"Independent" Boers coexisting with British South Africa?

hey, all. quick question: what would it take for the Boer republics to maintain de facto independence (or self-rule/an identity of independence under British dominion) alongside British South Africa
 
For diamonds to not be discovered in the Boer republics. Before the discovery of diamonds, the Boer republics were regarded as not much of a threat; with diamonds they were able to become wealthier than the Cape Colony. They were thus able to create their own railways and to access the coast through Portuguese Mozambique. Britain was also afraid of the Boer republics being assisted by Germany to weaken its interests in South Africa. You can't put off the discovery of diamonds forever, but if they are discovered later, the Boer republics remain poor and are thus not perceived as a threat.
 

Wolfpaw

Banned
The only way is by appealing to a Great Power for protection. Germany seems to be the ticket. If a German-Boer protectorate is established, Britain is going to have to have a long, hard think on any aggression towards the Boers.
 

Cook

Banned
Primarily you need the Liberals to win the British parliamentary elections of 1895, and continuing Gladstone’s legacy of limiting the growth of the British Empire. That unfortunately would be difficult to arrange; the election wasn’t even close.

Alternatively, have the Colonial Office dispatch someone promptly from London to thoroughly investigate the Jameson Raid and bring charges of attempting insurrection in a friendly foreign state against all those involved, including Cecil Rhodes. Not having the Kaiser publicly congratulating Kruger after the raid fails is also critical.

Perhaps if some free press had had access to the republics during the second Boer War:

How would the British public, and Europe, have reacted to photographs of Women and Children dying by the thousand in British Concentration Camps?
Or if Kitchener’s verbal order to shoot Boer prisoners had reached public attention?
Or Baden-Powell’s starving of the “coloureds” during the siege of Mafeking?


Another option would be if the Boer state of Natalia had survived, giving the Boers direct access to sea trade.


 
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Jameson's Raid seems the most plausible. what d'you suppose would be the repercussions of Rhodes getting busted as well?
 
Would be easier to go back before the Jameson Raid I think. Relations were never great, but that raid was a bit of a Rubicon.

There is a lot of scope for changing the situation I would think - whether economic (delay discovery of diamonds/gold), political (state to state relations etc - having more sympathetic, likeable British diplomacy) or military (have the Boers lose important foundational battles with African entities or the first Boer War go slightly worse etc).

Take a look at Jonathan Edelstein's Male Rising African posts - maybe 932?
 
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Cook

Banned
Jameson's Raid seems the most plausible. what d'you suppose would be the repercussions of Rhodes getting busted as well?
Knowing Rhodes, he’d argue his way out of it. Either that or the bastard would just bribe his way out of the problem. But it would severely damage him politically; he had a lot of support from the Cape Boers, they wouldn’t take kindly to the discovery that he’d conspired to wage war against their compatriots north of the Orange and Vaal Rivers.
 
to be remembered

is that the Transvaal and the Orange State were both independent after the discovery of diamonds (and gold), and that they were the ones to initiate the second Boer war. They saw it as inevitable that Britain would subjugate them and started a war preemptively. Perhaps, if they held off, Britain does not seek to incorporate them, and a state of independence ensues.
 
Jameson's Raid seems the most plausible. what d'you suppose would be the repercussions of Rhodes getting busted as well?

Rhodes was caught by the British Foreign Minister of the time. He just blackmailed his way out of it because too many British foreign office functionaries were also implicated. While it was not official British policy to let the raid happen, too many people looked the other way, allowing it to happen. And if Rhodes was busted, he would bring them down as well (that was what he threatened, actually).
 
Knowing Rhodes, he’d argue his way out of it. Either that or the bastard would just bribe his way out of the problem. But it would severely damage him politically; he had a lot of support from the Cape Boers, they wouldn’t take kindly to the discovery that he’d conspired to wage war against their compatriots north of the Orange and Vaal Rivers.

I thought Rhodes was forced to resign as Prime Minister of Cape. He was caught, and the Cape Boers loathed him for what he did. The principal Cape Boer politician of the time, Jan Hofmeyr (from the Afrikaner Bond) told Rhodes that the sense of betrayal among the Cape Boers was too great to be forgotten. He told Rhodes that before the raid Cape Boers would have no more thought of distrusting Rhodes than of suspecting their own wives.

The real thing you want to happen to avoid the war is Kruger being more amenable to the British (sucking up to the British, frankly) rather than go into a more truculent mode. You want him to be more sensitive to the concerns of the Uitlanders, and conceding (at least some of) their demands regarding their representation. You also want for the Uitlanders not to turn to Britain to protect their interests. Finally, you want to butterfly away Alfred Milner. The man single handedly ensured the failure of talks with Kruger at every level and he was a British supremacist. You need someone more conciliatory to take the place of Milner.
 
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There's nothing to say that if the British immigrants are allowed equal rights that they would necessarily want to join South Africa.
Make the Boers a bit less paranoid and xenophobic and Britain would be happy for them to go about their own business as long as they don't get too friendly with the Germans- with a large British minority its more likely their politics would land them being British leaning anyway.
 
There's nothing to say that if the British immigrants are allowed equal rights that they would necessarily want to join South Africa.
Make the Boers a bit less paranoid and xenophobic and Britain would be happy for them to go about their own business as long as they don't get too friendly with the Germans- with a large British minority its more likely their politics would land them being British leaning anyway.

Just before the war, Kruger actually was willing to concede most of the rights demanded by the Uitlanders. Unfortunately, by this point, everything he did was drowned out by the drumbeats of war sounded by Milner.
 
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