In 1881, the Boers defeated the British at the Battle of Majuba Hill, South Africa.

CNN: Friday,

On the same day in 1900, the Boers were defeated by Lord Kitchener's men at the Battle of Paardenberg.

CNN: Friday,

The Boers fought back so bravely that the British needed three years, vast reinforcements and innovatively savage tactics to defeat them.

ECONOMIST: South Africa

Redvers Buller, in an attempt to relieve Ladysmith, was besieged by Boers at the battle of Colenso, losing over 1, 000 men.

CNN: Sunday,

Having finally beaten the Boers, Britain's priority was to get the mines and fields of South Africa producing again as fast as possible.

ECONOMIST: South Africa

Apartheid theologians argued that South Africa was the Boers' promised land, and that any roughness used to maintain control of it was therefore divinely sanctioned.

ECONOMIST: South Africa