General Louis Botha’s Role in the South African War, 1899–1902

Abstract

This study investigates the role played by General Louis Botha in the South African War of 1899 to 1902 and assesses his military skills in his encounters with the British forces in both the set-piece battle phase in the first months of the war and the guerrilla phase in the last two years of the war. It also analyses his attitude to peace and his participation in the peace process since the successive British commanders-in-chief Lord Roberts and Lord Kitchener had in this respect both direct and indirect contact with him as commandant-general of the South African Republic (the Transvaal) in the last two years of the war.