Do you agree with the view that the Second Boer war resulted in imperialism being discredited?
Do you agree with the view that the Second Boer war resulted in imperialism being discredited?
Towards the end of the Second Boer war in 1899, people had blamed the failure of the Boer War on imperialism; the policy of extending the rule of authority of an empire to foreign countries. Due to the mistreatment of other countries; which include the human atrocities in South Africa, where the burning of farms took place alongside the use of concentration camps, it became hard to build up a case for Imperialism. However, in Britain there was fierce support for both side, which was shown in the 1900 Khaki Election, where it was proved that a majority of people agreed with the Conservative view on continuing with the war.
The linguistic devices used in both sources 4 and 5 create a negative opinions of imperialism, in source 4, the words which are used include ‘dragged’ and ‘discredited’. The words used are linked directly with the title of the question, which suggest this source is trying to place a negative slant on Imperialism. Source 5 also used negative language when mentioning the aristocrats ‘manipulating’ public opinion. You can infer that this reference is about the aristocrats leaning on the national newspapers to over emphasise positive stories about the war; a particular example of this is Robert Baden Powell, who was known to be the ‘media’s darling’ during the time of the war.