The major unjust war of the last century

The unjust war

The Boer war

The Anglo Boer war.

Benjamin Franklin:

“It is said by those people who know Europe generally, that there are more thefts committed and punished annually in England, than in all the other nations put together.

If this is so, there must be a cause or causes for such depravity in our common people. May one not be the deficiency of justice and morality in our national government, manifested in our oppressive conduct to subjects, and unjust wars on our neighbours? View the long-persist in, unjust, treatment of Ireland, at length acknowledged! View the plundering government exercised by our merchants in the Indies; and, to say nothing of those upon France and Spain,view the late war upon Holland, which was seen by impartial Europe in no other light than that of a war of rapine and pillage – the hopes of an immense and easy prey being it’s only apparent, and probably its true and real, motive and encouragement! Justice is as strictly due between neighbour nations, as is between neighbor citizens. A highwayman is as much a robber when he plunders in a gang, as when single; and a nation that makes an unjust war is only a great gang. After employing your people in robbing the Dutch, it is strange, that being put out of that employ by peace, they still continue robbing, and rob one another; piraterie, as the French call it, or privateering, is the universal bent of the English nation, at home and abroad, wherever settled.”

Extract from his letter to Benjamin Vaughan, Esq. On the criminal laws, and the practice of Privateering . March 14, 1785 Published by William and Robert Chambers in Edinburgh and W.S. Orr and company, London 1839

It is fair to assume when human beings take action against, or with, or for, other beings, they are motivated to do so by one or more reasons that they feel justifies their action. Others may differ about their justification and they will be judged accordingly.

Should they hide or misrepresent their justification this, in reality, negates both their motivations as well as the actions they have taken, and thy cannot, even with millions of words, and carefully constructed adjectival assault, escape the label of dishonesty that they have earned – a token of their weakness.

I opened with this statement because this is exactly what Britain did in the Transvaal and Orange Free State republics during the final decade of the 19^th century. Compare this with what Britain did when she called Hitler to order only a few decades later, when she received world wide support for her actions, and you will find it difficult to think it was the essentially the same government responsible for both actions. Yet this is true.

BACKGROUND TO THE UNJUST “BOER” WAR.

Shipping grew into a world wide trading activity several hundreds of years ago. One of most profitable routes was the one around the south of Africa, but it was a long one. No Suez Canal yet and difficult seas to negotiate. The natural harbour at the Cape of Good Hope provided a most useful stop over, much as the present Services stations one sees along the British motorways. Fresh water and produce. This station soon became an important destination in itself. Britain and the Netherlands played musical chairs over the control of this useful centre for some years.

During this period there arrived a group of refugees from France who were escaping the attacks of the Catholic church after the Edict of Nantes had been revoked. They, known as Huguenots, were mostly farmers, who then embarked on building the wine growing capabilities that proved so successful to this day. They had arrived during the time that the Cape was under Dutch control. The Dutch people had similarly been sympathetic to other French refugees in Holland.

A lot of the credit for the success of this “services and supply centre” belongs to these farmers who were also providing the necessary quality food and related supplies that the ships needed.

The farming activities in that region grew significantly. The French farmers created wine farms which, due to the local agricultural and weather conditions, and a lot of hard work, grew into a major contributor to the local economy.

BRITAIN and FRANCE

The British government, when in charge at the Cape, were not well disposed to the French community, something, perhaps, not new to them. The Huguenots wanted to school their children in French, and to use French for official purposes. This was vetoed by the small minded biased British governmental officers. They had to use Dutch, or English, period. So they, no surprise, chose Dutch to communicate with the Government and at school. This was, in part, the status that gave rise to the local language later known as Afrikaans. Their children spoke French at home but had to learn Dutch at school, out of this grew what the Hollanders called an “in between language” with strong elements of both languages. It also laid the seeds for a cultural development which became most important in the future history of the country.

THE TAAL – AFRIKAANS

The British Government did not like this at all, calling it “dirty Dutch” and forcing those children who dared to use it to carry slate tablets hung on their chests saying “I speak Dirty Dutch”.

The short sighted British authorities did not foresee that this same language which they dismissed in it’s infancy would become the very glue that would unify the farmers that were forced to move away from the horrors of British domination. This language grew in it’s every aspect to become a strong literary force, serving as the underlying foundation of the future Orange Free State and the Transvaal Republic. Due to the pressure of the authorities the language had a strong Dutch bias but it retained several aspects of it’s French heritage, such as the double negative. The French heritage is evident in the surnames of many South Africans such as De Villiers, Boucher, Du Toit, Labuschagne, De Klerk, Du Plessis, Blignault, Bruwer, Cordier, Viljoen, Fouche, Fourie, Joubert, Jordaan; to name but a few. As one friend put it “our blood is French, our tongue is Dutch!” Their heritage is reflected even today in the surnames of some South African sports men and women on the international stage.

BRITAIN AND THE CAPE FARMERS

British oppression – multi faceted – left many of these farmers with no alternative but to travel north and to lay solid farming and commercial foundations in the areas north of the Orange and Vaal rivers. These areas were sparsely occupied by small black tribal units who traveled and occupied themselves with tribal wars that offered no stability. The farmers negotiated their presence with the nearest tribes. The tribes often found themselves unable to act true to their undertakings. They were more interested in looting the farmers’ livestock than husbanding their own. Clashes resulted but progress was made, even if slower than desired. But Britain would not leave the farmers alone. It used any and every opportunity to interfere in their activities and allied themselves with some of the warring tribes with the single purpose of destroying the work done by the farmers.

THE EMPIRE

The fairy tale song singing and chest thumping “British Empire” had proved a millstone around the neck of the British taxpayer. Britain’s liberal gesture to put an end to the slave trade, something they did not create, also added to the woes of their taxpayers, cost their country dearly.

TRANSVAAL GOLD

The discovery of the rich gold deposits in the Transvaal and the ensuing success of the mining ventures changed everything. The gold went to London every week. That, and the generous income derived from the beneficiation of the Kimberley diamonds, had a positive effect on the British Pound. London was stronger, exports of goods and services brought in regular income streams. The British ambition of straddling Africa with a continent long railway now seemed to back on the cards, thanks to the efforts of the new rich Randlords, Cecil Rhodes in particular. Sterling smiled all the way to and from the bank. Ships from the Union Castle line delivered this bounty to London week after week. Britain could not risk the loss of this flow of riches so it had to take control.

REFORM WITHOUT FORM!

Rhodes’ so called REFORM movement with it’s ambition of taking over the government of the Transvaal was a spectacular failure. Based on a series of lies and misrepresentations (good old British “spin”) it would never succeed. Read my article on this matter in a separate post on this website https://proselityze.com. There was no real sensible justification for this action. Matters were brought to a head by the Jameson folly – he attempted to invade and take over the Transvaal Republic using a badly assembled troop of individuals distinguished by their inebriation!

Once the dust had settled and the farmers returned to their farms, Jameson had been dispatched to his native land for British authorities to deal with. This they did very gently. The Rand Lords, having paid their fines, went back to counting their money; the shiploads of the yellow metal continued steaming weekly to London; the secret packs of diamonds and other precious stones again arrived at the accommodation addresses in London, Amsterdam and Tel Aviv. Things were returning to normal.

PEACE RETURNS

The insane noise from those Sandycroft and Fraser & Chalmers stamp mills was again heard in the distance all over the Transvaal. Wages were paid, bills were paid, construction progress in evidence. The Stock Exchange shook off the dust of the emotive disturbances.

The rebirth of this wonderful town of such great promise was evidence of the friendships that had survived. Entertainment and sport was once again the order of the day. Shows, boxing, horse racing and opera, was once again on stage. Businessmen revived their ambitions and started planning and scheming. Water supply, roads, brick works, and cement fabrication were high on their list of priorities. Left to their own devices this group of people, focused on building and benefiting from one of the richest platforms ever seen in Man’s history, were about to turn this small platform into a world leading economic wonder.

The Transvaal was happy to work with Britain, This was the miracle of their goodwill in the light of the recent happenings. Street names such as Kitchener and Roberts stayed in place. The government was prepared to consider and discuss matters with those involved managing the important gold mining industry. President Kruger wanted more manufacturing industry and greater local beneficiation of the mineral resources.

More significant industry meant greater and more reliable markets for the farmers who had tamed the land. Expanded industry and other fiscal activities would engender a solid economic base for the country. There was no reflection on the Queen whom Kruger respected, even remembering her birthdays. Kruger respected Sir Hercules Robinson whom he trusted implicitly “as Herklaas so sê het ek dit nie op skrif nodig nie”. (If that is what Hercules said I don’t need it in writing). So, at the highest level, the relations were still sound.

RUMBLINGS – NOT KNOWING WHEN YOU ARE WELL OFF

But then danger lurked in the near distance. The British government started building up a threatening serious military presence deliberately aimed at overtaking the Transvaal Republic. Sensibility would have dictated that Britain should have been pleased that the financial benefits to the value of the Pound were restored, and could, over time, make it even stronger, underscoring the British pipe dream of extending the Empire. But no, Britain decided to kill the goose laying golden eggs by the dozen!

For reasons only known to themselves the British authorities decided to attack, raising the threat to such a level that President Kruger had to call them to order. They felt this was a “clever” move, because they could then blame him for what was to follow. How sick can you get?

Were the Brits still smarting from the serious military setbacks that they had suffered at the hands of both the Farmers and the local Black tribes? Were they really so small minded? Was there an element of the high school bully that likes to beat up those smaller than him? Britain lied about their motives, citing the treatment handed out to the warring tribes by the farmers. Yet the same British government turned a blind eye to the treatment handed out to the Australian Aborigines by the white settlers in that commonwealth country. Did Britain send out several hundred thousand troops to punish the Australians?

PSYCHOLOGY REIGNS?

Or, perhaps this was an unconscious eruption of what Psychologist Max Webber called the action of “machtstaaten” wherein a power state, injured by a smaller and weaker one, just had to beat it down, evidencing it’s own superiority. Consider the fact that, since the beginning of the 19^th century, the United Kingdom had been actively involved in 45 wars world wide, emerging as winners in virtually all of them. Making war against the small Transvaal Republic would be a mere formality. The end result would place total control of the rich underground gold resources into British hands to deal with as it pleased them.

It was an easy decision to take: Wipe the Transvaal and the Orange Free State farmers and their governments off the map. But then the British military in place failed miserably in their attempts to bring this about. The farmers taught them embarrassing lessons in war that they have still not forgotten. So what to do?

ENTER KITCHENER

They called in their strong arm hit man who had cut his teeth at the massacre of Omdurman, across the Nile from Khartoum. There he had enfiladed firstly, 12 000 black Muslims and then, to drive the message home, another 20 000, Lee Enfield rifles flooding the air with “dum dum” bullets.

Easy Peasy he said, I will wipe these farmers off the face of the earth in 3 months.

Wrong, oh so wrong. The job, that Britain wanted done, took 3 years. Thousands of lives were lost, on all sides. A million heads of livestock lay dead in the veld. The campaign was characterized by absolutely inhumane conduct (see para. 3 below). There is a vast number of books that cover the war in great detail. They are freely available in amazon, ebay, and others where they are available for free download. I will not attempt to rewrite the history of the war because it has often been done, by a variety of authors. I have listed some in bibliography section. I suggest you compare as much as possible. British authors often write with an acid filled pen and are often off target. Why, I don’t really know. Attempting to hide Britain’s shame, perhaps? One would think that history can do without being varied.

COMMONWEALTH INFIGHTING

One would think that a primary objective of the Commonwealth would be to create a family of nations. Yet here we find members of this clearly fragile family fighting against other members in the most cruel and unconscionable manner, and then award their fighters hero status!

What gave me a sick feeling recently was when I read a report of an Australian trooper of how proud he was of the many widows they left behind in the town where my grandparents had lived.

What was really sad was the keen participation of fellow members of the Commonwealth – Australia, new Zealand and Canada – in the attacks on the unarmed farm families. They dynamited the homes, looted the farmers’ possessions including looting jewelry that they took home as gifts for their own families, took away food and even finished the food off plates that the women and children were busy eating. They “took the honour” of the women and their young daughters as and when it pleased them. They burnt furniture including pianos and the small Harmonica organs, the books and personal letters and title deeds. Having had their fun they forced the women and small children to walk most of the way to the infamous concentration camps.

THE WORLD RESPONDS

The so called Anglo Boer War stimulated world wide interest. International press in a large number of newspapers and periodicals feasted on the campaigns and events that occurred over a period of nearly three years at the crossover from the nineteenth to the twentieth centuries. Reporters, journalists, authors, you name it, they came to pen their own views of what was happening.

It was the perfect theater to arouse compassion, criticism, derision, pity, fear, hope and admiration, a full panoply of human emotion. David and Goliath, a small untrained yet fearless nation standing up to the mighty British Empire. A mere 50 thousand fighters facing 500 thousand trained soldiers that had, before, conquered all that attempted to oppose them. A highly trained military unit that regarded this tiny group as insignificant. Their ranks filled with men of high authority, Colonels and Lt. Colonels galore, with all the experience one could possibly ask for. With strong reserves of arms, ammunition, ample food supplies and liquor, imported top quality horses and surveillance equipment including balloons. Ready and prepared to go and dispense of this annoying tiny group of individuals. They boasted that they would celebrate victory in a week or two, perhaps, but certainly no longer then 3 months. They were the world’s mightiest war machine, feared by all.

A comment from a British soldier: “I am one of Lord Kitchener’s body-guard,”. “I’ve had enough, God knows, and when I get home I mean to leave the Army and take up my old work—carpentry. The war can’t last very long. England is mighty—but I wish the bloomin’ capitalists would come and do the fighting, if they want this country and it’s gold-mines.” From The Petticoat Commando by Johanna Brandt.

Following the war Britain sprouted a hailstorm of literature aimed at ameliorating but also justifying it’s treatment of the Transvaal and Orange River Republics, weaving a tapestry of non guilt on it’s part in this sorry affair.

H. Whates in his writing about the third Salisbury administration firstly endorses Shepstone’s clever trick of “annexing” the Transvaal by raising a British flag in Pretoria before a small English speaking audience. He then carries on about the suspect concept of “suzerainty” a strange undefined concept that grants the British government superiority. Subsequent conventions agreed to by the British and Transvaal governments were designed to sort out this mess, “the definite guarantee of independence, implied a certain superiority of relationship, inasmuch as the guaranteeing Power would have to undertake a protecting part against any who sought to overthrow that independence.”

So what happens when the “guaranteeing Power” becomes the party who seeks to overthrow that independence?

Why call this an unjust war?

For Unjust read unnecessary.

The antagonist: Britain.

The target: The Transvaal Republic.

Where: On the southern tip of Africa.

When: Right at the start of the 20^th Century.

The war run by:

1. The full British military capability backed by large numbers of mercenaries commandeered from British Colonies to the extent of a ratio of ten times as many soldiers as their victims.

2. Using the skills of senior commanders who had shortly before killed more than 30 000 Black Muslims in Omdurman in the Sudan.

3. Adopting ruthless practices including killing more than one million farming stock; dynamiting farm properties; attacking unarmed women and children and old relatives; looting their possessions; forcing them into despicable conditions in concentration camps where tens of thousands, including a large number of innocent children, died a miserable death; locking captured combatants away in prisons in a variety of countries far away.

4. Having successfully completed what they set about to do, forcing the victims to accept them as their rulers.

5. Finally setting about a carefully constructed wide ranging campaign in the press and in literature aimed at blaming their victims for this unjust war.

6. There was no need for this war at all.

Bibliography – further reading:

My reviews:

I recommend the very balanced and sensible opinion on this war and others like it in the work of Prince Michael of Liechtenstein. I will not repeat any of it here but I suggest you read it at https://www.gisreportsonline.com/r/how-empires-enter-their-twilight/

Die Bitter Einders 1901 – 1902. By M. A. Gronum. © Tafelberg Pubishers 1974. A very balanced and well researched book.

Die ontplooing van die Engelse Oorlog 1899 – 1900. By M. A. Gronum. © Tafelberg Publishers 1977. Likewise a worthwhile resource about the war without which no research is complete.

Secret History of the Jameson Raid and the South African crisis, 1895 -1902. Second Series no. 33 by the Van Riebeeck Society. © Van Riebeeck Society Cape Town 2002. The true history of the British political involvement in perspective by the man who was made to “carry the can” for the misconduct of his superiors.

The South African War. Peter Warwick and Professor S.B. Spies. © Trewin Copplestone Books Lt. 1908. Thorough and well balanced, generously illustrated.

Jameson’s Raid. The prelude to the Boer War. Elizabeth Longford. © Elizabeth Longford. Published in South Africa by Jonathan Ball Publishers. 1960 and © 1982.The only value of this book is that it is a perfect example of how low the British spin doctors can go.

Avonture uit die Tweede Vryheidsoorlog. From the diary of Captain C. C. Snyman, secretary to Commandant J.H. Pyper.

The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Petticoat Commando, by Johanna Brandt. This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
http://www.gutenberg.org/2/0/1/9/20194

Heidelbergers of the Boer War. Ian S. Uys © 1981. A lot of interesting information that you won’t find elsewhere.

A tourist guide to the Anglo Boer War. By Tony Westby-Nunn © 2000. Published by Westby-Nunn Publishers PO Box 483 Simon’s Town 7995 South Africa. Essential handbook for visitors to our wonderful country.

And, of course, about Him who had the last word: “we are good friends now” : Kitchener, Portrait of an imperialist by Philip Magnus © Philip Magnus 1958.

OTHERS:

There are more, many more. Much of it relates to the battles, strategies, successes and failures of which there were plenty, on both sides. Some really remarkable stuff, and often well informed. There is really no need to rehash all the stories unless, of course, fresh information is at hand.

MY INTEREST

My interest, instead, is in the whys and wherefores of this remarkable David and Goliath history. All of it driven by politicians. Is that not what is happening in the world today?

Should we find a way of running our countries without politicians?