2.5.4

Historical Interpretations of the Boer War

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Historical Interpretation of Boer War

Historians have changed their perspective on the Boer War over time.

Illustrative background for Andrew Porter, _South African War and the Historians_  (2009)Illustrative background for Andrew Porter, _South African War and the Historians_  (2009) ?? "content

Andrew Porter, South African War and the Historians (2009)

  • 'Historians' perceptions of the significance of the South African War (1899-1902) have changed considerably over a century. For a long time, its military magnitude, its importance in shaping a global capitalist system, and the stimulus it provided to theoretical understanding of imperialism, were felt to give the war an important role in the making of the modern world.'
Illustrative background for Andrew Porter (2009)Illustrative background for Andrew Porter (2009) ?? "content

Andrew Porter (2009)

  • 'Recent perspectives, both fed by and represented in the centenary commemorations, have replaced these grand sweeps with attention to the many and detailed South African wars experienced at first hand by different individuals and segments of Britain's and South Africa's populations.'
Illustrative background for Andrew Porter (2009)Illustrative background for Andrew Porter (2009) ?? "content

Andrew Porter (2009)

  • 'There is a case for suggesting that the place of the war in Britain's broader domestic and imperial history is now - and perhaps rightly - neglected, in part as a consequence of the fragmentation encouraged by historiographical specialization and also because an exaggerated importance was attributed to it for so long.'
Illustrative background for Sangster (2013)Illustrative background for Sangster (2013) ?? "content

Sangster (2013)

  • In The South African War of 1899-1902: A Historiography, Sangster shows debate exists over the name of the Boer War – should it be the South African War, the Anglo-Boer War or the Boer War? Or the White Civil War?

Jump to other topics

1High Water Mark of the British Empire, 1857-1914

2Imperial Consolidation & Liberal Rule, 1890-1914

3Imperialism Challenged, 1914-1967

4The Wind of Change, 1947-1967

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