The Second Boer War: A Conflict Between the British Empire and the South African Republic, 1899-1900

james m.: to read

United States on Oct 21, 2023

Janet T.: This is actually a gift for someone, though I haven't given it yet, I know he will be very happy with it!

United States on Dec 25, 2022

Joe S: I saw a lot of one star reviews for this book because the print size is small. I think that's a little unfair as we are reviewing the author's work, not the publisher's formatting.
Having said that, the book is 578 pages of main content but the font is indeed tiny and goes right from the top margin of the page to the bottom, so it would probably be more like 850 pages plus if it were printed in a typical typeface, so be prepared for a big ol' read. In fact, psychologically it does make the book feel more of a slog than it should be because it does take so long to read pages (for me anyway, as a reader of average pace)

The narrative starts in the late 1890s and focuses on South Africa and how it was partitioned (British, Boer, Native lands etc.) builds into the tensions and diplomacy and then erupts into the conflict, finishing with the end of the war essentially. The book is packed full of political information, a lot of background on the big players/characters and studied military history, i.e. battle descriptions - and it all feels expertly done.

I do feel this could have been split into perhaps two separate books rather than 4 parts within a book, as it is an...

United Kingdom on Dec 15, 2022

anshul tiwari: got what I wanted

India on May 14, 2018

Michael R. Moulder: This book really tells the tale of this almost forgotten war at the dawn of the 20th Century.
It was the British Empire's Vietnam War... Well written indeed!

Canada on Mar 02, 2015

steve: Magnificent book, both in terms of military and geo-political history. Anyone interested in the differences between strategy and tactics or South African history in general would benefit from this book. The US army would've done well to have studied this conflict prior to Vietnam. Indeed, it would do a few Generals and Politicians some good reading it today as well. At a pure human level when you consider the risks, distances and logistics both sides encountered it's amazing they operated at all (400,000 dead horses & mules on the British side alone is telling). I have been through Natal and parts of the Transvaal and being out in the open with rifles accurate up to a mile being fired at you would be galling to say the least. The mountains in Natal are bear and barren, and the story of how Buller had to figure his way through it with the wily Botha sitting along the ridges (but equally challenged in trying to cover his line) was fascinating, as was the near misses on both sides that are easy to judge with hindsight yet with no maps, no intelligence, they could only follow their judgement. Then there is politicking and land-grabbing behind the war - Milner, Cecil Rhodes, the...

United Kingdom on Sep 08, 2014

Ergie Weggedorn: Da kann ich mich nur anschließen - erstklassige Abhandlung des Burenkrieges. Geradezu spannend und -zumindest ging es mir so- emotional aufwühlend. Aber auch der abgeklärtere Leser wird bei einigen Beschreibungen ob ihrer Unglaublichkeit ins Staunen geraten.
Wer wenig oder nichts über den Burenkrieg weiß, aber wissen möchte: Hier ist das Buch dafür.

Germany on Jul 22, 2013

Michael L. Halfman: After many books on the American Civil War I chose this one with a view towards seeing if any lessons from it had been learned. Alas not. America's failure to learn from Britain's efforts in the Crimea was repaid by the Brit's failure to anticipate the spadework of the Boers in their trenching both here and of course in the Great War to come. My father-in-law was wont to say, "some folks learn faster than others" and if the overall outcome is never in doubt - the cover has a Kipling quote "they taught us no end of a lesson" - the length and breadth of the teaching makes for exciting reading. Pakenham's style is erudite without being cumbersome and though one could wish for a few more maps and end notes more expansive than mere citations (the reason for four rather than five stars) the work as a whole was well structured and never got bogged down in minutiae. The author spends considerable time developing the back story of the politicians, generals, and financiers - the usual suspects - who promulgated the conflict. Many of them, French, Hamilton, Churchill, Milner, Kitchener, would go on to similarly influence for better or, more frequently worse, WWI. Battle details are given as...

United States on Feb 23, 2013

John the Reader: This three inch book of 650 pages is printed in what - to my tired old eyes - seems to be an eight point font, or less, and I struggled to read the closely packed history at first. But I persevered, gradually focusing on the facts and not the font, and found the extra effort well rewarded. In fact, by the second day, I could not put this impressive magnum opus down. The Boer War (1899 - 1902) was to be the most costly, in terms of blood and treasure, in the hundred years of Queen Victoria's "little wars" period, and was a true forecast of the butchery that smokeless rifles fired from trenches would effect in the slaughter of WWI.

Thomas Pakenham is in fact the 8th Earl of Longford, and his grandfather fought the Boers in South Africa, and was seriously wounded in a typical `last stand' affair where 80 of his fellow troops were killed. The author, besides being a respected and prize winning historian (perhaps best known for his The Scramble for Africa is also a noted arborist.

The book offers great insights - several of which are detailed here for the first time- into the politics of the war, both in Cape Town and the government parliaments and leaders, that were...

United States on Sep 23, 2012

Ian Muldoon: Atr the outset, it should be noted that this book could be usefully supplemented by reading COMMANDO by Deneys Reitz - A Boer journal ,of the Boer War.
Much of the horror of 20th century warfare - trench warfare, concentration camps, shooting or otherwise mistreating prisoners - was carried out in the Boer war. Some readers, and I am a general reader not an historian, will have been aware of elements of the Boer War such as the shooting of prisoners by Lt "Breaker Morant" which was and is something of a cause celebre in Australia retold in books, plays and a fine contemporary film. But the one feeling I have after reading this fine book by Mr Pakenham is a far greater sympathy for the Boers and a much better appreciation of the contribution and sacrifice that black Africans made in what was touted as a "white man's" war. In fact it was a black man's war too with c100,000 black riflemen seeing duty, and fighting in effect for the right to vote. Mr Pakenham provides evidence to suggest that the successful survival by the British at the siege of Mafeking was made possible by the sacrifice of black Africans.
Item: 3500 horses perished in one day in one cavalry charge.
Item:...

United States on Oct 13, 2004