[ 17 May 1900 ] On 17 May 1900, a British army relieved the besieged city of Mafeking during the Second Boer War. It led to street celebrations across Britain and the commander of the besieged garrison, Colonel Robert Baden-Powell, became a national hero. B-P had ruthlessly maintained food stocks for British troops and European…
[ 14 July 1900 ] British and Allied troops sent to crush an alliance of Boxer rebels and Chinese imperial forces, seized the northern port city of Tientsin (Tianjin) in the early hours of 14 July 1900. The Dundee Courier noted that ‘after the city was entered, there was at first indiscriminate slaughter, and it is alleged…
20 December 1900 On 20 December 1900, General Lord Kitchener issued a propaganda proclamation in which he promised South African Boer insurgents, who surrendered voluntarily, that they would be allowed to live in government run camps along with their families ‘until such time as the guerrilla warfare now being carried on will admit of their…
23 August 1900 On 23 August 1900, a Press Association report sent from the Gold Coast (now Ghana) reported that ‘two punitive columns’ of British troops were ‘destroying the enemy’s villages as they advance’ and living off the ‘rich country near Lake Busumskwi (Bosumtwi) which affords (them) plenty of food.’2 They were engaged in a near year…
17 August 1900 On 17 August 1900, Major General Alfred Gaselee issued an order licensing the ransacking of Beijing. Gaselee was the commanding officer of a British and Allied expeditionary force. It had arrived in the city just in time to relieve the diplomatic legations, which had been besieged for fifty five days by anti-imperialist…
21 June 1900 On 21 June 1900, opposition was voiced by a minister in Cabinet to General’s kitchener’s ruthless war against Boer insurgents in South Africa, including the destruction of entire villages and the shooting of prisoners on sight. It was not on a point of principle but rather over concern as to how public…
16 June 1900 In October 1899, Boer settlers in the Transvaal and Orange Free, faced with a tightening circle of British troops advancing from Cape Colony and Natal, had declared a war against Britain. It was a desperate act of rebellion. The British were confident it could be crushed within a few days, but they…
26 February 1900 On 26 February 1900, the Irish nationalist MP, John Dillon, read out a letter in parliament that he had received from a British officer who was engaged in a campaign of virtual genocide against the Boer population of South Africa. ‘The orders in this district from Lord Kitchener ( commanding British forces…
10 January 1900 On 10 January 1900, Major General Horatio Herbert Kitchener arrived in Cape Town as the new Chief in Staff of an army of some 200,000 men. The task he had been given was to crush attempts by the descendants of Dutch settlers to form their own Boer homeland in South Africa, independent…
