ABSTRACT
The South African War, fought over three exhausting years between the armies of Britain and the burgher commandos of the two Boer republics of Transvaal and the Orange Free State, was a cathartic experience for Britain. 1 British military power was revealed to be terribly vulnerable and its governing élite to be disunited over both the declaration and the conduct of the war. It was an emotional war; a great deal of xenophobic patriotism was displayed in the press and in the streets. Anyone who opposed the war came to be known as a pro-Boer, defined by Joseph Chamberlain, the member of the government most directly involved in the diplomatic exchanges which led to the war, as
one who thinks the Boers have been right from beginning to end and who thinks the British government and, of course, the country have been wrong, and who believes every scandalous libel against the honour of British soldiers and British officers, who repudiates with scorn every accusation against Boer generals or Boer statesmen. 2
