Thesis (D.Mus.)-University of Pretoria, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references. Available on the Internet via the World Wide Web.

Please read the abstract in 00front part of this document / Dissertation (MA (Cultural History))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Historical and Heritage Studies / unrestricted

Thesis (D.Phil.(Geskiedenis))--Universiteit van Pretoria, 2007. / Abstract in English and Afrikaans. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 368-378).

From Preface: This is not a history of the Boer War; nor is it an exclusively literary study of the poetry of that war. If the work that follows has to be defined generically at all, it may be called an exercise in cultural history. It attempts to assess the impact of a particular war on the literary culture, especially the poetry, of both the participants and the observers, whether in South Africa, in Britain and the rest of the English-speaking world, or in Europe. An assumption made throughout this study is that war poetry is not only verse written by men who are or have been under fire. Just as 'War poetry is not to be confused with political, polemical, or patriotic verse, although it can contain elements of all of these, so it is also the work of observers at home as much as that of soldiers at the front. It follows that I have not allowed myself the academic luxury of selecting, on the basis of literary merit only, a handful of outstanding war poems for rigorous analysis and discussion. "Doggerel can express the heart" wrote one of these late-Victorian soldierly versifiers, and I have roamed widely in the attempt to assemble the material which, I believe, records the full range of the impact that the Boer War made not only on Briton and Boer, but on the worId at large. A major thesis of this study is that the Boer War marked the clear emergence of the kind of war poetry which we have come to associate almost exclusively with the First World War. Poems in the style and spirit of "The Charge of the Light Brigade" were written in profusion, but the work which serves as this study's masthead, Hardy's "Drummer Hodge," clearly has --like many of its contemporaries-- more in common with Owen's verse than with Tennyson's. The reasons for the appearance of such poetry are discussed in Chapter 1; the rest of the book provides the evidence of it.

This dissertation deals with the efforts of the British forces to regain control of northern Natal from the Boers, during the second quarter of 1900. In March Boer forces had dug themselves in along the Biggarsberg. In early May a British force advanced on the Biggarsberg. Exploiting their numerical superiority and with a turning movement to their right, the British army forced the Boers to retire to the Drakensberg in the Majuba area. There followed a period of re-organisation and preparation during which General Buller attempted to persuade the Boers to lay down their arms. When this failed he launched another attack on the Boer defence line. In quick succession the British force gained success at Botha's Pass (8 June) and at Alleman's Nek (11 June). These reverses forced the Boers to retire from their Drakensberg positions and they thereby relinquished all control of Natal to the British forces / History / M.A. (History)

Thesis (DPhil (History))--University of Stellenbosch, 2010. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Steinaecker’s Horse was a volunteer unit who fought on the side of the British during the Anglo- Boer War (1899-1902). The unit mainly consisted of local inhabitants of the Lowveld and were commanded by a former German officer, Lieutenant-colonel FCL von Steinaecker. The unit received little attention from scholars thus far. The main focus of this research is to study the Steinaecker’s Horse military unit, but specifically to determine their everyday circumstances, life style and daily activities. This was done by means of cultural objects which were found on three of the important sites where Steinaecker’s Horse had outposts. In order to place the unit within context, attention was given to the collection of historical information and the identification and documentation of different outposts occupied by Steinaecker’s Horse during the Anglo-Boer War. The state of decay of these sites were monitored and their relation to inter alia research potential, cultural resources management and tourism potential was assessed. Lastly, attention was given to the contribution of Steinaecker’s Horse to the history of the Anglo- Boer War, the Lowveld and the Kruger National Park. The three sites that were studied in depth are the headquarters of the unit at Komatipoort, the Sabi Bridge post close to Skukuza and the Northern outpost in the vicinity of the Letaba rest camp in the park. Cultural objects excavated at these sites were used in this study. In the final chapter an overall impression of the everyday cicumstances, life style and daily activities of Steinaecker’s Horse are formed. It is also shortly compared to general information regarding the life of British soldiers and the Boers on commando during the war. Last mentioned information was obtained from different sources in another way than studying the physical cultural objects. The contribution of this thesis is that it is the first time that a complete reflection is given of the life at Steinaecker’s Horse sites and that it serves as model for similar research with relation to other military sites as well as probably other historical sites. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Steinaecker’s Horse was ‘n vrywilligerseenheid wat tydens die Anglo-Boereoorlog (1899-1902) aan die kant van die Britte geveg het. Die eenheid het hoofsaaklik uit inwoners van die Laeveld bestaan en het onder bevel van ‘n voormalige Duitse offisier, luitenant-kolonel FCL von Steinaecker, gestaan. Die eenheid het tot dusver min aandag van vakkundiges ontvang. Die belangrikste fokus van hierdie studie is om die Steinaecker’s Horse militêre eenheid te bestudeer, maar om spesifiek die alledaagse omstandighede, lewenswyse en daaglikse aktiwiteite daarvan te bepaal. Dit is gedoen aan die hand van kultuurvoorwerpe wat by drie van die belangrikste terreine waar Steinaecker’s Horse buiteposte gehad het, gevind is. Ten einde die eenheid in konteks te plaas is ook aandag gegee aan die insameling van historiese inligting en die identifisering en dokumentering van verskillende buiteposte wat deur Steinaecker’s Horse tydens die Anglo-Boereoorlog beset is. Die monitering van die staat van agteruitgang van die terreine en die assessering daarvan ten opsigte van onder meer navorsingspotensiaal, kultuurhulpbronbestuur en toerismepotensiaal, is ook gedoen. Laastens is daar aandag gegee aan die bydrae van Steinaecker’s Horse tot die geskiedenis van die Anglo-Boereoorlog, die Laeveld en die Nasionale Krugerwildtuin. Die drie terreine wat in diepte bestudeer is, is die eenheid se hoofkwartier te Komatipoort, die Sabiebrug-pos naby Skukuza en die Noordelike buitepos in die omgewing van die Letaba ruskamp in die wildtuin. Kultuurvoorwerpe wat deur middel van argeologiese opgrawings op hierdie terreine verkry is, is in die studie benut. In die slothoofstuk word ‘n geheelbeeld van die alledaagse omstandighede, lewenswyse en daaglikse aktiwiteite van Steinaecker’s Horse gevorm. Dit word ook kortliks met algemene inligting omtrent die lewe van Britse soldate en die Boere op kommando tydens die oorlog vergelyk. Laasgenoemde inligting is op ander wyses verkry as om die fisiese kultuurvoorwerpe te bestudeer. Die bydrae van hierdie proefskrif is dat dit vir die eerste keer ‘n geheelbeeld van die lewe by Steinaecker’s Horse terreine daarstel en as model kan dien vir soortgelyke navorsing met betrekking tot ander militêre terreine, maar waarskynlik ook ander historiese terreine.

D.Litt. et Phil. / The Anglo-Boer War had a far-reaching impact on the Afrikaner community and on the relationship between the Afrikaners and the English. As a result of the Black segment of the population’s involvement in the war, either as involuntary victims or as collaborators with the English, the relationships between the various population groups was further complicated. For many years there was a distinction between them and us in the South African society. Irrespective of pleas for so-called nation building there remains distance and ignorance between the population groups in the country. This article portrays the relationship between the various population groups as represented in Afrikaans children’s books with the Anglo-Boer War as theme. Although most of the early books show a clear ethnocentricity, there is often also a corrective for the "nobleness" of "our side" and the "evilness" of "their side". Love affairs between people of different cultural groups, for example, were not possible in the early books, but it seems that more recent books want to bring about conciliation - also by means of the portrayal of such affairs. Just as most South African historians ignored the role and fate of blacks in the war for many years, no Afrikaans, and few English authors has really tackled the subject. Black characters usually move on the periphery of the war - usually as factotums of the English, but sometimes also as loyal subjects to the Boers.

Apart from a sense of racial superiority, which was certainly not unique to white Cape colonists, what is clear is that at the turn of the nineteenth century, Afrikaners were a disparate group. Economically, geographically, educationally, and religiously they were by no means united. Hierarchies existed throughout all cross sections of society. There was little political consciousness and no sense of a nation. Yet by the end of the nineteenth century they had developed a distinct sense of nationalism, indeed of a volk [people; ethnicity] ordained by God. The objective of this thesis is to identify and analyze three key historical events, the emotional sentiments evoked by these nationalistic milestones, and the evolution of a unified Afrikaner identity that would ultimately be used to justify the abhorrent system of apartheid.

The Anglo-Boer War of 1899-1902 has been the subject by contemporary and modem historians alike of a plethora of studies on most aspects of the conflict, including its military operations. None, however, has focussed specifically on the response ofthe Colony ofNatal, which formed an important base of military operations, nor on the conduct and effectiveness of its force of Volunteer soldiers. This study seeks to fill this significant gap in the historiography of the war. The central theme to emerge in this investigation of the response ofNatal to the war is that of a distinct gap between the perception of the scale and consistency of the commitment to military operations and the mobilization of colonial resources on the one hand, and, on the other, the socio-economic, political and military reality. The Natal Volunteer forces, especially the mounted infantry units such as the Natal Carbineers, were never able to exercise a significant influence on the conduct ofthe war in the Colony. There were several reasons for this. In terms ofimmediate military factors, the force was not considered sufficiently reliable by the British Army, and was therefore seldom deployed effectively, particularly in the formal phase of the war. This Volunteer force was also the victim of British strategic errors, such as that which led to the investment of Ladysmith by Boer forces from 2 November 1899 to 28 February 1900. The bulk of the Volunteer force was effectively removed from the war effort in the Colony for this period. Its marginalisation was, however, also evidence of a conflicting and fickle mobilization for war by the Natal government and the Colony's English speaking settler population. Cultural and Imperial affinity to Britain was countered by parochial regional interests such as economic affiliation with the Transvaal, which meant that Natal did not welcome a British war for confederation in the region. Qualified official and popular support in Natal for the war lasted only as long as the invading Boer forces posed a perceived threat to the Colony, from October 1899 to October 1900. In fact, from the date of the relief of Ladysmith, Natal colonial interests - directed by a ruling settler agricultural, legal and mercantile elite which controlled political authority, as well as economic policy - agitated for a reduction of military and economic commitment to the war. Natal's commitment to the British military effort, and the political policy that underwrote it, was retrospectively embellished in the immediate wake of the war as British hegemony in the region appeared to have been restored. However, this masked what effectively had been a muted and disputed response to the Anglo-Boer War. / Thesis (PhD.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2002.

Were it not for mankind’s memory of Historic events there would be no need for the preservation and commemoration of those events and according to Nietzsche - the 19th century German philosopher - in order for the memory to remain it must cease to hurt (Dubow 2001). There is a process then by which tragic events and traumatic memories are eased into memory and it’s often the memorial which serves this “Cathartic Function” (Snyman 1999) removing the hurt and allowing the memory to live on, a process which is “necessary for survival” (Snyman 1999) Crain Soudien - author of Emerging discourses around identity in new South African museum exhibitions - has identified that in representing the new South Africa a particular politics of memory has surfaced “Consisting on the one hand, of discourses of nostalgia, and, on the other, discourses of reconstruction” (Crain 2008). In this treatise government policies are looked at briefly as a way to understand the dialogue of nostalgia, but the focus is on the latter; the discourse of ‘reconstruction’, the issues associated with reconstruction and construction and the mediums through which this has been or will be achieved both on an international and local platform. Having achieved this, a case will be made for the South African Anglo Boer wars and a discourse for the preservation and commemoration of this historic event will be sought. The South African Anglo Boer Wars of: 1881 and 1899 - 1902 dramatically changed the landscape of South Africa for ever. Originally known as the Boer War or even the Anglo Boer War the name was officially changed to the South African War before 1999 as the years 1999 to 2002 was the period of ‘Boer War’ centenaries. It was envisaged that the name change would better reflect the constitutional policy of all-inclusiveness in South Africa among fears that any centenary celebrations would be a sectarian affair as many considered, up until Peter Warwick produced his seminal study dispelling the “old hoary argument that this was essentially a “white man’s war” (Starfield, 2001) that the Anglo Boer War was a whites on whites War. This policy fell under a mandate known as the National Legacy Project (Marschall, personal communication) along with various other heritage projects. The South African Anglo Boer War - as it is often officially called - and its battlefields are protected under national heritage legislation and are therefore a determinant of our national identity. The battles of 1881 are precursors to the Great Boer War and are thus included. It is in this light that this study of heritage portrayal and celebration finds its case, in order to determine a design model for the preservation and commemoration of a part of our nations’ identity for generations to come. The theoretical framework determined to achieve this considers conceptual deliberations on: Issues of design, and mediums of design revealed in a range of precedents deliberately centred on the built environment as 'the museum or memorial is intended to create a setting for the projection of memory onto a built form providing a new linkage between memory and space” (Reconstructing Recollection 2000 cited by Mudenge 2006) Preservation and Commemoration: to keep alive or in existence; make lasting: to preserve our liberties as free citizens. and a service, celebration, etc., in memory of some person or event. Heritage: something that comes or belongs to one by reason of birth; an inherited lot or portion: a heritage of poverty and suffering; a national heritage of honour, pride, and courage. / Thesis (M.Arch.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2010.