Volunteers on the Veld

the long version

"Hen the Second Boer War erupted in South Africa in 1899, Great Britain was confident that victory would come quickly and decisively. Instead, the war lasted for three grueling years. To achieve final victory, the British government was forced to depend not only on its Regular Army but also on a large volunteer force. This book spotlights Britain's "citizen army" to show who these volunteers were, why they enlisted, how they were trained-and how they quickly became disillusioned when they found themselves committed not to the supposed glories of conventional battle but instead to a prolonged guerrilla war." "Although Britain's Regular Army has received much attention, its "citizen army" has been largely overlooked. By revisiting one of the most significant guerrilla wars of the modern age - and one of the earliest examples of the use of modern media to promote mobilization for a foreign war - Volunteers on the Veld lends fresh insight into British imperial warfare while suggesting unmistakable parallels between these citizen-soldiers and today's American volunteers in Iraq."--BOOK JACKET.