Nearly three years earlier, the sombre Paul Kruger had warned that Britain would find it difficult to conquer the Boer states. In the sense that they were certainly not acquired cheaply, it was a fair judgment. By the end of the war, the British had been forced to mobilize nearly 450,000 Imperial troops to defeat the Boer forces, which had fielded a maximum of around 80,000 fighters. Their prolonged resistance transformed London’s South African campaign into the largest and most costly war fought by the British between 1815 and 1914. It was a colonial war which, according to estimates by the British Treasury in September 1899, would require sending up to 75,000 troops and funding of around £10 million for a two to three month campaign. By the end of the conflict this cost stood at £217 million. This record reflected the enormous military investment the British Empire needed to defeat two of the world’s smallest agrarian states.
It’s from New History of South Africa, by Hermann Giliomee, Bernard Mbenga and Bill Nasson, a very excellent book. I found this to be one of the best single volume stories of any country that I have read. The other book on South Africa that I found particularly useful was Understanding South Africa, by Carien du Plessis and Martin Plaut. One of the best things about traveling is that you understand a country – through books – much better than before you went there. Everything is more alive and you retain much more.
