Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Notes on the Contributors
- Maps
- Introduction
- 1 The Origins of the Boer War
- 2 Imperial Germany and the Boer War
- 3 Russian Foreign Policy and the Boer War
- 4 French Foreign Policy and the Boer War
- 5 Austria-Hungary and the Boer War
- 6 Italy and the Boer War
- 7 The United States and the Boer War
- 8 The Netherlands and the Boer War
- 9 Portugal and the Boer War
- 10 The Boer War in the Context of Britain's Imperial Problems
- 11 The British in Delagoa Bay in the Aftermath of the Boer War
- 12 Colmar Freiherr von der Goltz and the Boer War
- Index
1 - The Origins of the Boer War
The Periphery, the Centre and the “Man on the Spot”
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Notes on the Contributors
- Maps
- Introduction
- 1 The Origins of the Boer War
- 2 Imperial Germany and the Boer War
- 3 Russian Foreign Policy and the Boer War
- 4 French Foreign Policy and the Boer War
- 5 Austria-Hungary and the Boer War
- 6 Italy and the Boer War
- 7 The United States and the Boer War
- 8 The Netherlands and the Boer War
- 9 Portugal and the Boer War
- 10 The Boer War in the Context of Britain's Imperial Problems
- 11 The British in Delagoa Bay in the Aftermath of the Boer War
- 12 Colmar Freiherr von der Goltz and the Boer War
- Index
Summary
After the passage of a century and the appearance of countless publications on the Boer War, there remain the most profound differences of opinion about the war's origins. Many of the more recent accounts have emphasized Britain's economic interests in the southern African periphery – principally in the production and supply of gold – and the consequent necessity of removing the administratively backward and economically obstructionist regime of Paul Kruger in Pretoria. Other accounts have stressed the concerns of British government decision-makers at the imperial centre – concerns about British power and prestige, about the necessity of maintaining British paramountcy in southern Africa, and about safeguarding the strategically vital Cape route. Further divisions exist between those accounts that stress the broader structural forces at play and those that give a central role to key individuals such as Sir Alfred Milner (Britain's High Commissioner and regional proconsul for southern Africa) or Joseph Chamberlain (the colonial secretary in London). This chapter will attempt to explain the war's origins through an analysis combining the broader economically driven developments in southern Africa, the geopolitical concerns of decision-makers in London and the influence of Milner as the key “man on the spot” and intermediary between the periphery and the centre.
This explanation will be based on a model of imperial expansion first proposed by Ronald Hyam. Hyam's model presumes that an event such as the Boer War cannot be explained except in terms of the interaction between the colonial periphery and the imperial centre, interaction in which the influence of the British government's proconsular “man on the spot” might be crucial.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- International Impact of the Boer War , pp. 8 - 24Publisher: Acumen PublishingPrint publication year: 2001
- 3
- Cited by