Wars, battles, and the occupation of countries and regions by military forces had a major impact on the postal systems of towns in those areas. The result, from a philatelic point of view, is that it provides postal history collectors with a variety of interesting fields of study and collecting. The interest in the postal history of the war led to the establishment of The Anglo-Boer War Philatelic Society in the UK in 1957. This Society leads the study of the Postal History and Usages of the Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902) in South Africa.
Introduction: The Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902)
Giliomee and Mbenga stated, in their book New History of South Africa, that the Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902), also known as the South African War, remains the most terrible and destructive modern armed conflict South Africa has experienced. This conflict helped shape the modern South Africa and marked the end of a long history of British conquests of South African societies, both black and white.
The British, by the end of the war, had been forced to mobilise almost 450 000 imperial soldiers to defeat the Boer forces which comprised, at its height, of at most 80 000 combatants. Of the roughly 116 000 Boer civilians housed in concentration camps some 28 000 died largely from measles, dysentery and pneumonia. It is estimated that at least 20 000 black people also died, mainly from epidemic diseases.
The impact of the Anglo-Boer War on the postal history of towns
Richard Stroud in his latest...
