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 that had conflicts with the British Empire would not let go of such a good opportunity now. If they could support the Cuban rebellion today, they could equally support the Boers tomorrow.

But the Boers happened to be a big trouble right now. Even if the British invested a large amount of military budget and troops, they could not guarantee that they could solve the Boers in a short time.

The British military expenditure in the Boer War was by no means small.

In the first three months of the war, the monthly military expenditure invested by the British reached as high as 8 million pounds, which was already a significant expense.

The military expenditure for these three months alone already reached 24 million pounds, equivalent to as much as 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 there were no major gains on the front line, the mood of the British at this time could be imagined.

Starting from June, the British military expenditure investment surged from 8 million to 16 million pounds. This was the kind of military expenditure that only the powerful British Empire could afford; if Spain were to pay out so much, the country would go bankrupt directly within three months.

Did the British huge military expenditure achieve any effect? To a certain extent, it did indeed achieve some effect.

It was just that such effects were more negative. For example, the third week of July 1895, which was called the Dark Week by the British.

In this week of only 7 days, the British front-line troops suffered losses of over ten thousand people. Among them, about 3,000 were confirmed dead, and the remaining nearly 7,000 were either injured or captured.

This was a huge scandal for the British. What battle results were exchanged for these ten thousand losses?

They eliminated less than one thousand Boer soldiers.

Yes, the Boer casualties were less than one thousand.

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

The reason why they were able to solve 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 camp, and with only less than a thousand casualties as the price, they made the British army pay the price of ten thousand casualties.

This was definitely a war that could be recorded in history. The powerful British Empire's army seemed to have no great resistance in front of the Boers, and the Boers' tactics were like walking a dog, playing these British troops around.

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

The Boers soon 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 3,000 people was almost 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 it was limited to just being better.

In order to push the front line from the British colony to the Boer land, the British government paid huge casualties for this.

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

The cumulative British military expenditure investment had reached nearly 90 million pounds, roughly equivalent to the entire fiscal revenue of the British Empire for one year.

Looking at the situation map of the South African War again, it would immediately make all the British feel dark before their eyes. Because the front-line situation was still quite intense, although the British had gained a certain advantage, they were slow to convert these advantages into winning momentum.

Don't look at the fact that the British had already occupied a part of the land of Orange and Transvaal, but there were still a large number of resistance forces in these occupied areas.

Some British troops would be ambushed by guerrillas in the occupied areas if they were not careful; it would be fine if there were more people, after all, the number of guerrillas was generally not too large, and it was difficult to eliminate large-scale troops in an organized manner.

But if only a few hundred or nearly a thousand troops encountered these difficult Boer guerrillas, then basically they would only be eliminated.

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

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

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

The Boers would not be polite to the British, and they used these weapons and equipment to form more guerrillas. Because the Boer population scale was really too small, they had no restrictions or requirements for soldiers.

Regardless of men, women, old, or young, as long as they could hold a gun and fight, they could become a member of the guerrilla force.

It was precisely because of such policies that the Boer guerrillas in the occupied areas were almost endless. Even if the British army wiped out a larger guerrilla force, another guerrilla force would still be active in this area a few days later.

With the large investment of funds, the British government gradually felt bored with this war.

Regarding the Boers who kept emerging in the occupied areas, the British government also decided not to talk about morality anymore.

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 the resistance was relatively fierce, the British adopted a strategy of comprehensive arrest of Boers.

Regardless of whether they were civilians or guerrillas, in short, as long as they were Boers, they would all be arrested first.

Such a method was indeed effective in reducing the resistance in the occupied areas. After all, the number of Boers added up to only four or five hundred thousand, and the British suddenly arrested most of the population in the occupied areas; with no people left, how could these Boers resist?

In the two months from October to November, the British 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 added up to only a little over ten thousand, and such a scale of casualties was only one-fifth of the British.

But after the British 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 in the hands of the British army, especially those old, weak, women, and children, reached thousands, which suddenly ignited the anger of the Boers and many European countries.

If it were only the cruel treatment of African natives, that would be one thing; after all, in the eyes of most white Europeans, the life or death of these black Africans did not matter much.

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

The British abused white civilians so much, and such behavior could definitely be linked to the word cruel.

The Dutch government protested against the British cruel scorched-earth policy, and coupled with the fueling of the flames by Germany, France, and other countries, the British once again became the target of public criticism among European countries.

Compared with the indignation of the Dutch and the euphemism of the Germans, the reports of the French appeared much more direct.

Several large intelligence agencies in France 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, and the French could not believe that the British could be so cruel to whites, and could even abuse these elderly and children.

It happened that the British at this time had no excuse to refute. The Boers received support from many countries, and the Dutch public even formed volunteer armies to go to South Africa to fight.

There were so many Europeans in the Boer region, so it was not surprising that similar photos were passed back to Europe. This was not something the British could block if they wanted to, unless the British 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 it was even possible to attract the joint crusade of many European powers against the British.

If it caused a mess and made European countries form an anti-British alliance, then the fun would be big. Although protected by the Royal Fleet, the British mainland would not be threatened by European countries. But under the joint efforts of other European powers, the British deployment in Europe and even the whole world would instantly collapse.

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

The British's lack of explanation 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 European countries also had similar ideas.

First was the French who were most dissatisfied with the British. Under the secret support of the French government, the French public organized a volunteer army of 3,000 people.

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

If the British dared to take action against the fleet where this volunteer army was located, the French would have an excuse to declare war on the British. Not to mention anything else, these volunteers were all real French people.

If the British suddenly killed 3,000 French people, it would also mean that they were ready 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' public to respond one after another.

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

Although there were grudges between France and Germany, this did not affect the Germans' sympathy for the Boers' encounter.

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 the British behavior, because the Boers had a certain relationship 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 the British more, the German government was not in a position to support the British in this war.

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

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

And don't say that Russia lacked everything, but it did not lack population. Compared with the volunteer army formation of a few thousand people in Germany and France, Russia decided to form a volunteer army of 10,000 people as soon as it came up.

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

This was also 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; the Russian side 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 expenditure, the Boers had to be responsible for it themselves.

Although such requirements looked a bit strange, for the Boers who were short of population at this time, the Russian government's requirements were no different from sending charcoal in snowy weather.

It was easy to say that there were no weapons and equipment; more than half of the weapons supported by European countries had not been equipped. It was no problem to raise more than 10,000 rifles to equip these Russians, and if it was military expenditure, they could find a way from the gold mines to gather it.

After all, if they lost this war, the gold mines and such would become the property of the British, and it 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.

And don't say, the British's massive slaughter of the Boers did indeed arouse the indignation of the whole of Europe. There was a similar volunteer army formation in Spain, and Gao Da also let the Royal Security Intelligence Agency pay attention to it.

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

After they went to the Boer battlefield, these officers would formally take over the command of this volunteer army. At that time, let them fight well with the British army, create some bigger trouble for the British, and learn the guerrilla tactics used by the Boers on the battlefield by the way.

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

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

Although the number of volunteer armies sent by European countries was not large, the volunteer armies of several countries added up, barely gathering 20,000 people.

This was a good thing for the Boers. Although the volunteer armies of European countries were only about 20,000 people, the combat effectiveness of the armies of European countries was also first-class in the world.

The countries that formed the volunteer army, Germany and France were famous for their armies in the world, and the strength of the Spanish army was even more so since ancient times. Although the combat effectiveness of the Russian army was not very strong, it was better because the number of Russian volunteer troops was larger, which could solve the Boers' urgent needs.

The volunteer armies formed by these countries added up, unless the British used an army of more than 100,000 people, otherwise it would really be difficult to solve these volunteer armies.

If the British used colonial troops, maybe 100,000 troops might not necessarily be able to defeat these 20,000 volunteers.

This was undoubtedly a difficult problem given to the British by European countries. With these 20,000 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 behavior of European countries sending volunteer armies. They even knew that these volunteer armies must be mixed with some real officers and soldiers.

But the problem was that the British government could not make a counterattack against this. 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 hard to get off. If they did not end the Boer War early, the British energy would be dragged into this small area of South Africa.

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

Only by quickly solving the trouble of the Boers could the British have the energy to focus on other regions. The British without burdens could easily solve the Cuban rebellion, and could also make other European countries fear the British, so they would not dare to cause trouble for the British again.

Since European countries had all sent volunteer armies, the British side would naturally not make concessions. The British not only increased the military budget again but also sent more troops on an expedition.

So far, the troops invested by the British in the Transvaal and Orange regions had reached as high as 150,000, which was one-third of the Boer population on this land, and more than four times the Boer army.

Even counting the 20,000 volunteers supported by European countries, the number of British troops was still nearly three times that of the Boer army.

Such a huge troop investment could not solve the Boers, so the British government decided to continue to invest troops until the Boers surrendered.

This time, the British did not intend to mobilize from various colonies, but intended to send elite British mainland troops.

The British finally understood that continuing to mobilize colonial troops was nothing more than expanding the British casualties and letting the Boers and other countries' volunteers practice their troops.

The combat effectiveness of these colonial troops was really too bad. Even if they were equipped with advanced weapons issued by the British, it still could not change the fact that they were just some scattered soldiers.

In mid-November 1895, the British mobilized nearly 50,000 troops from the mainland and rushed to South Africa in a mighty manner.

These troops mobilized from the mainland would follow the volunteers of European countries and arrive in the South African region at the same time. The British did not believe that if they used more than twice the troops, they could still lose to the volunteer army formed by European countries.

Even if the Boers received support from European countries, so what? As long as these countries did not dare to openly confront the British, the British would always be the dominant side in this war.

Isn't it just the consumption of capital, manpower, and material resources? The British were really not afraid of anyone in this regard.

Anyway, with the support from major colonies all over the world, the British annual fiscal revenue was an astronomical figure for European countries.

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

If the Boers were counting on the few gold mines in their hands to fight a war of attrition with the British Empire, then the British government could only tell them two words: dream on!

5,200 words, first update, there will be another update in the evening!

The author has a bit of a headache right now, I'll take some medicine and rest, the update in the evening will probably be a bit late, but the author guarantees to publish it before two o'clock.

Brothers who can't wait, don't wait, read it tomorrow during the day, thank you for your understanding.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 375 =====