Ibadat Bambrah
Was Canadian participation in the Boer war justified?
The storm of war never comes alone, as it bring along extreme tragedy. “In 1899, the whole country was electrified when heard about the Imperial request from Britain.” The Britain requested Canadians for help to defeat Boers in South Africa. This was the opportunity for Canada to demonstrate its importance in the British Empire and share in its military responsibilities but the “Canadian Prime Minister, Sir Wilfred Laurier, did not believe that Canada should be involved, but he faced growing agitation in English.” Ultimately, the final decision, without any approval of Parliament was to support the Imperial request. This was Canadian army’s first major overseas campaign. However, the decision to participate in Boer war resulted in a vast range of problems for a young country. First of all, the war had nothing to do with Canadians, it further increased conflicts between French-English Canadians, resulted in many other home front problems and even after all the efforts, Canadian contribution was not fully recognised.
In the first place, interference in the war was absolutely unnecessary as the war had nothing significant to do with Canadians, “Although Laurier, too, was reluctant to commit Canadian troops and resources to a war that would not benefit Canadian interests; he found it more difficult to resist the pressure in English Canada for Canadian involvement.” The war was completely an issue of the Britain. This south African War had its origins in more than sixty years
conflicts between the British in South Africa, Boers were mainly concentrated in the more northerly independent republics of the Orange Free State and the Transvaal but the discovery of gold in the Transvaal resulted in the arrival of a large fortune-seeking who were mostly British. Doubtful of their loyalty, the Transvaal government refused to grant these foreigners their political rights. For Britain, the discrimination of these British people was their major cause of the war. On 11 October, 1989 Boers declared war on Britain. Britain now needed more soldiers. They asked Canadians for help as they were getting “free men” from Canada. French Canadian often said “The British had created this problem, and the commitment of Canadian troops to fight a “British” war would set a dangerous precedent.” The lives of British soldier’s were avoided to be on line as they could choose to use up the “free men” that they could easily get from the reliable colonies. In fact, the Britain was using Canada just for their own good. Moreover, Canada certainly had no issues with the Boers that they needed to go to war. In the past, Canadians and Boers show no major conflicts. So, Canada definitely should not go to war against Boers. The soldiers were also slowly losing trust and faith on the British Empire as they were just following orders by Britain and losing their own reputation. In addition, Canadian government was forced against their will to participate in this South African war.
