The Medieval Concept of the Just War Applied to the Boer War (1899-1902)
The Medieval Concept of the Just War Applied to the Boer War (1899-1902)
According to medieval theologians, namely St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas, for a war to be deemed as just it must fulfill five conditions. The first of these conditions was that the war must be declared by the governments of the nations involved. The next condition was that the war not be an act of aggression: a war must only be an act of defense. Thirdly, the losses and sacrifice made by a nation during a conflict must not be greater than the predicted gain of the war. The fourth condition was that excessive force must not be used: the goal in the just war is to repel an enemy's attack, not obliterate the enemy. Lastly, discrimination must be made between soldiers and civilians, with the latter being spared during wartime.
The first condition, which demands that a war be declared by the governments involved, was unquestionably fulfilled. On the 9th October 1899, Kruger issued an Ultimatum. British non-compliance with the terms, i.e. withdrawal of troops from South Africa and the opening of further negotiations, would result in a state of war declared within 48 hours. The British failed to comply and thus a publicly declared state of war existed between the two nations as of the 11th October 1899.
Before, during, and after a conflict, all parties involved will generally find it in their interest to declare themselves grievously wronged by the enemies, who are naturally the aggressors.1 The Boer war was no different. The British accused the Boer of holding back political rights from the Uitlanders2, effectively reducing them to helots3. However this was merely a cover up for the real reason for the British aggression: wealth. The Transvaal and Orange Free State contained immeasurable wealth in gold, and just as the British had pushed the Boers out of the Cape Colony and Natal before then, ...
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Before, during, and after a conflict, all parties involved will generally find it in their interest to declare themselves grievously wronged by the enemies, who are naturally the aggressors.1 The Boer war was no different. The British accused the Boer of holding back political rights from the Uitlanders2, effectively reducing them to helots3. However this was merely a cover up for the real reason for the British aggression: wealth. The Transvaal and Orange Free State contained immeasurable wealth in gold, and just as the British had pushed the Boers out of the Cape Colony and Natal before then, they wanted to push them back yet further into the heart of Africa.
The Boers accused the British of violating the London Convention of 1884 by interfering in their internal affairs4. In addition to this, Britain had already begun to mobilize it's troops: 10, 000 infantry as well as the entire 1st Army Corps. The Boers naturally saw this as an informal declaration of war, and were forced into reacting by issuing the ultimatum and mobilizing the burghers.
The third condition, that of equal or greater returns to expenditure, was scrupulously respected by the British. "The Tea- Time War", as it was commonly called, was to be a sweeping imperial victory that would boost Imperial morale as well as fill the coffers of the Empire with South African gold and diamonds. The earlier British disasters of Liang's Nek, Majuba, and the Jameson Raid seemed to have been overlooked and the British obviously thought that this would be a minimum expenditure, maximum return war.
The Boers as well seemed reasonably confident about the war. Not having suffered a defeat from the British since 1884 at Boomplatz, and indeed having triumphed over them three times since, they were fairly certain their superior tactics would carry through a Boer victory. In terms of return for expenditure, remaining autonomous in the land that they felt was given to them by God was ample return for any expenditure.
Barring the opening months of the war, in which British troops had not all arrived in South Africa, the British were always numerically superior to the Boers. Thus the British had a larger force, but not necessarily a superior or more powerful one to the mounted Boer riflemen. The only instance in which the British used excessive force during the war was under Kitchener with his Blockhouse system, peppering blockhouses all over the veldt in order to exterminate every last commando.
The Boers were always in respectful of the fourth condition, partly because they could not possibly break it. They were fighting against a numerically superior foe with the resources of a vast empire behind it. The Boers had to rely on the guerilla tactics of their commandos, and guerilla tactics have never consisted of using excessive force: that would be a paradox indeed.
As for the fifth condition, Britain remained relatively respectful until the end of the war, when Kitchener began his attempts to exterminate the last commandos. Deciding that they must be supplying themselves in friendly civilian farmsteads, Kitchener ordered that the farms be burnt and the civilians rounded up into concentration camps with execrable living conditions. Some historians claim that the incredibly high death rate in these camps was not due only to disease, but to the British putting ground glass in the food given to the civilians in order to kill off as many as possible.
The Boers remained completely in line as regards the fifth condition. Any civilian casualties caused were by their artillery bombardments of the garrison towns such as Ladysmith, and these were not targeting the civilians in the town, but the soldiers.
The Boer War was, according to the medieval conception, a just war for the Boers, but not for the British. The Boers respected each condition as stipulated by St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Augustine. The same cannot be said of the British Empire. Allegations that their aggression was only to defend the rights of the Uitlanders were nothing more that a feeble attempt to disguise Imperialist greed. The force used towards the end of the war was disproportionate, and the neutrality of civilians was completely disregarded. Thus applied to the Boer War, the medieval concept of the just war tells us that according to its conditions, the Boers fought a just war, whereas the British did not.
Generally in order to gain international sympathy and support and/or justify any military action.
2 Afrikaans name for British immigrants to the Transvaal and the Orange Free State.
3 According to Milner in his jingoist "Helot Dispatch".
4 By attempting to force a 5-year residency for Uitlander citizenship on the Transvaal government instead of the 14-year residency it took for Transvaal citizenship.
