and the first battle started. Due to the Boer guerrilla tactics, 77 of the 247 British soldiers were killed and 157 were injured in the battle, while only 2 were killed and 4 were injured in the deployment.
188 1 year, the reinforced British army set out from Natal colony and marched into Transvaal. General Sir George Coe Leigh, commander of the British Army, led this 1000-strong reinforcements to the west of transvaal province. Rein was blocked by General Jubail at Neck on the border between Natal and Transvaal. 93 British soldiers were killed, 133 were injured, 54 were captured, and Colley himself was killed at the top of the mountain. Only 1 person died and 5 people were injured.
1881On March 6, the British and Transvakian armies signed an armistice agreement, and on August 3, the two sides signed the Pretoria agreement. According to the agreement, Transvaal can be guaranteed to establish a completely autonomous government under the suzerainty of the Queen of England, and Britain maintains three privileges: controlling Transvaal's foreign relations; Maintain control over the relationship between Transvaal and African tribes; In wartime, the British army has the right to borrow moral Lanswa.
The second Boer war
The second Boer War, from 1899 10/0/01to1May 3, 9021,was between Britain and Transvaal.
The cause of war
1884, prospecting experts discovered the world's largest Witwatersrand gold mine (rand) in a remote pasture between Pretoria and Val River in transvaal province. Then Johannesburg was built on this gold mine. The profits and taxes brought by gold mines make transvaal province's economy develop rapidly, and at the same time, it intensifies the friction with Britain.
1890, the government of transvaal province announced that foreign nationals living in Johannesburg should pay full taxes, but they are not allowed to participate in the presidential and legislative council (Volksraad) elections unless they have lived in transvaal province for 14 years and have been naturalized. In addition, all foreigners are not allowed to hold government posts, and their children are not allowed to attend government-funded schools. This law was protested by Britain, because most foreigners in transvaal province are British. The trade war and tariff barriers between Transvaal and British South African colonies, as well as the high taxes and economic restrictions imposed by Transvaal on domestic British mining companies, are the three main reasons for the deterioration of the tension between Transvaal and Britain in the late19th century.
Before the British reinforcements arrived in South Africa, the Boers' battle plan was to concentrate their superior forces, divide their troops into two ways, attack Natal all the way east, divide and surround the two strongholds of the British army-Ledi Smith and Dundee, occupy Durban Port and gain access to the sea. Another road in the southwest occupied Ma Fujin and Kimberly, which are two strategic locations where the British main force is stationed on the western Cape railway line. At the same time, it incited the Boer riots in the Cape Colony, containing the British army, especially destroying the transportation of two Cape railways and preventing the reinforced British army from using the railways to advance northward. In addition, in order to prevent the African indigenous people from attacking the Boers during the war, General Antonie Prinklow led heavy troops to be stationed in the Elephant Valley far from the front line to guard against the Little Teens riots. A militia of 800- 1000 people is stationed at the border of Swaziland, and a militia of 1000 people is stationed at the border of Basuto in the Kale Mountain Valley.
First stage
(1) the battle of mount Tarana.
189910 June 12, the Boer Allied Forces composed of Transvaal Army and Orange Army marched eastward. General Piette Jubail, commander-in-chief of the army, led the main force, crossed the Draken Mountain from East Orange, entered the Natal colony, and went straight to Reddy Smith, the main base of the British army in Natal. On the morning of October 20th, 65438+/KLOC-0, the pursuit troops fought against a British brigade stationed here to defend Reddy Smith in the periphery of Tarana Mountain. General Lucas Meyer, commander of the army, took advantage of favorable terrain and the cover of morning fog to launch a surprise attack on the British army. British troops lost 465 people and deployed troops lost 145 people.
Another army, commanded by General Delary, who is known as the "Lion of West Germany", entered the British Bethune-Nalan territory on June 5438+1October 65438+1October 0/October 0, cutting off the main railway line in the Western Cape, thus blocking the connection between the Cape area and Rhodesia. Delary divided the troops into two roads. One route was commanded by Piet Cronje, which surrounded Ma Fujin, and the other (mainly Orangemen) was commanded by louis botha, which surrounded Kimberly, a diamond town.
The Third Army crossed the Orange River to the south, absorbed a small number of Boer armed forces from the British Cape colony, and moved to the northeast Cape, threatening the East-West Cape railway line. The British army had to closely defend the Orange River Railway Bridge in case the Boers tried to blow it up. Dear, the most important railway hub station and military material distribution center of the Western Cape Railway have also been harassed by Boers. In order to ensure the normal traffic of the East-West Cape Railway, the British had to install a 4.7-inch naval gun on the train and slowly advance it under its cover to repair the railway into small pieces.
(2) the battle of Reddy Smith
18991010.30 (later called "sad Monday" by the British), Mrs. Smith's 4,000 British troops launched a counterattack against the deployed troops under the command of Lieutenant General George White, and joined forces with the deployed troops under the command of Rupert in Nicholson Neck. The British army was defeated, with a loss of 10. Due to Mrs Smith's tight defense, Jubail was unable to attack the city several times, so he sent scouts deep into the hinterland of the British army and went to the front line of Estecourt to investigate the places that could be used to hold on. The rest of the main force camped around Reddy Smith, waiting for the arrival of the British Overseas Corps.
/kloc-at the end of 0/0, 20,000 British troops led by Redvers Buller, commander-in-chief of the British reinforcements (South African Expeditionary Force) who had suppressed the Irish local uprising, finally arrived in Cape Town. From mid-June165438+1October, the British troops under Buller's command launched a counterattack against the deployed troops on the east, middle and west fronts: Lieutenant General Metthuen lifted Kimberly's siege on the west, Lieutenant General Francci attacked Orange Free State on the middle, and General Buller led the main force to lift Le Di Smith's siege on the east.
15, 18 On the morning of February, Admiral Buller launched an attack on the troops in Colenso, a station southwest of Ledesmere, in an attempt to cross the Tugra River and go to Ledesmere. The troops under Buller's command include the second, fourth, fifth and sixth brigades of the British army, with a total of16,000 troops. In addition, there are four light cavalry regiments and three rifle squadrons composed of colonial cavalry. The artillery has 5 battery companies and 30 cannons, in addition to 16 navy 12 pound guns and 4.7 inch guns. Including cavalry and artillery, Buller's total strength is 22,000. The Boer troops participating in the Battle of Colenso included militia from Johannesburg, Heidelberg, Krugersdorp, Flaherhead and Utrecht, troops from the Free State of Orange, and white police forces from Johannesburg and Swaziland, with a total of 3,500 people. In addition, there are 120mm German Krupp howitzers, 1 75mm Krupp field guns, two 75mm French Schneider-Crusoe cannons and 1 37mm Ma Keqin rapid-fire guns. The British army was defeated in this battle.165,438+039 people were killed, 250 people were missing, and 10 cannon was lost. The reason was that the British commander made a command mistake, which led to scattered troops and rigid tactics. Only eight Boers were killed and 30 were injured.
At the same time of the Battle of Reddy Smith, the British troops in Kimberly on the western front and storm Berg on the middle line also suffered defeat, losing more than 2,800 people, which was called a "dark week" in British history. Admiral Buller resigned as commander-in-chief of the British Expeditionary Force because of defeat.
stage Ⅱ
1899 65438+February 17
Lord Frederick Roberts was appointed commander-in-chief of the South African Expeditionary Force by British Prime Minister Lord Salisbury, and Lord Kitchen was appointed chief of staff. Due to the defeat, the bellicose mood among the British people rose, and the Salisbury cabinet's policy of "carrying the war to the end" was supported.
1900 65438+ 10/0/0
Roberts and the kitchen arrive in Cape Town. They brought the local seventh army, reinforcements from Australia, New Zealand and Canada, and three cavalry units from India and Ceylon. By 1900, the number of British troops on the battlefield in South Africa had increased to180,000, and then increased to 220,000-250,000 in March, occupying an absolute advantage. In addition, thousands of military horses arrived in South Africa from Britain and Australia, which increased the mobility of the British army.
1900 February
After weighing the battlefield situation, Roberts changed his strategy, shifting the main attack direction from Natasi to Orange, where the middle strength was weak, and changing the rigid frontal attack tactics and adopting the circuitous attack strategy. In the direction of the western front, the British army defeated the militia commanded by Piette Crognier, the most brave "black general" of the cloth army, and liberated Kimberly who had been besieged for several months on February 16. The British troops on the Eastern Front launched an offensive on February 27th, defeated the Boers in Dordrecht on March 3rd, and finally got rid of the siege of Ledis Smith.
After eliminating the threat of the most powerful Crognier to its left wing, Roberts turned his main force back to Orange and steadily pushed north. Drawing lessons from the failure in the first stage, the British army changed its tactics. When ambushed by the deployed troops, the infantry troops no longer kept their formation, but dug trenches nearby to cover the cavalry's charge on the deployed positions. Under this tactic, the troops deployed in the poplar forest and the Abraham cowshed failed one after another. On March 10, the 6th and 7th Divisions of the British Army defeated the most well-equipped Johannesburg police force in Cowherd, Abraham. On March 12, the President of the Free State of Orange, Matthews Stein, led the government and congressional officials to flee from the capital, bloemfontein, to Kronstad in the north. On the afternoon of March 13, British troops entered bloemfontein. In the middle and late March, typhoid fever prevailed in the British army, so Roberts had to order a rest on the spot and the British offensive was interrupted. On March 26, the commander-in-chief of the army, Jubail, fell off his horse again in the battle of Willow Grange and died the next day. According to his last wish, louis botha, who was good at guerrilla warfare, succeeded the commander-in-chief of Boer Field Force.
1end of April 900
Another large number of British reinforcements arrived in South Africa. After the force adjustment, Roberts has eight infantry divisions (3rd, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10,1,colonial division) and 12 cavalry divisions. The British army resumed its attack in early May. On May 12, Roberts' army captured Kronstadt, the new capital of Orange Free State. Due to successive failures, the morale of the Boers plummeted. Under Roberts' generous promise, many vigilante members who were active behind the British army surrendered to the British army, handed over their weapons and returned to their farms. By mid-May, only 20,000 Dobl people were still fighting.
65438+May 24th, 0900
Lord Milner announced that Britain had annexed the Orange Free State of bloemfontein. After the annexation of Orange, the British army stepped up its attack on Transvaal. On May 29th, General Francci commanded the Australian cavalry and defeated the last defensive troops on the Klip River in the southern suburb of Johannesburg. On May 30th, President Kruger left the capital Pretoria by train. On May 3rd1day, Roberts entered Johannesburg and Pretoria in the early morning of June 5th.
1900 September 1
Roberts announced that Britain had annexed Transvaal and the war was over. On September 1 1, President Kruger arrived in Lorenzo Maguire, the capital of Portuguese Mozambique, with the authorization of the exiled government of transvaal province. On June 19, 2009, President Kruger went to Europe for help on the cruiser "Gelderland" dispatched by Wilhelmina, beatrix wilhelmina armgard.
The third stage
After the capture of Pretoria, Roberts' 40,000 troops rested in place. But the long British supply line from Cape Town to Pretoria was attacked by the Boers who were still resisting. By this time, the major cities and railway lines in Transvaal and Orange had all been occupied, and the troops began to turn to guerrilla warfare. In Johannesburg and Pretoria, the British army also foiled many attempts of Boer riots.
General Roberts left Pretoria on June 29th 1900, 165438+ and returned to China to take over the post of Commander-in-Chief of the British Army. He handed over the command of the South African army to Lord Kitch, and Lord Ian Hamilton took over as chief of staff.
The Boer army withdrawn from the city has now split into several parts and formed several guerrillas. Under the leadership of Dewette, De La Rui, Botha, Jan Smotz and james hertzog, Boer guerrillas used their field riding and shooting skills to attack British traffic lines, plunder British materials and annihilate a small number of British troops. 1900 February to190/KLOC-0 April, Boer guerrillas fought in the British Cape Colony under the command of Botha and Dewette. During the winter campaign of 190 1 from April to September, the guerrillas launched many sneak attacks on the British troops in Transvaal and Orange, and they succeeded many times and seized a large number of arms, supplies and artillery. From September 190 1 to May 1902, Shi and Herzog re-entered the Cape Colony. They led 5000 cavalry, divided into several small guerrillas, marched thousands of miles to the British rear, all the way to the Atlantic coast and the suburbs of Cape Town, forcing Britain to declare martial law in Cape Town.
In order to end the war as soon as possible, from March 190 1, the kitchen adopted bunker tactics, scorched the earth, set up concentration camps and dealt with Boer guerrillas. In the area where Boer guerrillas were active, the British army set up barbed wire to divide Boer into several appeasement areas and carried out partition sweeping. The total length of barbed wire is 6000 kilometers. Set up a wooden bunker every 1 to 2 km in the appeasement area and send soldiers to station it. Anyone near the bunker will be shot. * * * More than 8,000 bunkers have been built. In these appeasement areas, as long as Boer farmers are found to be helping guerrillas, all farms and houses within 10 miles around them will be burned down. In addition, Kitchen Branch changed its lenient policy towards prisoners of war, and all surrendered and captured guerrilla members and adult male citizens who had participated in guerrilla activities were exiled to remote Indian, Ceylon and Bermuda prison camps. In Cape Colony and Natal Colony, all Dutch British citizens who answered the call to "take up arms" were sentenced to death once they were caught.
In order to completely eliminate the base of guerrilla activities, Kitchen Qi ordered136,000 Boer women, children, the elderly and more than 80,000 black servants to be taken away from the burned farm, transported together with open trucks or ox carts and put into concentration camps.
The South African concentration camp was first established in September, 1900. At first, they were refugee camps for families of Boer soldiers whose homes were burned down. 190 1 year, the kitchen transformed them into a concentration camp for all Boer civilians. There are more than 50 concentration camps in South Africa, which are located on both sides of the railway lines in Cape Province, transvaal province, Orange and natal province, and in the suburbs of big cities such as Johannesburg, bloemfontein and Durban. A strict rationing system was implemented in the concentration camp. Three-quarters pounds of corn flour, rice or potatoes per person per day, one ounce of coffee, two ounces of sugar, half an ounce of salt, and one pound of meat per week (women and children with relatives participating in guerrillas can't get meat). Babies and children under six can get a quarter quart of milk every day. The situation in black concentration camps is even worse, but they can get help from black relatives and friends or be released after swearing allegiance to Britain. The concentration camp is surrounded by barbed wire, and anyone who tries to escape over the barbed wire will be shot. The population density of concentration camps is extremely high, tents, blankets, clothes and medicines are extremely scarce, plagues are prevalent, malnutrition and mortality are extremely high. The death rate of the white concentration camp in Orange District is as high as 40.1.901.1.00.
The high death rate in concentration camps has seriously shaken the morale of Boer soldiers, and at the same time made the image of the British plummet in front of the whole world. Emily hobhouse, a British woman, was shocked by the situation in the concentration camp and submitted a 15 page report to China, describing the horrors of the concentration camp. Miss hobhouse was declared an "enemy of the motherland" by the British government, and was immediately arrested and deported. However, after returning to Europe, she persisted in the struggle and won wide support. The opposition Liberal Party, led by Lloyd George, a young Welsh nationalist, lashed out at the barbaric policies of the Conservative Party and the army. Switzerland, Germany, the Netherlands, France and the United States sent inspectors, and European and American countries donated a lot of materials to the civilians in the concentration camp. Under the strong pressure of international and domestic public opinion, the British Parliament had to send a fact-finding mission to South Africa. After severely criticizing Chuna and the officials in the concentration camp, the ration and medical conditions in the concentration camp were improved, and the mortality rate quickly dropped to 2%.
During the entire Boer War, a total of 27,927 Boer civilians died in concentration camps, including the elderly 1.676, women 4 1.77 and children 22,074.