Topic > The Boer War and its effects on the South African people

Nations are constantly subjected to tests and challenges. They can be small and insensitive, or they can be enormous and cause physical and emotional harm to the nation's citizens. However, regardless of size, problems have consequences. The Boer War, an insignificant affair lasting twenty-two years, from 1880 to 1902, also known as the Transvaal War and the South African War, has eternal effects, good and bad, on the people of South Africa, due to the deterioration of the situation the Boers and the Afrikaners and forcibly imposed English rule. The initial spark of the Boer War was ignited by the disputes of Britain seeking to claim and unify all the South African states as its own, but the two Dutch republics, Transvaal and Orange Free States would not give in, especially in part, to their extreme nationalism and chauvinist and numerous gold deposits. “They were therefore not prepared to become part of a united South Africa under British authority,” reads the Anglo-Boer War Museum's “Introduction to War” article. They did not want to give up their freedom and independence to an imperialist nation. Not only did the Boers hate giving up their freedom, they did not want to give up their wealth. According to Michael Willis, the Boers did not like the idea of ​​the Uitlanders, the outsiders, coming in and mining and making a large profit. This opposition caused many clashes and controversies. For this reason, the Transvaal government taxed the English heavily in an attempt to take away their wealth and made them wait 14 years before voting in the Boer republics, but this did not please the English, especially Joseph Chamberlain who successfully obtained 10,000 soldiers from the Boer republics. British Prime Minister Lord Salisbury (Willis) hesitated. Since...... half of the paper......er War Museum." Official site | Museum of the Anglo-Boer War. Web. 14 March 2011. . "Mobile The war begins | Museum of the Anglo-Boer War." Official site | Museum of the Anglo-Boer War. Web. 31 March 2011. . "Vereeniging Peace Treaty | Museum of the Anglo-Boer War." Official site | Museum of the Anglo-Boer War. Web. 14 March 2011. . "Guerrilla warfare | Anglo-Boer War Museum." Official site | Anglo-Boer War Museum. Web. 14 April 2011. .Willis, Michael. "Who was guilty of starting the Boer War? Michael Willis focuses on the origins of the Boer War in a way that would make for a thought-provoking role-playing game. "History Review 59 (2007): 23+. Gale Student Resources In Context. Web. April 1. 2011.