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Letters from Ladysmith: Eyewitness Accounts from the South African War
Letters from Ladysmith: Eyewitness Accounts from the South African War
Letters from Ladysmith: Eyewitness Accounts from the South African War
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Letters from Ladysmith: Eyewitness Accounts from the South African War

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Edward Spiers, a leading authority on the Victorian British army, presents here a select edition of letters from the siege of Ladysmith (18991900) that have not been seen since their original publication in metropolitan and provincial newspapers. The 250 letters were published in different British newspapers and provide crucial insights into contemporary perceptions of the battles that preceded the siege, the onset of the siege itself, and the desperate and bloody attempts to relieve the town. Subsequent efforts to defend Ladysmith and to march to its relief became the great dramatic saga of the early phase of the AngloBoer War, providing the context for a series of dramatic battles that embarrassed the Empire and destroyed established reputations. Much has been written about the failings of the British commanders but it is clear that in no other theatre in the war were the practical difficulties so real or the stakes so high. These letters reflect vividly the feelings of junior officers and other ranks as they struggled to cope with the demands of modern warfare, These eyewitness testimonies provide first-hand commentary upon the events in Natal that shattered the pre-war confidence in Britain.
LanguageEnglish
Release dateNov 30, 2010
ISBN9781473815940
Letters from Ladysmith: Eyewitness Accounts from the South African War
Author

Ian Knight

Military historian Ian Knight has been writing about nineteenth-century British colonial campaigns for thirty years. His book Zulu Rising received universal critical acclaim, and he is a winner of the Anglo-Zulu Historical Society’s Chief Buthelezi Medal for his lifelong contribution to Anglo-Zulu studies. A former editor of the Journal of the Victorian Military Society, he is a regular contributor to historical journals. He has advised on and appeared in a number of television documentaries, including C4’s Secrets of the Dead and the BBC’s Timewatch.

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    Letters from Ladysmith - Edward Spiers

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