Could someone give me a one paraghraph info on the boer war and who won? Thnx in advance.

First Boer War 1880-1881. Brits v Boers. Ended in a stalemate after Boers beat British at Majuba Hill. British recognised the Orange Free State and Transvaal in response.

Second Boer War 1899- 1902. Protagonists were the British (with Australian support) taking on two Boer republics, but just about all South Africa got involved. It was a fairly typical piece of British colonial war in that it was typified by truly surreal levels of incompetence by British generals and officers, but they still won (sort of...). Typified by Boer guerilla tactics eventually being defeated by overwhelming force from British. All Boers became British subjects, but the British government paid out heavily in return.

It was a fairly typical piece of British colonial war in that it was typified by truly surreal levels of incompetence by British generals and officers...

Sorry, [offtopic] .. were the British still selling commissions at this time? :mischief:

I know Britain had a long history of selling officers commissions, which led to some spectacular incompetents - does anyone know when this practice was discontinued? Just curious... :D

IIRC it was prior to this period Dragonlord, though it was still around in the first half of the 19th century.

On piece of trivia for you, at one of the battles, Spion Kop, the Lancashire regiment suffered high losses. Being composed mostly of people from the city of Liverpool or around it, the battle later gave one of the stands in Liverpool's Anfield ground it's name, the Kop.

Are you talking about the Phoney war ?
also called the bore war (as in bored)

not to be confused with the boer war ? :D

Sorry, [offtopic] .. were the British still selling commissions at this time? :mischief:

I know Britain had a long history of selling officers commissions, which led to some spectacular incompetents - does anyone know when this practice was discontinued? Just curious... :D

IIRC it was stopped after the Crimean War, due to the reasons you mentioned.

@Kafka2

Canada sent a contigent as well, we can't let the Aussies have the credit.

Sorry, [offtopic] .. were the British still selling commissions at this time? :mischief:

I know Britain had a long history of selling officers commissions, which led to some spectacular incompetents - does anyone know when this practice was discontinued? Just curious... :D

It was abolished in 1871. However, given that the average General in the Boer war was aged 50-60, the chances are that most entered the service on purchased commissions some 30-40 years earlier.