History of South Africa podcast · Desmond Latham

Episode 243 - Guns, Germans and Steal: The Pedi War of 1876

·24 min·1 clip

The Leidenberg Volunteer Corps was promised 2,000-acre farms and paid with IOUs.

British imperial politics sit at the top of the episode's frame. Disraeli's 1874 victory matters because it feeds the jingoistic mood that makes empire sound straightforward. Lord Carnarvon is left trying to juggle imperial defence, economic development, support for white settlers, and humane administration all at once. By 1876, several local communities already have fairly easy access to firearms, helped by trade in the Griqualand and Diamondfields, despite an embargo that is often broken. The episode then shifts to the Pedi war itself. Burgers and the Boer commandos push into mountain country. The first assault on Mafolofolo succeeds, but it also becomes a story of faith and resistance. Burgers keeps moving, hoping momentum will carry the campaign. On 1 August his column reaches another stronghold, and on 2 August the Boers attack again. This time the Pedi are ready, with hidden rifle pits and steep gullies turning the slopes into a killing ground. Confusion spreads almost at once. Some men retreat and others flee, and by nightfall the campaign is basically over. Burgers has been repulsed, and the phrase about the go-home war captures the humiliation. Fort Kruger Pos goes up near the Stielpoort River, but it is little more than a rough earthwork with a few stone walls and a symbolic anchor. Desertion, disease, and despair follow, while criticism of the President mounts and the Republic itself looks exhausted and broke. The Pedi consolidate their defences, and Secoquini survives the assault intact. By late August the war has settled into stalemate, and Conrad von Schlickmann arrives as a self-styled Prussian colonel with a hazy record. The episode closes by pointing toward the annexation of the Transvaal and the moment when Haggard will raise the Union Jack in Pretoria a few months later.

As heard by us

A frontier war where imperial swagger runs into mountains, rifles, and Boer humiliation.

The episode treats South Africa's 1876 petty war as a test of imperial rhetoric against conditions on the ground. Disraeli's 1874 victory, Carnarvon's burden of imperial defence, Boer resentment, and the spread of firearms all sit in the background as the campaign moves through…

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Why you'd press play

You want the 1876 petty war where imperial rhetoric meets Boer defiance and mountain resistance.

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