The Boer War

The South African War (1899-1902) or the Boer War, marked Canada's first official dispatch of troops to an overseas war.

In 1899, fighting erupted between Great Britain and the self-governing Afrikaner (Boer) colonies of the South African Republic (the Transvaal) and the Orange Free State.

Over the next three years, more than 7,000 Canadians, including 12 women nurses, served overseas. They would fight in key battles from Paardeberg to Leliefontein.

Of the Canadians who served in South Africa, 267 were killed and are listed in the Books of Remembrance. The Canadian government claimed at the time that this overseas expedition was not a precedent. History would prove otherwise. The new century would see Canadians serve in two world wars, the Korean War, and dozens of peacekeeping missions.

*taken from Canadian War Museum website

For your information

After participating in three foreign conflicts, Winston Churchill finally became famous in England during the Boer War where he showed courage and heroism in battle and managed a daring escape from a prison camp even though he was there not as a soldier but as a correspondent for a British newspaper.