The British Empire - an island full of lies
History is written by the winners...
In recent years, I have been dealing with history differently. I am not looking in ordinary history books or in ordinary sources. This is what my knowledge of how the world works reveals. I live in Austria and feel a lot of hidden fascism from civil servants, so I thought I'd look into it. However, I came across some very shocking data.
Concentration camps were here 40 years before the Second World War....
Did you know that the first concentration camps were established in Cuba and subsequently "improved" by the British during the Second Boer War?
First, let's focus on Cuba and the ten-year war with the Spanish..
General Valeriano Weyler y Nicolau understood very quickly that the key to a Spanish victory over the insurgents was to strip the guerrillas of their abilities to live off the land and camouflage themselves in groups of civilians. To this end, he began a policy of moving Cuban civilians to central locations where they would be under the control of the Spanish army. In addition, he put the entire island under martial law.
The policy had disastrous consequences. Unlike many concentration camps in the twentieth century, the idea was to keep the Cuban civilians alive and protected until the Spanish were victorious. Unfortunately, at least 30% perished from lack of proper food, sanitary conditions, and medicines. The policy generated severe anti-Spanish feeling in the United States which helped propel it into war in 1898. Finally, it did not benefit the Spanish in the war.
By 1898, a third of Cuba's population had been moved into camps and over 400,000 Cubans died due to their subjected conditions. The policy is remembered as the first time in history modern concentration camps were constructed.
Link: https://guides.loc.gov/world-of-1898/reconcentration-policy
First Boer War
Causes of the War
The First Anglo-Boer is also known as the First Transvaal War of Independence because the conflict arose between the British colonizers and the Boers from the Transvaal Republic or Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek (ZAR). The Boers had some help from their neighbours in the Orange Free State.
There were several causes of the First Anglo-Boer War.
- The expansion of the British Empire.
- Problems within the Transvaal government.
- The British annexation of the Transvaal.
- The Boer opposition to British rule in the Transvaal.
Henry Herbert, the 4th Earl of Carnarvon was the British Secretary of State for the Colonies (referred to as Lord Carnarvon) under Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli, who was premier from 1868 to 1880. At the time the British government wanted to expand the British Empire.
Lord Carnarvon wanted to form a confederation of all the British colonies, independent Boer republics and independent African groups in South Africa under British control. By 1876 he realised that he would not be able to achieve his goal peacefully. He told Disraeli that: "By acting at once, we may ... acquire ... the whole Transvaal Republic after which the Orange Free State will follow."
He was prepared to use force to make the confederation a reality, a fact that was proved by the Anglo-Zulu War in 1879.
The War
The first open conflict between the British and Boers began in November 1880 in Potchefstroom. P. L. Bezuidenhout refused to pay extra fees on his wagon saying he already paid his taxes. The British authorities then confiscated the wagon. On 11 November 1880 a commando of 100 men under P. A. Cronje took back the wagon from the British bailiff and returned it to Bezuidenhout.
Following this, between 8 000 and 10 000 Boers gathered at Paardekraal, near Krugersdorp on 8 December 1880. As a result a triumvirate of leaders; Paul Kruger, Piet Joubert and M. W. Pretorius were appointed. On 13 December 1880 the leaders proclaimed the restoration of the Transvaal Republic and three days later raised their Vierkleur flag at Heidelberg, thus rejecting British authority. The events of the 13 December 1880 thus in effect started the war and ended passive resistance. The first shots were fired in Potchefstroom. The Boers had about 7 000 soldiers, and some Free Staters joined their fellow Boers against the British enemy. There were only about 1 800 British soldiers stationed in towns across the Transvaal so British were outnumbered.
Sieges and battles during the First Anglo-Boer War
There were 4 main battles and several sieges during the First Anglo-Boer War. The Battles were at Bronkhorstspruit, Laingsnek, Schuinshoogte (Ingogo) and Majuba. The sieges were at Potchefstroom, Pretoria, Marabastad, Lydenburg, Rustenburg, Standerton and Wakkerstroom.
Early in the war it became clear that the colonisers had underestimated their opponents. They had assumed that the Boers were no match for the superior might of the British military force. The Boers had the advantage of knowing the local terrain. They were skilled with firearms because they hunted often. The red British uniforms made soldiers easy targets while the Boers who simply wore their civilian clothing, had good enemy cover.
At the battles of Laingsnek and Schuinshoogte the British forces suffered heavy losses and had to retreat. Major-General Sir George Pomeroy Colley had to wait for more reinforcements. Sir Evelyn Wood was appointed as his second-in-command, and Colley wanted him to lead in the extra soldiers from Newcastle. On 16 February 1881 Colley agreed to stop fighting on condition that the Boers gave up their hopes of requiring independence of the Transvaal. Negotiations came to nothing. On 26 February 1881 Colley decided to march on Majuba with 554 men, where the Boers had an outpost.
On the same day, General Piet Joubert and the Boer forces took up a position at Laing's Nek to check on the arrival of British reinforcements. Colley's men reached the top of the mountain in the early hours of the morning and were very tired. From the hill Colley could see the Boer laager of tents and covered wagons, but as he could not bring his heavy guns up the steep slopes, he was unable to fire on their encampment. Joubert, however, immediately ordered his men to climb the steep hill, take cover and shoot down on the British. At 7 a.m., a force of 150 Boers in three divisions under veld-cornets S J Roos, J Ferreira and D J Malan began to climb from ledge to ledge up the mountain, firing steadily and effectively on the British as they climbed. Untrained in guerrilla warfare, the exposed British soldiers made easy marks, and when Colley himself was killed and the Boers were almost at the summit, the British fled.
The magnitude of their defencelessness may be appraised from the fact that they had over 200 casualties killed and wounded, whereas the Boers lost only one man killed and one who died later of his wounds. There are two simple monuments on the battlefield: an obelisk erected by the Boers, and a rectangular column commemorating the British fatalities. The humiliating British defeat at Majuba brought about the end of the First Anglo-Boer War and introduced a short-lived peace. Gladstone's Liberal government abandoned the previous government's federation policy, and, by the signing of the Pretoria Convention in August 1881, the Transvaal was granted 'complete self-government, subject to the suzerainty of Her Majesty Queen Victoria'. Many British, however, assured of the innate power of their imperial status, continued to regard the Boer commandos as inferior adversaries. Looking on the Majuba Hill disaster as a 'freak' victory, they vowed retribution. The Transvaal War (also known as the First Boer War or the First War of Independence) was a 'curtain-raiser' to the far more ruthless Anglo-Boer War of 1899-1902. "Remember Majuba!" became a rallying cry of the British during Second Anglo-Boer War.
During the first Anglo-Boer War there were several sieges. Lydenburg, Potchefstroom, Pretoria, Marabastad, Rustenburg, Standerton and Wakkerstroom were all surrounded in by the Boers in order to stop the British forces stationed there from taking part in the fighting.
Prior to the war the British had been building a fort in Potchefstroom. Progress was very slow. On 15 December 1880 a large group of Boers on horses rode up to Potchefstroom. Major Thornhill, who saw them, raced back to the fort to warn his comrades. When a small group of Boers approached the fort shots were fired. Soon afterwards the Boers started firing on the fort from three directions. The fort's low walls didn't provide much protection.On 16 December 1880 the Boers replaced the Union Jack at the Landdrost's office with a white flag. The thatched roof building was also set alight. The Boers demanded the British surrender of the fort but Colonel Winsloe refused. The siege continued and after 95 days the British force inside the fort surrendered as a result of hunger.
The siege of Lydenburg lasted from 6 January 1881 to 30 March 1881. After 5 December 1880 less than a hundred soldiers under 24 year-old Lieutenant Walter Long were left in Lydenburg. Although Long improved the fort's defences the water supply ran low by 23 January 1881. Long rejected a peace offering from the Boers and the siege only came to an end after 84 days.
Marabastad was a military station with about 50 000 British soldiers put in place to control the black population in the area. It was about 165 miles or 265 km north of Pretoria.Two companies of the 94th regiment that had been positioned in Lydenburg arrived at Marabastad in February 1880 and on 29 November 1880 they were ordered to march into Pretoria. This left only 60 men at the fort. On the same day the news of the British defeat at Bronkhorstspruit arrived and Brook was told to protect the fort against any attack. This siege began on 29 December 1880. The local residents supported the British fort and provided food. Captain Brook was told about the armistice on 22 March 1881, but decided to keep on defending the fort. The siege ended on 2 April 1881.
There were very few British soldiers at Rustenburg when the war broke out. When Boers demanded the surrender of the fort on 27 December 1880 the British force refused. The small mud fort provided little protection and the people inside suffered from the lack of food and water and diseases. The Boers issued terms of a truce on 14 March 1881 and on 30 March they received confirmation that it had been accepted.
When the news of the British loss at Bronkhorstspruit reached Pretoria, Colonel W. Bellairs, commander of the soldiers in the Transvaal, declared martial law and moved the whole civil population of Pretoria into 2 military camps. All food was taken and stored within the camps and 5 000 people waited for relief from Natal. There were about 1 340 fighting men and 2 forts were built south of the town.
Boer General Piet Joubert was happy with the effective containment of the British soldiers in Pretoria. This allowed him free movement elsewhere so he did not attack Pretoria. There were very few Boers stationed in the area and the British force tried to attack them on 29 December 1880, but gave up after several efforts.The siege dragged on because the British garrison was not aware of the events in Natal. On 28 March 1880 news of the peace terms reached Pretoria and by 8 August the Boer government took office in Pretoria once again.
The aftermath of the War
In the aftermath of the war the South African Republic (Tranvaal) regained its independence. The Pretoria Convention (1881) and the London Convention (1884) laid down the terms of the peace agreement. We must now look at these terms in more detail.
Peace
President Brand of the Orange Free State had been trying to get both the Transvaal Boers and the British to the negotiation table from the beginning of the conflict. Several peace offerings had been made from both sides with the most important ones being in January 1881, when Paul Kruger offered peace on the condition that the Transvaal independence was guaranteed. Another was made on 21 February 1881, when the British government offered peace if the Boers laid down their weapons.
Major-General Sir George Pomeroy Colley didn't forward the message from the British government fast enough and because Paul Kruger was not in Natal, the battle of Majuba took place before peace negotiations could begin. On 5 March 1881 Sir Evelyn Wood and Piet Joubert agreed on an armistice in order to start peace negotiations at O'Neill's cottage, which lay between the British and Boer lines. Negotiations were successful and the war ended on 23 March 1881.
The Pretoria Convention and the Independence of the Transvaal
After peace had been negotiated a British royal commission was appointed to draw up the Transvaal's status and new borders. These decisions were confirmed and formalised at the Pretoria Convention that took place on 3 August 1881.
The new republic was named the Transvaal and was to be bean independent Republic, but it still had to have its foreign relations and policies regarding black people approved by the British government. The new state was also not allowed to expand towards the West. All these policies meant that the Transvaal was still under British suzerainty or influence. The Boer Triumvirate was worried about some of the requirements, but they took over the rule of the Transvaal on 10 August.
The conditions put forward by the British government were unacceptable from the Transvalers' point of view and in 1883 a delegation including Paul Kruger, the new President of the Transvaal, left for London to review the agreement.
The London Convention
In 1884 the London Convention was signed. The Transvaal was given a new Western border and adopted the name of the South African Republic (SAR). Although the word suzerainty did not appear in the London Convention, the SAR still had to get permission from the British government for any treaty entered into with any other country other than the Orange Free State. The Boers saw this as a way for the British government to interfere in Transvaal affairs and this led to tension between Britain and SAR. This increased steadily until the outbreak of the Second Anglo-Boer War in 1899.
Link: https://guides.loc.gov/world-of-1898/reconcentration-policy
First Boer War
Link: https://www.sahistory.org.za/article/first-anglo-boer-war
Second Anglo-Boer War - 1899 - 1902
Date 11 October 1899 – 31 May 1902 (2 years, 7 months, 20 days)
Location Southern Africa (present-day South Africa, Lesotho, and Eswatini)
South African War ( a.k.a. the Anglo-Boer War) remains the most terrible and destructive modern armed conflict in South Africa's history. It was an event that in many ways shaped the history of 20th Century South Africa. The end of the war marked the end of the long process of British conquest of South African societies, both Black and White'. - Gilliomee and Mbenga (2007).
The Causes
A number of interrelated factors led to the Second Anglo-Boer War. These include the conflicting political ideologies of imperialism and republicanism, the discovery of gold on the Witwatersrand, tension between political leaders, the Jameson Raid and the Uitlander franchise.
Conflicting political ideology
After the First Anglo-Boer War the British government did not give up its ambition for unifying South Africa under Imperial British rule. The two Boer republics of the Orange Free State and the South African Republic or Transvaal still maintained their desire for independence. The Boer republics were a stumbling block for the British Empire.
The discovery of gold on the Witwatersrand
Gold had been mined since the early 1870s but was discovered on the Witwatersrand, in the Transvaal, in 1886. Thousands of white and black South Africans were employed on the mines by 1890. South Africa became the single biggest gold producer in the world and this meant great growth for the independent Boer governments. The Transvaal now also became more prominent in international finance because the importance of gold as an international monetary system. Britain was the centre of industry and trade in the world at the time and needed a steady supply of gold to maintain this position.
Neighbouring independent states like the Orange Free State and British colonies like Natal could also gain from the riches and investment brought to the country. The Cape Colony wasn't the leading economic state in the country anymore and a Boer republic took its place.
Even though the Transvaal gold mines were the richest in the world they were also the most difficult to mine because the reefs lay so deep under the ground. The gold had to be mined by shafts as opposed to open mines, like diamonds. Mining as an individual was not as efficient as using groups of miners with special skills. Large companies were created with local and international investment and individual miners were soon squeezed out.
Prospectors streamed to South Africa from all over the world, and especially from Europe. The Transvalers saw these foreigners, or Uitlanders, as a threat to their independence. In order to maintain its control of gold mining and the growth of the as they called them immigrant population, the Transvaal government restricted the voting rights of Uitlanders.Only foreigners who had been in the country for 14 years or more could vote. It was called the Uitlander franchise and didn't really bother most Uitlanders, who had come to South Africa to make their fortunes, but it did cause strain between the Transvaal and British governments.
Second Boer War concentration camps
In February of 1900, Herbert Kitchener took command of the British forces and implemented some of the controversial tactics that led to a British victory.[3]
As the Boers used a 'guerrilla warfare' strategy, they lived off the land and used their farms as a source of food making their farms a key item in their many successes at the beginning of the war. When Kitchener realized that a traditional warfare style would not work against the Boers, he began initiating plans that would later cause much controversy in the British public. According to historian, Thomas Pakenham, in March of 1901 Lord Kitchener initiated plans to deter guerrillas in a series of systematic drives, organised like a sporting shoot, with success defined by a weekly 'bag' of killed, captured and wounded Boers, and sweep the country bare of everything that could give sustenance to the guerrillas including women and children. Large epidemics of diseases including measles, killed thousands, affecting children the most. It was the clearance of civilians—uprooting a nation—that came to dominate the last phases of the war.
As Boer farms were destroyed by the British under their "Scorched Earth" policy—including the systematic destruction of crops and the slaughtering or removal of livestock, the burning down of homesteads and farms—to prevent the Boers from resupplying themselves from a home base, many tens of thousands of men, women and children were forcibly moved into the camps. This was not the first appearance of internment camps, as the Spanish had used internment in Cuba in the Ten Years' War, but the Boer War concentration camp system was the first time that a whole nation had been systematically targeted, and the first in which some whole regions had been depopulated.
45 tent camps - were built for Boer internees
64 other camps - were built for black Africans. (The vast majority of Boers who remained in local camps were women and children)
Estimated number of dead - 154,000 interned in British concentration camps, of which - 18,000 to 26,000 women and children.
Black African concentration camps - In May 1902, when the Treaty of Vereeniging was signed, the total number of black South Africans concentrated was recorded at 115,700. The total number of black deaths in the camps is officially calculated to be at least 14,154. 81% of the deaths were children
- 27,927 Boers
- 20,000 or more native Africans
Perpetrators British Empire, particularly Herbert Kitchener
The conclusion
I honestly have no words. It's too hard to find the right words when you see how corrupt the whole world is. Getting the right information is a Nobel Prize worthy task. It is all the more frightening when you get to the truth that refutes the history written by the winners. Death is not only accompanied by psychopaths from the Second World War, but inspiration came from Spain and the British Empire.
Links:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Boer_War_concentration_camps
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Boer_War
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Boer_War
https://www.sahistory.org.za/article/first-anglo-boer-war
https://www.sahistory.org.za/article/second-anglo-boer-war-1899-1902