From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Part of a series on Anti-War topics
Opposition to...
War against Iran Iraq War War in Afghanistan War on Terrorism Landmines Vietnam War Nuclear armament World War II World War I Second Boer War American Civil War War of 1812 American Revolutionary War
Agents of opposition
Anti-war organizations Conscientious objectors Draft dodgers Peace movement Peace churches
Related ideologies
Anti-imperialism Antimilitarism Appeasement Nonviolence Pacifism
Media
Books • Films • Songs
Politics Portal ·  v • d • e

Opposition to the Second Boer War in Britain was modest when the war began on 11 October 1899 and was always less widespread than support for it, let alone prevailing indifference. However, influential groups formed immediately and ineffectually against the war, including the South African Conciliation Committee and William Thomas Stead's Stop the War Committee.

Such groups came to voice increasing weariness with a war which seemed to drag on, and deepening embarrassment at the British army's use of what one critic called "methods of barbarism" such as concentration camps and farm burning.

There was also embarrassment at the poor health of the British recruits, with up to 40% being found unfit for military service. Most were suffering from poverty-related illnesses such as rickets. Concern over the health of the recruits coincided with increasing concern for the general state of the poor in Britain.

Opposition to the war was strongest among the Irish. Many Irish nationalists sympathised with the Boers as a kindred people being oppressed by British imperialism. Though many Irishmen fought in the British army, some fought for the Boers too. Irish miners working in the Transvaal when the war began formed the nucleus of two tiny Irish commandos.

As part of the empire, Australia joined in the war but also suffered doubts about it. Most such doubts followed the English radical critique of war and empire, but some followed the irish strain and were an early form of Australian nationalism. Notable among the nationalist critique were the anti-war cartoons in the Bulletin magazine, which thumped home a racist message that participation in a war started by Jews, capitalists and imperialists would mean having to accept non-white migrants once peace came.

The execution by the British army of two Australian lieutenants (one being Breaker Morant) in the Bushveldt Carbineers for war crimes in 1902 and the imprisonment of a third, George Witton, was largely uncontroversial, but after the war prompted an empire-wide movement to release Witton which drew on anti-war radicalism. More than 80 000 signatures on petitions and intercession by a South African millionnaire saw Witton released in 1904. Three years later he wrote his influential apologia Scapegoats of the Empire.

In Belgium the 15-year old socialist Jean-Baptiste Sipido, a young tinsmith's apprentice, attempted to assassinate the Prince of Wales then passing through Bruxelles ^[1]. He accused the Prince of causing the slaughter of thousands during the Boer War. Remarkably, in the following trial the Belgian jury found Sipido not guilty, despite the facts of the case being clear ^[2], which the Leader of the British House of Commons called "a grave and most unfortunate miscarriage of justice"^[3]

The existence of anti-war sentiment contributed to the perceptions of British actions after the war. There was much public revulsion in the UK and official Australian government opposition against the use of cheap Chinese labour, known as Coolies, after the war by the governor of the new crown colonies, Lord Milner. Workers were often kept in appalling conditions, received only a small wage and were forbidden to socialise with the local population. Some believe the Chinese slavery issue can be seen as the climax of public antipathy towards the war.

1. ^ The Manchester Guardian, Thursday April 5, 1900
2. ^ Summarized by Speyer in "The Legal Aspects of the Sipido Case", Journal of the Society of Comparative Legislation 1900, p. 436.
3. ^ Speyer, p. 438.

• Biography of W.T. Stead, W.T. Stead and his "Books for the Bairns", Sally Wood-Lamont, Salvia Books, Edinburgh, 1987

• Craig Wilcox, Australia's Boer War: The War in South Africa 1899-1902, Oxford University Press, 2002.

• George R. Witton, Scapegoats of the Empire, (1907) Angus & Robertson, 1982.