The Boer War - Thomas Pakenham

The war declared by the Boers on 11 October 1899 gave the British, as Kipling said, ‘no end of a lesson’. The public expected it to be over by Christmas. It proved to be the longest (two and three-quarter years), the costliest (over 200 million pounds), the bloodiest (at least 22,000 British, 25,000 Boer and 12,000 African lives) and the most humiliating war that Britain fought between 1815 and 1914.

Thomas Pakenham has written the first full-scale documentary history of the war to be attempted since 1910. His narrative is based on first-hand and largely unpublished sources. He has combed the original British documents in the Public Record Office and the material in South African archives. He has traced the private papers of most of the protagonists. He found the letters of Sir Redvers Buller — the British Commander-in-Chief in 1899 — letters which had remained hidden under the billiard table at Buller’s house in Devon.

He has unearthed new material from the trunk-loads of Lord Roberts’s papers, discovered a massive secret journal of the war compiled by the War Office Intelligence Department, and found the private letters from the War Minister, Lord Lansdowne and other members of the Cabinet. And he has dug up several hundred sets of letters and diaries written by the men who fought in the war. Finally, he has tape-recorded the memories of over fifty survivors from both sides.

Out of this gold-mine, Thomas Pakenham has constructed a narrative as vivid and fast-moving as a novel. In numerous ways he challenges the accepted view of historians. He exposes the crucial role of two of the 'gold bugs' - the richest of the Rand millionaires - in precipitating the war. He throws new light on the blunders of British generals, Sir Redvers Buller and Lord Roberts, revealing a personal feud between the men comparable to the one between Lords Lucan and Cardigan that led to the charge of the Light Brigade. He writes movingly about the plight of 100,000 black Africans who served both armies. And he explains the final political victory of the Boers - how they lost the war but won the peace - with far-reaching consequences for Europe and South Africa. 

In scope, scholarship, breadth and impact, this is a work that will not be superseded for many years.