Negotiations for the purchase of warships between Italy and Russia are still going on. It is difficult to conclude such a major matter as the purchase of warships within two or three months. Although Russia's preparations to purchase Italian warships have attracted great attention, among the people and even governments of various countries, it is another matter.
The incident caused a huge sensation.
Just in April of this year, Sir Alfred Milner, Prime Minister of the British Cape Colony, instructed British expatriates in the Transvaal to write a letter of grievance to Queen Victoria, asking her to protect the interests of British subjects.
In the UK, Colonial Secretary Chamberlain promoted military treatment of the Boers. In addition, the British media also created public opinion, claiming that the Boers were peace destroyers and that they ignored the order of the empire. In addition, they also made high-profile claims that the British Empire only needs
One "pleasure trip" can annex these two countries.
The British people, incited by the media, expressed their support for the colonial policy of the British Empire. The British Imperial Army even claimed that it would only cost 10 million pounds to solve the Boer troubles. This was the same as before.
The British military decided to invest a huge sum of 10 million pounds, otherwise 5 million would have been enough.
The ultimate reason why the British Empire was so hostile to the two Boer countries was interests.
In 1884, prospecting experts discovered the world's largest Witwatersrand gold mine (its gold reserves accounted for 10% of the world's gold reserves) on a remote pasture between Pretoria and the Vaal River in the Republic of Transvaal.
40% of the total gold reserves), and subsequently established Johannesburg on this gold mine.
Profits and taxes from gold mines enabled the economy of the Transvaal Republic to develop rapidly, while the Orange Republic also made a good living by producing diamonds. The continuous discovery of mineral resources in the two Boer countries also attracted the greedy eyes of the United Kingdom.
Of course, the British Empire had only used force before this. In 1895, Dr. Johnson, a senior employee of the South African Mining Company, led 500 South African Company police and several machine guns in an attempt to expedition to the Transvaal and overthrow the Transvaal.
The regime of Paul Kruger in Watts.
The result was that except for 134 people who were shot dead, the rest, including Johnson, were all captured. As for the riot initiated by the internal "Alien Reform Committee", it was also suppressed by the police. Yes, this was the first Boer War.
, which is also the origin of Wilhelm II’s famous telegram.
Of course, after suffering losses last time, the British Empire felt that relying on the police to do things this time was not reliable at all. If it wanted to win over the two Boer republics, it still needed regular troops.
As a result, the British Empire's troops began to gather in South Africa. Of course, while preparing military means, the British Empire also wanted to conquer the enemy without fighting, so that the two Boer countries that had offended the empire's power would quickly realize that they were
made a mistake and obeyed the orders of the British Empire obediently.
Therefore, in June, Milner, the governor of the Cape Colony, and Kruger, the president of the Transvaal Republic, held the last negotiation in Bloemfontein on the issue of protecting the rights and interests of foreigners.
This President Kruger prophetically warned after the discovery of gold mines in the Witslanders that we should not cheer but cry, because this will soak our land in a sea of blood. And as expected, he did not
As expected, foreigners (mainly British) arrived one after another, and the friction with the Boers intensified.
Later, in order to protect the interests of the citizens, he stipulated in 1890 that immigrants had to live there for at least 14 years before they could obtain citizenship. This caused opposition from the British people in Johannesburg. Of course, this also deepened the conflict with the United Kingdom, which eventually led to
The outbreak of the two Boer Wars.
This negotiation did not go smoothly because the two parties could not agree on the core issue at all. The Boers were unwilling to recognize the British Empire's request for suzerainty, even if it meant changing the residence period for foreigners to obtain Transvaal citizenship from 14 years.
reduced to 5 years.
In response to the Boer's disrespectful behavior, the British Empire stepped up its efforts to transport troops to South Africa and deployed these troops on the border between the two countries. Obviously, since the British Empire was not good at writing, it could only use military force.
.
The aggressive attitude of the British Empire made both Boer countries aware of the ominous situation. In order to deal with the British threat, the two Boer countries united together.
In order to avoid being strategically passive and disrupt the British deployment, the two Boer countries decided to strike preemptively and could not wait for the British army to complete its deployment.
Therefore, on October 9, 1899, the Transvaal government issued an ultimatum to the United Kingdom, requiring the United Kingdom to stop sending more troops to South Africa, withdraw all troops that arrived in South Africa after June 1, and submit all disputes to diplomatic arbitration.
48 hours to reply.
The tiny Transvaal government dared to threaten the British Empire, and Colonial Secretary Chamberlain directly ordered Milner to reject the conditions proposed by South Africa.
So two days later, on the afternoon of October 11, 1899, the Federal Parliament of the Transvaal Republic and the Orange Free State Republic declared war on Britain, and the Second Boer War broke out.
Regarding the Boer War, all countries were very sympathetic to the treatment of the Boers, and the movement to support the Boer Republic continued. The Netherlands and Belgium established numerous civil society groups, solicited donations, published articles, established foundations, and offered support to the Trans
Watts donated wartime mobile hospitals and medical equipment.
Thousands of volunteers from the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, France, the United States, Russia, Ireland, Italy and Scandinavian countries crossed the ocean and came to the Transvaal, preparing to fight alongside the Boers.
Of course, these are spontaneous civil movements. As for the governments of various countries, they are not optimistic about the two small Boer republics. Even the most optimistic military strategists believe that the two Boer countries can block the attack of the British Empire for up to half a year.
Of course, this is also the view of Marshal Cadorna and Admiral Simeone.
"Your Majesty, the Boer War has broken out. Although the Boers may have taken advantage of the incomplete deployment of the British Empire, more than 10,000 British troops have been deployed at key points around the two countries. Just by seizing the key points, the Boers will surely defeat them.
A large number of manpower was lost. As far as I know, the two Boer countries only have a population of 800,000. With this population, it is impossible to achieve anything. At most, we can support the Boers in two or three major battles, and then it will be difficult."
Marshal Cardorna said it as euphemistically as possible, because according to his estimation, the Boers can basically resist for three months. When the British Empire troops are assembled, the stage will belong to the British troops.
Don't blame Marshal Cardorna for thinking this way. If he hadn't been familiar with the war that brought the British to Waterloo, even he wouldn't have believed that the British Empire would suffer such heavy losses for the sake of these two Boer countries.
It can be seen from this that before the Boer War, how majestic the British Empire was. At this time, challenging the status of the British Empire was simply an impossible task. Of course, after the Boer War, it became a difficult task.
