50 Fun Facts About Boer War

Which two Boer republics fought the British Empire from 1899 to 1902?

The Transvaal was formally the South African Republic; both were annexed in 1900 and became British colonies.

What does the word 'Boer' mean?

It is the common name for Afrikaans-speaking white South Africans descended from Dutch East India Company settlers.

Which name for the conflict is official in the country where it was fought?

Most scholars prefer the name because it acknowledges that black South Africans were affected and took part.

What term did the Boers use for the mostly British foreigners drawn to the gold fields?

They could vote only after 14 years' residence, a grievance that became Britain's pretext for war.

The world's largest gold deposit was discovered in 1884 on which ridge near Pretoria?

The name means 'white water ridge'; Johannesburg sprang up as a shanty town almost overnight.

Which migration of 1836–1852 took roughly 15,000 Boers out of the British-ruled Cape?

Many left in anger at Britain's 1834 abolition of slavery; they founded the two republics in 1852 and 1854.

Who led the failed 1895 raid that Jan Smuts later called 'the real declaration of war'?

His 600 men were surrounded near Krugersdorp; he was jailed but later became Prime Minister of the Cape Colony.

Which Cape prime minister was forced to resign after the Jameson Raid exposed his involvement?

He dreamed of British Africa from the Cape to Cairo and paid the £2,000 fines of the Reform Committee members.

Who sent the 'Kruger telegram' congratulating the Transvaal on defeating the Jameson Raid?

Its publication in the British press set off a storm of anti-German feeling.

A tax and monopoly on which mining explosive became a casus belli?

A five-pound box carried five shillings of tax; the monopoly went to a non-British branch of the Nobel company.

Kruger re-armed the Transvaal with 37,000 of which German rifle?

When Mauser ammunition ran out, commandos relied mainly on captured British Lee-Metfords.

The Boers' large-calibre, belt-fed Maxim auto-cannon was nicknamed what?

It fired explosive rounds at 450 per minute; 'Long Tom' was the name given to their Le Creusot siege guns.

The June 1899 conference at which negotiations with Kruger collapsed was held in which city?

President Steyn of the Orange Free State hosted it; Milner refused to accept Kruger's delaying tactics.

Kruger's ultimatum of 9 October 1899 gave Britain how long to pull troops off the border?

The Times called it an 'extravagant farce'; the Daily Telegraph declared 'Kruger has asked for war and war he must have!'

What was the name of the local militia unit that Boer citizens formed when danger loomed?

Each man brought his own rifle and horse; the Veldkornet kept the muster rolls but had no disciplinary power.

Which was the only Boer unit to wear uniforms, in light green?

The Staatsartillerie was the republics' sole regular force; everyone else fought in civilian clothes.

The first major clash of the war, on 20 October 1899, was fought on which high ground near Dundee?

The British drove the Boers off but lost 446 men, including General Penn Symons.

Who commanded the 217-day defence of Mafeking?

He had raised about 1,200 local troops; Piet Cronjé's 6,000 Boers settled in to starve the town.

Which diamond-mining city was besieged from November 1899, with a famous magnate inside it?

Rhodes at one point urged townspeople into the mine shafts for shelter; a relief cavalry charge lifted the siege after 124 days.

Sol Plaatje's siege diary noted which animal's flesh being eaten for the first time?

Plaatje was in Mafeking; the besieged towns also faced constant shelling that made the streets dangerous.

The three British defeats of 10–15 December 1899 are remembered as what?

Stormberg, Magersfontein and Colenso fell in quick succession, forcing Britain to send two more divisions.

At Magersfontein, which formation was pinned down for nine hours in the heat before breaking?

De la Rey and Cronjé had dug trenches in an unexpected spot, helping write the doctrine of defensive supremacy.

Buller's failed attempt to cross which river at Colenso was the low point of December 1899?

He left ten field guns and many wounded behind; Louis Botha's 8,000 Boers lost just 40 men.

Which summit did British troops seize on 24 January 1900, only to be overlooked by Boer guns?

Contradictory orders from Buller and his commanders cost 350 killed and nearly 1,000 wounded.

What nickname did some officers give General Buller after his repeated withdrawals?

He was replaced as commander-in-chief by Lord Roberts, with Kitchener as chief of staff.

Who replaced Buller as British commander-in-chief in South Africa?

He recruited the American scout Frederick Russell Burnham from the Klondike as his Chief of Scouts.

Which American, recruited from the Klondike, served as Roberts's Chief of Scouts?

He received the highest awards of any American in the war; American mercenaries fought on both sides.

Piet Cronjé surrendered with 4,000 men in February 1900 after being bombarded at which battle?

British troops drinking from the polluted Modder River were then hit by a typhoid outbreak.

How long had Ladysmith been under siege when Buller's troops finally marched in on 28 February 1900?

It was his fourth attempt; he had adopted Boer tactics of short rushes and use of ground.

The wild celebrations at the relief of Mafeking gave English which slang word?

The relief on 18 May 1900 set off riotous scenes across Britain.

After annexation in May 1900, the smaller Boer republic was renamed what?

The annexation came on 28 May 1900; the Transvaal followed after Pretoria fell in June.

Roberts captured Pretoria on which date in 1900?

The Boers had stripped their forts of artillery and abandoned the capital without a fight.

Christiaan de Wet's ambush at Sanna's Post targeted which utility of the Free State capital?

It was the opening blow of the guerrilla war: 155 British casualties, seven guns and 428 men captured.

President Kruger left Africa in October 1900 aboard a warship sent by which country's queen?

Queen Wilhelmina sent De Gelderland; Kruger died in exile in Clarens, Switzerland, in 1904.

Which South Atlantic island received the first overseas camps for Boer prisoners of war?

Ceylon took another 5,000; Bermuda and India held others across some 31 overseas camps.

How many fortified blockhouses did the British eventually build across the republics?

Each cost £800–£1,000, took three months to build and was linked to its neighbours by barbed wire.

Boers who took British parole and tried to stay neutral were derided by their countrymen as what?

The 'Bittereinders' were the irreconcilables who vowed to fight to the end.

Boers who changed sides to fight for the British were enrolled under what name?

Despised as 'joiners', they numbered a fifth of the fighting Afrikaners by the war's end.

Roughly how many Boer women and children died in the concentration camps?

Around 20,000 black Africans died in separate camps; disease, neglect and meagre rations were the killers.

Which future Indian leader organised an ambulance corps that served at Colenso and Spion Kop?

The Natal Indian Ambulance Corps was financed by the local Indian community.

'Breaker' Morant and Peter Handcock were shot in 1902 for murdering how many Afrikaner POWs?

The Bushveldt Carbineers court-martial was among the first war-crimes prosecutions in British history.

Which was the first British colony to offer troops for the war, on 28 September 1899?

Premier Richard Seddon invoked the 'crimson tie' of Empire; nearly 6,500 New Zealanders served with 8,000 horses.

The Boer War was the first war fought by which newly federated nation?

Its six colonies federated in 1901 mid-war; about 20,000 Australians served and around 1,000 died.

Which Canadian cavalry unit embarked for South Africa in March 1900?

About 8,000 Canadians served and 270 died; French-Canadian opposition sparked a three-day riot in Quebec.

The 1900 UK general vote, called on the back of British victories, is known as what?

Salisbury's Conservatives won, but the dragging war helped bring their spectacular defeat in 1906.

Which agreement, signed on 31 May 1902, ended the war?

Britain gave the Boers £3 million for reconstruction and promised limited self-government, granted in 1906–07.

How much did Britain give the Boers for reconstruction under the peace terms?

The treaty ended the republics' independence; the Union of South Africa followed as a dominion in 1910.

In which year was the Union of South Africa established?

It merged the Transvaal, Orange River, Natal and Cape colonies into a self-governing dominion.

Most of the war's horses and mules were shipped to South Africa from which US port?

Some 109,878 horses and 81,524 mules crossed in 166 voyages; a memorial in Port Elizabeth honours 300,000 horses that died.

Roughly what did the war cost the British government?

That is about £26 billion in 2022 money, for a war planned as a short one.