My Italy

Negotiations on the purchase of warships between Italy and Russia are still continuing. Such a major event as the purchase of warships is difficult to conclude within two or three months. Although Russia's preparations to purchase Italian warships have attracted great attention, there is another incident that has caused a huge sensation among the people and even the governments of various countries.

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 United Kingdom, Colonial Secretary Chamberlain promoted military treatment of the Boers. In addition, the British media also created public opinion, claiming that the Boers were destroyers of peace and that they ignored the order of the empire and so on. In addition, he made a high-profile claim that the British Empire could annex these two countries with just one "pleasant trip".

The British people, incited by the media, expressed their support for the British Empire's colonial policy. The British Imperial Army even claimed that it only needed 10 million pounds to solve the Boer troubles. It was the heroic and proficient performance of the Boers before that made the British military decide 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 total) on a remote pasture between Pretoria and the Vaal River in the Republic of Transvaal. 40% of total gold reserves), and Johannesburg was subsequently built on this gold mine.

Profits and taxes from the gold mines enabled the Transvaal Republic's economy to develop rapidly, while the Orange Republic also made a good living from the production of diamonds. The continuous discovery of mineral resources in the two Boer countries also attracted the greedy eyes of the British.

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 Paul Kruger regime in the Transvaal.

As a result, except for 134 people who were killed, the rest, including Johnson, were all captured. As for the riots initiated by the internal "Alien Reform Committee", they were also suppressed by the police. Yes, this is also the origin of William II's famous telegram.

Of course, after suffering a loss last time, the British Empire felt that relying on the police to do things this time was not reliable at all. If you want to capture the two Boer republics, you still need the regular army to take action.

As a result, the British Empire's troops began to gather in South Africa. Of course, while preparing military measures, the British Empire also wanted to use the method of subduing the enemy without fighting to make the two Boer countries that had offended the imperial power quickly realize their mistakes and obediently obey the orders of the British Empire.

Therefore, in June, Milner, the governor of the Cape Colony, and Kruger, the president of the Transvaal Republic, held the last negotiation on the issue of protecting the rights and interests of foreigners in Bloemfontein.

This same President Kruger prophetically warned after the discovery of gold in the Witslanders that we should not cheer but weep because this would soak our land in a sea of ​​blood. As expected, foreigners (mainly British) arrived one after another, and 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 Britain, which eventually led to the outbreak of two Boer Wars.

This negotiation did not go well 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, they could only learn martial arts.

The aggressive attitude of the British Empire made both Boer countries aware of the ominous situation. In response to the British threat, the two Boer states came 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 Chamberlain, the colonial secretary, directly ordered Milner to reject South Africa's conditions.

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 formed numerous civil society groups, solicited donations, published articles, established foundations, and donated wartime mobile hospitals and medical equipment to the Transvaal.

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 General 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. If the Boers just capture the key points, they will surely defeat them. A lot 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 support the Boers in two or three major battles, and then it will be difficult."

Marshal Cardorna said it as tactfully as possible, because according to his estimation, the Boers could basically resist for three months. When the British Empire troops were assembled, the stage would belong to the British troops.

Don't blame Marshal Cardorna for thinking this way. If he hadn't been familiar with this 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.

This shows how majestic the British Empire must have been before the Boer War. Challenging the status of the British Empire at this time was simply an impossible task. Of course, after the Boer War, this became a difficult task.