ern scholarship points to a more complex explanation
for this flagrant
outburst of British imperialism. At a time of growing economic and mili-
tary competition from European rivals, especially Germany, powerful Brit-
ish interests were concerned to prevent a region of great, newly discovered
material resources from escaping Britain's century-old hegemony. In that
context, British political culture enabled members of the ruling class to
maneuver Great Britain into war in the belief that brute force would solve
the problern.w
War,Peace,and the Transferof Power
When the South African War began-the
Boer War, as the British called
it, the Second War of Freedom to Afrikaners-the
British expected an easy
victory,"? Although the Transvaal government had imported substantial
stocks of artillery and rifles from Europe, once the fighting began they
could not replenish their arms, because the Royal Navy controlled the seas
and the Portuguese government agreed to forbid the passage of military
equipment through Mozambique.
Moreover, although North American
and European public opinion was largely pro-Boer, no foreign government
assisted the republics. There was also a potential numerical disparity. The
republics could muster no more than 88,000
fighting men during the war,
including
12,000