The Boer War

The Boer War proved to be the longest, costliest, bloodiest and most humiliating war fought by Britain between 1815 and 1914. This reissued narrative history is based on first-hand and largely unpublished (elsewhere) sources, from both British and South African archives, as well as private papers, letters and diaries of the protagonists and soldiers of both sides, and the tape-recorded memories of over 50 survivors. Out of this abundance of information, the author has constructed a vivid narrative, writing movingly of the plight of the 100,000 black Africans who served both armies and explaining the final political victory of the Boers - how they lost the war but won the peace.