Ian Hamilton's March


Book Description




The Boer War


Book Description

On October 11th,1899 long-simmering tensions between Britain and the Boer Republics - the Orange Free State and the Transvaal Republic - finally erupted into the conflict that would become known as the Second Boer War. Two days after the first shots were fired, a young writer by the name of Winston Churchill set out for South Africa to cover the conflict for the Morning Post. The Boer War brings together the two collections of despatches that Churchill published on the conflict. London to Ladysmith recounts the future Prime Minister's arrival in South Africa and his subsequent capture by and dramatic escape from the Boers, the adventure that first brought the name of Winston Churchill to public attention. Ian Hamilton's March collects Churchill's later despatches as he marched alongside a column of the main British army from Bloemfontein to Pretoria. Published together, these books are a vivid eye-witness account of a landmark period in British Imperial History and an insightful chronicle of a formative experience by Britain's greatest war-time leader.




London to Ladysmith


Book Description

A vivid, personal account of the conditions under which the Boer War was fought, this volume contains dispatches the future statesman wrote in 1899 and 1900 as a newspaper correspondent.




Encyclopedia of African Colonial Conflicts [2 volumes]


Book Description

Two volumes introduce the history of colonial wars in Africa and illustrate why African countries like the Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria, Somalia, and Sudan continue to experience ethnic, political, and religious violence in the early 21st century. This sweeping study examines the wars of colonial conquest fought in Africa during the 19th and early 20th centuries. From Britain's efforts to wrest control of the Sudan from military leader Muhammad Ahmad al-Mahdi, to Italy's decisive defeat at the Battle of Adowa in Ethiopia, to Leopold II's brutal reign over the Belgian Congo, the work surveys the devastation reaped upon the continent by colonization and illustrates how its combative influence continues to resonate in Africa today. Written by scholars in the fields of history and politics, this complete reference includes entries on wars, campaigns, rebellions, battles, leaders, and organizations. The work delves into key historical periods including the "Scramble for Africa" (ca.1880 to 1910); early European colonial wars in Africa, such as the Dutch in the Cape and the Portuguese in Angola and Mozambique; and African rebellions against the early colonial state in the 1890s and early 1900s. Entries feature prominent events and personalities as well as lesser-known occurrences and players.










Winston S. Churchill: Youth, 1874–1900


Book Description

The first volume of this authoritative biography chronicles the prime minister’s youth from birth to early adulthood: “An intimate, eloquent testimonial” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review). Winston S. Churchill’s son, Randolph, delivers a vivid, personal portrait of his father in this first part of an eight-volume biography that is widely considered the “most scholarly study of Churchill in war and peace ever written” (The New York Times). Told through a rich treasure trove of the Churchill’s personal letters, this volume covers his life from early childhood to his return to England from an American lecture tour, on the day of Queen Victoria’s funeral in 1900, in order to embark on his political career. In the opening pages, the account of his birth in 1874 is presented through letters of his family. The subject comes on the scene with his own words in a letter to his mother, written when he was seven. His later letters, as a child, as a schoolboy at Harrow, as a cadet at Sandhurst, and as a subaltern in India, show the development of his mind and character, his ambition and awakening interests, which were to merge into a unique genius destined for world leadership. An astounding narrative of a formidable man coming into his own and the times in which he lived, this portrait is a “milestone, a monument, a magisterial achievement . . . rightly regarded as the most comprehensive life ever written of any age.” (Andrew Roberts, historian and author of The Storm of War).




Sons of the Empire


Book Description

In Sons of the Empire, Robert MacDonald explores popular ideas and myths in Edwardian Britain, their use by Baden-Powell, and their influence on the Boy Scout movement. In particular, he analyses the model of masculinity provided by the imperial frontier, the view that life in younger, far-flung parts of the empire was stronger, less degenerate than in Britain. The stereotypical adventurer - the frontiersman - provided an alternative ethic to British society. The best known example of it at the time was Baden-Powell himself, a war scout, the Hero of Mafeking in the South African war, and one of the first cult heroes to be created by the modern media. When Baden-Powell founded the Boy Scouts in 1908, he used both the power of the frontier myth and his own legend as a hero to galvanize the movement. The glamour of war scouting was hard to resist, its adventures a seductive invitation to the first recruits. But Baden-Powell had a serious educational program in mind: Boy Scouts were to be trained in good citizenship. MacDonald documents his study with a wide range of contemporary sources, from newspapers to military memoirs. Exploring the genesis of an imperial institution through its own texts, he brings new insight into the Edwardian age.




50 Great Military Leaders of All Time


Book Description

Throughout history we have had leaders and followers. Naturally one cannot work without the other, but most if not all of the time, history remembers the leaders, the revolutionaries, erstwhile the followers are mere footnotes. Military commanders lead thousands of their men in the vicious battle. Their flourishes speech prior to the battle, inspired thousands of their men in the battlefield, which is still invoked by various historians. In this book we would be exploring the lives of 50 most brilliant Military Leaders of all times. Their cunning, their audaciousness and sheer brilliance will come to the forefront. They come but once in a lifetime, and in that lifetime they, albeit through the unpleasant act of war rise above the rest and rightly or wrongly leave their mark on human civilization.




The Anglo-Boer War 1899-1902: 963 Days


Book Description

Since the start of the Anglo-Boer War today 120 years ago thousands of publications, written or typed reports and other creations have been produced to narrate the war events, express opinions on its origins, causes, course, results and legacy and on participants in the struggle. This process is ongoing, since the debate amongst both professional historians and interested amateurs on exactly what happened and why is still raging and new information on the war still crops up. The history of the Anglo-Boer War is truly a neverending discourse. As the author of a number of books on the war, I have consulted hundreds of both published and unpublished sources. Some were of limited value, but a small percentage of the published books were of such high value that they formed part of a small stack of books that found a permanent home on my desktop while I was in the writing process. Pieter Cloete’s The Anglo-Boer War – A Chronology, both the original English version and the enlarged Afrikaans version published in 2010, was always part of that stack. It is to me a privilege to write a foreword for the user-friendly and meticulously researched book. It not only contains a wealth of information but a detailed source list and an extensive index. There are few, if any, more helpful reference books on the war and thus represents an essential resource to anyone with a more than superficial interest in the Anglo-Boer War. DR JACKIE GROBLER Historian and author Recently retired after 40 years at the Department of Historical and Heritage Studies, The University of Pretoria.