TOPIC:

Does anyone know if there was such a thing as a Minister of Defence in the Boer political system, and/or a war cabinet and/or high command. I am very keen to understand that when the Boers crossed the borders in Oct 1899, what was their plan: to drive to Durban? I can never really understand why they allowed themselves to get bogged down at Ladysmith particularly.... any pointers would be most helpful
Regards to all

They had a war council and I am sure someone with access to their books or a better memory than mine will give us the details soon.

There has been a lot of writing on why they didn't push on. There are reasons such as they were being directed by older commanders who were not that aggressive, they also may have had more to lose as they had to get back to a farm and family and being wounded had a bigger impact that being wounded to many British soldiers.

And despite saying they were a modern European army, they weren't, they did well but they were not a trained army following set tactics and strategy.

I often wonder what would have happened if they did get all the way to Durban? And did they want to, as yes they would have had negotiation power but that is a lot of land to occupy when you are a smallish army to start with. I think that except for getting bogged down in sieges, they probably did what they intended to. Except that to come back to your question, what was the end goal? you don't start a war without an objective, and it may have played out the way it did as there was no way to win for them.

Thanks for that; there are so many fascinating ifs and buts in that conflict....
regards

Mark

I suspect that the Boer Republics did not want a war with Britain and certainly not a prolonged one. Invading the neighbouring British Colonies was an expression of their determination to maintain the sovereignty of the Republics on their terms. I doubt that there was ever an intention to reach and take Durban and Cape Town. That would have been akin to a dog chasing a car with the intention of actually catching it.

Perhaps the Boer intention was simply to establish a presence in Natal and the Cape Colony by investing three important towns there and then negotiating a settlement that would lead to their withdrawal and a promise from the British to exclude the Transvaal and Orange Free State from their Empire-building plans. That might have worked if only the OFS was involved, but the Transvaal was too great a prize.

Regards
Brett

Thanks for that Brett,
If that was the case, they were sadly out of touch with reality; and of course, once Buller had completed his build-up, they were on a hiding to nothing. I wonder, too, if they hadn't been over-influenced by the British capitulation in 1881;that they thought, after Magersfontein, Colenso and Stormberg, that the British would just go away.

on another note, does anyone know how many ABO medals were actually issued??

Regards, and thanks