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Three Years War Author: General Christiaan de Wet 459pp; size 242 X 168mm; Illustrated with 16pp of b/w pics Trade paperback; ISBN 1-919-85409-6. Bar code 9781919854090 Non fiction

Pic: A unit of the Transvaal artillery arrives at Modder River prior to a battle.

On 2 October 1899 a horseman arrived at Christiaan de Wet’s Orange Free State farm and served summonses for commando service on himself and his three eldest sons. They were to prepare for active service, providing themselves with horses, saddles and bridles and rifles each with 30 rounds of ammunition (alternatively 30 lead balls, 30 percussion caps and half a pound of black powder). Nine days later on 11 October 1899 Britain and the Boer republics went to war.

De Wet took his place in the ranks of the Heilbron Commando as a common burgher, but a few weeks later he was nominated and elected to commandant. Two months later on 9 December 1899, President Steyn of the Orange Free State appointed him to the rank of Vecht Generaal (Fighting General). By the end of the war he would become Commandant General and Commander-in-Chief of all Boer forces of the Orange Free State.

After the British Army had regrouped and reorganised after suffering several humiliating defeats, they advanced under the command of Lord Roberts and occupied Pretoria. Once Pretoria was occupied, the British considered the war was over. The Boer commandos, however, took to the veld and carried on the fight as a guerrilla war.

De Wet soon began to show that his title of Fighting General was no sinecure. In the almost three years until 31 May 1902 when the war ended with the signing of the Peace of Vereeniging, De Wet established a worldwide reputation as a most remarkable guerrilla  fighter. He was the man the British could not catch. The damage this virtually unschooled farmer who had never had a formal lesson in military tactics did to the British  was little less than astounding.

At the war’s end his book in High Dutch De Stryd Tusschen Boer en Brit and its translation, Three Years War, became instant best sellers and have been much in demand ever since.

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Media reviews:

Galago Books, at the outset, should be commended on their reprint policies. A second edition of a book first published in 1902, Three Years War is a beautiful printing.  I like the additions of 16 pages of photographs as well as an updated index. The book itself is a ‘plain facts’ accounting of General Christiaan de Wets’ campaign against British forces during the Boer War of 1899. de Wet, from his beginnings as a farmer, quickly established a world-wide reputation as a  guerrilla commander in his battles with British troops. The text shows in detail how de Wet rose from a burgher in the Heilbron Commando to Vecht-Generaal over the course of his career. While this seems as though it should provide gripping narrative, it is, rather sadly, anything but. de Wet’s prose is dry and unassuming, and his accounts of the battles fought during his time are dull things. He describes things in minute detail (chapter 1 is taken up mostly by a critical examination of the differences in British and Boer meat rations, as well as the cooking thereof). However, as a first-person account of the war between the Boer Republics and the British Empire , one could do worse. Due largely to the bone-dry narrative style, a reader would be hard pressed to find any self-aggrandizement or historical re-imagining in de Wets writing. It is factual and concise. As an aid for military historians or the armchair general with an interest in the African campaigns of the British Empire , it could prove invaluable. In short, Three Years War would be a valuable addition to collections for all those interested either in the Boer Republics, the Boer War, or the fundamental processes behind a lengthy guerrilla campaign fought against a nineteenth century army. Joshua Reynolds: African Book Publishing Record

Three Years War, a giant amongst the good books on the Anglo-Boer War. It has seen 18 reprints since 1902. This is the second Galago reprint. Die Burger — Cape Town

This full-size facsimile reprint comes with a succinct new foreword that places De Wet in his times as well as giving the general’s later history . . . one that des not live up to his closing words in this book: ‘Loyalty pays best in the end.’ The Star — Johannesburg

This eye-witness account of the Boer War, apart from highlighting the often brilliant Boer guerrilla tactics, kills of any notion that this was a gentlemanly conflict. There have been many account from a British point of view, but this is a fascinating first-person account from the Boer point of view. The books explains how De Wet earned his reputation as a master of surprise hit-and-run tactics that made him known as the man the British couldn’t catch. The author worked his way up from defending burgher to commando and up through the ranks to Vechgeneraal having participated in all phses of the Boer War from the start to the final surrender. Herald — Port Elizabeth

Three Years War is De Wet’s personal account of his fighting career. It was written in 1902 immediately after the war and is now reprinted with an excellent biographical introduction by the publisher. De Wet’s writing is powered by emotions of a patriot whose country had been humiliated, but his style is straight-forward, fast moving and easy to read a century later. The result is a true classic and an important contemporary insight into the times. The Citizen — Johannesburg

The Russians, who were great admirers of De Wet, based their guerrilla tactics behind the German lines during World War II on his operational methods. History buffs, amateurs and professionals alike will find this South African classic thoroughly diverting reading. Mercury — Natal

De Wet was important. Almost single-handedly he kept the Boers in the field for so long that eventually the British were prepared to make vital concessions just to end the war. Most significantly they dropped voting rights for blacks, thus determining the disastrous course of South African history for the next century. And Three Years War is important because it is the first-hand account of the war by a key player, written within ten months of the conclusion of the struggle. The first English edition was published in London and New York in 1902. The Dutch and German versions appeared in the same year with French, Danish, Swedish and Russian translations following a year later. Pretoria News — Pretoria

The publisher should be congratulated on this well-developed publication and for its striking front cover. The book captivates from the beginning to its end and it is difficult to put down. The new photographic section enhances the book tremendously. Volksblad — Bloemfontein

The addition of a photographic section adds tremendous value to this book. This book together with Coynan Doyle’s The Great Boer War (republished by the same publisher) are the best-written and most useful books on the conflict and are designed for the serious student as well as anyone with a passing interest in the war. Beeld — Johannesburg

 

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