| Publication |
2012.
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| Summary/Abstract |
This article examines the British response to the onset of guerrilla warfare launched by the Boers in March 1900. It argues that although Britain had signed the Hague Convention in July 1899, the two commanders, Lords Roberts and Kitchener, combated this unprecedented challenge with their own notions of what constituted 'civilised warfare' or 'the usages of war'. They did not concern themselves with winning 'hearts and minds', and both commanders used destructive measures against the civilian population, either to punish them for helping the guerrillas, or to turn them against those still fighting. Kitchener implemented a thorough strategy based on the destruction of farms and livestock and on imprisoning Boer and African families in what became known as 'concentration camps'. Although the 'collective punishment' of civilians was against the Hague Convention, the British utilised such methods to destroy the independence of the Boer republics. The article also suggests that the nature of the guerrilla war undermines any claim that it was fought in a 'gentlemanly' manner, and shows that in British Cape Colony, rebels were dealt with by martial law and the use of African collaborators, to the detriment of civil governance and the racial hierarchy.
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