The Boer war: First and Foolish

The factors we are examining appear in bold relief in the story of the Boer War. Their appearance in this poorly remembered South African adventure previews many aspects of the world conflagration that soon followed:

* It was the quintessential example of the union of capitalism and imperialism.

* Canada's participation allied her with gross human rights abuses and civilian deaths.

* As it was a white on white, Christian versus Christian war, it was necessary that churches and the government machinery of propaganda play a major supporting role. They did that.

* The racist assumptions underlying the conflict were deplorable. The actual treatment of Africans was far worse.

The common reaction to the Boer War by Canadians, if they recall it at all, is "Well, you have to understand that we were part of the British Empire". That is perhaps some explanation. But when the war ended, a realistic assessment of the costs and benefits to Canada might very well have kept her out of the global slaughter that would erupt little more than a decade later. Such an assessment might have identified the influence of the war-promoting factors in play.

Uniquely Canadian antiwar factors were also apparent in the story of Canada's participation in this little war. The imperial expedition to South Africa was the first war in which Canadians fought overseas as Canadians. It was also arguably the most foolish. Perhaps an understanding of just how little Canada had at stake is at least part of the reason for the appearance of the Canadian antiwar factors. Our participation could have been more extensive and more costly absent the reluctance of the prime minister and the ruling party. The relatively small size of our expeditionary force reflected the desire to minimize casualties. Many of the troops were privately financed volunteers. In spite of poor British leadership, Canadian troops were far better at the kind of war they were called upon to fight than were the British. We were delighted when the British belatedly praised their performance.

Incidentally, we begin with the Boer War because the War of 1812 was not a Canadian war. That one was a bloody boundary adjustment between the British and their breakaway American colony. The half million "Canadians" were British, disaffected Americans, and original inhabitants caught between the two. Absolutely essential to what the British were able to gain in the adjustment was the participation of First Nation warriors led by Shawnee Chief, Tecumseh. The chief was certainly not fighting to establish Canada. He wanted a united native entity, free from white oppression and his earlier experiences had led him to believe that the British were a better choice than the Americans. As it turned out, his choice did not matter. For First Nations, both sides had rigged the game against them.

The War of 1812 was as senseless as those that followed. The conflict also revealed some of the nascent Canadian antiwar factors. It settled nothing that could not have been settled without it, though it did adjust some borders in areas that were destined in any event to develop as separate countries. Canadians are fortunate that the war marked the point where the two big powers got tired of fighting one another. It was always up to them to make that decision.

Pre-War Canada and Britain: Parallel Political Struggles - Imperialism Prevails

Any understanding of the Boer War requires a bit of elementary reference to its background. Canada's mother country was at the height of her imperial glory in the years leading up to this war. Although Canada by 1897, the year of Queen Victoria's lavish Diamond Jubilee, was well along the road to autonomy, it is understandable that the two peoples shared a similar approach to world affairs. At least that was true of English Canadians. They eagerly bought the solemn pronouncements of their Protestant churches that every war fought by the British was a just war.

Nevertheless, the leaders of the two countries would each find in the ranks of their governments some opposition to this war, and the more horrific one for which it served as a dress rehearsal.

In Britain, Benjamin Disraeli and William Gladstone alternated as prime minister in the late 19 century. The contest was between Queen Victoria and Disraeli on one side, and Gladstone and the memory of Victoria's beloved consort Prince Albert on the other. In Canada, it was between Wilfred Laurier, elected the country's first French-Canadian prime minister in 1896, and a friend, Henri Bourassa from Quebec, whom he had recruited to run for a seat in Parliament and who became the voice of French speaking Canada. For the public, the tension represented by the sides in Britain was between the intoxication of imperialism and the sobering truth that its material fruits were denied most of the population, who lived in appalling poverty and degradation. In Canada it was between the imperialist loyalties of English Protestant Canadians, opposed by French Catholic Canadians whose aspirations for their country understandably did not include blind support of the British.

Had Victoria not been queen and had not psychiatry been in its infancy in her time, she might have been in danger of involuntary commitment. In 1861, the 20th year of her reign, Prince Albert died. For the rest of her life, she wore mourning clothes and engaged in eccentric behavior, including having his wardrobe laid out daily and otherwise pretending that he still lived. She had depended on him for everything, which may partially explain her need to keep him alive in some form.

Unfortunately, what Victoria was not able to preserve was Albert's worldview. His was a more enlightened imperialism, holding that might should serve right, and he had a vision of improving the lives and education of ordinary people around the world. After his death, the question of whether his more benign vision would be the main influence on Victoria or whether she would succumb to the call to raw power was played out in the contests between Disraeli and Gladstone. Disraeli was a Conservative Party imperialist. Gladstone a Liberal who shared Albert's vision and was determined to keep Britain out of pure conquest. The two would alternate as prime minister for over 15 years. Disraeli, and war, won out.

One strain of Canadian imperialism was a bit different. In a study of the years leading up to the Boer War and the Great War, Carl Berger saw Canadian imperialism as a form of nationalism. In the view of its advocates, Canada supported the Empire in order to establish a more important, even dominant place within it. Independence was not a...