THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR IN SOUTH AFRICA 1899 – 1902 VOL V 13870

R545.00

The military aim which the British people and the British Army had set before themselves at  the outbreak of the war had been achieved, and more than achieved, by the close of the first year. In his great marches, from Modder River Camp to the Portuguese frontier, Lord Roberts had swept away the stubborn resistance of the Boer armies, had triumphantly occupied all the chief towns of the two Republics, and had securely established himself upon the great arteries of communication. After Komati Poort there was no longer a single compact, centrally organised and centrally equipped Boer force in the field; the Boer artillery had almost disappeared; on every side the burgers were coming in to assure the conquerors that the surrender of those who were still in arms was but a matter of a few days or a the outside weeks. Few, indeed, there were who recognised that the British aim had been set too low, or understood the magnitude and character of the task that still lay between Lord Kitchener and the realisation of the national purpose expressed in the formal annexation of the Republics.

Yet there were abundant precedents to furnish a warning. The defeat of the Sepoy mutiny, the annexation of Burma, the Austrian occupation of Bosnia and Herzegovina had each had their aftermath of costly and exhausting guerilla warfare. In the last instance the activities of a few determined bands had occupied 200,000 men for two years. Why if any considerable proportion of the Boers were minded to resist, should the effective occupation of the Republics call for a lesser effort? The area to be occupied was many times vaster and admirably suited to guerilla tactics. Here were no unorganised, ill-armed subjects of an Oriental despotism, but a free white people, the most obstinate, perhaps, of all the white races, well mounted, equipped with the best modern weapons, and still entirely unconvinced on any tactical inferiority to the invaders. Apart form the comparatively bloodless surrenders of Cronje and Prinsloo, they had suffered no really crushing defeats, they had never been subjected to punishing pursuit. The towns from which they had been driven had never been centres of their national life. What reason. after all , was there for supposing that their stubborn spirit had so lightly been schooled to submission?

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Description

Edited by L.S. Amery, general editor, and Erskine Childers. Published by Sampson Low, Marson and Company of London in 1907. Hard cover bound this assumed First Edition copy is in Fair condition, covered in plastic and without a dust jacket. The size of the book is 230x158x58mm.

xvi prelim and 614 pages including II Appendixes. 3 loose maps in 2 pockets on inside of front and rear cover. The covers are Poor due to water damage. (This vol needs to be rebound.) There is some light mould limited mostly to the front margins of first 50 & the last 2 sheets. The first xvi pages = 8 sheets are crumbling in the lower corners. Nowhere has the text been affected in any way. The rest of the book appears unread. Top edge gilt, otherwise edges rough cut. 3 folded maps, in fine condition in pockets; 27 folding maps in green and red, 9 b&w photog plates with tissue guards = complete in all respects. Please see our # 13869 , 13872 for uniform volumes I and IV. Extra postage will be required overseas.