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South African Historical Journal Volume 22, 1990 - Issue 1
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ARTICLES/ARTIKELS

The Origins of the South African War (1899–1902): A Re-Appraisal

IAIN R. SMITH University of Warwick,
Pages 24-60 | Published online: 14 Jan 2009

  • Spies , B. , ed. 1989 . A Soldier in South Africa: The Experiences of Eustace Abadie 1899–1902 17 Johannesburg S., ed.
  • Warwick , P. 1983 . Black People and the South African War Cambridge W.R. Nasson, ‘Black Society in the Cape Colony and the South African War 1899–1902’ (Ph.D. thesis, University of Cambridge, 1983);M.T. Makaya, ‘The African Role in the Anglo-Boer War in the Bechuanaland Protectorate’ (B.A. dissertation, University of Botswana, 1979);J.S. Mohlamme, ‘The African Role during the South African War in the Boer Republics’ (Ph.D. thesis, University of Wisconsin, Madison, 1985);J. Krikler, ‘Agrarian Class Struggle and the South African War”, Social History 14, 2 (1989)
  • Grundlingh , A. 1979 . Die ‘Hendsoppers’ en ‘Joiners’: Die Rasionaal en Verskynsel van Verraad Cape Town also ‘Collaborators in Boer Society’, in P. Warwick, ed., The South African War (Harlow, 1980)
  • Works by Nasson and Krikler cited in footnote 2
  • Pakenham , T. 1979 . The Boer War London xv
  • Porter , A. N. 1980 . The Origins of the South African War 228 Manchester
  • Ibid ch. IX
  • Pakenham , T. 1986 . “ ‘The Anglo-Boer War 1899–1902’ ” . In An Illustrated History of South Africa Edited by: Spies , S. B. and Cameron , T. 217 Johannesburg Figures from, in, eds
  • G.D. Scholtz, Die Oorsake van die Tweede Vryheidsoorlog 1899–1902, 2 vols (Johannesburg, 1947);J.H. Breytenbach, Die Gesldedenis van die Tweede Vryheidsoorlog in Suid-Afrika 4 vols (Pretoria, 1969–1977). See the introduction by DJ. van Zyl to the new edition of it Eeu van Onreg (Pretoria, 1985) for a fresh appraisal of the authorship of this work
  • L.S. Amery, ed., The Times History of the War in South Africa, vol. 1 (London, 1900), vii
  • Ibid. 90 – 91 .
  • Ibid. vi
  • Ibid. 16 – 17 .
  • Ibid 17
  • Ibid 22;see also 376
  • Ibid 2
  • le May , G. H. 1965 . British Supremacy in South Africa 1899–1907 Oxford L. Thompson, ‘Great Britain and the Afrikaner Republics’, in L. Thompson and M. Wilson, eds, The Oxford History of South Africa vol. 2 (Oxford, 1971);D. Schreuder, The Scramble for Southern Africa (Cambridge, 1980);Porter, Origins.
  • B. Porter, ‘Imperialism and the Scramble’, Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History, 9 (1980), 76
  • J. A. Hobson, The War in South Africa: Its Causes and Effects (London, 1900), 229
  • Ibid. 240
  • See, for the press, A.H. Jeeves, ‘The Rand Capitalists in Transvaal Politics 1892–1899’ (Ph.D. thesis, Queen's University, 1971), Part III;A.N. Porter, ‘Sir Alfred Milner and the Press, 1897–1899’, Historical Journal 16, 2 (1973);and also Origins.
  • G. Blainey, ‘Lost Causes of the Jameson Raid’, Economic History Review, 18 (1965);R. Mendelsohn, ‘Blainey and the Jameson Raid: The Debate Renewed’, Journal of Southern African Studies, 6 2 (1980)
  • Rotberg , R. I. 1989 . The Founder: Cecil Rhodes and the Pursuit of Power 525 Oxford
  • Kubicek , R. V. 1979 . Economic Imperialism in Theory and Practice: The Case of South African Gold-Mining Finance 1886–1914 103 Durham, North Carolina
  • In particular, R.V. Kubicek and Alan Jeeves. In addition to their works cited above, see A. Jeeves, ‘Aftermath of Rebellion-The Randlords and Kruger's Republic after the Jameson Raid’, South African Historical Journal, 10 (1978), and “The Rand Capitalists and the Coming of the South African War 1896–99’, Canadian Historical Association, Historical Papers (1973). See also Pakenham, The Boer War.
  • Pakenham, The Boer War, 89
  • Jeeves, ‘The Rand Capitalists and the Coming of the South African War’, 80
  • Marais , J. S. 1961 . The Fall of Kruger's Republic 324 Oxford
  • Duminy , A. and Guest , B. 1987 . Interfering in Politics: A Biography of Sir Percy Fitzpatrick Johannesburg chs 3–4
  • Ibid., 82
  • Fiddes to Milner, 7 April 1899, in C. Headlam, ed., The Milner Papers, vol 1 (London, 1931), 347
  • Denoon , D. 1973 . A Grand Illusion , See (London, and A. Mawby, ‘Capital, Government and Politics in the Transvaal 1900–1907: A Revision and a Reversion’, Historical Journal 18, 2 (1974)
  • Barlow Rand Archives, H. Eckstein Papers (hereafter HE), vol. 167, Wernher to Rouliot, 31 Jan. 1896. My thanks to Mrs Maryna Fraser for her assistance in my work in this archive
  • HE, vol. 167, Wernher to Rouliot, 23 March 1899
  • HE, vol. 167, Wernher to Rouliot, 13 May 1899
  • HE, vol. 175, Rouliot to Wernher, 1 May 1899
  • HE, vol. 175, Rouliot to Wernher, 31 July 1899
  • Smuts to Leyds, 30 Apr. 1899, in W.K. Hancock and J. van der Poel, eds, Selections from the Smuts Papers, vol. 1 (Cambridge 1966), 228
  • HE, vol. 175, Rouliot to Wernher, 1 May 1899
  • HE, vol. 175, Rouliot to Wernher, 8 May 1899
  • HE, vol. 175, Rouliot to Wernher, 28 Aug. 1899
  • My thanks to Barbara Conradie for her assistance during my work in these archives
  • JJ. van Helten, ‘Empire and High Finance: South Africa and the International Gold Standard 1890–1914’ Journal of African History, 23 (1982)
  • Ibid 547
  • S. Marks and S. Trapido, ‘Lord Milner and the South African State’, History Workshop, 8 (1979)
  • Porter , A. N. 1972 . ‘Lord Salisbury, Mr. Chamberlain and South Africa 1895–1899' . Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History , 1 : 1
  • British Museum, Add. Mss. 48675, Edward Hamilton Diary, 6 Oct. 1899
  • Porter, ‘Lord Salisbury’, 17
  • Milner to Chamberlain, 23 Feb. 1899, Headlam, Milner Papers, vol. 1, 221–2
  • Duminy , A. H. and Guest , W. R. , eds. 1976 . Fitzpatrick, South African Politician: Selected Papers 1888–1906 205 Johannesburg Fitzpatrick to Wernher, 6 Apr. 1899, eds
  • Bodleian Library, Selborne Papers, MS 11, Milner to Selborne, 17 May 1899
  • Milner to Selborne, 24 May 1899, Headlam, Milner Papers, vol. 1, 401
  • Selborne Papers, MS 11, Milner to Selborne, 10 July 1899
  • Selborne to Milner, 25 June 1899, Headlam, Milner Papers, vol. 1, 445–6
  • Milner to Selbome, 9 May 1898, Headlam, Milner Papers, vol. 1, 234–5
  • de Kiewiet , C. W. 1937 . The Imperial Factor in South Africa Cambridge 15;Porter, Origins 264
  • Carr , E. H. 1961 . What is History? 45 London
  • Marks and Trapido, ‘Lord Milner’;S. Marks, ‘Scrambling for South Africa’, Journal of African History 23 (1982)
  • A point first emphasized by Noel Garson in ‘British Imperialism and the Coming of the Anglo-Boer War”, South African Journal of Economics, 30 (1962)
  • A. G. Hopkins, ‘The Victorians and Africa: A Reconsideration of the British Occupation of Egypt, 1882’, Journal of African History, 27 (1986), 363
  • A view first articulated by John X. Merriman, 10 October 1899, P. Lewsen, ed., Selections from the Correspondence of John X Merriman, vol. 3 (Cape Town, 1966), 92
  • M. F. Bitensky, “The South African League 1896–1899’ (M. A thesis, University of the Witwatersrand, 1950);D. Rhoodie, Conspirators in Conflict: The Johannesburg Reform Committee and its Role in the Conspiracy against the South African Republic (Cape Town, 1967);Jeeves, ‘The Rand Capitalists in Transvaal Polities’;A Mawby, ‘The Political Behaviour of the British Population in the Transvaal’ (Ph.D. thesis, University of the Witwatersrand, 1969);D. Cammack, ‘Class, Politics and Wan A Socio-Economic Study of the Uitlanders of the Witwatersrand 1897–1902’ (Ph.D. thesis, University of California, Irvine, 1983)
  • Milner statement, 12 June 1899, end. in Milner to Chamberlain, 14 June 1899, printed in C.9415
  • Schreiner , O. 1899 . An English South African's View of the Situation 66 London
  • Marais, Kruger's Republic, 2
  • D. Cammack, “The Johannesburg Republic: The Re-Shaping of Rand Society 1900–1901’, South African Historical Journal, 18 (1986), 48
  • Jeeves, “The Rand Capitalists in Transvaal Polities’, Part III
  • See HE, vol. 175, Rouliot to Wernher, 24 April 1899;Fitzpatrick to Wernher, 4 March and 6 April 1899, in Duminy and Guest, Fitzpatrick Selected Papers 183–206
  • Robinson , R. E. and Gallagher , J. A. 1961 . Africa and the Victorians 434 – 7 . London
  • Selborne to Milner, 28 June 1898, Milner Papers, vol. 1, 205
  • Phillips , L. and Kubicek , R. V. 1972 . “The Randlords in 1895' . Journal of British Studies , 11 : 2 Wernher to, 98.13 Dec. 1895, cited in
  • Verbatim record of the Bloemfontein Conference in Milner to Chamberlain, 14 June 1899, printed in C.9404, 2
  • See footnote 63
  • University of Birmingham, Chamberlain Papers, JC 10/9/48, Milner to Chamberlain, 23 Aug. 1899;Transvaal Archives, BA 21, British Vice-Consul to Milner, 5 July 1899
  • Chamberlain Papers, JC 10/9/48, Milner to Chamberlain, 23 Aug. 1899
  • Ibid.
  • Milner to Chamberlain, 14 June 1899, Headlam, MUner Papers, vol. 1, 425
  • Verbatim record of the Bloemfontein Conference, C.9404, 41
  • Kruger's Heidelberg speech, 17 March 1899, full text printed in The Star, 18 March 1899
  • Transvaal Volksraad debate on Franchise Bill, 18 July 1899, reported in The Cape Times, 19 July 1899, 5
  • Chamberlain Papers, JC 10/9/48, Milner to Chamberlain, 23 Aug. 1899
  • Smuts Papers , 1 229 Smuts to Leyds, 30 April 1899, Hancock and van der Poel
  • Porter, Origins, 261
  • Milner to Selborne, 10 July 1899, Headlam, MUner Papers, vol. 1, 456–7
  • Marks , S. and Atmore , A. 1974 . ‘The Imperial Factor in South Africa in the Nineteenth Century: Towards a Reassessment’ . Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History , 3 : 1 Marks and Trapido, ‘Lord Milner’, 52
  • S. Marks, ‘Southern Africa 1867–1886’, in R. Oliver and G.N. Sanderson, eds, The Cambridge History of Africa, vol. 6 (Cambridge, 1985), 471;A. Jeeves, Migrant Labour in South Africa's Mining Economy 1890–1920 (Johannesburg, 1985), Part 1;P. Harries, ‘Capital, State, and Labour on the 19th Century Witwatersrand: A Reassessment’, South African Historical Journal 18 (1986)
  • Trapido , S. 1980 . “ ‘Reflections on Land, Office and Wealth in the South African Republic 1850–1900’ ” . In Economy and Society in Prc-Industrial South Africa Edited by: Marks , S. and Atmore , A. London in, eds, P. Richardson and J J. van Helten, “The Development of the South African Gold-Mining Industry 1895–1918’, Economic History Review 37 (1984);JJ. van Helten, ‘German Capital, the Netherland Railway Company and the Political Economy of the Transvaal 1886–1900’, Journal of African History 29 (1978), and ‘British and European Economic Investment in the Transvaal with special reference to the Witwatersrand Gold Fields and District 1886–1910 (Ph.D. thesis, University of London, 1981)
  • Jeeves, ‘Aftermath of Rebellion’, 112
  • Marks, ‘Southern Africa’, 478–9
  • Marks, ‘Scrambling for South Africa’, 108
  • Marks, ‘Southern Africa’, 472–3
  • Simons , R. 1969 . Class and Colour in South Africa 1850–1950 62 Harmondsworth J. and
  • Hobson, The War in South Africa, 5–6
  • This list owes much to S.B. Spies, ‘Reconstruction and Unification 1902–1910’, in Spies and Cameron, eds, Illustrated History, 220
  • P J. Cain and A.G. Hopkins, ‘Gentlemanly Capitalism and British Expansion Overseas’, Part 1, Economic History Review, 2nd Series, 39 (Nov. 1986), 501
  • Eldridge , C. C. , ed. 1984 . British Imperialism in the Nineteenth Century London See, for example, the essays in, ed., J. Lonsdale, ‘The European Scramble and Conquest in African History”, in The Cambridge History of Africa vol. 6
  • Darby , P. 1987 . Three Faces of Imperialism: British and American Approaches to Asia and Africa 1870–1970 19 New Haven
  • Marks, ‘Scrambling for South Africa’, 113
  • Brailsford , H. N. 1915 . The War of Steel and Gold London PJ. Cain and A.G. Hopkins, ‘Gentlemanly Capitalism and British Expansion Overseas’, Parts 1 and 2, Economic History Review 2nd Series, 39 (Nov. 1986) and 40 (Feb. 1987);A.N. Porter and R.F. Holland, eds, Money, Finance and Empire 1790–1960 (London, 1986);Y. Cassis, “The Banking Community of London 1890–1914’, Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History 13, 3 (1985)
  • 1969 . The Imperial Factor, D. Schreuder, Gladstone and Kruger London De Kiewiet,(and Scramble; R.L. Cope, ‘Shepstone, the Zulu and the Annexation of the Transvaal’, South African Historical Journal 4 (1972) and ‘Strategic and Socio-Economic Explanations for Carnarvon's South African Confederation Policy: The Historiography and the Evidence’, History in Africa 13 (1986)
  • Denoon , D. 1984 . Southern Africa since 1800 123 London
  • Chamberlain Papers, JC 5/67/35, Salisbury to Chamberlain, 30 Dec. 1895
  • Lord Ripoo to Lord Rosebery, 5 Sept. 1894, Ripoo Papen, 43516
  • Chamberlain Papen, JC 10/9/48, Milner to Chamberlain, 23 Aug. 1899, italics mine
  • Salisbury to Lansdowne, 30 Aug. 1899, in Robinson and Gallagher, Africa and the Victorians, 454
  • Chamberlain to Hicks-Beach, 29 Sept. 1899, in E. Drus, ‘Selected Documents from the Chamberlain Papers concerning Anglo-Transvaal Relations 1896–1899’, Bulletin of the Institute of Historical Research, 27 (1954), 188
  • Hobubawm , E. 1967 . The Age of Empire 66 London
  • Davenport , T. R. H. 1987 . Sotah Africa: A Modem History 97 London

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