Episode 7 - General Buller splits his force
General Redvers Buller, the commander of British forces in South Africa, is in Cape Town having arrived in late October 1899 and walked off the ship and into a firestorm. His orders to General White in Natal had been ignored, White had allowed Colonel Penn Symons to move north of the Tugela river to Dundee where he’d been killed in action. Now General White himself was holed up in Ladysmith, surrounded by two large Boer Commandoes, the Free Staters under General Steyn and the Transvalers under General Joubert.
5 Nov 201717min
Episode 6 - "Mournful Monday" as the British suffer a major defeat
Sir Redvers Buller the commander in chief of British Forces in South Africa, sailed into the harbour on the Dunottar Castle on 31st October 1899, with his warhorses, polo sticks and a bicycle, and Winston Churchill the young war reporter in tow. He was to arrive as the British experienced a major defeat and the most men taken prisoner in a single battle since the Napoleonic Wars almost a century before.
29 Okt 201718min
Episode 5 - Retreat from Dundee and the siege of Mafeking and Kimberley
In October 1899 the Boers have begun to invade Natal and are about to threaten Ladysmith. It’s only two weeks after the war began on 10th October and at first the British believed they’d won two small battles at Talana Hill overlooking Dundee and Elandslaagte station north of Ladysmith.
22 Okt 201718min
Episode 4 - Talana Hill & Elandslaagte
In this episode we’ll learn about the first battle of Dundee or what’s known as Talana Hill, and Elandslaagte a day later. Both appeared at first to be British victories .. but appearances can be deceptive.
15 Okt 201718min
Episode 3 - Troops on the move and its war
This week we’ll hear about the start of the war in October 1899 and hear about the structure of both the British and Boer armies. We’ll also find out just how unprepared the British were for this conflict and learn a little about how mobile the Boers really were in this first war of the modern era.
8 Okt 201718min
Episode 2 - Negotiations Fail
In this episode we’ll learn about the attempts by Kruger and the Free State leadership to avoid war while continuing to deny English speakers the vote in the two Boer Republics, the Transvaal and Free State. At the same time, Sir Alfred Milner, the governor of the Cape, pushes for intervention. We’ll take a closer look at how the two sides shaped up and what happened at the Bloemfontein Convention and ultimately, the failure of talks.
30 Sep 201721min
Anglo Boer War Episode 1
The Anglo-Boer war which began in 1899 and ended in 1902 was the culmination of more than 250 years of Boer expansion into Africa and conflict with blacks as well as a century of conflict with the British Empire. Some of the most famous names of the 20th Century were involved including Mahatma Gandhi as a stretcher bearer and Winston Churchill as a war correspondent. It was a war that the British expected to wrap up in a few months but ended up costing tens of thousands of lives over three years. It started with lofty ideals and ended with the British throwing Boer women and children into concentration camps where they died in their hundreds.
24 Sep 201722min
