The Business Of War: The Boer War

Nations constantly get put through tests and challenges. They can be as small and unaffecting, or they can be enormous and have physical and emotional injuries on the nation’s citizens. However, no matter the size, problems have consequences. The Boer War, a trifling affair that spans over a course of twenty-two years, 1880-1902, also known as the Transvaal War and the South African War, has good and bad everlasting effects on the people of South Africa by the deterioration of the Boers and Afrikaners and the forcefully implied English rule.

Wilfred Owen is almost begging someone (probably the ones who recruit the youth) to tell the world the truth about war, how tarrying everyone is and how difficult is to go on, to keep the hope. For the soldiers there are no dreams of a noble death that everyone will remember through stories. There are no legends that will become myth in their fighting, but real people and real horrific death. The concept of “heroism” that exists from classical literature is not longer valid.

Owen uses the contrast of the soldiers’ state pre-war and post-war to highlight just how much the soldier has lost through going to war. Physically, pre-war, the soldier is described as ‘younger than his youth,’ and has an ‘artist silly for his face.’ Suggesting that his beauty is worth capturing permanently in paint. The words ‘younger ‘and ‘youth’ emphasise this man’s innocence and boyishness, the tautology places emphasis on how young he is thus outlining his immaturity before the war and making his loss at war even more tragic. The contrast once he has returned where Owen

Between the years of 1914 to 1918, the whole of Europe was locked in arms, not only for pride but mostly for survival. The years of war brought devastation upon all societies. Men were massacred in droves, food stuff dwindled, and at times an end seemed non-existent. The foundation of the first Great War, one can muse, began as a nationalistic race between rival nations. By the onset of 1914, once the Archduke Frendinad had been assassinated in Saravejo, the march for war became not just a nationalistic opinion, but now a frenzy to fight. In battle, unlike previous wars, new weaponry caused drastic alterations in strategy. No longer will armies stand to face their rivals on the plains. Now the war will be fought in trenches, hidden

War has been present throughout history and plays a major role in power, politics, and glory.

Throughout All Quiet on the Western Front perspectives of war are explored through multiple avenues; such as the characterisation of Kantorek, the Assistant Headmaster and multiple literary techniques. Additionally, “Dulce et Decorum est” by Wilfred Owen explores similar perspectives, deviating from the archetypal representation of war to display the ignorance of the home-front to the realities of war, and the contrast in views between the front line and the home-front. In unison, the texts exhibit the devastating effects of war upon prospective, serving and returning soldiers.

In the early 20th century, it was difficult to get enough recruits that were in good health ready to fight in the Boer war. Many of the volunteers were underweight, had bad eyesight or deformities caused by rickets and insufficient nutrition. With this situation, the health of the people was of great concern. In 1948, the NHS (National Health Service) was created in order to meet the needs of everyone in the society and provided to the people without charges. It was initially created in order to provide a better health care system for workers who took part in the war. In order to create a healthier community as a whole, the government decided to focus on the health of children. This was done by making sure children had nutritional meals and

War is not heroic. War is sickness, struggle, and death. This is the message that poet and World War I soldier Wilfred Owen wanted to instill in his people back home. Those back home talked of glory and national pride and rooted for their soldiers, however, they were unaware of the horrors these soldiers witnessed and experienced. The soldiers and their people back home were not only separated by distance but by mental barriers, which Owen showcases in his poetry. Owen’s use of personification in “Anthem for Doomed Youth” degrades the soldiers to objects to show how the war dehumanized them to intentionally create a disconnect between the audience and the soldiers.

We all have our own views regarding to war but there is one that nobody can deny, although honourable, war is purely nothing but futile suffering and a never-ending road of pain. Yet from all these past struggles, we may ask ourselves why is war still present in our society today?

The Boer War was a conflict that lasted from 1899 to 1902 in southern Africa between Great Britain and their allies, Transvaal (South African Republic) and Orange Free State, in what is now South Africa.

Remember when I volunteered for the war and you questioned my intentions? I thought it would be short, you know, like the Boer War. Now I have realized that it is nothing like that war. Not only is it much longer, it is much bloodier. I fear that the war will drag on for much longer than the next few months. I thought it'd be a great experiene. I mean, who wouldn't want to go to Europe for a few months? Contrary to my beliefs, it was a terrible thing; war is a terrible thing. But, what's done is done and now that we have no choice by to fight I am glad I am fighting with Canada and Britain. I would do anything for our country.

of the late 19th century, and can be viewed as a turning point in the

If we look at the history of the world with a kaleidoscope, we can see the different aspects of war and what effect it had on the mind of different people and artists such as poets, painters and authors. Many poets romanticized war, luring it with their pen and giving it a beautiful look by glorifying death and obliging young blood to fight for their motherland. For example the poems “Peace” by Rupert Brooke and “Fall In” by Harold Begbie painted war with the highlights of glamorous and sensation. Apart from poets there are also politicians who achieved their aims with the help of war and violence while others who used the weapons of non violence to achieve their goals. The most famous example is of Adolf Hitler who took the aid of war to

The Boers fought the British in the Boer war, the British were dominating the Boers, but the ending of the war was different than usual wars, the Boers signed a treaty ending it’s independence and ending the war. After the First-Anglo Boer war ended in 1881, which resulted in a Boer victory, another conflict was beginning to arise which sparked the start of the Second Boer War in 1999. A prime reason for the start of this war was the vast resources the Boer region contained, with large goldfields and diamonds, thus it was on high demand to take over. The Boer region was fighting alongside the Orange Free State for its independence against the British. This Boer region was located in Southern Africa present day South Africa and Swaziland. The Boer war between the British Empire and the Boers of the Transvaal and Orange Free State erupted in 1867 as diamonds and gold were discovered within the disputed region that led to the conflict between the Boer States and Britain inevitable, The British were able to defeat the Boers by 1902 while the Peace of Vereeniging was signed, ending hostilities.

On October Eleventh in 1899, the war began, after Britain was issued an ultimatum, with the first phase of battles. After being demoralized in their losses to Pretoria and Bloemfontein the Boers decided that fighting in lines while having much fewer troops would not be a winning effort. So, in July, the Boers changed their tactics to a much more suiting Guerilla Warfare. These tactics helped them until March of 1901 when Lord Kitchener cut the food supply from the troops with his “scorched earth” policy, resembling Sherman’s March to the Sea tactics during the American Civil War. He ordered for animals, such as cattle, horses, and sheep to be killed, and he put women, children and black people into concentration camps. However, this, unlike in Sherman’s case, did not have the demoralizing affect Kitchener had hoped for, instead it pushed the troops to fight harder because they now knew they had nothing to go back to. The British, after implementing a blockhouse system restricting the use of guerilla armies, also later decided to