The Boer War Tapa dura - 2004

Johannesburg & Cape Town: Jonathan Ball Publishers, 2004. Second impression, 2004 (first published in the UK by Weidenfeld & Nicolson 1979). Hardback. 660pp. Dust jacket. Thomas Pkenham has written the first full-scale documentary of the war to be attempted since 1910. His narrative is based on first-hand and often unpublished sources. This is a narrative as vivid and fast-moving as a novel. The war declared by the Boers on 11th 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 years0, the costliest (over £00million), the bloodiest (at least 12,000 British, 25,000 Boer and 12,000 African lives) and the most humiliating war Britain fought between 1815 and 1914. The author exposes the crucial role of two of the 'gold-bugs' - the richest of the Rand millionaires - in precipitating the war. He throws light on the blunders of the British generals… Leer más