Short description
Goodbye Dolly Gray was the anthem of the South African War – a song that for a generation of British soldiers evoked memories of the relief of Mafeking, the Battle of Spion Kop and the march on Pretoria.
Long description
Goodbye Dolly Gray was the anthem of the South African War – a song that for a generation of British soldiers evoked memories of the relief of Mafeking, the Battle of Spion Kop and the march on Pretoria. At the turn of the 20th century the largest army ever to have fought under the Union Jack was battling to extend the control of the British Empire over the gold fields of South Africa. Opposing them were the Boers, Afrikaans-speaking settlers who fought under the banner of anti-imperialism. The Boer War marked the end of Victorian complacency and the beginning of a century of bloody warfare. South Africa saw the first major use of machine guns, long-range artillery and barbed wire. Rayne Kruger's classic account places the Boer War squarely in its social and political settings. The narrative ranges easily from the wide open spaces of the South African veld to the crowded benches of the House of Commons. It includes vivid pen portraits of the main actors in the drama – from Lord Roberts and Lord Kitchener to Cecil Rhodes and Boer leaders like Paul Kruger, Louis Botha and Christiaan de Wet, as well as accounts of the main battles. Appearing the wings of the historical stage were men who were destined to play major roles in the 20th Century, like Winston Churchill, Mahatma Gandhi and Jan Smuts. The title also explores the legacy of the Boer War for South Africa and the British Empire.