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Based on many hundreds (thousands?) of conversations I have had since I first came to South Africa over 30 years ago, in my experience the average white South African would sum up the Boer War something along these lines: The Boers were peaceful, harmless people, who only ever wanted to be left alone. But the […]
We shall perhaps never know why it is that certain failed History Professors and online fanatics (plus their various toadies and hangers-on) squeal and scream that there is ‘no evidence’ that Kruger was in any way responsible for the war that he planned for and started. The very fact that he declared war and invaded […]
While we all know that nothing but myth-laden nonsense will endlessly spew out of certain South African universities, one really hopes for a little more from an august institution such as London’s National Army Museum. It was rather a shame, therefore, to see that whichever work experience trainee they got to write the page on […]
‘Independence means Dutch independence, of a Dutch-ruled State, in which the resident foreigner cannot become a citizen. Defence means defence of the rule of a privileged race. No aggression on the British power means no present aggression; only aggression at a favourable opportunity’.[1] Michael Farrelly, advisory counsel to the Transvaal government in the years prior […]
Ever since Kruger, Kommandos, and Kak was published back in 2014, I have always been amused by the hysterical rage it produced in certain quarters… mainly those quarters inhabited by people who resolutely refused to read it. This swivel-eyed panic continued with the release of Kruger’s War in 2016, with various entertaining characters dedicating hours […]
It always amazes me just how little many of those who write about the Boer War know about military history in general, and the British army in particular. Pakenham, for example, had clearly never heard of the old ‘3 to 1’ rule-of-thumb needed for a successful infantry attack. Displaying similar ignorance, Prof Pretorius gleefully / […]
We are constantly told – with thinly-disguised delight – that only ‘a handful’ of Boers ‘took on the British Empire’ (and, err, lost). Were the Boers outnumbered by the British army? Eventually, yes – though certainly not at first, as they actually enjoyed a significant numerical advantage over the small, scattered, and unprepared Imperial garrison. […]
‘The worst crime of war is to make war. To initiate a war of aggression is not only an international crime; it is the supreme international crime. It contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole’.[1] – and yet, an especially thick-headed True Believer has convinced himself that Britain mobilising reinforcements to South Africa, […]
In a comment on a recent blog article, one person queried my analysis of the deeply flawed republican plan to attack and invade British territory, by (sarcastically?)[1] asking, ‘so, Kruger should have just done nothing?’ My response was to say: Well, if by ‘done nothing’, you mean: “not start a war”, then – obviously – […]
‘A double tide of armed men was now pouring into Southern Natal. From below, trainload after trainload of British regulars were coming up to the danger point, feted and cheered at every station. Lonely farmhouses near the line hung out their Union Jacks, and the folk on the stoep heard the roar of the choruses […]
