"IT WAS DUE TO THE VIOLATION OF THE PRETORIA CONVENTION THAT LED TO THE OUTBREAK OF THE ANGLO-BOER WAR OF 1899 1902"

."IT WAS DUE TO THE VIOLATION OF THE PRETORIA CONVENTION THAT LED TO THE OUTBREAK OF THE ANGLO-BOER WAR OF 1899 1902"
Approach
•Briefly explain the background of the second Anglo-Boer war and a few terms of the treaty.
•Then show how the treaty was violated by the two parties to lead to war.
• Give other factors for the outbreak of the second Anglo-Boer war other than the violation of the Pretoria convention.
• Conclude (showing a balance in your discussion)
Background to the question
• The British troops commanded by Aristrother were humiliated by 300 Boers who wanted to retrieve the property of a Boer farmer which had been confiscated by the British tax agent.
•The Boers too defeated the reinforcement led by General Colley and finally at Majuba Hills where 500 British troops were disastrously defeated.
• The then British prime minister known as Gladstone called off the confrontation.
• The war was ended in August 1881 by the peace treaty known as the Pretoria Convention.
Some of the terms of the Pretoria convention
I. The Transvaalers were not to put restrictions on British goods entering their republic.
2. Slavery was to be stopped.
3. Transvaal was to maintain self governance in internal affairs.
4. A resident British officer in Pretoria was stationed there and had say in native affairs.
5. Transvaal foreign relations with other Europeans powers were to be conducted by the British.
6. The war had to stop immediately and agreed to solve future differences amicably.
7. The idea of the federation was immediately abandoned.
8. The boundaries of Transvaal were defined and agreed not to plan any expansion beyond the boundaries to avoid further conflicts.
9. The civil rights and citizenship of the Utilanders were to be granted and respected by the Boers in Transvaal.
Violation of Pretoria convention
1. British imperialistic design of painting the whole of Africa RED contradicted with the British determination to defend their sovereignty.
2. Boers continued to mistreat the Utilanders at Transvaal yet they had agreed to stop it, so the British came in to protect the Utilanders whose rights had been disrespected by the Boers.
3. British comprehensive programme of forming a federation of South Africa yet they had agreed to stop the idea of the federation thus violating the treaty,.
4. The British refused to stop interfering with the affairs of Transvaal e.g. in the Jameson raid of1895.
5. Kruger’s act of rejecting the British plan of extending the railway and road from cape to Transvaal via Natal to Laurenco-macques thus avoiding free trade.
6. Kruger’s act of imposing high freight charges on the British transit goods was against the term of free trade.
7. Alfred Milner's immersing of British troops at Transvaal boarders and his act of not complying with Kruger's ultimatum of 48 hours yet Transvaal was an independent territory was a violation of the Pretoria term which had Stopped the British from interfering into the affairs of Transvaal
Other factors
1. Appointment, arrival and activities of Alfred Milner in 1897 stirred the crisis.
2. Desire for revenge by the British over the Boers who had defeated them at Laing's nek and Majuba hills.
3. Discovery of Gold at Witwatersrand in Transvaal in 1886 made the Boers more confident and the British became more angry to attack them.
4. Earlier victories of the Boers encouraged them to fight the British, in fact the British had also been defeated by Africans at the battle of lsandlwana in 1879.
5. The British were alarmed by the Germans who were advancing from South West Africa yet they were friends to the Boers.
6. Expectance of foreign support, i.e. the Boers expected support from Keiser William IT, then the British expected support from home and their colonies like India.
7. The British over estimated Boer intention and exaggerated their political motives.
8. The act of the British colonial secretary of licensing a war meant to end Boer imperialistic design.