Index: South African (Boer) War, Atlantic Charter,
Defiance Campaign, Freedom Charter, Sharpeville
Massacre, Soweto.
Joseph Apicella
Throughout the nineteenth century Britain expanded its possessions
and influence in southern Africa. This caused ill feelings between the
Dutch-descended population, called Afrikaners, or Boers (translated to
farmer) and the British settlers. These feelings caused the Great Trek,
where between 1835 and 1843 a large population of Afrikaners migrated from
the Cape of Good Hope to the northern part of present day South Africa.
This established three Afrikaner republics. Natal became a British colony,
while the Transvaal territories (South African Republic) and the Orange
Free State gained independence. In 1884 gold was discovered in the Transvaal
territories, and thousands British miners and prospectors settled in the
area. Resentment grew between these newcomers and the Afrikaners, resulting
in a revolt by the British settlers.
In 1899 Alfred Milner, High Commissioner of Cape Colony in South Africa, wanted to gain more economic power for Britain from the gold mines and to have Britain dominate the African continent. Milner precipitates a war with the Boers by building up British troops near Transvaal and the Orange Free State. The Boers, fearing an invasion, declare war on the British. The British generals, expecting a short decisive victory, were surprised while the Boers invaded Natal and Cape Providence and sieged the towns of Ladysmith, Mafeking, and Kimberly. This caused the British to abandon their offensive plans and free the towns. Despite these Boer victories the military superiority of Britain eventually led to the occupation of Transvaal and the Orange Free State. Believing that the British had won the war, the Generals returned to England in 1901. However, Boer leaders launched an extensive and well-planned series of guerrilla warfare against the occupying British troops. These attacks devastated British supply lines and British garrisons. The British, unable to counter act the Guerilla attacks by conventional tactics, turned to farm burning, confiscating foodstuffs to prevent it from falling into Boer hands, and rounding up women and children to concentration camps to prevent them from aiding the Boer soldiers. As a result the British literally starved the commandos into submission. The last Boer commandos, left without food, clothing, ammunition or hope surrendered in May 1902 and the war ends with the Treaty of Vereeniging. This treaty united South Africa as a state; however, the Afrikaners continued to keep themselves culturally and socially separate a fact that has begun to change only in recent years.
The Boer War was a major event for the British Army and the British Empire as a whole. Their last European opponents were the Russians in the Crimean War (1853-1856). Since then, for the past forty years, they have been fighting ill-equipped and ill-organized native forces. These easy victories gave the British forces an overconfidence that was shattered in the opening battles of the Boer War. The British generals had a difficult time adjusting to the non-conventional, guerilla tactics of the Afrikaners. The Boers were a fast and highly mobile guerilla force, who used new smokeless cartridges and the thick forest to conceal their positions and employ hit and run tactics. As the costs of the war and casualties soared, the British opinion of the war as well as their feelings toward imperialism change. The Boer War signaled the start of the decline of imperialism for Britain.
The Boer War involved the entire population of South Africa in one way or another. Boer women and children were evicted from farms and villages were sent to concentration camps where many died of disease or went to endure the life of the commandos in the forests. African ex-miners and farm laborers were also concentrated in camps, and drawn into labor tasks by the British Army. The Boer War is a major aspect of South African History for natives and immigrants alike. It helped to shape the views of the people of South Africa for years after the War ended.
South African Yearbook, University of the Western Cape Institute for Historical Research, Bellville Senior Associate Researcher: Dr Timothy Keegan, Project leader: Professor Henry C Jatti Bredekamp <http://www.gov.za/yearbook/history.htm>.
Pakenham, Thomas. The Boer War. Weidenfeld & Nicholson, 1979
Cody, David. "The Boer War." The Victorian Web. <http://landow.stg.brown.edu/victorian/history/hist1.html>
"The Anglo-Boer War of 1899 - 1902." Heritage South Africa. <http://www.heritage.org.za/abw/index.htm>
Links located by Stephanie Noell:
"The Concentration Camps 1899-1902." <http://www.boer.co.za/boerwar/hellkamp.htm>
"From the Jameson Raid to Bloemfontein: Debating the Origins of the
Boer War." <http://www.gtexts.com/college/papers/s1.html>
The Boers were “early Dutch and Huguenot settlers in South Africa” ("Boer" 107). They settled in three main areas in South Africa, “mainly in Cape Colony, the Orange Free State, and the Transvaal” (107). The war began in 1899 between the British Empire and South Africa (Orange Free State/Transvaal), the second war between the British and the Boers (107).
The Boer War, which occurred one hundred years ago, “was not concerned with the principle of white domination, but to decide which of the two groups, British or Boer, was to exercise mastery over South Africa” (Belfield xxiv). At the time of the war, the population of South Africa was divided into four major racial groups: Indians in Natal, “coloureds” (people of Caucasian/Indian and black descent) residing mainly in Cape Colony, “Kaffirs” or the native (black) tribes comprising the majority population, and Caucasians (Belfield 2). A segment of the Caucasian population, called Uitlanders, from Britain, occupied the Witwatersrand goldfields ("Boer" 107). South Africa was a very attractive place in the late 1800s, due to the findings of diamonds in the Transvaal and gold in the Witswatersrand fields ("Boer" 949). Therefore, since there was a climax in colonialism, coinciding with the diamond and gold findings, England, a major imperialistic power, became obviously interested in South Africa. The question soon arose about what civic rights the Uitlanders had in South Africa under the Boer rule ("Boer" 107). Paul Kruger, the Transvaal president, was “narrow, bigoted, and a passionate nationalist” (8) who regarded the “Boer society as a God-given mode of life” (8) and thus refused to enfranchise (or give the vote to) the Uitlanders. Sir Arthur Milner, a British Commissioner in South Africa and imperialist, attempted to persuade Kruger to enfranchise the Uitlanders, but all proposals failed (8). Anglo-Boer relations were now at a low-point and “the vital question was who would be the first to strike” (8).
The Boers declared war on Britain in 1899 ("Boer" 107). They seized three major cities: Mafeking, Kimberley, and Ladysmith (107). Soon, in 1900, three other large cities were seized, which led to the “annexation of the Boer states” (107). For two more years, guerrilla warfare, led by the Boers continued until they finally surrendered in 1902 to Britain (107). Their surrender marked the beginning of Britain’s imperialistic rule in South Africa. The Boer War, overall, led to the establishment of the British as the major political and social force in South Africa for nearly a century.
Belfield, Eversley. The Boer War. London: Leo Cooper Ltd., 1975.
"Boer War." The Lexicon Webster's Encyclopedia Dictionary of the English Language. 2nd ed. 1992.
"Anglo-Boer War Centenary." < http://rapidttp.com/milhist/boercenk.html>.
"Anglo-Boer War: A Few Selected Sites." < http://www.heritage.org.za/abw/sites.htm>.
In the early 1950's, a radical group called the Congress Alliance came together and formed the Congress of the People. This was an organization in South Africa to fight for the rights of the people for a new South Africa. They developed a list of thousands of demands for a new government, among which were basic freedom rights involving personal rights, housing, work, security, and equal free education. All these demands were brought together, and on June 26, 1955 in Kliptown, S.A. the Congress of the People created the Freedom Charter.
Preparation for the Charter had provoked a great deal of police interference where many people were arrested and thrown into jail. "Even on the eve of the Congress itself road-blocks had been set up and hundreds of delegates stopped" (www.anc.org.za/ancdocs/history/campaigns/cop). Under gun point from intruders the delegates managed to adopt the Charter clause by clause, in hopes of freedom.
The existing government thought the Charter signified a communist act. Most of the leaders were thrown into jail for communist treason.
This Charter was more than a bunch of requests however. It signified the intense need for change, and in order for any of the demands to come about, the whole nation of South Africa would have to change. It calls for a transfer of power from a single social class to the people, and in order to do this the whole economic and political set-up of present South Africa needs to be broken. The Charter was their vision for the Future. It was a call for the same rights as every other people in every other nation.
"Congress of the People, 1955." <http://www.anc.org.za/ancdocs/history/campaigns/cop>
"Fighting Back Against Apartheid." <http://www.sacp.org.za/docs/history/fifty5.html>
"The Freedom Charter of South Africa." <http://www.thefuturesite.com/ethnic/freedom.html>
Sixty-nine dead and over one hundred and eighty wounded. On March 21, 1960 these unfortunate protesters fell victim to the apartheid firearms for showing their disapproval of a recent law passed in the city of Sharpeville. The law stated that all people of color in the small town must carry on them passes at all times that described their identity.
As an act of defiance, thousands of residents of the town got together and formed a protest march to the Sharpeville Police Office. The march was to be a non-violent act of resistance and disapproval towards the recent law passing. The marchers carried no weapons, save a few umbrellas and a handful of walking sticks. Their intent was to burn their passports in front of the police station to show their feelings toward the apartheid law. The response was not what the liberators had hoped for or expected.
The police's response was to open fire on the mob. Their violent actions killed mothers, fathers, children, and all others who participated in the revolt. The bloody massacre showed the hatred and oppression of the apartheid government.
Many people quickly dismissed the actions of the government as "just another incident in the long and growing series of disturbances that have marked the attempt to put the theory of apartheid into practice" (Reeves 60). However, life has never been the same for racial groups in Sharpeville. As a Pan-Africanist said a few days after the shooting, "The tree of freedom is watered with blood" (61).
Reeves, Ambrose. Shooting at Sharpeville. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1961.
"The Sharpeville Massacre." Black History Pages. < http://www.cam.org/~emru/bhp/pages/03-21.html>.
Worrill, Conrad W. "Remembering A Significant Event In South Africa's
History." The Black World Today. <http://www.tbwt.com/views/feat/feat958.asp>.
It was March 18, 1997. First Lady Hillary Clinton and Daughter Chelsea
visit Soweto, South Africa to remember the Soweto uprisings that occurred
in 1976. Mrs. Clinton bows her head to remember one of the many that were
killed during these riots.
She is remembering one student in particular, Hector Peterson, who
was the first student killed among many young blacks that died this day,
fighting for liberation from South Africa's former white government. Soweto
along with other small towns makes up a township that is located just outside
of Johannesburg, South Africa.
Soweto pupils in 1976 during massive demonstrations against white domination rose up against a government that was attempting to discriminate even further against the blacks of South Africa. White government officials attempted to enforce the use of the Afrikaans language for teaching in the township. Nearly seven hundred people died most of whom were shot by the government's white police.
What occurred in Soweto during 1976 was an important step in the eventual change in South Africa's governmental policies. The students that died during these massive demonstrations gave their life for the future of their own people. It has been nearly two decades since the Soweto riots, and the people of South Africa have finally begun, both black and white, to find comfort and safety in the arms of one another. The ignorance of people in the past has taught very valuable lessons. I'm glad I can say that the seven hundred individuals that had their lives taken in these uprisings would be proud to know, that because of their efforts, time has brought the end of apartheid and change to a country they were once part of.
The Road to Soweto. < http://www.history.und.ac.za/soweto/>.