“How far do the sources P, Q and R support the proposition that the British dealt brutally with the Boer population in trying to defeat Boer guerrilla fighters?”
Source P supports the essay title as it comments that the “women were taken away in open wagons and grossly ill-treated and insulted by the soldiers and officers”. This suggests that the British did deal brutally with the general Boer population. Source Q also supports the title in a similar fashion where it says “we had to burn down the place and confiscate all cattle, stores, wagons etc”. This suggests that the British were unfair to the population of the Boers who didn’t necessarily deserve it. Source Q also hints at mistreatment of women by saying “we had only women to deal with you can guess how uncongenial our work was”. This also supports the proposition as the British did deal with the Boer population fairly brutally. Source R generally challenges the proposition of Boer mistreatment but slips a few details in that generally support the claim. Firstly, the writer of the source does mention that “there were nasty incidents” which suggests brutality towards the Boer population. The writer also says “soldiers did dreadful things”, again suggesting some form of mistreatment.
Source P also challenges the proposition slightly as the example given was not exactly “brutal”, it writes about a woman being “called a liar because she said she had no eggs in the house”. There is some form of mistreatment but it is by no means “brutally dealt with”. They also had transportation through “open wagons” so they didn’t have to trudge along. Source Q briefly challenges the title as it comments at the beginning that “some of our work”, suggesting that only a few actions were “brutal” as such and were probably necessary. Source R challenges the title greatly as it comments on the courtesy of the British in most cases such as “no firing on undefended cities” and “never shot a single one of the people in them (farmhouses)”. This suggests that the British were as civil as possible considering they were at war with the Boers. Source R also legitimates the British acts of mistreatment. It excuses the burning of farmhouses as “some fighting Boers had fired on the English from a Koppie nearby or from the farm itself”. It also legitimates the concentration camps as it writes that the Boer women “collected all information”, “supplied them with food, and possibly ammunition”. This challenges the title as it makes the acts seem more humane as it gives reasons for the “brutal” acts of violence.
The Term Paper on British Mistakes During the Revolutionary War
While there are numerous contributing factors to America’s success in achieving independence, the most critical factor can be attributed to the series of British mistakes throughout the conflict. Prior to the onset of the Revolutionary War, the British government faced serious challenges, both politically and fiscally. The conclusion of the French and Indian War coupled with the fighting in ...
Source P was written by a Boer artilleryman. This suggests bias and discredits the source as they would probably over exaggerate the events that occurred. This supports the earlier claim that the “mistreatment” of the women in Source P wasn’t that “brutal” as such. Merely being called a liar was not “brutal”, the Boer soldier probably made it seem worse than it actually was. (No disrespect to the sufferers, it must have been horrible but not unbearable.) Source Q was written by a British solider, he would have no reason to tell a mistruth about his own army that discredited it in some way which suggests that the source is fairly reliable and accurate. Source R (the most critical of the title proposition) is surprisingly written by a Boer woman. This gives the source good validity as the Boer women in South Africa who were subject to the British wouldn’t make excuses for the acts that the army committed. This suggests that the source is reliable as there is little reason for it not to be.
In conclusion, the sources hardly support the proposition at all. The sources generally challenge the title and when they support the proposition it is done weakly. Several factors such as the authors of the sources only increase the conclusion that there is little support. Source P is obviously written by a begrudged Boer soldier and Source R is written by a Boer woman that supports the British bafflingly. Source Q does mention some degree of brutality but writes with a clear sense of regret, making the act less brutal. The concentration camps were not “death camps” but were merely holding places and the acts of violence were usually done for some legitimate reason.
The Essay on How useful and reliable are these sources in explaining how women’s lives were affected by World War One?
World War One began in 1914 and ended in 1918. Women’s lives were majorly affected during the war. My role is to find out if the lives of women were greatly affected by the First World War. During the war since most of the men were off fighting, the women were needed to stay home and run things so that the economy would not completely fall apart. Women had to take over men’s work to ensure that ...
