Exciting new BMMHS talk - put the date in your calendar

The Boer War was a bloody and prolonged conflict. Although the British Army had occupied Transvaal and the Orange Free State by August 1900, Boer forces refused to surrender. Frustrated by their inability to defeat the Boer guerrillas, the British authorities introduced ruthless methods to isolate them from civilian support. This included the widespread destruction of Boer farms, summary execution of prisoners and rebels and, most notoriously, the construction of concentration camps intended to separate Boer civilians from guerrilla fighters. These policies aroused global controversy and were described by opposition and Liberal Party leader Henry Campbell-Bannerman as ‘methods of barbarism’.

The Zoom talk explores this notorious period of the conflict, the British response to guerrilla warfare, and the nature of the concentration camp system.

 

Dr. Spencer Jones is an award-winning historian and author. He is Senior Lecturer in Armed Forces and War Studies at the University of Wolverhampton and serves as the Regimental Historian for the Royal Regiment of Artillery. You can learn more about his work at http://www.drspencerjones.co.uk