The Boer War

The history of the Boer War, fought between the British Empire and the Boers of the Transvaal and Orange Free State between 1899 and 1902.

Good documentary. Gives a succinct history of a war that does not get much coverage. Includes the origins and the aftermath, as well as the war itself.

Too succinct though, as often as I was left wanting more details. Very little is told of the details of each battle. There's not a single battle map in the entire documentary. The ineptness shown by the British in some of the earlier battles is fairly well known, yet this does not get much mention, due to the speed of the coverage.

A multi-episode series, with details of each battle, would have been much better.

Unfortunately, there aren't any documentaries I can recommend instead, such is the lack of coverage of the Boer War. However, for the definitive history of the conflict I recommend reading 'The Boer War' by Thomas Pakenham, originally published in 1979.

The Boer War was an evil war in which many, many atrocities were committed against the defending Boer forces. Who were the attackers and who were the Boers? Well, the British were the aggressors and the claim was that they were attacking the Boers to protect British citizens being abused by the brutish Boers. This wasn't true...the war was actually fought for control of the gold mines the Boers had created. And the Boers were mostly of Dutch descent--folks who'd lived in the interior of South Africa for decades.

This documentary is full of facts but had several things against it. First, the only voice you hear is the relatively dull narrator. Second, there is almost no film footage--partly because films were new and the war was fought far from home and partly because the British government did not want footage of the Boer natives being deliberately starved...though the documentary seemed to downplay the cruelties inflicted on the Boer, who were rounded up into concentration camps. All in all, a very ugly period of British history...told in a rather dull and somewhat sanitized manner along with a lot of period photos. This important period of history deserves a better and more thorough documentary.

Meticulous chronicling of the brutal and Britain's most expensive war against the Boers, Dutch settlers in South Africa, fought over gold mines discovered in the theretofore barren lands of the Dutch territories. Important as both British and South African history as, upon the subsequent establishment of the Union of South Africa, 2 Boer generals from the conflict became the first 2 prime ministers of the newly formed nation.

While I agree with one reviewer that there are many details lacking, it still manages to cover a lot in a short documentary. The first 10 minutes give a fairly detailed background and provide a lot of points from which to do further research for someone like me, who knows very little about the Boer Wars. It's great that they mention Barney Barnato, the rival and later ally of Cecil Rhodes, politicians like Alfred Milner, who had a shadowy role in helping to provoke the war (at Joseph Chamberlain's behest), and military figures like General Redvers Buller, all of whom are fairly unknown outside of South Africa, I believe.

This has more of an old-school documentary style, much like 'WWII in Color' or 'Secrets of WWII', also narrated by Powell. There are, thankfully, no talking heads, and it relies more on the lively narration than on detailed maps or video. I miss this sort of style, so if that's your cup of tea, then this doc is worth watching just for that.

If anything, this might be even too detailed for someone unfamiliar with the Boer Wars in terms of number of battles mentioned, though it provides a good context, chronologically, and makes you feel like you at least understood the dynamic of early set-piece war changing to guerrilla warfare. That being said, as another reviewer mentioned, if you already are interested in this topic or know something about it, you may want *more* details (as they wrote, there is not much mention of specific events/tactics during individual battles, though beyond the famous battles from antiquity like Marathon, I think that would be too much for the average viewer or even history buff).

It's fairly short and a lot better than most of the old documentaries Amazon has up, with no contentious viewpoints or empty filler that a lot of the lower-rated old docs up there have. Highly recommended.

For someone who wants a good overview this is detailed enough without going on too long. An hour 15 mins with a lot to cover, so be alert. Its fact after fact, event after event. It's a bit more of a history lesson than a movie. Mainly photographs no video since likely didn't exist makes this feel very vintage. Also with no video footage, it means each fact/event comes with a few photos and you move on. It does tell a story, I just mean it means a lot of info thrown at you quickly. Names of people, battles, regions...

But ultimately it covers it all and had it gone on any longer, it may have needed to be two sittings for me, and that usually means I don't finish.

All in all, if info on this war is rare, then this is one I recommend watching.