Episode 78 - American blockhouses from Cuba and the enigma that was the pro-Boer John Tengo Jabavu
The Anglo-Boer War17 Mar 2019

Episode 78 - American blockhouses from Cuba and the enigma that was the pro-Boer John Tengo Jabavu

The ides of March were upon the British in South Africa as they continued chasing the ghost generals, Smuts, de la Rey, Beyers, de Wet across a cooling landscape that had begun its Southern Hemisphere Autumn in 1901. This week we’ll probe an American invention in Cuba called the Blockhouse chain as well as details of how journalist John Tengo Jabavu was publishing pro-Boer commentary against the wishes of both the British and most black intellectuals. We’ll return to his experiences later. The tactic of building a chain of forts is ancient, but the most recent examples before the Boer War came from the American War in Cuba. But this campaign had demonstrated that forts by themselves could not prevent guerrilla action and Lord Kitchener who was beginning to build them in South Africa knew that full well. Kitchener’s strategy therefore was to integrate the function of the fixed defensive units in fortified blockhouses with mobile attacking units on the drives. These began in January 1901, I’ve spoken about them in previous podcasts as the British tried herding or hustling the Boers into smaller areas of veld so that they could be overcome. Kitchener believed if the country could be divided into small areas by fortified lines, the Boers in each might be prevented from crossing to the next. His chessboard of maps across his HQ walls featured these regions with the addition of mobile columns that would be moved quickly by train from chess block to chess block while the blockhouses and barbed wire began to string out across the wide-open plains.

Episoder(143)

Episode 63 - The death of the French Colonel as Vincent van Gogh’s brother fights for the Boers.

Episode 63 - The death of the French Colonel as Vincent van Gogh’s brother fights for the Boers.

We’re going to ride with the French Colonel or "Die Franse Kolonel", Georges Villebois-Mareuil as he heads into the Free State with the International Legion. This episode is slightly longer than usual...

2 Des 201826min

Episode 62 - The honourable French Colonel Villebois-Mareuil and his personal war

Episode 62 - The honourable French Colonel Villebois-Mareuil and his personal war

This week its Frenchman Georges Villebois-Mareuil whose military exploits echoed the wars of the 19th Century, particularly the Franco-Prussian war of 1870. Villebois-Mareuil even spent time in what...

25 Nov 201820min

Episode 61 - Drinking coffee in Dewetsdorp while President Kruger arrives in Marseilles

Episode 61 - Drinking coffee in Dewetsdorp while President Kruger arrives in Marseilles

In episode 61 we traverse the width of South Africa to head back to the Free State after following the Canadians through the Eastern Transvaal last week. It’s in the Free State where General Christia...

18 Nov 201820min

Episode 60 - The heroic Canadians of Lieliefontein and Boer hero General Fourie falls

Episode 60 - The heroic Canadians of Lieliefontein and Boer hero General Fourie falls

We’re still riding with the Canadians in the area around Belfast in the Eastern Transvaal, which is a short distance away from South Africa’s all important coal mines. Last week we heard how the icy...

11 Nov 201823min

Episode 59 - Freda Schlosberg goes home as an icy rain lashes the Canadians

Episode 59 - Freda Schlosberg goes home as an icy rain lashes the Canadians

Mercurial Boer commander Christiaan de Wet has just avoided being captured along with Free State President Andries Steyn at the brutal "small" battle at Bothaville. The Boers lost 25 killed and 130 ca...

4 Nov 201817min

Episode 58 - De Wet experiences a terrible misfortune as his scouts bungle

Episode 58 - De Wet experiences a terrible misfortune as his scouts bungle

This is episode 58 and there’s much excitement, General Knox catches up with de Wet for a second time and all hell breaks loose. Nothing damages you more in war than a lack of proper intelligence gat...

28 Okt 201814min

Episode 57 - St John Brodrick’s poisoned chalice & Jan Smuts hatches an outrageous plan

Episode 57 - St John Brodrick’s poisoned chalice & Jan Smuts hatches an outrageous plan

The guerilla campaign is now under way in late October 1900 and the leaders of the Boer commandos and their remaining political icon, Andries Styen the president of the Free State, are due to meet one...

21 Okt 201818min

Episode 56 - General Knox’s waxed moustache, rowdy Australians, 500 Maoris & Lord Kitchener censors

Episode 56 - General Knox’s waxed moustache, rowdy Australians, 500 Maoris & Lord Kitchener censors

This is episode 56 and there are movements afoot. For instance, Transvaal President Paul Kruger is on his way to Europe on a diplomatic mission, Free State President Styen is moving through the North...

14 Okt 201818min

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