From the Bottom and from the Top: Imperial Britain's Last War in South Africa, 1899–1902

Abstract

This review article considers two books, of widely varying types, which deal with the South African War, 1899–1902. One, an edited volume of British soldiers' letters, presents a worm's-eye view of early hostilities in the Natal colony, while the other is a general account of the war with an over-arching focus on the campaigning experience and effectiveness of British high command. Together, they explore a wide range of wartime themes and topics through the lens of individual first-hand testimonies and through the overall perspective of imperial campaign history, touching on plans, preparations, personalities, armies, the conduct of adversaries, civil-military relations and related themes. The letters in Edward Spiers's collection and the material assembled in Rodney Atwood's interpretative synthesis contain much that is historiographically suggestive as well as instructive about the comparative, ‘colonial small war’ ways in which the Anglo-Boer conflict was experienced and understood by British combatants. Indeed, in describing, evoking and explaining the life of the conflict, the questions posed by these volumes point inadvertently to neglected or under-researched wartime subjects which may well still bear further exploration.