Diamonds, Gold, and War: The
British, the Boers, and the Making of
South Africa by Martin Meredith
Great Book
Southern Africa was once regarded as a worthless jumble of British
colonies, Boer republics, and African chiefdoms, a troublesome region of
little interest to the outside world. But then prospectors chanced upon the
world’s richest deposits of diamonds and gold, setting off a titanic struggle
between the British and the Boers for control of the land. The result was
the costliest, bloodiest, and most humiliating war that Britain had waged in
nearly a century, and the devastation of the Boer republics. The New
Yorker calls this magisterial account of those years “[an] astute history.…
Meredith expertly shows how the exigencies of the diamond (and then
gold) rush laid the foundation for apartheid.”
Personal Review: Diamonds, Gold, and War: The British, the
Boers, and the Making of South Africa by Martin Meredith

Very few histories of this depth and detail can sustain 500+ pages and
keep the reader as engaged as though s/he were reading a thriller. This
book is one of them.
Some of Martin Meredith's talent is in describing the main characters.
Portraits of Cecil Rhodes and Paul Kruger are masterpieces. His other
talent is describing the settings for instance, the respective cultures of the
settlers, the freewheeling diamond/gold rushes and the devastation of war.
The marvelous descriptions sustain the reader through the dry but
important financial dealings, military maneuvers, and legal complexities.
There are very few women in this book. Queen Victoria gets a few
mentions, as does a female novelist, Paul Kruger's traditional wife and a
stalker attracted to Rhodes. The plight of the Boar women left homeless
and confined in camps is addressed, but there is nothing of the native
African women. Hopefully future historians will explore the lives and roles
of women in this period.
Two things about the history of South Africa are striking. One is how a
very small number of people in key positions wanting war made it
inevitable that many would suffer its devastating consequences. The other
is the total racism of the Bible quoting Boars and the aquiescence of the
British government to their racist demands. The Archbishop of Canterbury
endorses what becomes the apartheid system with the salve to his
conscience that the future will undo it.
This is a sorry, sorry story. It is a story of the making and execution of a
completely unnecessary war and a step by step degradation of a native
population.
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