Then the Boers started a guerrilla war that was gruelling for everyone involved. The British, under General Lord Kitchener responded with unequalled severity and brutality. The Boer commandos were hunted systematically, the fields devastated, the harvests destroyed. The women and children, who were left destitute and homeless, were kept under horrific conditions in huge concentration camps. In total, more than 27,000 women and children died from famine, exhaustion and disease.

Eventually the Boers realized that any further resistance would demand more senseless sacrifices, and peace negotiations began. On the 31st of May 1902, a peace contract was signed. Both Boer Republics became British Crown Colonies.



Left: Afrikaner soldiers in the Boer War (Cape Archives, colouring © KGH).
Top: Boer prisoners of war (Cape Archives)

The Anglo-Boer War

continued
The "Boer War" lasted three years. On the side of the Afrikaners there were 52,000 soldiers fighting against a contingent of 450,000 men under British command. The Afrikaners did initially achieve some spectacular successes, but very soon the tables turned. On March 13, 1900 Bloemfontein was occupied and on the 24th of May, the Orange Free State was declared British territory. Shortly afterwards Johannesburg and Pretoria fell, and on the 1st of September, Transvaal was annexed as a British colony.