The Anglo-Boer War

A reassessment of the controversial Natal campaign of the Boer War, this book analyzes contemporary sources using previously unpublished reports and letters. It describes the actions of the campaign and discusses the roles of Warren, Roberts, Buller and White, questioning many long-established "official" views of this campaign. Many myths surround the events and personalities of this period of British colonial history, not least because reputations were protected, destroyed and subjected to scrutiny by a Royal Commission of Enquiry in 1902-1903. Who really lost Spioenkop and Ladysmith? Why did the campaign cost so much in money and lives? Were individuals or the Army hierarchy to blame for those reversals on the road to an inevitable victory? The author attempts to answer these questions in a controversial treatment of a notorious episode in British military history. He deals fully with the Royal Commission of Enquiry in London in 1902-1903.