TOPIC:

I think we can take the statements by Chamberlain about the wall between him and his brother’s industrial interests with a pinch of (Joe Biden-Hunter Biden) salt. That Chamberlain was capable of a straight faced lie he already proved in his dispositions about his involvement in the events leading to the Jameson Raid.

Pakenham writes about the Transvaal arms purchases over the period between the Raid and the war: “Kruger .. proceeded to re-equip the Transvaal army at a cost of BPnds 1 million. Joubert had stupidly ordered 36.000 British Martini-Henry single shot rifles and 6,000 Austrian Guedes rifles. These had been superseded nearly 10 years before by the new small-bore magazine rifles. Kruger told Joubert to buy a second rifle for each burger and made him import 37.000 Mausers from Krupp’s factory in Germany. The best that could be said for Joubert was that he was building up an excellent artillery corps..."
Pakenham subsequently describes the artillery pieces bought from Germany and France and then continues: “He [Joubert] was also buying from Maxim-Nordenfeld in Britain twenty of the experimental 1-pounders (Pom-Poms) that were not yet in service with the British Army”
and concludes:
“Kruger had transformed the Transvaal’s army since the Raid -just as Milner had warned Chamberlain.”

From this it is clear that the UK manufacturers did not just dump obsolete gear into the ZAR and OVS but also sold -for the time- advanced weaponry to them. Equipping an almost-certain future enemy with obsolete crap can be understood, however, selling them advanced weapon systems not even available to your own troops, can’t. My tentative conclusion is that commercial considerations trumped over national security.

I'm with you on this Everhard. I find it incredible that arms sales were not stopped by the Government long before the war started. Intelligence was available for a long time and still the sales continued. I'm also amazed that Great Britain's own preparations were not as they should have been or that the Royal Navy were not tasked with enforcement of a more effective full blockade, but that could be a whole new discussion.

This has been a very interesting thread.

In view of our earlier discussion regarding Joseph Chamberlain I think Everhard will enjoy this article. Apologies regarding the print quality but I don't think the content quite warrants the effort of transcription. Regards, David.