(Well, lots of things happened, but there are two big ones that we need to talk about.) First, things only got worse between the British and the Boers in South Africa. Clearly, things went… well, awry.Īnd two things happened as a result of the Jameson Raid. It was an elaborate plan, to be sure, and one that depended on everybody doing their part (the Uitlanders revolting, Jameson's crew cutting the right telegraph lines, etc.). Then-poof, the invaders would enter, quell the uprising, take control of the city and thus the nearby gold mines. The basic plan had been this: foreigners living in Johannesburg (called 'Uitlanders') would be encouraged to revolt against unfair Boer government practices. The whole deal was part of an unauthorized British plan to gain control over the Transvaal and its recently discovered gold and diamond deposits. While initially only a small blip on the radar, the raid ultimately had a number of profound effects on the later history of South Africa (which was not yet a unified nation in 1895). The raid was led by one Sir Leander Starr Jameson, and has thus become known as the Jameson Raid. Through a series of mishaps (the invaders failed to cut all the appropriate telegraph lines, for example, and the Boer government was thus able to halt their advance), the invasion ultimately stalled. 'Boer' was the name given to the descendants of South Africa's early Dutch settlers, but the mercenaries were attempting to take control of Johannesburg for Great Britain. South Africa, December 29, 1895: a group of British mercenaries enters a Boer-controlled and administered territory known as the Transvaal Republic.

If by Rudyard Kipling