Between 1835 and 1845 Afrikaans moved from the British cape colony to the inner tribal lands where they established two independent but peaceful republics, the Transvaal and the Orange Free State. However, the English discovered their lands to be rich with diamonds and gold which the English wanted control of as well as their greed for expansion all led to the war. There were four main battles in the first Boer War, the battles of Laingsnek, Bronkhorstspruit, and Schuinshoogte where the British took heavy losses and Majuba which was one of the British few wins but became the English rally cry during this two year war. The Boers won because their guerilla style warfare and knowledge of the terrain. The British who were not used to the mountainous land and used to a European style of war were made easy kills by the Akrikaans. The South African Republic regained it's independence and a peace agreement was made between the English and Afrikaans.
The second Boer War between 1899-1902 was a very different story, dominated by British victories; however they had a lot of help from the Australians who had a similar style of war as the Boers and soon the British gained control of South Africa. This conflict led to the unequal discrimination between the different ethnicities and technically creating the apartheid. I think that these wars were kind of ridiculous and really just displays Britain's greed and lust for power and imperialism and resulted in the years of discrimination to come and are still continuing today.
Sources:
http://www.sahistory.org.za/south-africa-1806-1899/first-anglo-boer-war-1880-1881
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/victorians/boer_wars_01.shtml
http://www.sahistory.org.za/south-africa-1652-1806/south-african-war-1899-1902-second-anglo-boer-war
http://www.historynet.com/second-boer-war.htm
I found this blog post very insightful. The Boer war isn't well known even though it decided the fate of South Africa. All along i thought the Boers were native South Africans and not Germans. Though the Boers had been living there semi-peacefully for years, the English did not hesitate to move in on their lands. These two wars decided who would own South Africa and all of it's riches. The war was waged because of greed for diamonds and minerals. The resulting segregation was also and act of greed. The English attempted, and succeed in making sure no won else got a share of the wealth. You did a great job of explaining an event that can sometimes be hard to understand. If the English hadn't of won the war, i believe that things in South Africa would be drastically different. Maybe the institution of Apartheid wouldn't have happened at all. The precious stones in South Africa may have also gone to the natives and benefited them instead of the English. If the Boers had stayed in power, German might have also become a main language. It is always interesting to think about the fact that if a certain event hadn't happened, everything would be different
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