The Great Boer War

What It's About

A history of the Second Boer War (1899–1902), written and largely completed while the conflict was still underway. Conan Doyle traces the origins of the war — including the disenfranchisement of the Uitlanders in the Boer republics — through the major campaigns and battles: Talana Hill, Elandslaagte, the siege of Ladysmith, Lord Methuen's advance, and beyond. He drew on conversations with Boer prisoners and with the wounded soldiers under his care to give both sides of the conflict, though the closing stages of the war, which continued until 1902, are covered in less detail since the book was finished in 1900.

Key Concepts

The book blends battlefield narrative with Conan Doyle's own political reading of the war's causes, and it has long been noted for its tension between claimed impartiality and evident British sympathies — later historians and reviewers have described it as lively but partisan. Because it was written in the middle of an ongoing war, it also stands as a snapshot of British opinion and expectations at a moment when many believed the fighting was already over.

About the Author

Arthur Conan Doyle (1859–1930) was a Scottish-born British writer and physician, trained in medicine at the University of Edinburgh. In 1900 he volunteered at a field hospital in Bloemfontein during the Boer War, an experience that shaped this book, and he was knighted in 1902 partly in recognition of that service.