Second Anglo-Boer War: 1899-1902 and the end of Britain's imperial expansion

Abstract

The Second Anglo-Boer War of 1899 to 1902 was the beginning of the end of British expansionism. British military forces began using tactics such as concentration camps, as well as a harsh scorched earth policy, that brought into question, whether they were the civilized nation they believed, or if they were just as brutal and uncivilized as they perceived the natives to be. The origins of the Second Boer War can be found in the ashes of the first Boer War, as Afrikaner settlers set up their republics and threatened British economic interests in the region. Once the war began, it was a brutal effort on both sides, British forces used scorched earth tactics, including burning Boer farms and homes to the ground, and forcibly relocating Boers to camps to drive the Boers to surrender. The outcome of the Second Boer War and the violence that it brought would have ramifications that would last in both South Africa and The British Empire as a whole. Some ramifications would be an end to aggressive British colonial expansion, and a more inwardly looking British public and government.