Description
By Arthur Conan-Doyle. This classic account of the Second Anglo-Boer War, originally published in 1901, remains the standard by which all other accounts of the conflict are measured. Now updated with three modern appendices dealing with military casualties on both sides; Boer prisoner of war camps in the Caribbean, the island of St. Helena, Ceylon and India; and British concentration camps and their effect upon the Boer population.
Compiled by the author while serving as a medical doctor in Bloemfontein, the book starts by covering the origin of the Boer republics, and their dealings with the British and other emigrants on the Rand which laid the foundation of the casus belli.
From there it moves onto a fast-moving and factual account of the various battles and campaigns which saw initial British defeats turned into rapid advances into the Boer heartlands. The expected Boer surrender then never materialised, and the conflict devolved into a hard-fought guerrilla war which saw nearly twice as many British troops deployed into the Boer republics as the latter’s entire population: men, women, and children combined.
A riveting story which has lost none of its drama in the past century, and whose reverberations can still be felt to the present day.
Now completely reset and updated with 194 new footnotes explaining terms, personalities, and events to the present-day reader, in addition to all 19 original footnotes by the author.
“Take a community of Dutchmen of the type of those who defended themselves for fifty years against all the power of Spain at a time when Spain was the greatest power in the world. Intermix with them a strain of those inflexible French Huguenots who gave up home and fortune and left their country for ever at the time of the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. The product must obviously be one of the most rugged, virile, unconquerable races ever seen upon earth.
“Take this formidable people and train them for seven generations in constant warfare against savage men and ferocious beasts, in circumstances under which no weakling could survive, place them so that they acquire exceptional skill with weapons and in horsemanship, give them a country which is eminently suited to the tactics of the huntsman, the marksman, and the rider. Then, finally, put a finer temper upon their military qualities by a dour fatalistic Old Testament religion and an ardent and consuming patriotism.
“Combine all these qualities and all these impulses in one individual, and you have the modern Boer—the most formidable antagonist who ever crossed the path of Imperial Britain.
“Our military history has largely consisted in our conflicts with France, but Napoleon and all his veterans have never treated us so roughly as these bard-bitten farmers with their ancient theology and their inconveniently modern rifles.”—From the first chapter.
About the author: Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle (1859–1930) was a Scottish writer and physician, most noted for his fictional stories about the detective Sherlock Holmes, which are generally considered milestones in the field of crime fiction.
Contents
Chapter I: The Boer Nations
Chapter II: The Cause of Quarrel
Chapter III: The Negotiations
Chapter IV: The Eve of War
Chapter V: Talana Hill
Chapter VI: Elandslaagte And Rietfontein
Chapter VII: Battle of Ladysmith
Chapter VIII: Lord Methuen’s Advance
Chapter IX: Battle of Magersfontein
Chapter X: Battle of Stormberg
Chapter XI: Battle of Colenso
Chapter XII: The Dark Hour
Chapter XIII: The Siege of Ladysmith
Chapter XIV: The Colesberg Operations
Chapter XV: Spioen Kop
Chapter XVI: Vaalkranz
Chapter XVII: Buller’s Final Advance
Chapter XVIII: The Siege And Relief of Kimberley
Chapter XIX: Paardeberg
Chapter XX: Roberts’ Advance on Bloemfontein
Chapter XXI: Strategic Effects of Lord Roberts’ March
Chapter XXII: The Halt At Bloemfontein
Chapter XXIII: The Clearing of The South-East
Chapter XXIV: The Siege of Mafeking
Chapter XXV: The March On Pretoria
Chapter XXVI: Diamond Hill—Rundle’s Operations
Chapter XXVII: The Lines of Communication
Chapter XXVIII: The Halt At Pretoria
Chapter XXIX: The Advance to Komatipoort
Chapter XXX: The Campaign of De Wet
Chapter XXXI: The Guerilla Warfare in the Transvaal: Nooitgedacht
Chapter XXXII: The Second Invasion of Cape Colony
Chapter XXXIII: The Northern Operations From January to April 1901
Chapter XXXIV: The Winter Campaign From April to September 1901
Chapter XXXV: The Guerilla Operations In Cape Colony
Chapter XXXVI: The Spring Campaign From September to December 1901
Chapter XXXVII: The Campaign of January to April 1902
Chapter XXXVIII: De la Rey’s Campaign of 1902
Chapter XXXIX: The End
Appendix 1: Total military casualties on both sides
Appendix 2: Boer prisoner of war camps in the Caribbean, the island of St. Helena, Ceylon and India
Appendix 3: British concentration camps and their effect upon the Boer population
Index.
324 pages. 8.5″ x 11″ (US Letter size). Paperback.
