On 11 October 1899, after a lengthy period of failed negotiations, explosive rhetoric, ‘penultimatums’, and ultimatums, war between Great Britain and its empire and the Boer republics of the Transvaal (South African Republic) and the Orange Free State began. This armed conflict, the South African War (also known as the Second Anglo-Boer War and Die Tweede Vryheidsoorlog), officially concluded on the last day of May 1902 with the combatants’ acceptance of the Treaty of Vereeniging. The South African War has been labelled by some historians as one of Great Britain's ‘small wars’, but in terms of cost, duration, strategy and tactics it was hardly a campaign reminiscent of the many imperial conflicts it waged in Africa and Asia in the second half of the nineteenth century. But more so than any of those above factors, what distinguished the South African War from the others was the stress and strain put on the manpower resources of Britain's Regular Army. Unable to cope with determined Boer resistance, let alone Boer offensives into the British colonies of Natal and the Cape Colony, the army and the government were forced to look elsewhere to raise sufficient numbers of able-bodied men to bring the war to its successful conclusion. It found the answer to its problems in the expansion and modification of its auxiliary services – the Militia, Yeomanry and volunteers. In calling on British and imperial subjects to volunteer for overseas service, Great Britain was able to amass the necessary numbers to overwhelm Boer resistance and bring the war to its successful conclusion.

The origins of the South African War remain hotly contested by historians to this day. They have been the subject of a number of fine monographs and only a brief summary will be provided here. British ambitions in Southern Africa changed dramatically in the last third of the nineteenth century. The discovery of diamonds in the Kimberley region (Griqualand West) stimulated large-scale capital investment in the 1870s. In order to procure cheap labour and stabilize the region politically, Great Britain annexed territory, crushed local African resistance, and thwarted the efforts of ‘freebooting’ Boers.