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The South African War of 1899–1902 has been traditionally framed as one of Britain's final colonial wars and a last gasp of nineteenth-century military conventions. In this article, I argue that—far from being the last "gentlemen's war"—the South African War can be seen as a newly modern form of warfare that is mediated and modulated through sound. I draw on archival research and earwitness accounts from both combatants and observers to reconstruct aspects of historical sense perception that demonstrate how the confluence of new military and media technologies elevated the role of sound in sensing (and making sense of) the battlefield. In particular, I consider the pervasive metaphors of gunfire as music and of the guns themselves as musicians as a way for earwitnesses to make sense out of the chaos of wartime listening, before turning to other ways in which music filtered through into the wartime soundscape. Understanding this intertwining of sound, perception, and technology allows us to trace the audile techniques through which participants perceived the war. Heard in this way, the South African War lays a foundation for how modern wars have been listened to and imagined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Various political movements in Russia followed the Anglo–Boer War of 1899–1902 (also known as the South African War). The reasons why the Russian Marxists, who later carried out the first socialist revolution in history, sympathised with the Boers and ignored the reactionary and exploitative nature of their regimes in the Transvaal and the Orange Free State remained unexplored. Russian Marxists were reluctant to join the mass pro-Boer effort. However, they participated in the pro-Boer campaign conducted by the Second International. Poorly informed about the oppression of Africans in the two republics, the social democrats regarded the Boers as freedom fighters whose experience deserved to be studied and applied to the confrontation with tsarist autocracy. Russian Marxists used information on Boer commando tactics and other aspects of the South African War for instruction, training, and dissemination of their ideas. They campaigned for an introduction of a militia in Russia and studied the methods and organisation of Boer military units. Although Russian Marxists had little in common with members of burgher commandos, lessons of the Boer resistance to British imperialism served the cause of a Russian revolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Researchers have focused on the influence of cultural mobilisation on the population of a belligerent state. Yet, such mobilisation can spread abroad, affecting foreigners who sympathise with the goals of military campaigns led by other nations. For example, the Boer cultural mobilisation during the South African War of 1899–1902 led to the self-mobilisation of foreign volunteers, including Russian adolescents. The pro-Boer messages originating in the South African republics were internalised by other cultures. Although the initial impulse comes from the belligerent nation, cultural mobilisation can have a transnational dimension, defined and developed by its agents in their own countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tolstoy’s fiction is part of the cultural background of the South African intelligentsia. Moreover, generations of South Africans have been introduced to Tolstoy through screen adaptations of his fiction, including Hollywood blockbusters and acclaimed TV series such as Anna Karenina (1935, 1948 and 2012) and War and Peace (1956 and 2016). Such exposure may well be the reason why, in the late 1990s, a survey among South African students of their perceptions of Russia showed that Tolstoy was the best-known Russian writer. During his lifetime, Tolstoy’s work and personality were discussed extensively in Russia and abroad, including South Africa. He was one of the most influential and authoritative writers in the world and remained the best-known Russian author in South Africa. Tolstoy was the only writer of Imperial Russia who, for decades, received letters and guests from South Africa. His statements on the Anglo-Boer War of 1899–1902 (also known as the South African War) attracted international attention which none of his Russian colleagues could match. Tolstoy wrote on South Africa, and his work was widely read there. Thanks to his erudition, ability to discern global trends, and interest in world culture and philosophy, Tolstoy had a profound understanding of political events in countries that he never visited and inspired leaders of liberation movements that he never met. His influence on South African realist literature can be traced throughout the twentieth century. This study of Tolstoy’s and South Africans’ views of each other focuses on Afrikaners, because in the last ten years of his life the Russian author often wrote and spoke about them, as is evident from his published works, correspondence and the archival material in the Tolstoy museums in Moscow and Yasnaya Polyana in Russia that were used for this paper. Furthermore, Afrikaner authors seem to have referred to Tolstoy’s work remarkably often. By exploring these references, one can ascertain why Tolstoy’s writing remained relevant to Afrikaners and other South Africans for more than a century. In the 1890s and 1900s, Tolstoy continued to develop his doctrine of not resisting evil with violence. He used information on the Anglo-Boer War to test his radical pacifist ideas. His protest against British imperialism in Africa echoed that of other world-famous humanist writers, such as Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson, Theodore Dreiser, Anatole France, Romain Rolland, Bernard Shaw, Bertha von Suttner and Mark Twain. But, unlike most of them, Tolstoy refused to support the Boers unconditionally. He sympathised with the defenders of the Boer republics, but as a principled opponent of violence he condemned those Christian people for engaging in armed struggle and killing, which he regarded as a mortal sin. During the transitional and guerrilla phases of the war, Tolstoy came to regard the continued Boer resistance to British invasion as a triumph of moral strength over immorality. He viewed the South African military conflict in a global context, as a typical war of a new era. Reflecting on the news from South Africa, he concluded that such wars were characterised by immoral goals and methods of warfare, and by non-participation in hostilities by those who directly benefitted from the hostilities (big entrepreneurs manipulating the government). Tolstoy argued that European governments were not interested in eradicating militarism, but nonviolent protest by ordinary people could well put an end to war. However, Tolstoy believed Russians, unlike participants in mass pro-Boer campaigns, were not to concern themselves with such protest because instead their main tasks were moral self-improvement and tackling injustice in their homeland. His concern with affairs in South Africa was limited to the Anglo-Boer War and the Indian civil rights campaign of the 1900s led by Gandhi, whose doctrine of satyagraha was partly based on Tolstoy’s ethical teachings. Still, Tolstoy’s influence on Afrikaner culture has been evident for over a century. Apart from direct contact, such as visits and letters to the Russian writer, Afrikaner cultural figures promoted his work, translated his fiction into Afrikaans and published their translations in almost every decade up to the 1990s. Along with other distinguished novelists of the late Imperial Russia, Tolstoy was viewed by Afrikaans authors as an exemplary realist writer who set standards that they aspired to but often regarded as unattainable. It only applied to his fiction, because Tolstoy’s confessional writings and philosophical treatises did not seem to be recognised by Afrikaans authors, especially not after the Second World War. For these authors, Tolstoy was primarily a fiction writer. Tolstoy’s work featured in South African literary debates with regard to resistance to abusive state authority and grappled with censorship. His fiction reminded South Africans of the humanist ideals that were meant to guide those who wanted to bring about positive change in an unjust, deeply divided society. Tolstoy’s work stimulated introspection and reflection on literary mastery, the ethical standards of a writer and one’s purpose in life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The British forces that served during the Anglo-Boer War (also known as the South African War) of 1899-1902 were an amalgam of several different types of soldiers. These men came from varying geographic and socio-economic backgrounds, and had different reasons for enlisting. This article discusses the composition of the British forces during the war, and adopts a military and socio-historical approach to understand who served in South Africa and why. To this end, the different types of British soldiers are looked at as separate (but ultimately intertwined) groupings, including regular (or career) soldiers, British volunteers, colonial volunteers, and "non-white" combatants. This represents a wide-viewed perspective of the British military system during the late-Victorian era. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the British Government's decision to establish the Royal Commission on the War in South Africa and how the Edwardian press presented its findings to the public. It will discuss how the Conservative media attempted to downplay the significance of the report and how the Liberal and Radical presses attempted to use it to raise questions about the Government's ability to manage crises and, by linking the failures of military planning to new Conservative economic and education policies, challenge the competency of the Colonial Secretary and powerful Unionist leader, Joseph Chamberlain. Finally, it will show how the press, regardless of political leaning, remained supportive of the military leadership which conducted the war effort despite it playing a significant role in the faulty planning and operational failures of 1899. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bulgarians were among the 2,600 foreigners who took part in the South African War, also known as the Second Anglo-Boer War. Their presence helped to make this colonial conflict a matter of international importance. This paper is an attempt to consider the Bulgarian involvement within a context of the pro-Boer campaign in Bulgaria, using published sources of a Bulgarian and international origin and applying the biographical method. Bulgarians travelled to the Transvaal at their own risk and expense. Most of them had military experience and, evidently, expected to improve their combat skills in a modern war against a leading European army. Their sense of kinship with the Boers was evoked by a nationalist paradigm. Bulgarians tended to view the Boers as fellow agriculturalists whose way of life was being threatened by a stronger nation. Most Bulgarians believed that the British Empire, the adversary of the Boers, was to blame for the revision of the terms of the Treaty of San Stefano at the Congress of Berlin. Therefore, Bulgarians delighted in the British misfortunes in the South African War. This sentiment may explain why no volunteer from Bulgaria is known to have fought for the British in that war. Bulgarian volunteers, representing various social groups and occupations, took part in some of the major battles of the South African War. The involvement of these volunteers was an expression of the Bulgarian solidarity with the Boers. Investigating this phenomenon gives us a deeper understanding of the problems and aspirations of Bulgarians at the turn of the twentieth century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The South African War of 1899−1902, between Great Britain and the Boer states, marked by British victory, garnered extensive international attention, thus offering a compelling case study on the influence of modern propaganda globally. European and American audiences closely monitored the conflict between the 'mighty' British Empire and the 'little white Christians'. Employing critical analysis, this article scrutinises Ottoman intellectuals' pro-British propaganda and their stance on the war. Utilising sources like Young Turk publications and memoirs, particularly focusing on Ismail Kemal Vlora's work 'The Question of Transvaal' (1900), it sheds light on their efforts to legitimise British imperialism in South Africa and beyond. Vlora played a pivotal role in leading the Anglophile faction amongst Ottoman statesmen and intelligentsia and his writings offer crucial insights into their perspectives. This study aims to comprehend the views of Anglophile Ottoman intellectuals on colonialism, imperialism, and civilisation, alongside their advocacy for Britain. Centred on Ottoman perspectives of the war, with supplementary attention to colonial South African history, this research unveils how and why the southern African conflict impacted Ottoman intelligentsia. This study is embedded within the broader context of the South African War's substantial international ramifications, emphasising its relevance to global historical discourse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Historia is the property of Historical Association of South Africa and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This essay examines the differences between American and British modernity around the turn of the twentieth century. The author argues that American modernity tended to paradoxically embrace what was considered premodern, while British modernity sought to more clearly dichotomize what was perceived as rural primitivity and civil British modernity. To elucidate these ideological differences, theories of modernity and antimodernity are addressed in tandem with close textual analyses of early film reenactments of the South African War (1899–1902). While British film reenactments of the South African War tended to reify British imperialism, American films were often ideologically ambivalent, thus providing more of an opportunity for American exhibitors and audiences to contemplate and discern British imperialism for themselves. This study also explores theoretical questions related to reenactment and simulated reality, specifically how British filmmakers, unlike American filmmakers, constructed a clear distinction between civility and primitivity as real. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of South African Journal of Cultural History is the property of South African Society for Cultural History and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of South African Journal of Cultural History is the property of South African Society for Cultural History and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Australian troops travelling to South Africa in 1899 to join Britain in fighting the Boers left behind communities consumed with the conflict. The colonies that would form the Australian nation in 1901 organised parades, concerts and eagerly awaited news from the battlefield. This article analyses these cultural responses to the South African War alongside the experiences of institutionalised delusional men. It traces ways the conflict penetrated the walls of Australian asylums, and the minds of the insane within them, as well as the sane existing in society. Delusions based on the conflict appeared not only in the words of men who had travelled to South Africa, but also those who were evidently deeply affected by Australian involvement in the war, following the fervour within the societies from which they came. The resulting analysis of the words and experiences of the insane expands the historiography of the conflict in new ways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of South African Journal of Cultural History is the property of South African Society for Cultural History and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of South African Journal of Cultural History is the property of South African Society for Cultural History and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Rhodes Cottage is a house‐museum dedicated to the life of Cecil John Rhodes – imperialist, mining magnate, politician and former Prime Minister of the Cape Colony in South Africa. Ilze Wolff is a co‐director of Wolff Architects, who were recently commissioned to make a future‐looking strategy for the site and its buildings within this politically loaded historical context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the role played by General Louis Botha in the South African War of 1899 to 1902 and assesses his military skills in his encounters with the British forces in both the set-piece battle phase in the first months of the war and the guerrilla phase in the last two years of the war. It also analyses his attitude to peace and his participation in the peace process since the successive British commanders-in-chief Lord Roberts and Lord Kitchener had in this respect both direct and indirect contact with him as commandant-general of the South African Republic (the Transvaal) in the last two years of the war. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Food became scarce during the South African War (1899–1902), which led to large numbers of the population dying from starvation or diseases related to hunger. This was due to certain towns in the country being under siege, while farms and homesteads were burned down. The study on which this article is based, examined three main causes of food shortages during the South African War: the unequal distribution of food rations during the siege of Mafikeng, particularly in the concentration camps; complaints by white communities about the “spoiling of natives”; and the introduction of the “no work, no food” policy. The study further reviewed the use of food during commemorations following the establishment of the so-called relief of Mafeking dinners.

Dark tourism involves tourists visiting sites of death, disaster and depravity. Well known dark tourism sites include Chernobyl in the Ukraine, the 9/11 Memorial in New York, and the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland. Battlefields of World War I and II are also excellent examples of dark tourism sites. Dark tourism has become a niche tourism sector with great potential for future tourism growth. In South Africa, the FSGLTA acting as the marketing arm of the Free State, targets to increase its tourism numbers and therefore are looking for means of growing the tourism arrivals towards the province. Dark tourism has been identified as one of their ways to grow tourism. The main objective of the paper is to reveal the niche tourism potential of the Free State by focusing on the South African War (1899–1902). The broader aim is to establish the typical profile of South African War enthusiasts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1899, the Australian colonies sent military contingents to South Africa to support the British in fighting the Boer enemy. While some questioned the justice of the conflict, the public reaction to the war was akin to a 'national insanity'. British victories in the first half of the war, particularly the relief of Mafeking in May 1900, saw noisy jingo crowds filling the streets of capital cities in celebration, resulting in public drunkenness and damage to property, behaviour typically deemed 'mad'. Colonial society, faced with increases in lunacy rates, was not only in the process of comprehending madness, but also ideas about Australian nationalism in the period approaching Federation of 1901. These factors, added to popular involvement in a British war in South Africa, shaped political, police and press responses to the new manifestation of jingoism. The press, a site of both the production and advancement of public conceptions of insanity, drew upon the social language of madness to communicate the acceptability or unacceptability of specific jingoistic behaviour. This paper examines the metaphorical use of mad vocabularies by the colonial press during this period to explore the 'arbitrary boundary' between madness and sanity in Federation era Australia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bosman scholars tend either to have focused on the humour and entertainment value of his works or to have leaned towards appreciation for the satirical quality of his writing and the serious political commentary that accompanies and underpins it. Building on these insights, the present study investigates Bosman’s preoccupation with South Africa’s politics in order to determine whether he could be classified a ‘proto-postcolonial author’. It discusses key features of postcolonial theory and writing and elucidates the term ‘proto-postcolonial’. It then analyses selected texts in terms of their political themes – five short stories from the collections Ramoutsa Road (1987), Unto Dust (1991) and the novel Willemsdorp (written in 1951, first published in 1977). The focus is on Bosman’s form of subtle protest against contemporary inequalities and injustices through his use of satire and techniques such as parody, irony and other linguistic and stylistic devices. Political themes that emerge from this analysis – including the detrimental effects of colonisation, racism, displacement, subjugation, repression and hybridity – are echoed and developed further in discussion of other, subsequent postcolonial writing. This study, therefore, reveals Bosman as a precursor of this later important body of literature and as a writer ahead of his times who has earned his place as a ‘proto-postcolonial’ author.

Bosman scholars tend either to have focused on the humour and entertainment value of his works or to have leaned towards appreciation for the satirical quality of his writing and the serious political commentary that accompanies and underpins it. Building on these insights, the present study investigates Bosman's preoccupation with South Africa's politics in order to determine whether he could be classified a 'proto-postcolonial author'. It discusses key features of postcolonial theory and writing and elucidates the term 'proto-postcolonial'. It then analyses selected texts in terms of their political themes – five short stories from the collections Ramoutsa Road (1987), Unto Dust (1991) and the novel Willemsdorp (written in 1951, first published in 1977). The focus is on Bosman's form of subtle protest against contemporary inequalities and injustices through his use of satire and techniques such as parody, irony and other linguistic and stylistic devices. Political themes that emerge from this analysis – including the detrimental effects of colonisation, racism, displacement, subjugation, repression and hybridity – are echoed and developed further in discussion of other, subsequent postcolonial writing. This study, therefore, reveals Bosman as a precursor of this later important body of literature and as a writer ahead of his times who has earned his place as a 'proto-postcolonial' author. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, the variety of experiences of Natal Afrikaner women as British subjects who were related by blood and culture to the Boers of the Republics of the Transvaal and the Orange Free State, with which the British Empire was at war with, are analysed. This is done in a blended, thematic, and chronological manner. Drawing on primary and secondary sources, the encounters of Natal Afrikaner women with the Boer commandos, the British Army, the Natal colonial authorities as well as other wartime encounters are scrutinised. For the period of the South African War from 1899-1902, as per social history, this paper attempts to give an authentic voice to Natal Afrikaner women in what is a gendered history. In so doing, the article contributes to the neglected historiography of the unique war experiences of Afrikaner women. More specifically, the difficult relationships of Natal Afrikaner women with both the invading Boer commandos and the British Army as well as the Natal colonial authorities are laid bare. At the same time, economic and other hardships, removals, imprisonment in concentration camps, and general physiological and physical hardships are investigated. The end result was an alienation of Natal Afrikaner women from the Natal authorities and a drift towards an emerging post-war Afrikaner Nationalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, the variety of experiences of Natal Afrikaner women as British subjects who were related by blood and culture to the Boers of the Republics of the Transvaal and the Orange Free State, with which the British Empire was at war with, are analysed. This is done in a blended, thematic, and chronological manner. Drawing on primary and secondary sources, the encounters of Natal Afrikaner women with the Boer commandos, the British Army, the Natal colonial authorities as well as other wartime encounters are scrutinised. For the period of the South African War from 1899-1902, as per social history, this paper attempts to give an authentic voice to Natal Afrikaner women in what is a gendered history. In so doing, the article contributes to the neglected historiography of the unique war experiences of Afrikaner women. More specifically, the difficult relationships of Natal Afrikaner women with both the invading Boer commandos and the British Army as well as the Natal colonial authorities are laid bare. At the same time, economic and other hardships, removals, imprisonment in concentration camps, and general physiological and physical hardships are investigated. The end result was an alienation of Natal Afrikaner women from the Natal authorities and a drift towards an emerging post-war Afrikaner Nationalism.

This paper recounts the early history of the South African Rugby Football Board (SARFB). The Board's official records are investigated to shed light on its institutional character, functions and development from 1889 to 1914. The organisation's inner workings on both a local and international level will be explored to open a window into the history of rugby administration in South Africa. This is an aspect of the sport, which, despite its general popularity, have hitherto remained largely unexplored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The theorist and strategist Carl von Clausewitz developed core theoretical concepts on war, including that war is merely an extension of politics by different means, and that the integration of morality and rationality functions as a driving force in a people’s war. Clausewitz envisaged the idea of war in its absolute perfection (‘beautiful wars’) as a regulative ideal, which formed part of his framework on small wars and people’s wars. The aim of this article is to demonstrate how Clausewitz’s theories on small wars, and their transformation into people’s wars, are still valuable when analysing and contextualising historical events and battles. The value of Clausewitz’s theories on small wars and people’s wars is demonstrated by applying them to the general characteristics of the South African War of 1899–1902. The way Clausewitz differentiates between the underpinning reasons for war, and between ‘limited’ and ‘absolute’ war, is specifically relevant for understanding the different tactics which commanders adopted in the field of battle. The theoretical distinction that Clausewitz makes between the objectives of two opposing forces could clarify why the British Empire and the two Boer Republics went to war. The same distinction might explain the motives and the impetus that gave rise to divergent views, and how the subsequent conflict developed into a full-scale war.

In this article, the spirituality and the memorialisation of the dead of the Durban Concentration Camps during the South African War (1899-1902) are analysed diachronically. As a study in micro-history, primary and secondary sources were used. Four clear memorialisation events were recognised: external British Imperial memorisation by means of obelisks that spiritually honoured Empire; Afrikaner Christian Nationalist memorisation that celebrated symbolic victory over the British Empire; rededication of the memorials in the inclusive spirit of the ‘new’ South Africa; and the partial abandonment of physical memorisation for remembering and honouring the dead in a virtual world. Each of these events offered its own seen and unseen forms of spirituality and understanding.

Copyright of South African Journal of Cultural History is the property of South African Society for Cultural History and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Beaufort West was the first rural town in South Africa to receive municipal status as early as 1837. Situated in the arid interior of the country, the town has struggled with water provision and sufficient water supplies since its inception to the present day. In addition, the town is flanked by two rivers, which, in times of high rainfall or cloudbursts in the catchment areas, have caused severe flood damage since earliest times. Therefore, throughout its history Beaufort West has been trapped periodically between drought and deluge. The municipal council was challenged in its efforts to provide water to the needs of its growing population. Two outstanding events in this regard were the extension of the colonial railways to the town in 1880 and the outbreak of the South African War in 1899. In this article the quest for water to Beaufort West’s inhabitants is investigated since ca. 1858 until the completion of the Gamka Dam (1955) in the Nieuweveld Mountains some kilometres from Beaufort West. Besides the extraction of potable water from springs, weirs, boreholes, water mains, dams and reservoirs, the paper also highlights state involvement and the collision of national with local interests in the water procurement process. Although the centenary publication of WGH Vivier and S Vivier in 1969 on Beaufort West highlighted some aspects of the town’s water infrastructure developments, this study focuses in more detail on its water vulnerability especially in time of drought and the constant search for adequate alternative water sources.

On 11 October 1899, the South African War commenced between the British Empire and the South African Republic and Orange Free State Republic. This conflict saw the targeting of civilians by all sides throughout the conflict and a harbinger of 20th century “Total War”, when civilians and their resources were harnessed to support military objectives. Set against the prior use of concentration camps in Cuba and the Philippines, the war was followed by a genocidal campaign undertaken by Imperial Germany against the Herero people in German South West Africa in 1906. Although civilian internment in South Africa was not genocidal by design and purpose, it caused a high loss of life and lasting bitterness amongst Boer descendants. Black concentration camps, however, were far more lethal to their internees and designed along a completely different model. Their role was to coerce labour while supporting the British war effort in defeating the Republican forces. Through a work or starve policy, combined with withholding food, medical support and shelter, many perished from systemic neglect. Yet the memory of this experience of the black concentration camps has entered historical discourse only recently, in the last three decades. The area of study, examined by this article, is those black concentration camps established during 1901 to 1902, at Klip River Station, Witkop, Meyerton and Vereeniging, in the former South African Republic (ZAR). Contemporary tangible evidence of these camps remains fleeting. However, this article identifies where these camps existed and how they were integrated into the British military’s counter-guerrilla warfare strategy. This in turn enables further research into these camps that may conclusively establish their historic locations.

The South African War created nearly 5,000 British working-class war widows: three-quarters of a million pounds was raised by public subscription to support them. This article investigates the three national war widows' charities: the Royal Patriotic Fund, the Daily Telegraph / Scotsman Shilling Fund, and the Imperial War Fund. Highlighting the plight of war widows and orphans, it argues that evaluation of the war's impact on British society must include its effects on working-class soldiers' families. Analysing the identity and motivations of donors, it suggests funds for soldiers' dependants succeeded by fusing imperial sentiment to class solidarity and local identity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, the spirituality and the memorialisation of the dead of the Durban Concentration Camps during the South African War (1899-1902) are analysed diachronically. As a study in micro-history, primary and secondary sources were used. Four clear memorialisation events were recognised: external British Imperial memorisation by means of obelisks that spiritually honoured Empire; Afrikaner Christian Nationalist memorisation that celebrated symbolic victory over the British Empire; rededication of the memorials in the inclusive spirit of the 'new' South Africa; and the partial abandonment of physical memorisation for remembering and honouring the dead in a virtual world. Each of these events offered its own seen and unseen forms of spirituality and understanding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Camps that interned black civilians during the South African War (1899-1902) are known as concentration camps, yet this is an inaccurate and misrepresentative picture of what actually transpired during the conflict. Rather, the concentration camps established for black civilians in South Africa late in 1900 and early 1901 were, by mid-1901, incorporated into the newly formed Native Refugee Department which fell under direct command of the British Army. At this point, the camps were mostly closed down and the internees relocated to Boer farms cleared of civilians. There, camps were established by the Native Refugee Department with a completely different function to that of the concentration camp system. These camps operated as forced labour camps in which women, children and elderly men were compelled into the labour of growing crops for the British military in exchange for food. If they refused, they were starved to death under the 'let die' policy. The Dry Harts Forced Labour Camp forms the focus of this article. A combination of sources was used to reconstruct its history: archaeological surveys, the fragmentary written archive, and through accessing local oral history and memory at the site, from 2001-2008. A narrative emerges from this research of the fight for land, the implementation of forced labour, civilian displacement, and the horror of total war, which are not, as some scholars claim, a shared experience with the Boer population at the hands of a common enemy, commensurate with mutual suffering, or even of black participation in the war. The experience of black civilians inside Dry Harts Forced Labour Camp was fundamentally different: theirs was not so-called participation but rather a separate experience of land loss, forced labour, war and displacement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of South African Journal of Cultural History / Suid-Afrikaanse Vereniging vir Kultuurgeskiedenis is the property of South African Society for Cultural History and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of South African Journal of Cultural History / Suid-Afrikaanse Vereniging vir Kultuurgeskiedenis is the property of South African Society for Cultural History and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The authors deal with six unpublished communications from Olive Schreiner to James Butler, Editor of the Cradock newspaper The Midland News and Karroo farmer between March 1893 and October 1905, as well as a reply from Butler to Schreiner. These documents are housed in the Cory Library for Historical Research at Rhodes University. Transcriptions by J. Fogg are appended. The heart of the article deals with Butler's refusal to publish Schreiner's "letter to the Women of Somerset East" which she had sent as a contribution to the protest meeting held in Somerset East on 12 October 1900 to mark the first anniversary of the declaration of the South African War. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tourism and tourism development have the potential to make a positive impact on a region's economic development and sustainability. In this sense, the central Karoo has a great deal to offer heritage tourists. As there are numerous battlefield sites associated with the South African War (1899–1902) (previously the Anglo-Boer War) the central Karoo offers a unique development opportunity to demarcate a designated battlefield route dedicated to the war. This study investigated the potential for the development of the proposed route by involving potential stakeholders (specifically product owners and government officials) on the route. The study was qualitative, and 33 interviews were conducted. Thematic content analysis was used to analyse the data. The main findings indicate a need for the development of the route and the establishment of a South African War Battlefields Route Destination Marketing Organisation (DMO). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On 11 October 1899, the South African War commenced between the British Empire and the South African Republic and Orange Free State Republic. This conflict saw the targeting of civilians by all sides throughout the conflict and a harbinger of 20th century "Total War", when civilians and their resources were harnessed to support military objectives. Set against the prior use of concentration camps in Cuba and the Philippines, the war was followed by a genocidal campaign undertaken by Imperial Germany against the Herero people in German South West Africa in 1906. Although civilian internment in South Africa was not genocidal by design and purpose, it caused a high loss of life and lasting bitterness amongst Boer descendants. Black concentration camps, however, were far more lethal to their internees and designed along a completely different model. Their role was to coerce labour while supporting the British war effort in defeating the Republican forces. Through a work or starve policy, combined with withholding food, medical support and shelter, many perished from systemic neglect. Yet the memory of this experience of the black concentration camps has entered historical discourse only recently, in the last three decades. The area of study, examined by this article, is those black concentration camps established during 1901 to 1902, at Klip River Station, Witkop, Meyerton and Vereeniging, in the former South African Republic (ZAR). Contemporary tangible evidence of these camps remains fleeting. However, this article identifies where these camps existed and how they were integrated into the British military's counter-guerrilla warfare strategy. This in turn enables further research into these camps that may conclusively establish their historic locations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The First World War is often held to be a watershed in the memorialisation of war in Britain. Through an exploration of the Royal Engineers' commemorative space at their headquarters in Chatham, this article argues that the post–1918 war memorial boom displays not only divergences from, but also continuities with, Victorian and Edwardian practices. Thus, although the mass volunteerism and conscription of 1914–1918 resulted in both the rank and file and the bereaved being drawn into the memorialisation process for the first time, memorial forms and messages, nonetheless, retained firm links with commemorative rituals of the late nineteenth century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Australians who enlisted in the South African War were representatives of the bushman ideal popularised in the late 19th century, and were thus associated with the masculine model connected to this ideal. Most men were literal bushmen, rural labourers unemployed due to widespread drought in the decade preceding the conflict. However, this model of masculinity created difficulties for soldiers who developed psychiatric disorders during their military service, as society's feminisation of mental illness meant that it was deemed a loss of manhood. This article examines the application of the masculine bushman ideal to Australians who developed war trauma during the South African War (1899–1902), initially arguing that the conflict served as a testing ground for the larger-scale militarisation of the ideal from the First World War. It explores the role of military doctors in shaping diagnoses of combat breakdown while operating within limited psychological understanding and their attempts to avoid the demasculinisation—and thus stigmatisation—of the traumatised soldier. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this article is to discuss the structure and organization of the Orange Free State (OFS) Boer republic’s citizen force army in October 1899 (that is when the Anglo-Boer War or South African War broke out). A basic question is whether the structure of the OFS armed forces was indeed effective as far as the organization of these armed forces was concerned. It will be indicated how and why the OFS citizen army command structure was adapted, and what legal consequences it had. A review is given of the OFS military laws (known as the Krijgs- en Commandowet; representing the military and commando law); the legal position of the OFS State President is explained (namely the role and functions of MT Steyn, last OFS President); the role of the Military Commission is discussed; as well as the role of the war councils and war meetings.

Over 2,000 foreign volunteers fought in the South African War of 1899–1902. They supported the 60,000-strong Boer force against a British army numbering 500,000 men. Some foreigners were integrated into the commando forces of the two Boer republics, the Zuid Afrikaansche Republiek (Transvaal) and the Orange Free State. But most fought in separate foreign corps or performed non-combat roles. Their presence signals that, instead of a distant colonial skirmish, the South African War should be understood as a modern war with an international history. This article examines the different pathways volunteers took to join the conflict. It examines the battlefield experiences of foreign volunteers during the first phase of conventional warfare and the second guerrilla phase after mid-1900. It explores how nascent international humanitarian convention and internal military doctrines influenced these experiences. Ultimately, it reveals how conflicting conceptualizations of the war, as both a national struggle and a colonial campaign, presented serious dilemmas to foreign participants that eventually drove many from the fight. Despite these effects, European military observers came to view South Africa's battlefields as the archetypal modern warzone, one in which, despite the increasing 'nationalization' of warfare, the foreign volunteer was 'the recognized adjunct of modern armies.' [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The defence of West Australia Hill was a day-long encounter between 30 West Australians and 300-400 Boers during the South African War (1899-1902). An archaeological survey to test the applicability of Battlefield Patterning Analysis (PBA: as used on the Battle of Little Big Horn site, Montana, USA) was conducted to determine how the West Australians maintained tactical superiority throughout the encounter. The locations of fired cartridges, artillery artefacts and archival evidence showed that the successful all-day defence was due to good tactical positioning on West Australia Hill and fire discipline, aided by accurate British artillery. Dynamic Patterning, a component of PBA, was developed further by the use of two innovative methods of recording spent ammunition characteristics: off-centredness of firing pin indentations, and marks within firing pin indentations of the fired cartridges. The ammunition finds for both Australian and Boers soldiers demonstrated the application of BPA on 20th century battlefields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

IN PARENTHESIS is a practice-based essay which takes shape, parasitically, amidst the "found text" of an existing book, British author Thomas Pakenham's The Boer War (1979, Johannesburg: Jonathan Ball). The "author-reader" interjects into the found text of this authoritative history book, inserting her words amongst those of Pakenham's. What becomes apparent, however, is that the text into which she interjects is not The Boer War verbatim, but a dramatically abridged version. The book's primary content has been edited out. What remains is The Boer War whittled down to a litany of Pakenham's parentheses (the history book distilled into an essence of the seemingly non-essential). Into this stream of bracketed matter, the author-reader writes, ruminating on the parenthesis as ethos (as prison and portal, barricade and breach, enclave and embrace). In turn, her ruminations invite reflection on the conundrum of writing history, of writing this history (and, indeed, of writing per se). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]