Boer War-Australians side with Boers

[Melvin Loh]

1 book on the Boer War I just read yest stated that the Australians who fought in that conflict (comprising some 28,000 from the different colonies, mainly in light horse outfits) were hated by the Boers due to both ppls sharing an independent frontier spirit, yet the Aussies still supporting so wholeheartedly British imperialistic interests in SA. Now, would it have been possible in any way for the Australian colonies to NOT have so wholeheartedly supported Britain during 1899-1902, or was the force of pro-British imperial feeling in the colonies too strong ? What about the strength of Irish sentiment re the war ?

[Melvin Loh]

Actually, another potential WWI POD- I just read last wk in a book on the EA campaign that during the Boer revolt in SA at the war's outbreak, it was actually proposed by Britain that Australian troops be used to suppress the renegades' uprising, which in the end was turned down by Jan Smuts in favour of utilising loyal Afrikaners in the Dominion's defence and police forces. But WI the ANZACs actually had been sent from Egypt to SA in order to undertake police actions against the Boer commandos ? Would they have failed to gain as much fame and renown as they did at Gallipoli OTL, due to the bush warfare COIN nature of such fighting, and how popular would the use of Aussie lighthorsemen in hunting down Afrikaner farmers have been back home ?

[Croesus]

My great grandfather served with the NZ Mounted Rifles in the Boer War. A while back I did some research on the conflict and with respect to the proposed alt-his, I doubt that you could engineer a feasible POD that would result in an Australian/NZ cooling of Imperial fervour.

It took the vast slaughter firstly in Gallipoli and thence in the Western Front to lead both countries down the road of questioning their identity vis a vis the Mother Country. Speaking for NZ, the Boer War was the first opportunity to demonstrate our support for London and there were no shortage of volunteers (my great granddad joined up aged 15) in the various shipments.

Unit histories tend to have a common theme of soldiers keen to get to grips with the Boer and from there oft critical of being 'held back' by the British generalship who sought to fight the regular war with excellent irregulars. In some areas the NZ troops out Boer-ed the Boers and in particular the colonial fondness for cold steel was a point of distinction between the forces. As I understand it, there were indeed some very bitter feelings between the two sides which boiled over into atrocities; but the two combatants were very different in temperament.

As for the SA revolt scenario, I'd imagine that a similar sort of scenario would be encountered with the Australians being quite capable of fighting 'Johnny Boer' on his own terms. Again, it would take a colossal reverse to inhibit the ANZAC dedication to Empire; in my lifetime there has been expressed some fond sentiments for the good old days. You might be able to construct a scenario involving General Liman von Sanders, but I feel the scale of carnage required is beyond the SA revolt.

Croesus.

[Grey Wolf]

I can't see Australia, or any of the states if unfederated in an ATL, supporting the Boers. The thing about the Boers was not just this frontier spirit but their non-British background and the war in the 1870s which had guaranteed their independence, within limits. Australia doesn't have anything like that, and the extent of Dutch settlement doesn't seem to have left much of a legacy even 100 years ago.

Grey Wolf

[Croesus]

Originally Posted by Grey Wolf

... and the extent of Dutch settlement doesn't seem to have left much of a legacy even 100 years ago.

You'd be a brave man for saying that too loudly in Bloemfontein...

Croesus

[Grey Wolf]

Originally Posted by Croesus

You'd be a brave man for saying that too loudly in Bloemfontein...

Croesus

No no !!! I meant in AUSTRALIA !!!

Van Diemen's Land and all that, named and discovered by the Dutch, well sort of anyway. But Dutch colonial legacy ???

Grey Wolf

[Croesus]

Originally Posted by Grey Wolf

No no !!! I meant in AUSTRALIA !!!

Van Diemen's Land and all that, named and discovered by the Dutch, well sort of anyway. But Dutch colonial legacy ???

Grey Wolf

lol. Well, that's allright then... you can say what ever you like about the ockers

Croesus