Die rol van die vrou in die voortsetting van die Anglo-Boereoorlog met spesiale verwysing na die Oranje-Vrystaat

The treatment received by the civilians from the British military during the Anglo-Boer War was an important facet of the war. Although Boer women actively participated in the Boer war effort, they were regarded as civilians. They honoured their obligations to the Boer war effort and met their responsibilities with fortitude. The impact of the brutal methods employed by the British army was devastating. It was, in fact. counter productive and the Boer woman developed and unyielding belief in a holy cause outside her difficult circumstances. The women became the most vociferous element in the population and by their very presence encouraged the men to persist in the struggle, Her adverse circumstances, notably towards the end of 1901, was a contributing factor in the eventual termination of the war. Who was the Boer woman? Was she, according to Kitchener, "a type of savage with a thin white veneer, produced by generations of wild lonely life"? She was. in fact, of the first post-pioneer generation, without any significant schooling. unsophisticated. notably in the rural parts, but intensely attached to the South African soil • "the native growth of the veldt" • and committed to an Old Testament religious experience. In short, the Boer cause had become a Boer religion, adversity had converted their political creed into a religious faith