British Modern Military History Society

OUR next talk will be on March 1 at 7.30pm via Zoom when Dr Spencer Jones will talk about the Boer War.

The Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902) was a bitter and controversial conflict that marked a watershed in the history of the British Empire.

Britain had gone to war in 1899 confident of a swift victory against the outnumbered Boer irregulars. But the conflict confounded these expectations.

In the opening battles the British army suffered a series of humiliating defeats before reinforcements turned the tide in 1900. Yet, even after the British had conquered the Boer republics, the war raged on in the form of a bloody guerrilla conflict that left swathes of South Africa devastated.

This period of savage fighting would come to be characterised by what Liberal Party leader Henry Campbell-Bannerman condemned as “methods of barbarism”, including scorched earth, summary executions and, most notoriously of all, concentration camps.

The speaker will explore the course and conduct of the Boer War and consider its legacy for Britain and her army.

Dr 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.

His works include From Boer War to World War: Tactical Reform of the British Army, 1902-1914 and At All Costs: The British Army on the Western Front, 1916.