The Boer War (Concise Campaigns Series)

Reissued at a time when South Africa faces another turning point in its history, this account of the Boer War, first published in 1975, sets out and explains the complex workings and issues of a war that was for Britain in many ways the prelude to World War I. The Boer conflict demonstrated one of the great paradoxes of military science: the job of an army is to keep the peace, but when it succeeds in this aim for too long a time, it becomes an outdated and ineffective machine. In 1899 the British Army had not fought a major campaign since the Crimea. Senior officers were as rusty and antiquated as their weapons and tactics, and it was not long before reputations were being bowled over like ninepins. The book sets out to unravel the many threads of this confusing war, which, if it did little to enhance the standing of Imperial Britain, alerted the British Army and government authorities to the need for change before the cataclysm of World War I.