Chapter 364

The British's unannounced war made these countries participating in the international investigation team instantly become clowns, and at the same time, they successfully became the target of public criticism.

For a time, the public opinion of European countries turned to the Boers one after another; the Dutch even clamored to form a volunteer army, preparing to rush to the South African battlefield to help the Boers resist the United Kingdom.

Speaking of the relationship between the Netherlands and the Boers, the Netherlands could be considered the mother country of the Boers.

The origin of the term Boers came from the Dutch word "boer," which meant farmer. At that time, colonists led by Dutch local farmers came to this land; they established the Cape Colony and mainly engaged in farm economy.

These Boers, besides Dutch local farmers, also included French Huguenot believers escaping religious persecution and a small number of Germans.

This was also the reason why many European countries expressed support for the Boers, because the Boers were not local indigenous people in Africa, but descendants of European immigrants.

Of course, the support of most European countries only stopped at the surface. Even for the Boers' mother country, the Netherlands, it only stopped at civilian aid and did not dare to rise to the level of government support.

Although they knew that their enemy was the most powerful country in the world, the Boers did not have the slightest fear.

The reason why the United Kingdom set its sights on the Boers' land was precisely because there were a large number of rich and precious mineral resources on this land.

After the United Kingdom launched an unannounced war against them, the Transvaal Republic spent a large amount of funds and minerals to frantically purchase weapons and equipment from various European countries, attempting to make up for the gap in weapons and equipment between them and the United Kingdom.

And on the other side, after the Cape Colony and the Transvaal Republic broke out into a war in the true sense, under the promotion of capitalists and the support of surging domestic public opinion, the British Parliament finally passed a resolution and officially declared war on the Transvaal Republic and the Orange Free State.

These two republics were both controlled by the Boers; since the United Kingdom decided to fight, it naturally could not let go of the other one.

Not many days after the war broke out, the Transvaal Republic's request to purchase weapons had already been sent to various European countries.

As the arch-enemy of the United Kingdom, the French government almost did not have the slightest hesitation and immediately agreed to the Transvaal's request to purchase weapons.

Spain was the second country to agree to the request and immediately transported a large batch of weapons and equipment to the African battlefield.

It was worth mentioning that at the first moment the news of the war outbreak reached Spain, Gao Da immediately summoned the current Prime Minister Evan Bradley and Defense Minister Qiao Di, requiring the Ministry of Defense and the General Staff to produce a combat plan against Morocco, and this combat plan had to involve the recovery of Gibraltar.

If the United Kingdom did not interfere in Spain's war against Morocco, then Spain would not completely fall out with the United Kingdom. In this situation, recovering Gibraltar was not within Gao Da's plan, at least in the short term, it was like this.

But if the United Kingdom was determined to interfere in Spain's war against Morocco, that also meant that Spain must fight the United Kingdom. In this situation, Gibraltar must also be recovered.

As long as Spain annexed Morocco and recovered Gibraltar, the remaining Portugal would naturally not be able to escape Spain's control.

This Boer War was a good opportunity; Gao Da would absolutely not miss it, nor would he allow anyone to destroy his plan.

On the third day after the war broke out, a piece of heavy news spread from Africa to Europe and quickly attracted the attention of European countries.

The British army in the Cape Colony suffered heavy losses in the process of fighting with the Boers; in just three days, the casualties had already exceeded a thousand people.

Such a casualty scale was already quite exaggerated; after all, the war had just begun, and the troops invested by both sides on the battlefield were not many.

The reason why the British army suffered such heavy losses, besides excessively underestimating the combat effectiveness of the Boers, was also that the combat effectiveness of the Boers was indeed powerful.

The direction of the British army's attack was attacking northward along the eastern part of South Africa. From the northeast of the Cape Colony, continuing north, passing through Natal and Zulu, was the location of the only port of the Transvaal Republic.

As long as the port of the Transvaal Republic was occupied, these Boers would not be able to obtain material support from European countries.

This step taken by the British army had no problem, but unfortunately, because they underestimated the combat effectiveness of the Boer army, they were beaten to pieces in the process of fighting with the Transvaal and Orange coalition forces and fled back to the vicinity of Natal all the way.

After the war broke out, the Boer coalition forces managed to cross the Drakensberg Mountains from East Orange and went all the way around to the rear of the British army located in Natal, which caused the British army to experience a crushing defeat.

Although this victory could not end this war, for the two Boer countries of the Transvaal and Orange, it was absolutely a huge boost in terms of military morale.

The Boers were willing to pay everything for their country and land, while the British army did not have such a high desire to fight.

After experiencing the crushing defeat in Natal, the British army retreated all the way to the southern region of Natal, with the Cape Colony behind them, so safety could be guaranteed.

And northern Natal and the further north Zulu fell completely into the hands of the Transvaal and Orange.

In this way, the United Kingdom not only failed to occupy the only port of the Transvaal Republic, but instead made the other side's coastline become longer, and communication with various European countries became more convenient.

The Boers who won the initial victory did not become complacent because of this; the coalition forces divided into three routes, with the main force still staying in the Natal region, protecting the only coastline of the Boers.

The remaining small-scale troops divided into two routes, one route from Orange southward, posing a threat to the important railway running east-west in the Cape Colony.

Another route of troops launched an attack towards British Bechuanaland in the west. British Bechuanaland was located directly north of the Cape Colony; if this place could be controlled, it could not only prevent the British army from bypassing the rear to sneak attack the abdominal areas of Orange and the Transvaal, but also influence the Cape Colony's railway again, making the British unable to attend to both ends.

Sure enough, when the Cape Colony learned the news of the Boers dividing into three routes, it immediately strengthened the protection of the Cape railway.

This railway was an important transport line for the Cape Colony and was also responsible for transporting materials to the north during the war. If the railway was destroyed, it would not only increase the difficulty of logistics supply for the front-line army, but also destroy the material transport within the Cape Colony.

In order to protect this railway, after discussion, the British installed the 4.7-inch naval guns that were phased out on the train, which barely protected the railway.

The Boers mastering the comprehensive advantage in the early stage of the war was something that various European countries did not expect at all.

According to the development of the situation like this, it was really hard to say who would win and who would lose in this war.

One had to know that the reason why the United Kingdom won this war in history, besides its own strength far exceeding the two countries of the Boers, was also that the British government had its own planning in terms of diplomacy.

In the Boer War in history, the British first signed a treaty with Germany regarding the partition of Portugal's African colonies. The treaty stipulated that once Portugal abandoned its African colonies, these abandoned lands would be partitioned by the United Kingdom and Germany together.

As for why Portugal would abandon its African colonies, anyway, it was not Portugal's willingness.

Attracted by Portugal's African colonies, Germany expressed its willingness to maintain neutrality in the Boer War, which also caused the Boers to lose their only strong aid in history.

Unfortunately, the leaning towards the United Kingdom was just Germany's wishful thinking. The United Kingdom was not willing to abandon this ally, Portugal, and the so-called treaty was just a blank check sent by the British government to Germany.

After Portugal erupted into a financial crisis in history, the British government immediately violated its promise, not only providing loans to the Portuguese government but also signing the "Anglo-Portuguese Secret Declaration" with the Portuguese government, promising to guarantee the safety of all Portugal's territories as an ally.

Of course, under the premise of the United Kingdom protecting Portugal's territories, Portugal also needed to support all the actions of the United Kingdom in the Boer War.

This operation of the United Kingdom in history not only made the most likely enemy, Germany, maintain neutrality, but also made Portugal stand on their side.

And now, the agreement between the United Kingdom and Germany regarding the partition of Portugal's colonies had not been signed, and Portugal had changed from a Kingdom government to a Republican government; naturally, neither of the United Kingdom's two diplomatic plans had been completed.

Different from the British side, the Boers obtained more support in this war than in history.

France, out of the attitude of making trouble for the United Kingdom, stood on the side of the Transvaal Republic. Spain, purely for the sake of opposing the United Kingdom, also chose to support the Transvaal Republic.

Germany did not explicitly stand on the side of the Boers, but the attitude of German Emperor Wilhelm II was already quite obvious. Let alone there was also a Netherlands; although the Dutch government had not expressed its position, the Dutch people were already impatient.

The Dutch not only donated a large amount of materials to the Transvaal and Orange Free State, but a volunteer army with a number as high as over a thousand people was also being formed.

Although this army of over a thousand people could not play a great influence on the war, the Dutch support for the Boers was already quite obvious.

Five days after the war broke out, as many as 4,000 British troops gathered in the northeast of the Cape Colony and marched towards Natal in a mighty manner. The main purpose of their trip was to recover the Natal region and drive the Boer army back to the north of Natal.

In Nicholson Canyon, the British army and the Boer army met, and both sides immediately engaged in fierce fighting.

In this battle, both sides suffered heavy losses; British casualties reached as high as over 1,300, and the Boers' casualties also reached as high as nearly 500.

If it weren't for the canyon being too suitable for ambush, allowing the Boers to occupy the first opportunity, I'm afraid the Boers' casualties would also have increased a lot.

The remaining three thousand or so British troops retreated to the southern region of Natal and established a strict defensive position.

The commander of the Boer army tried to capture the position built by the British army, and finally discovered that the British army's defense was too strict; unless huge casualties were paid, it could not be captured in a short time.

Seeing that they could not capture the British position, the Boer army changed its strategy.

While building defensive lines on the land they had already occupied, they scouted the terrain of South Natal, looking for locations that could be defended.

Besides dealing with the British army of the Cape Colony, they also had to deal with British servant armies and local land forces rushing from all over the world.

If they were greedy for merit and advanced rashly, the British army supported from all over the world had a high probability of surrounding the Boer army.

For their own safety, most of the war could only be conducted in the way of defensive warfare.

The continuous failure of the war made the British government lose face, and Colonial Secretary Chamberlain personally issued an order to the Governor of the Cape Colony, Cecil Rhodes, requiring him to obtain battle results that could be promoted within one week, otherwise he should wait for the person replacing him to head to the Cape Colony.

Under the urging of the British government, Cecil Rhodes also had to formulate a counter-attack plan to ensure that the situation on the front line was not so bad.

Among the three routes of the Boer army, the main force located in the Natal region was the most difficult to capture.

Most of the troops of the Transvaal Republic and the Orange Free State gathered here, and these two countries were still transporting reinforcements continuously.

Wanting to capture the Boers' main force in one battle was very difficult; it was better to set sights on the other two routes of the Boer army in southern Orange and the Bechuanaland region.

Thinking and thinking, Cecil Rhodes finally set his sights on the British Bechuanaland region.

As long as the Boer army here could be eliminated, the British army could easily reach the rear of the Boers.

This place was only 200 kilometers away from Pretoria, the capital of the Transvaal Republic; whether it was harassing the rear of the Boers or directly attacking the capital of the Transvaal Republic, it was obviously more cost-effective than launching a counter-attack on the front battlefield.

Thinking of this, Cecil Rhodes did not have the slightest hesitation.

He immediately formed an army with a number as high as 2,000, carrying several machine guns and artillery, and marched towards the Bechuanaland region in a mighty manner.

Machine guns indeed played a huge role at the beginning.

The Boer army's standing was relatively dense, and the strafing of machine guns could quickly cause a large number of casualties.

But the Boers were not stupid either; they quickly understood the characteristics of this weapon, the machine gun.

The advantage of the machine gun was that the fire coverage range was wide, and it could effectively kill and injure enemy troops standing relatively densely.

But the disadvantages of the machine gun were relatively obvious; first, the machine gun would consume a large amount of ammunition, and the British army obviously could not withstand continuous machine gun strafing.

Secondly, it was the machine gun's terrible hit rate. As long as they did not stand together in a pile and the troops were completely dispersed, the lethality of the machine gun was not that high.

Although machine guns could also suppress the Boers' attack, relying on simple fire suppression was a huge test for the British army's logistics.

The British machine gun strafing had gaps, and in the middle, it was necessary to replace the magazine belt.

The reloading time in the middle was also an opportunity for the Boer army; after finding this trick, they would suddenly launch an attack when the British machine guns were reloading, catching the British army off guard.

Although there were not many Boer troops in the Bechuanaland region, under the constant harassment of similar guerrilla warfare, the British army failed to completely clear the Boer army in the Bechuanaland region.

The war had passed for nearly half a month, and the reinforcements and material supplies of both sides also arrived in the South African region continuously.

It was worth mentioning that the material supplies from France and Spain were transported to the Boers' ports almost openly under the eyes of the British.

But there was no way; the British government was completely helpless about the behavior of France and Spain being so open.

If the transport fleets of France and Spain were blocked, it would inevitably arouse the dissatisfaction of these two countries. France and Spain both had hatred with the United Kingdom, and the United Kingdom did not want to let these two countries interfere in the war too early.

Regarding the behavior of France and Spain openly supporting the Boers, the British government could only turn a blind eye.

Anyway, the materials transported by the United Kingdom to the Cape Colony were only more, not less, added to the troops rushing from other colonies continuously, the British were confident that the Boers could not contend with them.

At the end of March 1895, the South African Expeditionary Force formed by the United Kingdom officially arrived in Cape Town. The Commander-in-Chief of this expeditionary force was General Redvers Buller, who had suppressed uprisings in the Ireland region.

This expeditionary force was composed of 20,000 British local troops; they were well-equipped, and their combat effectiveness was also quite powerful.

From this point, one could also see that the British were really serious. The terrible battle results in the early stage of the war made the British government angry, and the proposal in Parliament regarding the dismissal of Colonial Governor Cecil Rhodes had also entered the voting stage.

After arriving in the Cape Colony, the Commander-in-Chief of the South African Expeditionary Force, General Redvers Buller, took over the command of the Cape Town army.

The performance of the Cape Colony army was too terrible; the garrison commander of the colony naturally could not possess the command of the army anymore.

Even regarding the terrible battle results in the early stage, the garrison commander of the Cape Colony would also go to the British military court.

With the support of 20,000 British troops, the British counter-attack could be considered to have a foundation.

In early April, the British began to plan a comprehensive counter-attack against the Boer army on the three battle lines of east, middle, and west. Lieutenant General Methuen lifted the siege of Kimberley on the west line, Lieutenant General French attacked the Orange Free State on the middle line, and General Buller led the main force to lift the siege of Ladysmith on the east line.

These British local troops and colonial troops also showed a relatively large gap. Although the United Kingdom dominated the world with its navy, the combat effectiveness of the British army was also not weak.

Even if it could not compare to countries like Germany and France that dominated Europe with their land forces, it was at least at the upper-middle level.

These 20,000 British troops were put into the front-line battlefield and immediately achieved good results.

The British not only gained something on the west and middle battlefields, but even on the main battlefield of the east line, they pushed the battle line forward by more than ten kilometers in a short time.

The Boers could only retreat while fighting; they could not build a reliable defensive line in a short time, and could only move the defensive line northward to their own territory range, where a more solid defensive line had already been built, and behind it was the Boers' own motherland, so there was also a morale bonus for defensive warfare.

5000-word second update, asking for monthly tickets!

I am very sorry for being a few minutes late; there is an update tonight.

(End of chapter)