The Boer War Illustrated Edition Author:Thomas Pakenham The Boers of South Africa responded to Britain's annexation of the gold-and-diamond-rich Transvaal region by declaring war on October 11, 1899. The English believed the fighting would be over by Christmas -- never dreaming they were on the brink of one of the longest, bloodiest, most costly and humiliating military campaigns in their history.Mam... more »moth in scope and scholarship, as vivid, fast-moving and breathtakingly compelling as the finest fiction. Thomas Pakenham's The Boer War is the definitive account of this extraordinary conflict -- a war precipitated by greed and marked by almost inconcievable blundering and brutalities . . . and whose shattering repercussions can be felt to this very day.« less