III.

The Conventional War

When war broke out, on October 11, 1899, the two Boer republics were able to put an unpaid citizen army of about 35,000 commandos into the field against approximately 22,000 British troops already in South Africa. Jan Smuts (who was attorney-general in Kruger’s government) devised a bold strategy for the Boers of penetrating deeply into Natal and the Cape Colony and inspiring a rebellion among the Afrikaners in the Cape. The senior Boer generals, however, did not maintain the advance and Boer forces were diverted into laying siege to Ladysmith, Kimberley, and Mafeking. The Cape Afrikaners also failed to rally to the republican cause in substantial numbers despite repeated attempts to persuade them to do so. Even so, after a few early British victories at Talana and Elandslaagte (October 20-21) serious reverses were inflicted on the British forces culminating in Black Week (December 10-17, 1899) with Boer victories at Stormberg (December 10), Magersfontein (December 11), and Colenso (December 15).

The British War Office was poorly prepared for the war because many in Britain believed that Kruger’s government would finally capitulate to British demands rather than face the full might of the British Empire, and the British government had delayed preparations until September. If war came, it was expected to be “a short war”, over by Christmas. Sir Redvers Buller was sent out in mid-October with insufficient troops and was soon bogged down on the Tugela River in Natal unable to advance to the relief of Ladysmith, where Sir George White was besieged along with some 13,000 British troops. After Black Week, Buller was promptly replaced by Lord Roberts as commander-in-chief. Buller remained in Natal, where he suffered further reverses at Spioenkop (January 24, 1900) and Vaalkrans (February 5) before finally relieving Ladysmith on February 28.

Meanwhile, Lord Roberts’s main army, massively reinforced in the New Year, advanced steadily northwards up the central railway from Cape Town. Kimberley was relieved on February 15 and on February 27, after enduring several days of heavy bombardment, the Boer general Piet Cronjé surrendered with 4,000 men at Paardeberg. This marked a turning point in the war. The Boer forces were deeply demoralized and the way was open to Bloemfontein (capital of the Orange Free State), which the British occupied on March 13. A further advance across the Vaal River to Johannesburg was delayed for almost a month because of an epidemic of typhoid among the British troops.