Civil War

The southern tip of Africa had been shared between British colonies and independent republics of Dutch-Afrikaner settlers, known as Boers (which is a Dutch and Afrikaans name for farmer). In an attempt to escape the British rule many Boers moved north and east from the Cape to settle on new lands which eventually became the Boer Republics of the Orange Free State and the Transvaal. The relationship between the British and the Boers was not good, with Britain extending its control by annexing Natal in 1845.

The First Boer War (1880-1881) was a rebellion of Boers against the British rule in the Transvaal that re-established their independence. The conflict occurred as the Pretoria government became increasingly ineffective at dealing with growing claims on South African land from rival interests within the country.

The photo on the right shows a group of soldiers wounded in the Boer War sit beside a hospital tent in South Africa, 1900. The soldier seated on the far right in the deck chair bearing a red cross is Private William Gamble, 1st Contingent Victorian Mounted Rifles, Wounded at Pink Hill, Rensburg 12-02-1900. He arrived back in Australia 24-05-1900.

The war was between the Transvaal Boers and the British; the Boers became angry when the British annexed Transvaal in 1877. In 1877 the Northern Sotho (Pedi) attacked the Boers of Transvaal, and the Boers claimed the British had inadequately assisted them. Many of the Transvaal population were in debt to Cape bankers, which seemed to increase the negative perception the British had of the Boers. The British wanted to force Transvaal into a union, which increased the chance of war. The Boers were encouraged into armed resistance after the British defeat by Zulus in 1879 at the Battle of Isandlwana.

• There were actually two Boer Wars, one was in 1880-1881 (commonly referred to as the Transvaal War) and the second in 1899-1902 is what we know as the Boer War
• Both wars were between the British Empire and the Dutch settlers of two independent Boer republics, the Orange Free State and the Transvaal Republic
• The southern tip of Africa had been shared between British colonies and independent republics of Dutch-Afrikaaner settlers, known as Boers (which is a Dutch and Afrikaans name for farmer)
• To escape the British rule many Boers moved north and east from the Cape to settle on new lands which eventually became the Boer Republics of the Orange Free State and the Transvaal
• The relationship between the British and the Boers was very bad with Britain extending its control by annexing Natal in 1845
• The First Boer War (1880-1881) was a rebellion of the Boers against the British rule when the British annexed Transvaal in 1877. The British wanted to force Transvaal into a union, which increased the chance of war
• The defeat of the British by the Zulus in 1879 at the Battle of Isandlwana encouraged the Boers into armed resistance. As a result, the Boers succeeded in re-establishing their independence in the Transvaal

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Source:
Wikipedia
Australian War Memorial