Boer Wars - Controversy and Significance

Controversy and Significance

During the later stages of the Second Boer War, the British pursued the policy of rounding up and isolating the Boer civilian population in concentration camps, one of the earliest uses of this method by modern powers. The wives and children of Boer guerrillas were sent to these camps, which had poor hygiene and little food. Many of the children in these camps died, as did some of the adults. The German Empire saw this as a clear sign of British weakness as it was struggling to maintain a portion of its empire, and sent the Kruger Telegram, congratulating the leader of the Boers on his rebellion.

This led to a change in approach to foreign policy from Britain, which now set about looking for more allies. To this end, the 1902 treaty with Japan in particular was a sign that the British Empire feared attack on its Far Eastern empire and saw this alliance as an opportunity to strengthen its stance in the Far East. This war led to a change from splendid isolation policy to a policy that involved looking for allies and improving world relations. Later treaties with France ("Entente cordiale") and Russia, caused partially by the controversy surrounding the Boer War, were major factors in dictating how the battle lines were drawn during World War I.

The Boer War also had other significance. The Army Medical Corps discovered that 40-60% of men presenting for service were physically unfit to fight.This was the first time in which the government was forced to take notice of how unhealthy the British population was. This strengthened the call for the liberal reforms of the first decade of the twentieth century.

A British journalist, WT Stead, wrote: "Every one of these children who died as a result of the halving of their rations, thereby exerting pressure onto their family still on the battle-field, was purposefully murdered. The system of half rations stands exposed, stark and unashamedly as a cold-blooded deed of state policy employed with the purpose of ensuring the surrender of men whom we were not able to defeat on the field." The U.S. Army uses several case studies from the Boer War to teach ethics in combat.

The Boer War greatly affected the English poet Thomas Hardy, and he was moved to compose the poem, "Drummer Hodge".