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What is a Boer ?


Take a community of Dutchmen of the type who defended themselves for fifty years against all the power of Spain at a time when Spain was the greatest power in the world.

Intermix them with a strain of those inflexible French Huguenots, who gave up their name and fortune and left their country forever at the time of the revocation of the Edict of Nantes.

The product must obviously be one of the most rugged, virile and unconquerable races ever seen upon earth.

Take these formidable people and train them for seven generations in constant warfare against savage men and ferocious beasts, in circumstances in which no weakling could survive.

Place them so that they acquire skill with weapons and in horsemanship, give them a country which is imminently suited to the tactics of the huntsman, the marksman, and the rider.

Then finally, put a fine temper upon their military qualities by a dour, fatalistic Old Testament religion and an ardent and consuming patriotism.

Combine all these qualities and all these impulses in one individual and you have the modern Boer.



~ Arthur Conan Doyle



Found in Precision Shooting, September 1999, page 83, article “Africa Madness”, by John Dustin


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Thank you very much Bill. I'll do it right away. smoker1

I've spend quite a lot of time around northern South Africa, I came up with this conclusion about the Afrikaans culture.

They are an extremely proud culture with a rich and colorful history. Heres where my take gets weird. They seem to me to have much more "cultural pride" rather than any sort of national pride. Not that that is bad, just seems weird.

Steve

The Anglo- Boer War 1899-1902 by Johannes Meintjes,1976.
200 pages of period photos.

quote:

Originally posted by Stephen Palos:

How's this for CLASSIC South African:
1/2 Irish (Both maternal grandparents)
1/4 Cypriot (My paternal grandfather)
1/4 Afrikaans/Boer (Paternal grandmother (1/2 of which is French (Momberg) 1/2 of which is Danish (Diederikson)))

I'm FULLY qualified to dislike the English

stephen

it sounds like the perfect mix

cheers

peter

What Conan Doyle omits is that the stubborn independent streak so common among the Boers makes them difficult to command and almost impossible to govern. I am not being negative, just factual. If the Boers had been able to master their extreme individualism, they would have been much tougher for the British to subdue. Their history is rife with deep splits between their very talented leaders, leaving them vulnerable to the inevitable and irresistible momentum of the bureaucratic British.

quote:

Originally posted by Bill/Oregon:
What Conan Doyle omits is that the stubborn independent streak so common among the Boers makes them difficult to command and almost impossible to govern. I am not being negative, just factual. If the Boers had been able to master their extreme individualism, they would have been much tougher for the British to subdue. Their history is rife with deep splits between their very talented leaders, leaving them vulnerable to the inevitable and irresistible momentum of the bureaucratic British.

Yeah, that's true – and it’s probably better so as well. If we had the ability to stand together as a united people, we may have become too powerful for the common good.

We make good underdogs. We’ll take whatever is thrown our way and return it with a healthy interest. We perform at our best when the going gets tough.

The Michener book is indeed an entertaining read. Incidentally, both of my Scottish great grandfathers fought in the Boer war. I believe one was with the HLI (Highland Light Infantry) and the other the Black Watch. One also served in India. I wish I had known them, but both passed before I was born.

While not strictly about the Boers, Martin Meredith's book, Diamonds, Gold, and War: The British, the Boers, and the Making of South Africa is an easy read and provides a good historical backdrop for understanding at least some of the current cultural issues in South Africa. The history it relates should also help solve Nganga's conundrum about why the Boer's have "cultural" rather than "national" pride.

quote:

we may have become too powerful for the common good.

Your serious?

Steve

REMN JR, thnak you for your book suggestion. I have added it to my list. Three ordered and three on the list to be ordered. Very interesting to read all of your posts and your different points of view. I'm just about totally ignorant as there is a hint I might have heard something about them in my geography class ~ 60 years ago smoker1

quote:

Originally posted by SGraves155:
Many of the Boer descendants still harbor (and rightly so) a grudge against the English treatment of Dutch POW's.

I'll never forget on my first visit to RSA we passed a sign saying "Lowveld" which had been spray-painted over with "Transvaal". I asked our driver what that was all about. He replied, "Some people hold a grudge".

quote:

Originally posted by almostacowboy:
I'll never forget on my first visit to RSA we passed a sign saying "Lowveld" which had been spray-painted over with "Transvaal". I asked our driver what that was all about. He replied, "Some people hold a grudge".

I wonder if later on someone came along, painted over the "Transvaal", and re-painted a "Ndebele" over that...

Of course if you keep going down that road it kind of makes you wonder what the Khoisan would paint?


I don't remember where it comes from, but there is a quote I like:

"There is no escape, we all pay for the sins of our Fathers."

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[QUOTE]Originally posted by Riaan:

Yeah, that's true – and it’s probably better so as well. If we had the ability to stand together as a united people, we may have become too powerful for the common good.

QUOTE]

Never a problem to be too powerful!

The problem all along has been BEING TOO NAIVELY HONEST. Never learned a thing from the Brits about politics and social engineering....

Let me throw just one more into this. A buddy years ago gave me an old paperback I just grabbed the other day and started reading.

The Washing of the Spears by Donald Morris.

Though I'm 20 percent through it, it's a great read with many details.

This is a great thread. I have many Boer friends here in Canada and the one thing that they all have in common is fierce independence.

When we went to RSA in 2007 the Boer thing was unexpected. I grew up in Canada getting taught the commonwealth version of the Boer War, basically that our Canadian boys bailed out the brits(an exageration). My Dad is a Northern Irish Catholic with no love for theEnglish who celebrated the Boer war as the real end of the British Empire, he used to joke about the idiots in red coats in AFrica, they won but shouldn't have. Then we went to South Africa and visited several museum/war memorials and they all sort of led us to believe the Boers won the war. They didn't come right out and say it but they implied it. When I said this to my PH, he said with a straight face, the british left didn't they?

I have developed an admiration for the Boer or Afrikaans people.

If you are still looking for books, find some Stuart Cloete. Some titles with Boer themes include The Turning Wheels, Rags of Glory, The Mask, The Hill of Doves, and The Fiercest Heart.

He wrote from the 1930's through the '60s. I picked up most of mine from library sales and really enjoyed them.

Just added your books to my list. Thanks wannago, smoker1

i have never met a Boer( and on numerous trips i have met and hunted with a lot) that i didn't like. being a died in the wool southerner, i can relate to a lot of their feelings on a lot of different issues.

An Afrikanner friend said as the Brits were sailing away, they shouted we will get even and sure enough, several years later they sent the Land Rover.
He also said if the concentration camps had not of caused so many women and children to perish, the way his ancestors reproduced, the Boers would have been a majority race by the '70's and none of the unpleasntness would have occurred.

we may have become too powerful for the common good.



Your serious?

Steve

Daisy Red Rider
Crossman Powermaster .22

Got onto the discussion a bit late but wold like to add a tad of useless information for today. "too powerful for the common good" reminds me of the story when sanctions were at their worst. Pik Botha (Secretary of State), PW Botha (Prime Minister) and Magnus Malan (Secretary of Defense) were in a major emergency meeting to determine how they could get past the embargos. Suddenly Pik Botha looks up and with delight stated that he had the solution. He went on to explain that SA should declare war on the US. Failing to see the light PW Botha aired his concern. Pik said "Look at what happened to Japan. The Americans flattened them and then pumped millions to get their economy floating and look at where Japan is today". PW said "A brilliant idea, what are your thoughts Magnus". With grave sincerity Magnus said: "And what happens if we win?".

Back to today, about 18 years ago I was collecting money from the members of our congregation when I walked in to the room of a 91 year old lady to collect her monthly contribution. When I introduced myself as "Pieter Kriel" she immediaely exclaimed "what is your last name?" When I replied again she was relieved as she heard another name and that immediately reminded her of an Afrikaner who spied on them in the concentration camp she was in when she was a young girl. We spoke at lengh and she could even remember the day she, her mother and other family members were taken prisoner by the Brits.

Another problem was (in those days) the so-called joiners and jingos. A joiner joined the Brits but did not actively fight the war. A jingo joined the Brits and actively fought against the Boers. In 1980 I remember clear as yesterday when we were visiting a friend of my father in the small town of Carolina. When we pulled up at a stop sign a gentleman crossed the road and my father's friend said, Pierre you see that man, we still do not talk to him or his family, his grandfather was a jingo.

Lastly, if ever you need to know anything about the Anglo Boer War, contact Bob Wood (SA Outfitters take note) a British immigrant to SA. Bob specializes in the battlefields between Boer and Brit and is one of only 3 tour guides in the whole of the country who is registered to conduct tours on ALL the battlefields during 1899-1902 war between the two nations. Have a look at his website http://www.africatravelservices.co.za/ I use him extensively because he knows about travel and nothing about hunting!

What about past Pres Paul Kruger?

Regards

Pieter Kriel

quote:

the british left didn't they?

HUH? Excuse me? Smuts was regarded as leaning towards the British. Did the Boers vote for him in overwelming numbers? There is still (I believe) a significant "tension" between the Boers and the Brits in RSA. Let's not glorify a bunch of folks whose time has come and gone!
Peter.

I also find it interesting in certain provinces and regions that tribal peoples can speak Afrikaans but not English...and in my few trips to SA have encountered several relatively young Boers who spoke very broken English and were not comfortable at all speaking it beyond a greeting....I am NOT being critical!! While I cannot speak or understand it, I do pick thing up after a day or two and find it a very emotional and expressive language. Were this old dawg to decide to learn a new language, it would be Afrikaans!
Well I guess I would have to learn Dutch and tell my Afrikanner friends to SLOW DOWN !!

I wanted to resurrect this thread as I have just finished reading Commando by Reitz. I read it in 2 days! I have some questions that hopefully the knowledgeable folks on this forum can help. I just received Pakenham's book today. Lots of pictures.Ok here goes:
1. "The Zulu's.. sided with the British as they have always done" (p. 52) In another place he says that the "natives" always sided with the British. Why? I would have thought that with the long history of the Boers in Southern Africa that the relationship would have been better. Unless, of course, the relationship between Boers and natives was not a good one. In a couple of other places he refers to the natives a "savages". Not PC now, but I am wondering if this was reflective of opinions at the time, or just "slang".
2. P113 he refers to "an unwritten law that this was a white man's war". Was this true of both sides?
3. I was impressed by his obvious love of horses and distress at their plight. I was not expecting this from a "country boy". Comments?
4. What were/are the Basutos (p 130)? They seem to be disliked by Reitz and seemed to have some bizarre practices. Are they still around?
5. Overall the Boers that he was with seemed to have a very relaxed relationship with the British army eg. leaving their seriously wounded to be taken care of by the Brits.Bantering while at war etc. True?
6. On p 191 he talks about an incident with the Hottentots who, it seems were not really on the side of the Boers. True? Why? In this case they were slaughtered by a Boer troop, an incident which neither he nor Smuts approved of.
7. The (guerrilla) Boers seemed to enjoy a a good relationship with the settlers whether Boer or English eg. p 167. Admittedly the English would not have much choice when confronted with an armed commando of Boers, but they seemed to do more than necessary.
8. The execution of Boers wearing British uniforms seemed to really rankle Reitz, but this seemed to be the practice in subsequent wars. Was this the first time this was done by Western armies?
9. Is the Maritz in his book the same as the Maritz rebellion? Where can I find out more about that?
Overall, Reitz seemed to have a lot of respect for the British as individuals, and as a nation. So, if this is true, why do the Boers nowadays only remember the "scorched earth" policy and the "concentration camps"?Just hanging on to old hatreds? Are any of these modern Boers the equal of Reitz, Botha, Smuts et al?
Peter.

I may have answered one of my own questions. As I mentioned I received Pakenham's book today. When I skimmed it I came across the following (P573):
"The Boers openly admitted to killing the armed Africans when they captured them, and there is much unpublished evidence that they killed the unarmed ones too....
at Modderfontein.. there was a garrison of 200 (white) men. The Natives were there in their village: the Boers under (General Jan) Smuts captured this post last month and when afterwards a column visited the place they found the bodies of all the Kaffirs murdered and unburied.
I should be sorry to say anything unfair about the Boers. They look upon the Kaffirs as dogs & the killing of them as hardly a crime.
If this was how Jan Smuts, as high minded as any of the commando leaders treated the hundred odd Africans of Modderfontein, the fate of others can be imagined".
Not quite what Reitz said about this being a "white mans war".
Peter.

quote "PS. I seem to remember seeing a picture of Boer children in Boy Scout uniforms wearing Swastika armbands around WWII. Don't remember where I saw it. These guys were not angels."

The enemy of my enemy is my friend thats why the Afrikaans people rallied behind Hitler.
Lord Kitchener who started the scorched earth policy ( A policy where all boer farms were burned and all livestock killed and all non combatants taken off to the concentration camps) was hunted down years later by a boer, whos family died in the British concentration camps. He gave the germans the details of what ship he was on and the u-boats sank his ship in WW1 15years after the SA War.

Winston Churchill was a war reporter during the boer war and was captured by mounted boer comando`s .He later escaped but so respected the boers that later as prime minister when he started a special band of highly trained soldiers to work behind enemy lines to attack the germans and disapear he could only come up with one word for such a unit the "Comando's" a word that has survived to this day to describe Elite fighting men.
this all from a "rooineck gebasterde boer"
Dave

Somewhat unrelated one of my Boer PHs told me this joke/story. He had to go to a "mixed" (English/Boer) school while in elementary through high school. After high school, the question would come up whether it was better to marry an English girl or a Boer girl because the English had a reputation (completely deserved IMO) of being terrible cooks and the Boers were reputed to be uptight and not very sexually adventurous (sadly no personal research available on that topic). The answer, "Marry the English one, you can teach them to cook."

Is any of you fellows interested in the book "The Boer War", by Thomas Pakenham, 718 pp in hardback with dustjacket????.......if so.....happy to trade or sell. Lots of pics in book....one is pretty horrible ("Spion Kop....the morning after"). I am buried under books. 5.00 plus postage
Alex
aax1@bellsouth.net.

As I mentioned above, I have Pakenham's book. It is a very detailed account, but a slow read (unlike Reitz's book). He is highly critical of most of the higher echelon British military officers (including Kitchener). $5.00 is a great price on the book, BTW!
Peter

There is an AR member from Hawaii who wants the book. So, it is SPF.

As a guy who grew up in RSA, served in the military, worked in Pretoria (the only Engelsman in the company), and almost married an Afrikaner girl, I can add the following insights.

1. The Afrikaners are deeply religious to the point of being deluded - many of them truly believe that God sent them to Africa to rule over the blacks. They are literally the "chosen people" of the old testament. The "Dominee" (preacher) is a key figure in their communities, respected almost to the point of fear. At the same time, many of them, at least in the pioneer days, believed in "sieners" (seers) who could predict the future.

2. They have a deep love of country, again believing that the country was given to them by divine providence. This also equates to a suspicion and resentment of "uitlanders" (foreigners, which to many meant anyone whose ancestors did not participate in the Great Trek). Afrikaners for the most part don't like blacks, Englishmen (even those who have lived in South Africa for many generations), or Jews. They have a strong desire to be left alone, and a strong distrust of people of other cultures.

3. In modern times, they practice a strange form of religion ... repent on Sundays but for many anything goes the rest of the week.

4. Colorful with a great sense of humor. Love Rugby to the point of being fanatical. Hunting is another universal pastime. "Braaivleis" with beer is another passion. The "Cape" Afrikaners are considered to be a weaker strain, who drink wine and not beer. These Cape Afrikaners stayed behind and did not join the Trekboers. They were good soldiers, the best in Africa. Ask the UN about "Executive Outcomes".

5. They are practical people who do well at farming. Most of the urban "boers" worked for the government during the heyday of Nationalist rule, in one or other capacity ... military, police, municipality, railways, SAA, prisons. They did not place a large value on higher education, but this is not to say there were no intellectuals among them. Now that the government has replaced them with blacks, just as they replaced the English with their own people when they seized power, the Afrikaners are in a tight spot, particularly those without higher education.

6. Strange that they don't like Jews, because like the Jews, their history is one of ongoing persecution with their own little genocide at the hands of the British during the Boer War. In short, they were persecuted in Europe, came to the Cape. Did not get along with the British in the Cape, migrated north. Had to fight for their lives against the blacks. Then had to fight the British and lost. Got left behind in the industrialization/urbanization of South Africa, many became "poor whites". Seized political power and had it good for a few generations. Instituted a legal framework that became known as "Apartheid", ie separation of the races. The Nationalist government took care of their constituents, to a degree that would be considered highly partisan and even corrupt in America. Tantamount to Republicans employing only Republicans in the civil service, providing low cost loans only to Republican farmers, creating schools and universities to cater to exclusively Republicans and so on. Then things got ugly again when the blacks rejected Apartheid and the Boers had to fight a guerilla war against black nationalism. The entire developed world (except ironically the Israelis) turned against them, and forced them to hand over "their" country to the blacks. Now they are persecuted by the ANC, who want their farms, and are committing another small genocide against the Boers. The Boers are a people who have run out of places to run to. They have suffered more persecution than any other "race" (tribe would be a better noun as they are a melange of races much as Americans are a melting pot, thrown together in relatively modern times in a distant land.)

Perhaps this persecution explains to a large degree their desire to be left alone, to associate with their own, and their mistrust of people of other cultures.

I have to say I have a high degree of sympathy and respect for the Afrikaner people as a whole. However, their stubborness and racial attitudes were their undoing. South Africa should have been/could have been what Brazil is today ... a country with a booming economy and growing influence in the world. Unfortunately, ideology got the better of them.

One of my favourite people ever was the late Queen Mother (QEII's mum), the daughter of the Earl of Strathmore and Queen of England to King George the VI.

While on a Royal Tour of SA she was cornered by a Boer veteran of the Second Boer War. He said to her gruffly, "We Boers have never forgiven the English for what they did to us."

With a conspiratorial gleam she leaned forward and replied, "We Scots know exactly how you feel."

Och aye!

Damn Russ, that is a hell of a good summary. In his book "Commando" Reitz talks about a "seer" who I think traveled with Botha (I could be wrong there I will try to find the reference). To answer my own question above, Pakenham makes it clear that perhaps the biggest bone of contention between Boers and the Brits was slavery. It was outlawed in the Commonwealth around 1834 I believe, and was never accepted by the Boers who believed that they could not farm without it.
Peter.

Ok I found the reference. On page 104 of "Commando" by Reitz he refers to General de la Rey:
"Attached to his person was a prophet, van Rensberg, a strange character, with long flowing beard and wild fanatical eyes, who dreamed dreams, and pretended to be possessed of occult powers....Of General de la Rey's sincerity there could be no doubt, for he was not a man to stoop to subterfuge, and I knew that he firmly believed in the seer's predictions."
Peter.

quote:

Originally posted by harvey stern:
X2 on Mitchner's "The Covenant". I read it just prior to my recent trip to RSA and found it really helped me relate to what I saw and experienced. Got into some great discussions with our Africaner guide and he also recommended it.

+1

quote:

Originally posted by wannago:
If you are still looking for books, find some Stuart Cloete. Some titles with Boer themes include The Turning Wheels, Rags of Glory, The Mask, The Hill of Doves, and The Fiercest Heart.

He wrote from the 1930's through the '60s. I picked up most of mine from library sales and really enjoyed them.

Completely agree on Cloete. Rags of Glory is my favorite but the others are very good.

The vast majority of the Afrikaaners I know say mistake number one was codifying "Aparthied" rather than just practicing it....they also now say, they wish "Mandiba" had of been young enough to be President a few more years! Interesting inter-conflicts they live with....kinda like a Southern USA religious zealot who fought intergration because of mysegenation