WARNING: This is Version 1 of my old archive, so Photos will NOT work and many links will NOT work. But you can find articles by searching on the Titles. There is a lot of information in this archive. Use the SEARCH BAR at the top right. Prior to December 2012; I was a pro-Christian type of Conservative. I was unaware of the mass of Jewish lies in history, especially the lies regarding WW2 and Hitler. So in here you will find pro-Jewish and pro-Israel material. I was definitely WRONG about the Boeremag and Janusz Walus. They were for real.
Original Post Date: 2006-01-18 Time: 00:00:00 Posted By: Jan
[That email from a friend about the Boer war museum and website has certainly got me interested. Now that is a place I want to go to. I think when I take some leave this year I must go there. It sounds like something which will have me fascinated. I think I must spend more time in museums here in S.Africa. If anyone can recommend good museums, or battle sites or related places of interest then drop me a note.
Tragic as the Boer war was, I think it remains the single most amazing event in the history of this country. It represented a battle of wills between the Boer and more Liberal English outlook. The English won the war but lost the peace.
The Boers had their strengths and weaknesses and I am fascinated by what they tried to do. I did find some interesting maps on the web. I absolutely love MAPS – they tell a story. And I will post some.
The conventional part of the Boer war lasted about 6 months before the British, in large numbers started crushing the Boers. Consider that the Boers versus the British Empire was something like the Iraqis fighting America. Whereas the Iraqis collapsed in about 2 months, the Boers took longer to fall and still went on to fight a wild guerilla war for 2(43)+ more years.
I think one big downfall of the Boers which they had no control over was the fact that the British had a dedicated army whereas the Boers were all civilians who had farms and lives they still had to take care of. Even so, the Boer army was pretty impressive in size for those little countries. They estimate at one time the Boers had 60,000 men in the field.
In reading about the Boer war, there were essentially two fronts: The Natal front (east) and the Free State Front (West & South). For the Boers, the Natal front was much more defensible. The difficult terrain made it easily defended. But where the Boers really had a problem was the West and South because it was open terrain and the British had a long railway line which led right up to the Boer borders.
Whereas the British were professional soldiers, many Boers had no training whatsoever. They went to war literally untrained and learned as they carried on. Some of them became excellent at it.
The two men in the Boer war whom I admire the most are:-
De La Rey and De Wet. Christaan De Wet wore a suit, and carried a sjambok (like a whip) and carried no weapon on him. He was not your “normal” bearded Boer. He was a gentlemanly sort of fellow – a short man apparently. But he really disliked the British looking down on the Boers, and De Wet showed the British a thing or two!! De Wet went on to have some amazing exploits in the war – and he wrote a book about it. His book is called “The Three Years war” by Christaan De Wet. Its a good read. I have a copy.
De Lay Rey – untutored commander, was fascinating in that he had a very analytical mind. He saw his first shots fired in anger at Graspan, one of the early battles, and shortly thereafter, he came up with his own ideas on Boer tactics. One can clearly see he had a very analytical mind – and that no doubt is what turned him into the greatest general of the war. Jan]