An assessment of the British military strategy during the Anglo-Boer War up to "Black Week", December 1899

Abstract

On 9 October 1899 Gen. Sir Redvers Buller was appointed commander-in-chief of the British forces in South Africa. He arrived in Cape Town on 31 October of that year. Initially he planned to concentrate the bulk of his Army Corps south of the Gariep (Orange) River, invade the Orange Free State (OFS), capture Bloemfontein, and then advance to Johannesburg and Pretoria. However, soon after his arrival in South Africa, he decided to deviate from this strategy, and divided his force into four smaller armies, taking the largest portion of his troops with him to Natal.