Chapter 374: The British Who Provoked Public Anger

The Morocco War and the Cuban rebellion made the British deeply realize that if they did not defeat the Boers quickly, corresponding troubles would follow one after another.

Those countries with conflicts with the British Empire would not let go of such a good opportunity now. They could support the Cuban rebellion today, and they could just as easily support the Boers tomorrow.

Yet the Boers happened to be a big problem right now. Even if Britain invested a large amount of military budget and troops, it could not guarantee that the Boers could be resolved in a short time.

Britain's military expenditure in the Boer War was by no means small.

In the first three months of the war, the military expenditure invested by Britain reached 8 million pounds per month, which was already a significant expense.

The military expenditure for these three months alone reached 24 million pounds, equivalent to a full 600 million pesetas, which was already close to half of the Spanish government's fiscal revenue last year.

Having invested so much capital in just three months, yet with no major gains on the front lines, the mood of the British at this time could be imagined.

Starting from June, Britain's military expenditure surged from 8 million to 16 million pounds. This was a military budget that only the powerful British Empire could afford; if Spain were to shell out this much, the country would go bankrupt directly in less than three months.

Did Britain's huge military investment achieve any results? To a certain extent, it did indeed achieve some results.

It was just that these results were more negative. For instance, the third week of July 1895, which was called the "Dark Week" by the British.

In those seven days of that week, the British frontline troops suffered losses of over ten thousand men. Among them, about 3, 00 were confirmed dead, and the remaining nearly 7, 00 were either wounded or captured.

This was a huge scandal for Britain. What battle results were exchanged for these ten thousand casualties?

Eliminating fewer than one thousand Boer soldiers.

Yes, Boer casualties were less than one thousand.

Because the Boers adopted guerrilla tactics, it was difficult for the British army to find large numbers of Boer soldiers on the front battlefield.

The reason they were able to deal with nearly a thousand Boer troops at once this time was mainly because the Boers wanted to rescue the Boer civilians captured by the British.

This rescue was a success. The Boers successfully rescued thousands of civilians in the concentration camps, and at the cost of less than a thousand casualties, they made the British army pay with over ten thousand casualties.

This was absolutely a war worthy of being recorded in history. The powerful British Empire's army seemed to have no great power of resistance before the Boers, and the Boer tactics played these British troops around like they were walking a dog.

The most miserable were the expeditionary forces from India. These Indian soldiers traveled thousands of kilometers to fight in Africa; they had just arrived at the border of the Transvaal Republic and had not yet had time to be excited when they encountered a Boer guerrilla unit of several hundred people.

The Boers quickly taught the Indians how to fight, but unfortunately, these Indians no longer had the chance.

Because they were unfamiliar with the terrain and lacked combat experience, this Indian army of 3, 00 men was almost completely wiped out by the Boers without holding out for long.

Compared with the colonial troops from India and other regions, the performance of the British regular army was better, but only slightly so.

In order to push the front line from British colonies to Boer lands, the British government paid a huge price in casualties.

From the outbreak of the war in early March 1895 to now, nearly 7 months had passed.

Britain's cumulative military expenditure had reached nearly 90 million pounds, roughly equivalent to the entire annual fiscal revenue of the British Empire.

Looking at the situation map of the South African War again, it would immediately make all British people's eyes go dark. Because the situation on the front line was still quite intense; although the British had gained a certain advantage, they were slow to translate these advantages into victory.

Don't look at the fact that Britain had already occupied part of the land of Orange and Transvaal; there were still large amounts of resistance forces in these occupied areas.

Some British troops would be ambushed by guerrillas in the occupied areas if they were not careful. If the numbers were larger, it would be fine, as the number of guerrillas was generally not very large, making it difficult to wipe out large-scale units in an organized manner.

But if an army of only a few hundred to a thousand people encountered these difficult Boer guerrillas, they would basically only face being wiped out.

If the large amount of funds invested by Britain proved Britain's confidence in fighting, then the Boers' shared hatred of the enemy and iron-like fighting spirit could also prove their determination to firmly resist Britain.

Through such a long period of fighting against Britain, the Boers captured many weapons and equipment from Britain. The British Empire was indeed wealthy and generous; they also equipped colonial troops with the same weapons and equipment as the regular army.

It just so happened that these colonial troops were not very capable, and many soldiers sent equipment to the Boers as soon as they arrived on the front battlefield.

The Boers would not be polite to the British; they took these weapons and equipment and formed more guerrilla units. Because the Boer population was so small, they had no restrictions or requirements for soldiers.

Regardless of gender, age, or status, as long as one could hold a gun and fight, one could become a member of a guerrilla unit.

It was precisely this policy that caused the Boer guerrillas in the occupied areas to be almost impossible to wipe out. Even if the British army surrounded and suppressed a larger guerrilla unit, another guerrilla unit would be active in the area a few days later.

With the large investment of funds, the British government gradually became tired of this war.

Regarding the Boers constantly popping up in the occupied areas, the British government also decided to stop talking about morality.

Starting from early October 1895, the British government carried out a cruel scorched-earth policy in the two Boer countries, the Transvaal Republic and the Orange Free State.

In those occupied areas where resistance was relatively fierce, Britain adopted a strategy of comprehensive capture of the Boers.

Whether they were civilians or guerrillas, as long as they were Boers, they would be captured first.

This method was indeed effective in reducing resistance in the occupied areas. After all, the total number of Boers was only four or five hundred thousand; Britain captured most of the population in the occupied areas at once, and with the people gone, how could these Boers resist?

In the two months from October to November, Britain's scorched-earth policy achieved excellent results.

But at the same time, the cruel concentration camps also caused a large number of casualties among Boer civilians. In the first 7 months of the war, the total casualties of the Boers only added up to a little over ten thousand; such a scale of casualties was only one-fifth of the British.

But after Britain implemented the scorched-earth policy and concentration camp management for Boer civilians, the total individual casualties quickly rose to more than twenty thousand.

Among them, the number of Boer civilians who died at the hands of the British army, especially the old, weak, women, and children, reached several thousand, which instantly ignited the anger of the Boers and many European countries.

If it were just cruel treatment of African natives, it might be fine; after all, in the eyes of most European white people, the life or death of these African black people did not matter much.

But the problem was that those Britain treated so cruelly were the descendants of European white immigrants. The Boers were mainly composed of descendants of Dutch immigrants, Germans, and French; these people were all authentic Europeans.

Britain abusing white civilians in this way was an act that could absolutely be linked to the word "cruel."

The Dutch government protested against Britain's cruel scorched-earth policy, and with the added influence of Germany, France, and other countries, Britain once again became the target of public criticism among European nations.

Compared with the indignation of the Dutch and the tactfulness of the Germans, the reports of the French were much more direct.

Several major French news agencies directly published photos of the British army abusing Boer civilians in concentration camps, especially those women, children, and the elderly.

These photos caused an uproar in France; the French could not believe that Britain could be so cruel to white people, even abusing these elderly people and children.

Yet at this time, Britain had no excuse to refute. The Boers had gained the support of many countries, and the Dutch public even formed volunteer armies to go to South Africa to fight.

With so many Europeans in the Boer region, it was not surprising that similar photos were sent back to Europe. This was not something Britain could block just because it wanted to, unless Britain had the determination to take action against all Europeans in the Boer region.

But obviously, the British government absolutely did not have the guts to do so.

Doing so would simultaneously offend many European countries and might even attract a joint crusade against Britain by many European powers.

If it went poorly and caused European countries to form an anti-British alliance, that would be a huge problem. Although protected by the Royal Fleet, the British mainland would not be threatened by European countries. But with other European powers joining forces, Britain's deployments in Europe and even the world would instantly disintegrate.

Even the Indian colony, which was quite important to Britain, would be partitioned by European countries working together. The British navy was indeed powerful, but if it were dispersed around the world to protect the mainland and colonies, it would have the risk of being broken one by one by European countries.

The British refusal to explain further aroused the indignation of European countries. Originally, it was only the Dutch public forming volunteer armies to support the Boers, but now the public in many other European countries had similar ideas.

First were the French, who were most dissatisfied with Britain. With the secret support of the French government, the French public organized a volunteer army of 3, 00 people.

This volunteer army traveled to South Africa on transport ships with great fanfare, while the French government closely monitored the movements of the fleet carrying the volunteer army.

If Britain dared to take action against the fleet where this volunteer army was located, France would have an excuse to declare war on Britain. If nothing else, these volunteers were all real Frenchmen.

If Britain killed 3, 00 Frenchmen at once, it would mean they were prepared to fight a war with France.

The news of the French public forming a volunteer army was reported in various European countries, causing many countries' citizens to respond one after another.

The first to respond to France was Germany, which was actually not surprising.

Although there were grievances between France and Germany, this did not affect the Germans' sympathy for the plight of the Boers.

The Boers were composed of immigrants from the Netherlands, Germany, and France. Although most of them were Dutch immigrants, there were still a certain number of descendants of German and French immigrants.

This was also the reason why Germany and France were quite dissatisfied with Britain's behavior, because the Boers had certain relationships with both Germany and France.

From the public statement of German Emperor Wilhelm II, it could also be seen that although Germany wanted to form an alliance with Britain more, the German government did not stand on the side of supporting Britain in this war.

After the French and German public formed volunteer armies, another country that hated Britain also took action, and that was Russia.

Russia did not have much of a relationship with the Boers; their act of forming a volunteer army was purely to disgust the British and cause some trouble for them.

Not to mention that Russia lacked everything except people. Compared with the volunteer armies of several thousand people in Germany and France, Russia decided to form a volunteer army of 10, 00 people right from the start.

Of course, the Russian government was still very short of money. Although Russia was willing to form a volunteer army to aid the Boers, the Russian government was not willing to pay too much capital for it.

This was easy to solve. The Tsarist government contacted the Transvaal Republic and expressed its willingness to send volunteer troops to help the Boers fight.

But the Russian government also put forward requirements: Russia would only provide people, and at most bear the cost of transporting these people to the South African region.

As for the remaining weapons, equipment, and military expenses, the Boers would have to be responsible for them themselves.

Although this requirement seemed a bit strange, for the Boers who were currently short of people, the Russian government's request was no different from sending charcoal in snowy weather.

Not having weapons and equipment was easy to handle; more than half of the weapons supported by various European countries had not yet been equipped. Raising more than 10, 00 rifles to equip these Russians was no problem, and as for military expenses, they could be scraped together by finding ways from the gold mines.

After all, if this war were lost, the gold mines would become the property of the British, and they would have nothing to do with the Boers.

But if they could win this war, in the future, relying on the gold mines on this land, the Boers could still live comfortably.

Not to mention, the British massacre of the Boers did indeed arouse the indignation of all of Europe. Spain also had similar volunteer armies being formed, which Kaluo had also asked the Royal Security Intelligence Agency to pay attention to.

In order to disgust the British to a greater extent, Kaluo mixed dozens of officers who had graduated from the Royal Military Academy into the volunteer army formed by the Spanish public.

Once they arrived at the Boer battlefield, these officers would formally take over the command of this volunteer army. At that time, they would let them fight well against the British army, create some bigger trouble for the British, and incidentally learn the guerrilla tactics used by the Boers on the battlefield.

It is worth mentioning that the United States, separated from Europe by an Atlantic Ocean, also formed a certain number of volunteer armies.

On one hand, it was the United States' attention to the European situation, and on the other hand, it could also be seen how unpopular Britain's behavior in the Boer region was.

Although the number of volunteer armies sent by various European countries was not large, the volunteer armies of several countries added together barely managed to scrape together 20, 00 people.

This was a good thing for the Boers. Although the volunteer armies of various European countries were only about 20, 00 people, the combat effectiveness of the armies of various European countries was world-class.

Of the countries that formed volunteer armies, Germany and France were world-famous for their armies, and the strength of the Spanish army had been great since ancient times. Although the combat effectiveness of the Russian army was not very strong, it was better in that the Russian volunteer army had more people, which could solve the Boers' urgent needs.

Adding up the volunteer armies formed by these countries, unless Britain used an army of more than 100, 00, it would really be difficult to deal with these volunteer armies.

If Britain used colonial troops, it might not even be certain that 100, 00 troops could defeat these 20, 00 volunteers.

This was undoubtedly a difficult problem posed by European countries to the British. With these 20, 00 volunteers helping the Boers fight, this war could be dragged on for at least another year.

On the British side, the British government was not unaware of the actions of European countries sending volunteer armies. They even knew that some real officers and soldiers must be mixed into these volunteer armies.

But the problem was that the British government could not counterattack. When adopting the scorched-earth policy in the Transvaal and Orange regions, the British government understood that such behavior would definitely cause an uproar in Europe.

But there was no way; the British government at that time was already riding a tiger and could not get off. If the Boer War was not ended early, Britain's energy would be dragged into this small area of South Africa.

They could make concessions in Morocco, they could make concessions in Cuba, but could they make concessions in Canada, India, and other regions later on?

Only by quickly resolving the Boer problem would Britain have the energy to focus on other regions. Without the burden, Britain could easily resolve the Cuban rebellion and could also make other European countries fear Britain, thereby not daring to cause trouble for Britain again.

Since various European countries had sent volunteer armies, Britain naturally would not back down. Britain not only increased its military budget again but also sent more troops on expeditions.

So far, the number of troops Britain had invested in the Transvaal and Orange regions had reached 150, 00, which was one-third of the Boer population in this land and more than four times the Boer army.

Even counting the 20, 00 volunteers supported by various European countries, the number of British troops was still nearly three times that of the Boer army.

Since such a huge troop investment could not resolve the Boers, the British government decided to continue investing troops until the Boers surrendered.

This time, the British do not intend to mobilize troops from their various colonies, but instead plan to deploy elite British home forces.

The British have finally realized that continuing to mobilize colonial troops only serves to increase British casualties and allows the Boers and volunteer armies from other countries to gain combat experience.

The combat effectiveness of these colonial troops is simply too poor. Even when equipped with advanced weapons issued by the British, it does not change the fact that they are nothing more than scattered, undisciplined mobs.

In mid-November 1895, the British mobilized nearly 50, 00 troops from the home country and set off in a grand procession toward South Africa.

These troops mobilized from the home country will arrive in the South African region at the same time as the volunteer armies from various European countries. The British do not believe that by deploying more than twice the number of troops, they could still lose to the volunteer armies organized by European nations.

Even if the Boers have gained the support of various European countries, so what? As long as these countries dare not openly confront the British, the British will always maintain the advantage in this war.

It is merely a matter of consuming funds, manpower, and material resources; in this regard, the British truly fear no one.

After all, with the support from major colonies all over the world, the British annual fiscal revenue is an astronomical figure to the various European countries.

Under such circumstances, even fighting a protracted war against the Boers is cost-effective for the British.

If the Boers are counting on those few gold mines in their hands to try and outlast the British Empire in a war of attrition, then the British government can only tell them two words: dream on!

5, 00 words for the first update, there will be another update tonight!

The author is feeling a bit dizzy right now, so I will take some medicine and rest; the update tonight will likely be a bit late, but I guarantee it will be posted before two o'clock.

For those brothers who cannot wait, please don't; just read it tomorrow during the day. Thank you for your understanding.

(End of this chapter)