SAVILE HISTORY – THE BOER WAR 1899-1902: QUEEN VICTORIA’S VIETNAM? – DR. SPENCER JONES. CHAIRED BY SAVILIAN BRIAN CURRAGH.

In October 1899 the British Empire went to war with the small Boer republics of Transvaal and Orange Free State.  A swift victory was expected with the British press even speculating that the conflict would be ‘over by Christmas’.  In fact, the war would last more than two and a half years and cost at least 75,000 lives.

Britain became locked into the first major guerrilla war of the 20th century in a campaign characterised by intense violence, brutal reprisals against civilians, and the institution of the notorious concentration camp system. 

The shockwaves from the war would rock the entire British Empire and lead to a psychological shift that has resonance to the present day. This talk explores the events of the war and examines how its impact shook Victorian Britain to its very core.

Dr. Spencer Jones is an award-winning historian and author. He is Senior Lecturer in Armed Forces and War Studies at the University of Wolverhampton and serves as the Regimental Historian for the Royal Regiment of Artillery. His key works include From Boer War to World War: Tactical Reform of the British Army 1902-1914 and Stemming the Tide: Officers and Leadership in the British Expeditionary Force 1914, which was runner-up for the Templer Medal in 2014.  He has published several critically acclaimed books on the British Army in the First World War including Courage without Glory: The British Army on the Western Front 1915 and At All Costs: The British Army on the Western Front 1916. His most recent volume is The Darkest Year: The British Army on the Western Front 1917.

In 2018 he was made a Haig Fellow by the Douglas Haig Fellowship in recognition of his contribution to the field of First World War studies.  In 2019 he became President of the Guild of Battlefield Guides.

Spencer has appeared on a number of television programmes including The One Show, Who Do You Think You Are and The Quizeum as well as the major Channel 4 documentary Britain’s Forgotten Army and the Yesterday series The Great War in Numbers.

“In this well-written, convincing study, Spencer Jones admirably demonstrates how the British Expeditionary Force was shaped by the lessons of the Boer War. He shows that the Boer War period is crucial in terms of military history and the transformation of ideas, and that it has been overlooked by historians of World War I for too long. This is an important work.”   Stephen M. Miller, author of Volunteers on the Veld: Britain’s Citizen Soldiers and the South African War, 1899–1902

“Spencer Jones’s thorough research, combined with a full awareness of the existing literature, makes this a valuable contribution to our understanding of the lessons learnt from the Boer War by the British Army and their importance for British tactical reforms before the Great War. As the author succinctly proves, the tactical foundations of the victories of 1914 were laid down by the bitter experience of the Boer War and subsequent reforms. Reading Jones’s work is an immense pleasure.”   Fransjohan Pretorius, author of Historical Dictionary of the Anglo-Boer War and The Great Escape of the Boer Pimpernel: Christiaan de Wet—The Making of a Legend

“From Boer War to World War is on the must-read list for anyone with a serious interest in twentieth-century British military history”   Journal of British Studies