Gun War
The Gun War (German for "rifle war") was a conflict between Basotho and the British in Basutoland in 1880 and 1881.
history
Basutoland, today's Lesotho , was a British protectorate from 1868 . However, in 1871 it became part of the British Cape Colony . Thanks to the traditional system of the barena , led by the sons of Moshoeshoe I , the Basotho remained relatively independent for a long time. In the late 1870s, Cape Colony authorities tried to strengthen their power in Basutoland and enforce their laws. However, they encountered resistance from the Basotho, especially after the then governor Henry Bartle Frere wanted to reserve part of Basutoland for white settlers in 1879 and wanted to force all Basotho to surrender their firearms under the Peace Protection Act (e.g. peacekeeping law). In 1879 there was a rebellion under Morena Moorosi in the south of the country, in which most of the barena were still on the side of the Cape Colony. The government of the Cape Colony under Sir John Gordon Sprigg set April 1880 as an ultimatum to surrender the arms. The majority of the Basotho let the ultimatum pass. The first fighting broke out in September 1880 when the authorities tried to force the arms handover. Within a short period of time, the fighting developed into open rebellion. The troops of the Cape Colony suffered numerous losses, as the Basotho had been supplied with additional weapons by the Boers from the neighboring Orange Free State . The Basotho mainly used guerrilla tactics and had the advantage of local knowledge in mountainous terrain. The Cape Colony troops received no help from the British mainland. On October 19, 1880, a violent battle took place near Qalabane near Mafeteng . In the same month the Basotho attacked a mounted unit of the British Army Lancers north of the capital Maseru on the edge of a plateau and killed 39 soldiers. The place has since been called the Lancers' Gap . The appointment of Colonel Charles Gordon as commander in chief did not result in any improvement.
The war against the Basotho, along with the recently ended Xhosa Wars , unrest in the Transkei and the Zulu War, was very costly for the Cape Colony authorities. Sprigg was replaced by Thomas Scanlen. In 1881 a peace treaty was signed between the Basotho and the Cape Colony government, in which the Basotho had the upper hand on most points. The land was reserved for the Basotho. Firearms were allowed unlimited. However, the Basotho had to cede 5,000 cattle to the Cape Colony.
The unrest then continued, so that Basutoland received the status of a crown colony in 1884 , which guaranteed the barena self-determination. As a result, Basutoland did not become part of the South African Union in 1910 and is still an enclave in South Africa today .
Web links
- Excerpt from: Historical Dictionary of the British Empire ( Memento of March 9, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Excerpt from: Historical Dictionary of the British Empire ( Memento of March 9, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) (English), accessed on March 5, 2012