The Anglo-Boer War

The Anglo-Boer War 1899-1902 saw the British Empire at the height of its power facing a small band of highly mobile Boers in South Africa. The war introduced the world to the concentration camp and is regarded as the first war of the modern era where magazine rifles, trenches and machine guns were deployed extensively. British losses topped 28 000 in a conflict that was supposed to take a few weeks but lasted three years.

Occasionally English South Africa Education Desmond Latham

143 Episodes

80 – 100

Episode 63 - The death of the French Colonel as Vincent van Gogh’s brother fights for the Boers.

We’re going to ride with the French Colonel or "Die Franse Kolonel", Georges Villebois-Mareuil as he heads into the Free State with the International Legion. This episode is slightly longer than usual because the details of this Frenchman are so intriguing. We will also be introduced to some of the…

2 Dec 2018 26 min

Episode 62 - The honourable French Colonel Villebois-Mareuil and his personal war

This week its Frenchman Georges Villebois-Mareuil whose military exploits echoed the wars of the 19th Century, particularly the Franco-Prussian war of 1870. Villebois-Mareuil even spent time in what became known as Vietnam, fighting in French-Indo-China, and in Europe in the mid-to-late 1800s. But it was in Africa where he really…

25 Nov 2018 20 min

Episode 61 - Drinking coffee in Dewetsdorp while President Kruger arrives in Marseilles

In episode 61 we traverse the width of South Africa to head back to the Free State after following the Canadians through the Eastern Transvaal last week. It’s in the Free State where General Christiaan de Wet remains at large. His plan is to head south through the Free State…

18 Nov 2018 20 min

Episode 60 - The heroic Canadians of Lieliefontein and Boer hero General Fourie falls

We’re still riding with the Canadians in the area around Belfast in the Eastern Transvaal, which is a short distance away from South Africa’s all important coal mines. Last week we heard how the icy rain had lashed Smith-Dorrien’s 1200 strong column as it tried to rid the region of…

11 Nov 2018 23 min

Episode 59 - Freda Schlosberg goes home as an icy rain lashes the Canadians

Mercurial Boer commander Christiaan de Wet has just avoided being captured along with Free State President Andries Steyn at the brutal "small" battle at Bothaville. The Boers lost 25 killed and 130 captured. Another 30 were wounded. De Wet also was forced to abandon four Krupps field guns, a pom…

4 Nov 2018 17 min

Episode 58 - De Wet experiences a terrible misfortune as his scouts bungle

This is episode 58 and there’s much excitement, General Knox catches up with de Wet for a second time and all hell breaks loose. Nothing damages you more in war than a lack of proper intelligence gathering. With information that is accurate and dispassionate, you can improve morale, skirmish successfully,…

28 Oct 2018 14 min

Episode 57 - St John Brodrick’s poisoned chalice & Jan Smuts hatches an outrageous plan

The guerilla campaign is now under way in late October 1900 and the leaders of the Boer commandos and their remaining political icon, Andries Styen the president of the Free State, are due to meet one hundred kilometres west of Johannesburg in the last week of the month. The gathering…

21 Oct 2018 18 min

Episode 56 - General Knox’s waxed moustache, rowdy Australians, 500 Maoris & Lord Kitchener censors

This is episode 56 and there are movements afoot. For instance, Transvaal President Paul Kruger is on his way to Europe on a diplomatic mission, Free State President Styen is moving through the Northern Transvaal, and General Louis Botha is harassing Canadian, Australian, and English troops stationed along the all…

14 Oct 2018 18 min

Episode 55 - The Concentration Camps installed and Winston Churchill wins in Oldham

It’s October 1900, and Spring is a month old in Southern Africa. Some of the mountains in Basutholand (Lesotho) still have their snowy caps, but the temperatures are already climbing to 30 degrees in other parts of the region. In Cape Town, the Governor of the Cape Sir Alfred Milner…

7 Oct 2018 18 min

Episode 54- The flimsy Oath of Neutrality collapses at the start of a Southern Spring

It’s the end of September 1900, an already the Spring rains have come to parts of Southern Africa. It’s a time when the dull dusty winter air is cleared by these first thunderstorms which flush the atmosphere clear and people awaken after a night of flashing lightning and growling thunder…

30 Sep 2018 20 min

Episode 53 - An IED on a Transvaal railway line & London Times Shipping Records.

We are up to episode 53 and this week we’ll take a closer look at the use of Improvised Explosive Devices or IEDs in the war. While not a new invention, a Scotsman fighting for the Boers used a new remote triggering mechanism which is illuminating. Nothing brings out innovation…

23 Sep 2018 16 min

Episode 52 - Politics in a time of war and Freda’s brother survives a storm of bullets

This episode features what’s known as the Khaki election of 1900 in England, German mercenaries, Portuguese East Africa, and another update from the teenage schoolgirl called Freda who’s unique view of this war continues through her diary. It also the point at which Lord Roberts makes another proclamation after his…

16 Sep 2018 18 min

Episode 51 - The Australian view of an African war and President Kruger prepares to leave

This episode will focus on Australia - their troops had already had a major impact on the war particularly as they joined the Canadians in the relief of Mafikeng. When the Anglo-Boer war broke out in October 1899 most corners of the empire were convinced these handful of Boers would…

9 Sep 2018 20 min

Episode 50 - The Canadians repulse an attack while Uitlanders commit a war crime

The beginning of September 1900 is characterised by small skirmishes that continue to plague Lord Robert’s army in South Africa. It’s also the start of Spring - which came as a relief for the men who’d slept under the stars with winter temperatures slipping well below zero in many parts…

2 Sep 2018 22 min

Episode 49 - Total War destroys the ZARPS at Bergendal

We’re in the Eastern Transvaal where Lord Roberts large army mobilised once more in late August 1900 in order to march on Boer General Louis Botha. Robert’s had been joined by General Redvers Buller who’d made his way north from the Natal Colony, pushing the Boers before him. On the…

26 Aug 2018 17 min

Episode 48 - Boer emissaries find it cold in Russia while de Wet scrambles up the Magaliesberg

This episode is dominated by a failed attempt by the Boers at international diplomacy, the continued zig zagging of General Christiaan de Wet, and Lord Roberts setting out his stall to attack Louis Botha in the Transvaal. So it was then that on the afternoon of Wednesday 15th August 1900,…

19 Aug 2018 19 min

Episode 47 - General Buller reappears, Louis Botha plots and "Johnny" Hamilton bungles.

In this episode General Buller makes a return and some of his slow moving tactics start paying off. Lord Kitchener complains after de Wet makes his escape with 2500 burghers, and the Canadians prepare to attack Louis Botha in the Eastern Transvaal. This war which was supposed to be over…

12 Aug 2018 18 min

Episode 46 - A German is executed and the Australians hold off Koos de la Rey.

In July Lieutenant Hans Cordua who was a German, had led a plot to overthrown the British once they’d arrived in the Transvaal capital. Lieutenant Cordua had fought for the Boers and was captured but later released on parole. He’d barely gained his liberty before he hatched a plot…

5 Aug 2018 15 min

Episode 45 - De Wet drinks a cup of bitterness while Lord Roberts’ wife upsets Queen Victoria

That’s 45 weeks since the start of the war in October 1899. And this podcast series is following the weeks, so to speak. Right now, we’re in an interregnum. Not a dormant period and definitely not an hiatus. Boer General Christiaan de Wet still appears to have the initiative in…

29 Jul 2018 20 min

Episode 44 - The Mist of war descends on the Dragon Mountains and de Wet fights with his brother

This is episode 44 and comes with a smattering of snow, ice and a little about what’s known as the Dragon Mountains - the Drakensberg. It’s also called the Barrier of Spears because the lava flow which created the escarpment 160 million years before has weathered away revealing sharp spear…

22 Jul 2018 19 min