Boer War facts for kids

Boer War might mean:

• First Boer War, 16 December 1880 to 23 March 1881
• Second Boer War, 11 October 1899 to 31 May 1902

Images for kids

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  Extent of the British Empire in 1898, prior to the outbreak of the Second Boer War

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  A sketch showing the arrest of Jameson after the failed raid, in 1896

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  Paul Kruger, leader of the South African Republic (Transvaal)

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  Boers in a trench at Mafeking, 1899

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  War theatre in northern Natal

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  General Redvers Henry Buller launched an offensive against the Boers in the early phases of the war but after several defeats, culminating at the Battle of Colenso, he was replaced by Earl Roberts.

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  Boer General Piet de Wet, 1900

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  Siege of Ladysmith

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  The Relief of Ladysmith. Sir George Stuart White greets Major Hubert Gough on 28 February. Painting by John Henry Frederick Bacon (1868–1914).

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  General Piet Cronjé as a prisoner of war in Saint Helena, 1900–02. He was captured, with 4,000 men, after the loss of the Battle of Paardeberg.

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  A Transit camp for Prisoners of War near Cape Town during the war. Prisoners were then transferred for internment in other parts of the British Empire.

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  Kitchener succeeded Roberts in November 1900 and launched anti-guerrilla campaigns. 1898 photograph in 1910 magazine.

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  A surviving blockhouse in South Africa. Blockhouses were constructed by the British to secure supply routes from Boer raids during the war.

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  One British response to the guerrilla war was a 'scorched earth' policy to deny the guerrillas supplies and refuge. In this image Boer civilians watch their house as it is burned.

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  Christiaan De Wet was the most formidable leader of the Boer guerrillas. He successfully evaded capture on numerous occasions and was later involved in the negotiations for a peace settlement.

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  Boer commandos

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  The end result of the Boer War was the annexation of the Boer Republics to the British Empire in 1902

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  C Company returns from Boer War, pictured here in King Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

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  Memorial to soldiers from Quebec who fell in the Second Boer War, Quebec City

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  Alfred, Lord Milner, was the British High Commissioner of Southern Africa. He was involved from the start of the war and had a role in the peace process and the creation of the Union of South Africa.

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  Memorial window from St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin by An Túr Gloine. Much of the Irish public sympathised with the Boer side, rather than the British side on which fought the Royal Irish Regiment.

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  A horse destined to serve in the war, being off-loaded in Port Elizabeth

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  Stretcher-bearers of the Indian Ambulance Corps during the war, including the future leader Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (Middle row, 5th from left)

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  A memorial in Queanbeyan, New South Wales, unveiled in 1903, dedicated to Australians who served in the conflict (over 20,000)

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  The unveiling of the South African War Memorial in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, in 1908

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  Harold Lothrop Borden – son of the National Minister of Defence and the most famous Canadian casualty of the war

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  New Zealand troops marching down Wellesley Street, Auckland, to embark for South Africa

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  Rhodesian volunteers leaving Salisbury for service in the Second Boer War, 1899

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  Memorial at Plymouth, by Emil Fuchs

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  A group of British prisoners, with Winston Churchill on the right