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Updated Sunday 15 May, 2011 12:18 PM |
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This Day in Alternate History Blog
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The crucible of was to become the most powerful state in Africa was the boardroom of the of the Dutch East Indies company, the VOC. Headed by Van Hero were those who wished to develop the Cape Colony beyond that of a simple replenishing station for ships. Opposing them, and including the chairman, were those who saw no need for the VOC to branch out into new businesses when the spice trade was so lucrative. The chairman lost. Instead of the slow drip of colonists into the Cape, the board voted to finance a major colonisation programme "on the scale of America". The most prominent part of the plan was hunt elephants for ivory, but the VOC also planned to prospect for the gold that it was convinced lay somewhere in the Cape. It was paradoxical that diamonds, a resource that was to be key in the development of Dutch South Africa was not mentioned in the meeting. A campaign to recruit indentured
colonists was launched in the form of billposters put up in cities throughout
the Netherlands. It was so successful the VOC ended up chartering a couple of
non-company ships to carry some of them to their new home. In addition and not
withstanding the longer voyage, a large number of "free" colonists
elected to join the movement and emigrate to Africa instead of the New World.
The expedition set sail in 1658. The first act of the VOC's new
programme was the foundation of a trading post to the east of Capetown at a
place called Stellenbosch. It was intended to act as the principal clearinghouse
for the ivory which company Whilst not in the same league as Batavia, Capetown soon developed into a plum posting for VOC officials. This was mainly due to the more temperate climate and less disease-ridden environment. It was also favoured because the shorter distance between it and Europe: news arrived quicker and cargoes were less prone to being seized by pirates (not that that was common for VOC Indiamen). Immigration to the colony was slower though than the Americas; the distance to travel to a new life for further and thus the cost higher. In addition, crossing the equator made the journey far less comfortable. In spite of the occasional group such as some French Huguenots in 1686, the VOC decided that it would have to look for sources of colonists beyond volunteers. It quickly found them by brokering agreements with the Dutch government and a number of German states in which it took petty criminals off their hands in exchange for a small sum. To recoup the cost of transportation by the VOC, the convicts were forced to work on company plantations for the duration of their sentence (which could and often was increased for any infraction). In addition, senior company employees as well as some of the richer burghers recruited indentured servants from the poor in Europe. Whilst some terms of these were often equal to the length of the sentences of the convicts, the tasks that they performed were usually less arduous being domestic service, slave driving or working as craftsmen. In any event and however they
arrived and as long as they lived long enough, all colonists became free. Some
continued to work for the company or their former master. Others joined the
growing band of independent The governor reacted by raising a part-time mounted militia. To that date, the only troops in the Colony were the mixed race companies stationed in forts protecting the ports from European rivals such as the Portuguese and English. With the predations of the Dronkers Gang, it was obvious that some form of internal security force was also required and fast A former soldier was commissioned to form a regiment and he in turn recruited burghers who were already trained in shooting and living in the bush. The regiment, or commando as it
was called, was more than a match for the Donkers gang (thanks in part to its
greater numbers). In a bloody shoot out many of the latter were killed. The
survivors were taken to Stellenbosch The commando did not stop there. Other bands of bandits were tracked down and eliminated. Then, with the brigand threat heavily reduced if not quite gone, the financially conscious VOC paid the troops off and the member of the commando went back to their old trades. Over the next decade, this
raising part-time troops was employed on a number of occasions, mainly to wipe
out brigands, but also to strike at Khoi tribes who had raided the Colony.
Unlike other VOC holdings, it was a In imitation of England and the
Netherlands mercantile corporations, the Company of Scotland was launched in
Edinburgh in 1695 by a group of Scottish merchants. Originally it was planned
that colonial interests should be established in South America (in the Spanish
claimed territory of Darien to be exact; this was what was Had New Glasgow been established further to the east, say at the site where the British later established Port Natal, it is doubtful that there would have been any conflict between the settlement and the VOC. Such a location would have been far beyond what the VOC regarded as its sphere of interest and given that the Scottish were not a maritime nation, would not have been seen as a potential nest of pirates ready to pounce on the Indiamen returning home laden with spices. On the other hand, siting a colony in this region would have been more risky, the more aggressive Bantus being a greater threat to any European colony than the less sophisticated Khoi. All that though is hindsight. In 1697 New Glasgow was established the mouth of the Sundays River. It was situated in a natural harbour with abundant natural resources in country inhabited by pretty inoffensive natives, an almost perfect combination. It was also just down the coast from Vrying Pan (Port Elisabeth on OTL), an important VOC trading post and port. At first the colony thrived. Farmers planted crops and merchants began to trade with the Khoi. Also, a number of hunters began to harvest the herds of elephants in the region. That brought them into direct conflict with their Dutch neighbours. Elephant numbers were starting to noticeably dwindle and competition by strangers was not welcome. Soon there were skirmishes across the veldt between the two colonies. The loss of ivory trade hit the
income of the factor at Vrying Pan, which did not endear him to the Scottish
colonists. However, what really made him really irate was that New Glasgow was
trading arms to the Khoi. Whilst there was no law against it, neither the VOC
nor any of the free burghers had sold guns to the natives; after the predations
of the Dronkers and other gangs the last thing they needed was dangerous
neighbours. The Scottish colonists had fewer qualms. With the ivory trade in
trouble, the sort off trade in spices slow in developing and The first that the VOC learned of the trade was when one commando pursing a band of Khoi raiders was badly mauled. Without waiting for orders from Capetown, the factor assembled a new commando which first wiped up the raiders (although not without losses) then burned some New Glaswegian farms. Without the numbers for a
serious strike back yet strong in the belief that they were in the right, the
CoS factor sent emissaries to London and the English East India Company factory
at Madrid asking for support against When he learned of its factor's action, the VOC governor was not particularly amused either. Unaware that the English was not going to assist their smaller ally's company, he was worried that the situation would escalate into full-scale war. He thus sent his own emissary to New Glasgow offering to allow the Scots to stay if they stopped trading guns to the natives and paid a small tribute to the VOC each year. He also proposed a delineation of hunting areas for Scots and burghers. The town elders of New Glasgow agreed and thus saved the CoS from certain ruin. Whilst there were still clashes between colonists, there were far less than before. On the other hand, the Scottish colonists were able to take advantage of the higher prices that Vrying Pan merchants with their better access to European markets were prepared to pay. Gradually, over the years, the CoS slowly became a subsidiary of the VOC as New Glasgow became more dependent on the Cape Colony for its prosperity. The process was facilitated by the Presbyterian Scots finding common accord with the Calvinism of the Dutch. However, the port retained its roots: the architecture mirrored that in its homeland and Gaelic remained a common language for many decades.
The ivory hunting in the Cape colony had created a glut on the European market, causing profits and the pro-Cape Colony directors in the VOC desperately needed a new source of income to justify Van Hero's vision. They therefore sent a number of expeditions deep into the hinterland to look for gold, diamonds, treasure cities, anything regain the company a profit. In 1738 one of these struck it
lucky. In the dry and dusty sport far to the north diamonds were discovered. The
distance to them from the Cape Colony was enormous, but still the VOC staked out
large claims. It despatched a large number of indentured colonists to work these
as well as to attempting to set up farms to feed its miners. As the numbers of miners grew a town was formed in the heart of Africa. In honour of the man who brought it about, it was called Pietersburg (Kimberley in OTL). Its lifeline was precarious, running as it did through hostile territory and convoys to and from it were escorted by company troops. Life within it had all the hallmarks of a boomtown, but that belied its permanence. The diamond fields were so large that the VOC expected to mine them for decades if not centuries. In spite of the large number of migrants flooding to Pietersburg, the VOC found itself with a problem. Due to the sheer size of the fields, Khoi slaves and indentured colonists were too few in number to provide enough manpower to adequately exploit them. At first, the company considered importing slaves from East Africa and Madagascar as well as capturing local Bantus. However, given the skirmishing that had already taken place them and the local tribes, it was reluctant to increase the African population within its domain. Instead a plan was floated to
ship Indians from the subcontinent to work in the mines and on the farms. The
advantages appeared to be threefold. Firstly, the VOC would not be dependent on
others to transport the workers; It was a great success in that
thousands of men, women and children agreed to be transported to the Cape Colony
on indentures far stricter than any European agreement. Furthermore, many
potentates eagerly paid the VOC to take convicts and those of their subjects
whom they wished to dispose of it thus defraying some of the cost The flow from the subcontinent
did not stop there. Just as free Europeans had followed indentured ones to
Africa, so Indian merchants and adventurers followed their kin. Because Dutch
ships not owned by the VOC were barred from carrying non-European passengers to
the Cape Colony (the VOC had managed to gain that level of influence), these
migrants were carried by British and Portuguese merchants. Also, instead of
landing them at As it was going to be impossible
to prevent such activity without direct clashes with other European powers, the
VOC was forced to turn a blind eye to it. The official policy became that long
as illegal immigrants behaved The Cape Colony got a further
boost in 1745 when after their defeat at Culloden large numbers of Jacobites
fled Scotland. Whilst a few settled in France, many others took ship to the
growing Scottish population in The VOC welcomed them with open arms. Not withstanding its
eastern source of manpower, it needed every European colonist it could attract
to maintain its growth. That the Scottish immigrants formed a martial culture
was to be of additional benefit fifteen years after their arrival. That the wave
from Culloden were by then At first, the Portuguese had
looked on the events to the south of them with slight amusement; the idea of
farming Africa rather than extracting slaves, gold and ivory was considered in
Lisbon to be rather parochial. The What changed their perspective
was the Pietersburg diamond strike. Not only did the income from it make the
Cape Colony significantly wealthier than its neighbours, but also the flow of
immigrants that it This edict was totally ignored
by Cape Colony prospectors and elephant hunters. Not being men to obey the
command of a Papist tyrant, they continue to penetrate previously unexplored
regions. In addition, the enclave None of these activities went unnoticed in Lisbon and in 1762, the King ordered that something "should be done" to put a stop to any more Dutch "trespassing." His command was relayed to the viceroys of Mozambique and Angola. The former was a wily old character and realised that "doing something" would be like stirring up hornets' nest. He was conversant with the wars that the VOC had waged to create its East Indies empire, including the recent seizure of Ceylon just seven years before. Thus, he had no intention of joining the list of native potentates and European merchants that it had wiped out. Still, to please his master, he had to appear to show willing. This he did by pushing south with columns of askaris led by less favoured officers. These soon became embroiled in skirmishes with the natives whose territory they were invading. Consequently the viceroy was able to plead security concerns as to why he could not take any further action. In Angola, events went very different. The viceroy here saw the opportunity not only to make a name for himself, but gain some easy money. A land campaign was out of the question; the distance from Angola to the Cape Colony was too great, apart from which any force would have to cross the Kalahari Desert. Attacks by sea on the other hand were possible, So, in spite of not being officially at war with the Netherlands, the viceroy issued a number of letters of marque to some enterprising captains. When protests about this were made to Lisbon, they were ignored. Still and not withstanding the illegality of the Portuguese action, the Republic was reluctant to escalate the conflict. A war with Portugal would sooner or later drag in Britain: the latter had developed close ties with the former. Whilst the British had been defeated in the previous century, there was no guarantee that victory could be repeated. In hard economic terms the loss of a few ships did not justify a full-scale conflict especially against what had since become a friendly power. The VOC had fewer qualms. The loss of Indiamen hurt both its prestige and its bottom line. Consequently, company warships were pulled out of the East Indies and began seizing Portuguese merchant ships in return, and not just on a tit for tat basis. Also, as VOC privateers did not distinguish between those sailing from and to Mozambique and those visiting Angola, the governor of the former became seriously alarmed. Then, news came through that made his hair stand on end. The VOC was assembling an expeditionary force in Capetown. The most likely target of it was of course Angola, but there were no guarantees of that. It could equally well be Mozambique or Goa if the VOC had decided to escalate the conflict. Deciding that his own personal
wealth was more important than any loyalty he might have with a fellow
Portuguese noble, the viceroy sent an envoy to Capetown to plead that the
expeditionary was not used On receipt of the news the Mozambique envoy did manage to gain a truce whilst the viceroy pressed his master to end the war. The VOC agreed subject to having the right to seize one Portuguese merchant for each one of theirs that was taken (the surviving Angolan based privateers were still around having retreated to Brasil). During the autumn and winter negotiation went on between the Dutch and British ambassadors in Lisbon and the King of Portugal. The latter saw the sacking of Luanda as an affront to his dignity and wished to even the score. For their part, the British saw themselves being dragged into a war whilst they had nothing to gain from and much to lose. A war in Europe would cost plenty yet yield little gain whilst there was nothing to stop the VOC using its battle hardened expeditionary force against British trading posts in India instead of other Portuguese holdings. Whilst in theory, it had some claim on New Glasgow, in practice the colony was in no mood to have anything to do with the English and had effectively seceded from Scotland. Consequently, London endeavoured to avoid being drawn into the conflict. For his part, the Dutch
ambassador was relatively neutral in that so far non-VOC Dutch interests were so
far unaffected. Against that, having a loose cannon in Africa was not advancing
them either. Conquering native Whilst the views of London and
Amsterdam were important, what tipped the scales towards ending the war were
business interests in Portugal. A number of leading families had been hurt badly
by the loss of African profits as well as payment of ransoms. Faced by a
ruthless enemy with superior manpower and with the knowledge that a new year
would very likely bring the same if not worse, they pressured the King into a
cessation of hostilities. Britain and the Netherlands as well as the local VOC representative (he had to write his signature on a separate page to the others). It was a milestone in international affairs in that the treaty included an article within it that occupation, not claim determined ownership on any territory in Africa. This principle was to have
important implications. The Dutch and Portuguese were not the only European
states involved in Africa: there were British, French and Danish trading posts
on the Gold and Slave Coasts. However, the no occupation, no claim rule did not apply to non-Europeans: clauses in the article validated the occupation of once African territories by the Portuguese and Dutch in the words "under Christian dominion." As various native kingdoms as well as the Arab sultanates on the east coast were to discover, there was one rule for Europeans and another for every one else. Thus on the surface, it had been a good war for the VOC. Losses of its merchant ships had been counterbalanced by Portuguese prizes whilst the no occupation, no ownership rule favoured its more expansionary policy against those of its more cautious northern neighbours. In addition, it had profited from loot taken at Luanda. However, the formation of the expeditionary force had not been cheap and the burghers and indentured colonists in it would have earned the company greater profits elephant hunting or mining diamonds. In the new climate, the Governor organised a new push north to seize as much territory as possible. In that regard, the VOC was better position than the Portuguese crown. The latter not only had to rebuild Angola but the country in which it attempted to occupy was more inhospitable than that adjacent to its southern neighbour. After a series of abortive attempts to take over what was little more than fever-ridden jungle, it gave up any attempts to seize more territory. In spite of the drive, expansion of the Cape Colony expansion was not as rapid as it might have been. This was because of the growing threat from the Bantu. The Khoi had been either hunter-gatherers or Stone Age pastoralists and thus no real opposition to European settlement of their lands. The Bantu were different. They had iron tools and weapons and they were more numerous in number. Furthermore, they were also militarily more sophisticated in that their warriors were trained in honed by wars between tribes. There was also another difference. The Khoi had been ravished by diseases such as small pox and measles; the Bantu were much more resistant this "form of attack." They would not be so easy a foe to defeat. First contacts had been relatively cordial; the burghers ready to trade for semi-precious stones and slaves, the Bantu were eager to trade for iron. Some of their young men had even gone to the Pietersburg to work in the mines. However, the chiefs along the Fish and Vaal rivers began to view encroachment on their lands as a threat. For its part, both burghers and the VOC looked longingly at the lands between the Sundays and Fish Rivers (a region along the south coast). The first clashes had been with
the Sotho; Pietersburg had been founded within their lands although without the
consent of any of their chiefs. At first, the tribe had looked on with amusement
at the white strangers who With Pietersburg looking as if
it were under threat, the VOC took command of the situation and despatched a
commando north to break the Sotho. The campaign culminated in a battle between
the commando holding a ridge A few years later, the Xhosa to the east of the Sundays River decided to drive out the burghers and colonists from New Glasgow who were steadily encroaching on their lands. The resulting campaign took the same shape, and was as brutal as that against the Sotho. At the end of it the frontier between the Cape Colony and Xhosa had moved eastwards to the bank of the Fish River. Furthermore, New Glasgow was formally annexed and the shareholders of the CoS were paid off. That was of no real loss to its shareholders: the VOC having been taking the lion's share of ivory and trade so they had not been seeing much of a return on their investment for years. At the time, there annexation was seen a rather minor issue. The real value of eliminating a non-Dutch bridgehead would not be seen until the next century. In the next twenty years two
more wars between burgher and Xhosa were fought. In each case, the Bantu were
defeated and lost more land to their enemy. After the third they were reduced to
a client tribe. Whilst the VOC may have been
prospering in Africa, its affairs had not been doing so well elsewhere. The
steady loss of it's spice trade monopoly and attendant profits had been only
partially offset by the it's African Seeing the way the winds were
blowing, the new governor (a civil servant) decided to leave the regime
unchanged. Instead, he and his cronies liberally helped themselves to the
profits from the diamond fields. It took His arrival in the Cape created
consternation. Faced by possible ruin, the governor and a number of other
leading citizens packed their bags and fled to America. Others not so lucky and
were arrested and charged with The burghers had noted the
American Revolution, but paid little attempt to the fact that it had given birth
to a modern, non-European state. This was due to the fact that in the Cape
Colony, whites were a smaller percentage the population and it was generally
agreed that a strong state was required to control the Indian and slave
populations. So, whilst colonists in Boston were throwing tea into the sea,
burghers in Capetown were obediently paying their taxes. Besides, not
withstanding its commercial difficulties elsewhere, the VOC had drawn a
substantial income What changed the status was the
occupation of the Netherlands by the French in 1795. In the Cape Colony, events
in Europe were watched closely. Whilst most of senior ex VOC officials were from
the Netherlands, a few had been born in the Cape Colony. These men saw that the
United States of America was managing very well without European patronage and
they saw no reason to believe, given its income from diamonds; an independent They then proclaimed a republic.
In a historical proclamation in which the US Declaration of Independence was
merged with Van Hero's 1657 speech, the Afrikaan Free State was born. Those
Dutch government officials not under arrest or in with the coup tried to rally
support against it. However, given that the republicans were in a position to
buy allies, loyalist support was lacklustre. After a few months of skirmishing
and marshalling their strength, the two sides met at a field near Stellenbosch. The creation of a new non-European white nation passed much most European states, republic or monarchy, by: events at Europe were more important than those thousands of miles away. However, three paid rather more attention. The first of course were the
Netherlands. However, the Bataavian Republic as the French dominated rump was
now called was not in a position to take any effective action to retake the
colony. It lacked a fleet and army at The second state was France. On hearing of the established of the Free State, they immediately sent letters of congratulation and offered the government in Capetown any assistance it desired. However, given the distance between the two and France not longer a good market for diamonds or ivory, the Free State declined the offer and the two went their separate ways. The final one was Great Britain and it looked with alarm at the appearance of not only a second America, but also one on the sea-lane with India. Proposals to occupy it were circulated, but like those in the Netherlands they were abandoned. For one thing, the country was already bogged down in a war with France and it could ill afford to despatch a large body of troops from Europe. For another, any expeditionary force would face the problems as that of the stillborn Dutch landing, namely facing an enemy with superior numbers and a high level of military prowess. The claim on New Glasgow was raised, but quashed. The town was regarded as a nest of potential traitors filled as it was with Jacobite sympathisers. Having seen the back of them, the British government had no intention of taking them back. (Further administrations were to decry this as short sighted, but by the time occupation could have mattered New Glasgow was no longer by any stretch of the imagination British.) After some deliberation, the Prime Minister ordered the Foreign Office to send an envoy to the Free State. In a candid interview with the Governor (now an elected post), the envoy informed him that His Majesty's government did not hold with republics, European, American or African. Still, as long as the Free State did not become a haven for pirates or support the French, Great Britain would leave it in peace. However, should it step out of line, not only would its diamonds be embargoed, but swift action would be taken to replace the Governor with some one more amenable to His Majesty. How either could be carried out, the envoy did not say. Nonetheless, the Governor noted the position of Great Britain and said that he trusted that both countries would maintain an amiable relationship. So, general business continued
as usual, if not even more profitably. Dutch ships as well as now ships from
other nations (the new regime lifted many of the restrictions left over from the
VOC era) visited Capetown for Like its New World counterpart,
the original electorate of the Free State was white and male. However, the large
Indian population began to complicate the issue. Whilst due to careful
manipulation of the law by However, like that of the USA, the formation of a new state gave its founders the opportunity to declare a new order. A number of solutions to the problem were bandied about including doing nothing (ie postpone the problem), shipping all the Indians "home" (which apart from the cost would have destroyed the entire economic base of the Free State) and a minimum property qualification for voters (which would have disenfranchised many whites without excluding all the Indians). Finally the Volksraad, the
legislature of the Free State, passed a proposal based on the plesbicate of the
Roman Republic. Voters in that ancient republic had been grouped into classes,
each of which elected their own representatives. However, the number of
representatives of each class were not proportional to the number within it.
Instead, the patricians had elected more representatives as a proportion of
their headcount than the The core of the measure was that
white volksrads were elected one per county whilst Indian volksrads would be
elected one per four counties. A clause in the bill allowed other free citizens
to elect their own volksrads Whilst it was resolving its
internal political difficulties, the Free State was also facing two external
threats. The first was from overseas in the form of Great Britain. The
"Whitehall Compromise" had not gone down well in It took time; events at home and Europe were more pressing, but finally the anti-Free State movement was ready to assault its enemy. They started with Port Natal (modern Durban on OTL), This port had been established by British traders in 1831 in a bay to the east of the Free State. Under the no occupation, no claim principle its existence was in theory no business of any one except the British and consequently the Free State made no moves against it. So in order to create an incident that it could react to, the Admiralty was talked into deploying an anti-slavery squadron there. Capetown did, but not in the way
those in London expected. Firstly, whilst the main tribe in Natal, the Zulu was
a threat the Free State in that its lands edged that that had been won from the
Xhosa, it was also a threat to the traders in Port Natal. However, its lands
were not the only area that burghers had their eye and given that there was
equally fertile territory to the north of it there was no reason in the short
term why the Free State need get in a war with the Zulus. Therefore, an envoy
from Capetown negotiated a compact with the kingdom that secured that border
between the two states. Those few burghers who had settled in Natal were removed
and given land grants in the territories of the Sotho and Tswana. Newly arrived
immigrants looking for land (and since its independence The compact was to the advantage of KwaZulu as well. The kingdom not only viewed with apprehension the advances of the Free State but as that of the Portuguese in Mozambique. Now, with one major border safe from European invasion, their king sent his army across the other one. They then began sacking mines and plantations and slaughtering both colonists and their slaves With impis' homes beyond the
reach of them, the Portuguese could not use the tactics than the Free State had
used against other African tribes namely keep destroying their food supply until
they surrendered. Instead After two years, the Portuguese had had enough. They sent an envoy via Port Natal to the king and agreed to a cessation of hostilities. In return receiving a slice of Portuguese territory, the Zulus agreed to similar terms that they had with the Free State. It was a landmark deal: for the first time in history, a black kingdom had managed to secure all its borders vis its white neighbours without loss of any of its territory. It also meant that the British government was now more concerned in protecting its bridgehead at Port Natal was than using it to attack its neighbours. For a while it looked as if the
Free State had been too clever by half. Having done with the Portuguese the Zulu
turned their new found might on Griqualand, a small land inhabited by a mix of
renegade burghers, Khoi and The Griqua got due warning that
the sword of Damocles was about to fall upon them and squealed to the Free State
for protection. In reply, Capetown said that they would agree to do so only if
in turn the Griqua agreed to The final terms were not what
they expected. Griqualand was partitioned between the Zulus and the Free State;
the country was not particularly valuable and handing some of it over to its
Bantu neighbour was a cheap way to maintain peace. Both sides were well
satisfied with the deal: the Zulus had removed a thorn from their side whilst
the Free State dealt with a problem could drag them into a war that they did not
yet wish to fight. As a sop to their pride a number of Griqua volksradships were
created, each one with a constituency of eight counties. In spite of the threat that KwaZulu now posed to Natal, the British were not yet finished. For while, it considered renouncing the Treaty of Lisbon. However, the no ownership no claim principle was too established as a point of international law for them to be able to do that without threatening their interests in other parts of Africa. For example, when in 1818 Denmark attempted to lay sole claim to an area rich in palm oil in West Africa, Britain and France had threaten militarily action unless it physically occupied it. Given that it was riddled with malaria infested swamps, the Danes declined to do so. It also considered making the annexation of New Glasgow sixty years ago an issue. However, given the length of time that had passed and that the inhabitants were still intensely anti-English, the British decided to continue to push the issue of slavery. The London papers began to be
filled with articles of the treatment of slaves in the Free State, going into
very graphic detail. In vain, Capetown pleaded that the institution was no worse
than anywhere else in the world. The Free State's next move was
to approach the USA and Brasil, two other white countries with large slave
populations and suggest that they defend their way of life by forming an
anti-British alliance. However, the other Back in London, and egged on by the press, the British government despatched a large number of frigates to southern Africa. On arrival, these started harassing ships visiting the Cape in order to "search" them for slaves. As the importation of slaves had been banned for several years, they of course found very few. However, it did impact on general trade as well as the flow of colonists from Europe (the flow from India had virtually dried up after the British occupation of that subcontinent). For once the Free State was
outclassed. There was no way that it could win a sea war or even raise a fleet:
its navy consisted of a few customs cutters and it had too few experienced
sailors to man one. Also, whilst the So, a phoney war developed with
continuing harassment of ships around southern Africa and the barring of British
merchants doing business within the Free State. It lasted for eight years until
the Volksraad decided to The results of this can be imagined. Those too old to work were summarily driven from their homes whilst children as young as nine had their age changed so they received contracts. Furthermore, any indentured worker who took their case to court found that the judge always sided with their former owner. Also, the living and working conditions did not improve. Many an ex-slave discovered that freedom meant the freedom to starve or work for his former master for virtually nothing. To the Volksraad's amazement, their abolition bill was given short shift in London. The yellow journalism continued. The blockade remained in place for financial as well as political reasons (captains involved in anti-slaving patrols often made a tidy sum in prize money). Eventually, it was ended, not by diplomacy but corruption. A number of papers printed accounts of anti-slave patrol captains making thousands of pounds for seizing ships with virtually no slaves on board, but still condemned by prize counts as slavers. In the light of bad publicity the Admiralty had no option except to cut back on the patrols and only send them into waters where real slavers were rife. However, the Free State did not declare victory. The blockade had cost it dear and Port Natal was still a thorn in its side. To ensure that no more "enemy ports" were established in southern Africa, Capetown despatched ships to survey the entire coast. It located only one potential site, which was promptly occupied. Boxed in between the Atlantic
Ocean and the Kalahari Desert, Windhoek was a bit of a backwater. However, it
did provide an entreport from which to trade with the Herero as well as provide
a harbour for pilchard fishermen. Thus, if not actually claimed, the coast from
Angola to Mozambique was controlled either by the Afrikaan Free State or KwaZulu,
except of course for Port Natal. With the Kalahari Desert to the west and KwaZulu to the east, the Free State now had only one direction that it could expand, northwards. So, it did. Any tribe that resisted was either like the Pedi clientised or like the Matabele driven out. The first burghers to arrive in this area were farmers, but when gold was discovered on the Witerwatersrand, miners too swarmed north. In 1856, the mining camps were officially declared a city and named Johannesburg. The gold drove prospectors from Europe, South America as well as other African colonies. It was estimated that the proportions of the Free State population was 33% white, 25% Indian, 5% Griqua (this "race" now included some immigrants from South America and Portuguese Africa) and 27% Bantu or Khoi. None of the latter had the vote whilst the only Griqua volksradships were in the central region of the Free State. The drive north caused the
chiefs of KwaZulu to now view the Free State with alarm. The truce on the border
still held, and given that the kingdom had been extended deep into what had once
been Mozambique had certainly In Port Natal it was. Foreign goods being shipped to and from the Kingdom were confiscated unless the owner paid a bribe (a practice that was soon stamped out) or acquired a British sleeping partner. This pernicious practice soon spread with those in the civil service being particularly well endowed. As for traffic across the Free State-KwaZulu border, indunas were more than happy to take everything and leave the former owner with barely enough food to get to the nearest Free State town. Some in the Volksraad were
incensed by the British-Zulu alliance and demanded immediate action. However,
cooler heads prevailed. Whilst the Free State would win any war with KwaZulu, it
would almost certainly lead to a The first railway in the
Afrikaan Free State had been built in 1847 and ran between Capetown and
Stellanbosch. It did not take the Volksraad long to see the possibilities of the
new mode of transport in tying its As the lines were extended
across the veldt, it was proposed to the British that Port Natal be linked to
the Johannesburg spur (no mention being made that such a line would be ideal in
supporting any potential The line between Pietersburg and Johannesburg was fortuitous finished in 1872, just in time for the Zulu Civil War in the same year. At the time KwaZulu had descended into fratricidal conflict over succession to the throne (there had been a previous war in 1856 and some of the losing clans of that it decided to use the death of the king to take their revenge). Both sides approached the British for support. However, the governor of Port Natal was reluctant to get involved just in case he backed the wrong side and thus damaged trade relations with them. The Free State politicians were far less inhibited. When one side approached them for guns, they sent commandos as well. It assembled them in penny packets along the line then grouped them together in a single force close to the border. For political reasons burgher
and Zulu forces had been forced to operate independently. In spite of that, the
outcome was never really in doubt. Before the British knew it, let alone deploy
units of their own, not only Once he had been installed in
his capital, the new king not only revoked the exclusive commercial agreement
with the British, but also gave the Trak permission to lay a line between
Johannesburg and Port Natal. Strictly The success of the Free State
did not end there. A major tribe in the north, the Shona, had recently fallen
victim to the advance of the Free State. With a railhead now established at the
former's capital, the Free State now controlled the entire central core of
southern Africa. Whilst it was still dependent on Capetown and her sister ports The Congress of Berlin and
its Aftermath When Leopold, King of Belgium,
annexed the Congo in 1879 as his personnel domain, he overturned the no
occupation, no claim principle; Belgium suzerainty of the Congo hinterland
rested entire on their occupation on the coast. As a cunning ploy, in 1885 they got the Germans to convene an international congress in Berlin "to resolve outstanding difference with respect to African colonies". The Free State was not invited. However, like Banquo's ghost, they were still present at the feast. Whilst, it was not possible to denude them of any of the territory their enemy held already held, the British saw that the "borders" of the Free State were drawn as tight as possible. They were not as tight as London would have liked, though. Neither Germany nor Portugal were interested in the Kalahari desert region and attempts to get it left as a grey area failed. As the German foreign minister said, "if we are going to carve up Africa, lets do it in one sitting." In the case of KwaZulu, the British were more successful. The loss of part of Mozambique still rankled with the Portuguese and they were more than happy to agree to the kingdom becoming a codominium controlled by them and London. The Free State was less pleased. When they learned the news, they sent an angry letter to the Congress warning that they would "take action" if the Portuguese or British invaded their neighbour. The letter was sent too late for the Congress; the diplomats had left by the time it arrived. With a copy of the draft
agreement in its pocket, London despatched a number of regiments to the region.
It also expected the Portuguese to wait until they arrived, but its ally jumped
the gun. The moment the treaty had When it heard of the Portuguese action, the Free State wasted no time in replying. It sent an envoy to KwaZulu spelling out the choices as the Free State saw them plus a promise of the use of force if the Zulu king “did not see it Capetown’s way.” Faced with clientisation or destruction the king capitulated On the southern coast, Port Natal was besieged by a Free State force sent from Johannesburg. In the north, other commandos were despatched to raid Angola and Mozambique. The British decided to take
advantage of the war to crush its adversary once and for all. After all the Free
State was overstretched and under pressure thanks to the number of men it had
drawn away from farms and mines. It was also short of industry and had no real
navy. Therefore, with the entire resources of their Empire available to them,
London could easily squash the upstart republic. It was a perfect opportunity to
occupy not just KwaZulu To achieve this dream, an army
had to be landed in the region and that was the first problem. Port Natal had
already fallen to a sudden burgher assault; it had never been well fortified and
its improvised defences no The first was the army were now on the periphery not the centre of the conflict. Ahead of the troops was a long march across desert, veldt and jungle before they even reached the border of the Free State. The heart of it was even further away. Secondly, the environment around the ports was not ideal for Europeans; men soon started coming down with tropic diseases. The Indian troops sent fared better, but not by very much so the commander on the spot immediately requested African troops. However, London was tardy in responding to this and none were sent in the first phase of the war. Thirdly, the port installations were rudimentary; unlike Port Natal, they could only handle a few merchant vessels at a time. As for warships, the Portuguese had a few gunboats but that was it. Any proper naval squadron was going to have to rely on coaling stations in India or at a pinch, the Falklands Islands. Still, the Admiralty and the War
Office were not going to give up in a hurry. They despatched convoys of supplies
south not just because it was now obvious that this was going to be a long war,
but also because they It also started to make up with KwaZulu. Given that if the two
did not hang together, they would hang separately, it was offered some autonomy
within the Free State. The chiefs would receive similar status to The king agreed. If the British won, part of his domain would be given to the Portuguese whilst the rest would be annexed by London. At least the Free State offer left KwaZulu intact. Some of the chiefs did not agree. They had defeated Europeans before. They would defeat them again. The generals of the Free State ignored the rebels; they would be dealt with at its leisure. Instead, with the help o their new ally, they ordered made an all out attempt to take one of the enemy ports, Beira. The choice was simple. It was easier to reach from the Free State than Luanda and so conversely made a better springboard for an invasion. It was also nearer KwaZulu. The fact their mortal enemy the British, were also there was incidental. Non- Zulu Bantus were drafted in
to extending the railway network north and east. Zulus, however, fought not
worked. Within weeks of the Free State-KwaZulu alliance, British and Portuguese
troops in Mozambique were In reply, the British commander retreated his men back to Beira and fortified the city. Naval gunnery would protect extra support and his supply lines were secure. To win the war the Free State going to have to besiege it and he was confident that his and his men could break any assault. In the mean time, his opposite number in the Admiralty sent warships to aid the defence of the port. Eventually in 1887 the railway
was far enough advanced that Free State could transport artillery to within
range of Beira and began to bombard it. The British replied with counter
artillery fire, but as the Free State gun The war ground on for another
year. The railhead was not yet close enough for the Free State to readily
transport supplies between it and the besieging army. In addition, it was now
low on artillery shells; the Then, the Portuguese cracked. Their input into the war in terms of men was low. However, it was their lands that were being fought over and occupied. With their railway deep in Mozambique, it was conceivable that the Free State would take Beira. Once it had fallen, Luanda would be their next target and given the enmity between the two nations, there was no guarantee that the Free State would return any conquests. So rather than lose either colony, the Portuguese foreign minister opened secret negotiations in Rome with the Free State with a view to ending hostilities. The British soon found out and were naturally livid, but the damage was done. London was faced with settling on its old adversary's terms or supporting an expeditionary force far from a friendly port, a possibility that would almost certainly lead to disaster. It signed. The tone of the Treaty of Naples
was intended to be neutral, but there was no question of its not being a Free
State victory. Port Natal was demilitarised. KwaZulu was declared to be under
Free State sovereignty whilst occupied Mozambique was returned to Portugal. In
another clause, the Trak gained the right to complete the railway to Beira, thus
opening up more of southern Africa to exploitation. And as an after thought the
Free In spite of its victory, the
Free State learned an important lesson. Never again would it be dependent on
imported arms. In a massive programme, burghers and Indians were given soft
loans by the government to With the possibility of colonial occupation eliminated by the victory of the Free State in the South African War, the Zulu king began to reconsider his Faustian bargain. Whilst it had been his impis that had crushed the rebels, burgher support had been critical and that rankled. In the years that followed, the impact of the changes to its neighbour began to affect KwaZulu. One of particular importance was that the young men no longer stayed at home. Instead, they headed to the Free State to earn money and consequently became wealthier than the old indunas. This created tensions in KwaZulu society that he wished to stop. Not withstanding that he knew that the Free State was as imperialistic as any European power, the king thought that if he asked nicely and agreed not to collaborate wit non-Africans, Cape Town would let him secede quietly. He was wrong on two counts. The first was that the Free State government saw a British conspiracy behind his move. If KwaZulu became independent then so too would Matabeleland. Then, before any one knew it, the British Empire would be sending armies from the territories its puppet allies against a weakened Free State. The second was that
surprisingly, the Indian volksrads openly backed the client status of KwaZulu.
They may not have had the same political power as the burghers, but a
substantial proportion of the Free State manufacturing and mining industry was
in their hands and in order for it to keep functioning, it needed its Bantus
work force. So when, the Volksraad voted against secession a substantial number
of Indian volksrads voted with the government. This was Faced with such hostility, the king backed down. He was still master in his own kingdom which was more than could be said for most tribes in southern Africa, Khoi or Bantu. In fact, the only other monarch with remotely any power was the king of the Matabele. There was also another development that would come back to haunt the Free State. Rich mineral deposits were discovered and Capetown demanded that they be developed by Free State companies: they were not about to let the British or Portuguese in by a backdoor. The king retreated. In return for a paltry royalty, he leased the land and the mineral rights for fifty years to a number of consortiums financially mainly by wealthy burghers and Indians, but also with some foreign capital. KwaZulu was being robbed; it knew it, but could see that there was little than it could do about it. The only consolation was that exodus of young men turned into a trickle because there were now paying jobs at home. Some Zulus though decided to
take steps into their own hands. Largely young impi leaders, they organised a
coup in 1908. The indunas were taken prisoner whilst meeting in council and the
king placed under house arrest. Knowing that the Free State would not take the challenge lying down, the railway at the border was dynamited in several places. Negotiations with Port Natal were also opened; if the secessionists could get British assistance they would be half way to an independent KwaZulu. They were to be disappointed though. Whilst enemies of the Free State, the British were no friends of the idea of an independent African state. It would set a bad precedence. London did though turn a blind eye to arms shipments being sent to the secessionists via Port Natal. The news of the coup triggered
revolts in Matabeleland in the north and Hererealm in the west (Namibia in OTL).
White farms and mines were attacked by bands of rebels with substantial
casualties on both sides. Faced with a series of revolts spread across its is
domain Capetown declared a state of emergency and call up reservists. The conflict in both areas then developed into a guerrilla war with the Free State having the same advantages as it had during the nineteenth century, shipping in supplies for its people whilst deny them to its enemies by burning villages and crops. Thousands died from starvation and eventually the indunas from both tribes surrendered. The Herero had land confiscated for burgher settlement whilst Matabeleland was annexed and their king deposed. The KwaZulu resistance might have gone better, but for a chance development in the Free State army. In 1907 several commandos had been equipped with motor trucks. Whilst these machines were not very reliable (or for that matter popular with the troops they were supplied to), they did give the units concerned unprecedented mobility. By attacking for points far from railroads and travelling through areas infested by tsetse fly (thus unusable by cavalry) burgher troops were in the Zulu capital before the leaders of the secessionists could organise any defence. They freed the king who incensed by the disrespect that he had received ordered his people to lay down their arms. As in the South Africa War, some did not, but this time they were suppressed by their own people. No change was made to the
original terms of the mining agreements. When Britain declared war on
Germany because of its invasion of Belgium, there were some in the Free State
who demanded that it go to war against its old enemy. However, caution
prevailed. Whether or not Britain was Besides, there was money to be made. Whilst German markets for African minerals were blockaded, the additional needs of the Triple Entente more than made up for this. Furthermore, bankers in Capetown went into the war loan business by advancing large sums to combatant countries. German colonies in the Kamerun and Togo were quickly overrun, but in the east, the British became bogged down in a guerrilla war with a small contingent of white colonial troops supported by askaris. Their successes soon drew burgher volunteers, many of which trekked across Mozambique at their own expense. London protested at this, but Capetown replied that it could not stop them. Burghers were free to travel where they might and if they wished to go to Tanzanika, that was their affair. Needing African minerals more
than another enemy, the British next turned their ire on Portugal. This was also
to no avail. The railway to Beira provided an easy route to Mozambique and from
there it was no trouble However, such measures did not totally stop the flow, they merely slowed it down. Consequently, the Indian sepoys that the British sent to Tanzanika often found themselves facing a better-armed enemy Then out of nowhere, events
escalated. Whilst engaged in commerce raiding in the Indian Ocean, the German
cruiser Konigsberg, was damaged by British warships so the captain sailed for
port for repairs. Initially, he headed for Tanzanika, but in view of the
facilities there being primitive, he changed course to Vrying Pan. No doubt, he
expected a sympathetic ear from the Free State, but in that he was wrong. He was
given twenty-four hours to With a rejuvenated enemy raider
in the area, the Royal Navy dispatched more warships to waters around southern
Africa. This forced the Konigsberg to retreat into the Antarctic Ocean. However,
it soon ran low on coal and returned to Vrying Pan where it voluntarily interned
itself. The Admiralty were livid at the move and at one point planned to bombard
the ship whilst it lay in the Free State harbour. In the end, wiser counsel
prevailed and The British fared better in the
land war. Faced by more reinforcements, Lettow-Vorbeck's rag tag force slipped
into Mozambique. In spite of this, his supply situation worsened when in 1917
Portugal declared war on the Central Powers. The British were now able to impose
a tight blockade on the coast whilst the Portugal began to search all trains
travelling on the Beira line. The Free State protested both actions, but as the
boot was on the What their armies in the field
could not do though, was prevent the slow movement south of the German commander
and his troops. Finally, and just before the armistice, they slipped across the
Free States border The British now felt it
necessary to respond by deploying a heavy cruiser squadron in Port Natal
(technically One impact of the Great War was
that it finally taught the Portuguese that for all the power of Britain
throughout the world, in southern Africa it was the Free State that ruled the
roost. Add the fact that the entire For its part, Cape Town noted the change and responded in kind. However, it was more concerned with economic matters. With its gold mining interests the Free State maintained a gold standard currency. However, during the twenties and early thirties, its trading partners in Europe and America devalued their currencies. This made Free State exports of all varieties less competitive. As the slow down in the world economy bit unemployment rose and Communist agitation grew. Whilst Bantu employment in white areas was not high, given the cheapness of black wages, it began to grow. The Communists were in the main whites with a few Indian sympathisers; no withstanding its demand that all men be treated equal, Griquas, Khoi and Bantus declared to be class enemies. Cells were assembled in many of the major cities together with guns to arm an uprising. Whilst the government were aware of the Communist plans, it had no idea of the scale of them. Thus when workers went on strike in Fordsburg and Vrying Pan and formed armed "People's Militias" it was caught on the hop. However, it decided that it was not going to negotiate with rebels. Commandos were immediately sent to each of the hotspots to first contain the uprising then put it down. The operation to retake
Fordsburg went smoothly. The general, a veteran from Great War (he had commanded
a brigade of volunteers under Lettow-Vorbeck) moved his troops swiftly and
overwhelmed the Communists in For some reason a political hack
was given command of the forces sent to Vrying Pan. Rather than move in quickly,
he assembled his forces at a distance from the city. The Communists were thus
given plenty of warning With his forces bogged down in
the outskirts of Vrying Pan, the commander called Capetown requesting
reinforcements. Furthermore, he contacted a relative in the FSN to despatch some
cruisers to shell the city. Fortunately, none were sent. Not only would have
townspeople been killed, but the Communists had With the crisis now slipping
away from them, Capetown ordered the Fordsburg commando to leave sufficient
troops to hold the town and train to Vrying Pan. This was done and the
reinforcements proceeded to retake the In the thirties the economic situation deteriorated still further. Eventually, the government came off the gold standard and floated the rand. This led to a boom in the mining industry which directly benefited KwaZulu as well as white and Indian business magnates. In addition, an export drive to South America caused to manufacturing industries boom. In fact in the new age of prosperity only the Griquas did not benefit. Their small number of volksrads were unable to obtain 'pork' for Griqua towns because unlike the Bantus they did not directly control any territory on which to spend it. Free State industry further
benefited from the Japanese invasion of China and the Spanish Civil War. As it
was not a member of the League of Nations, it saw no need to obey the arms
embargo as well as having no qualms in Like the USA, the Free State was
not directly involved by the breakout of war in Europe, but neither could it
avoid the consequences. However, unlike it's Northern American contemporary, it
did not see Germany as a threat; However, the Free State was still hostile to the British Empire and thus its exports of minerals and manufactured were skewed in favour of Germany by a series of tariffs. Because cargo on a British, French or American ship was often diverted from ports where it could be transhipped to the Third Reich, some Free State merchants purchased some old tramp steamers from the USA as well as ordering new vessels. Initially the favourite destination was Italy but after its entry into the war, Free State vessels sailed first to Vichy France and then in 1942 Spain once a railway financed by Free State loans was built to link that country to occupied France had been completed. At first the Royal Navy harassed
Free State ships sailing to Europe. However, this ceased after the FSN started
to return the favour to British vessels passing the Cape of Good Hope: the Royal
Navy was far to stretched Furthermore, manpower requirements against Italian forces in North Africa and Ethiopia forced Britain to reduce its garrison in Port Natal. This created a split in the government in Capetown. Anglophobe hard-liners saw it as an opportunity to drive their enemy from southern Africa by occupying its only bastion. Moderates retorted by pointing out that however successful the Germans were on land, the Royal Navy still ruled the waves and thus could easily isolate the Free State. If an ally like Spain with a common border to the Third Reich was not inclined to declare war then it was foolhardy for the Free State with no frontier to do so. The moderates with the backing of the Indian volksrads won the day. Whilst the latter did have the same political rights as their white counterparts they knew that they had more than their compatriots in India. With no guarantees from the British, they were inclined to stick with the devil they knew. In fact their representation in the Volksraad had increased relative to the whites thanks in part to an electoral boundary commission plus higher birth rate. With their government standing
neutral, volunteers (as in the First World War) travelled north to fight for the
Germans only this time they went by ship. Whilst a few went to the Eastern Front
many burghers including a Capetown thanked itself for its decision to have remained neutral when the USA joined the war in 1941. If the threat of the Royal Navy was bad enough, that of facing another navy of similar strength was worse. Furthermore, Washington paradoxically turned out to be less accommodating. Whilst the American government saw it politically necessary to tiptoe around the Vichy French, it saw no need to do so with certain other collaborating states. Free State merchant ships were barred from the Med and the Spain-France railway was cut by bombers once US forces had established themselves in North Africa. Relationships between the two countries turned frostier when a number of Free State vessels under construction were confiscated for the war effort. The Free State might have
retaliated to the loss of the ships by imposing British level tariffs on all
exports but for the fact that its foreign markets had been reduced to South
America and the Allied powers. With its usual That did not lead to any real improvement in its relationship with the Allies. For one thing, burghers serving with Rommel's Afrika Corps were demonstrated to be finest troops in that theatre. British and Australian units facing them tended to take higher casualties than equivalent German and far higher than Italian formations. Some of the ex-commandos were equipped with armoured cars and despatched to raid British supply lines, a role that they became particularly adept at. However, this make them even less popular and consequently, those who taken prisoner, tended to be treated worse than their European compatriots. Still the fame of those who did serve such that even after the Axis had been driven from North Africa, volunteers continued to travel via Spain to join up. The arrival of the Japanese in the war and their formation of a Free Indian Army caused some Indians to travel via the Dutch East Indies or Siam to join up. However, they were far fewer than the whites who joined the German army. What was more significant was the numbers who fled India to avoid conscription. As the Free State was not inclined to deport them, its relationship with Britain worsened still further By the end of 1944, it was clear that Germany and Japan were living on borrowed time and consequently many of their supporters began to improve their relationships with Britain and the USA. But not the Free State. Unlike them, it was economically self-sufficient and the victorious Allies were heavily dependent on its minerals. Thus, when the UN was created, it declined to join, a decision supported by both the Governor and the Volksraad. Neither wished to become beholden to any organisation in which Britain was a significant power. In spite of this, the Free State could not remain completely isolationist. The drive for decolonisation in Asia and Africa caused the non white elements to consider their positions. Their reaction was divided. Some demanded polarity with the whites. Others wanted a non-racial democracy based around one man one vote. A third group, mainly Bantus but also a few Griquas and Khoi wanted independence from Capetown. The most vocal group of these was a group of Zulu indunas living close to the Port Natal border. When Capetown declined to give any of the dissenters even a token of their demands, they decided to matters into their own hands. The secessionists slowly accumulated weapons and when they believed the time was they declared that they were seceding from the Free State. They also demand to be allowed to join Port Natal. The timing of the secessionists
was bad. Britain was too involved in giving India its independence to come As no other power was prepared to come to their aid, the indunas and their supporters were left to face the wrath of the Free State. Martial law was declared and commandos and allied impis were quickly despatched to the rebel area. Seeing their fate, many fled across the border in Port Natal. Attempts to expel them or even to stop them ended after British askaris opened fire on a crowd of refugees, killing fifty and wounding several hundred. The news shot round the world
and rather than face continuing bad publicity, Britain let the remaining rebels
in. For its part, the Free State allowed any who wished to, leave. Its forces
had also slaughtered some civilians, but The uprising did result on political change, the Governor deciding to bend now rather than break later. A second house (the Council) was added to the Volksraad in which the members were elected by a universal franchise. In the now upper house, or Senate, Bantu volksrads are created on the same ratio as the Griquas as well as a few appointees of the King of KwaZulu (no other tribal leader was given the same privilege.) In addition the new constitution decreed that the Prime Minister had to lead from the Senate The net result was that in spite
of giving some power away the white minority was still if not quite totally in
control. In 1955, the mining agreements of fifty years before came up for renewal. Since their initiation, the KwaZulu governments had been paid paltry royalties. The time had come the King and his advisers decided to end that state of affairs. They knew that they would not be able to run the mines themselves. For one thing the whites would not allow any nationalisation. For another, the Secessionist Rebellion had taught them not to rely on the outside help than they would require to be successful. Still, they were determined to
gain more of the profits for their people. For its part, as long as there was no
trouble and the new royalties did not exceed the level paid to it from state
lands, the Capetown government For their part, the mining companies were not prepared to give up their profits. They did their level best to convince their workers that increased royalties would lead to job losses. They also bribed a number of influential indunas to lobby the King. In the negotiations, they did their best to stonewall on the principle that no deal would mean that the status quo would continue. Thus, when the original agreement ended, no new one had replaced it. For a while, the mining companies believed that they had won and the Zulus would acquiesce to the past position. However, the king was biding his time. Two months later, he announced that the KwaZulu was nationalising twenty five per cent of three smaller mines. Whilst it was not stated that further nationalisation would follow, it was obvious to all concerned that this was merely the first move. Whilst the official position
within the British and American governments was the same as that of Capetown,
there were moves behind the scenes. Whilst the king's action was not in the same
league as the nationalisation The first was that the mines
that had had stakes nationalised in them had had very little foreign holdings in
them. Thus, the affair could at this stage be presented as an internal Free
State matter. Secondly, whatever the Over the years Anglo American Mining had built up a substantial holding in southern Africa, partly by take-overs, partly by buying its smaller competitors out. Whilst a few local mining houses were larger (just) it was the strongest of the foreigners. It had passed first round of nationalisation unscathed, but not the second. So, when the KwaZulu government seized a portion of its asset including a share in its lucrative Mollari Deep mine, it called in its markers with the CIA. It wanted its mine back and it wanted it now. At this the CIA was not sure how to handle the situation. In spite of Anglo-American's claims, the affair looked more like a right wing cabal than a communist plot. In fact, the few communists still remaining in southern Africa were advocating total nationalisation and not the one quarter of the Zulu government. Still, they set to work and soon various mines were hit by wildcat strikes. Naturally, the US Congress denounced what it called communist threats to the Free State. However, the government of the latter was not so sure. The predominant targets were partially nationalised mines and not the wholly capitalist owned ones as one might have been expected. In addition, when it and its client investigated the affair they discovered that it was being instigated by local agitators. However these individuals were not on their own, but receiving substantial outside assistance in the form of advisers and cash, the source of which can not be traced. Given its military might, the Free State was not worried that the situation would lead to an uprising against its client. However, the loss of business hurt and the chaos created was giving it a poor reputation for commercial stability. So whilst the Minister of Mines tried to a quiet word with the mining companies to agree to better terms and try and convince the Zulus to back off for now, the Free State secret service (BOSS) began to recruit allies in the USA and Britain. In the main it targeted those with xenophobic views, but it did also lobby the main stream by pointing out the need of the Western Powers for the minerals it produced. It was also successful in convincing them that as a capitalist manufacturing country, it was no ally of Soviet Union. Thus, the CIA found itself
trapped between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea. To meet the demands of its
paymasters, it would be required to support precisely the sort of organisation
that it was supposed to resist. Wiser The untraceable support had been
supplied by it and whilst the paymasters may have held racist views at home,
they had no qualms in using African Americans as intermediaries. This subterfuge
lasted just long enough for The KwaZulu government swiftly followed up by nationalising stakes in every other mine as well as introducing harsh anti-union laws. The US and British governments protested, but only for form's sakes. The Free State secretly guaranteed that as long as no move in support of the mining companies be made, it would limit the level of nationalisation. In the streets of Isawangala (the capital of KwaZulu) and in the corridors of power, there was jubilation. The country had acquired a source of revenue independent of Capetown and the monarchy regained some of the self -respect that had been lost when the tribe had come under Capetown domination. Some saw it as the first road to
independence, but the indunas were less optimistic. The source of their newfound
wealth still travelled via white owned railways and white owned ports. Besides,
if the Free State The Free State watched with some
intrepidation the retreat from Africa of the British, French and Belgians. If
the new black governments were seen to succeed, its own Bantus would agitate for
more political power. Whilst There were two facets in the fighting in the Congo. The first was against the Simba rebellion, the second over the Katanga secession. A UN force as well as white mercenaries were employed put down the former and try and hold the country together. However, the governor of this mineral rich province took advantage of a well-trained force to rebel against the central government and carve out his own fiefdom. As first his ploy was successful, but it soon began to collapse when Katanga was cut off from the outside world. Given that he was already a pariah for using white soldiers to fight blacks (he was the main employer of mercenaries), the governor had no qualms in approaching the Free State for military assistance, assistance that they were ready to provide. However, it was not easy to do so. Katanga was virtually unreachable from the northern counties, of the Free State although ammunition and troops could be flown in. So, the Trak was given government aid to extend into Katanga; the railways built by the Belgians only ran from the hinterland to Kinshasa on the Atlantic coast. The fighting between the rebel province and its former central government became bogged down; the Congolese Army was neither strong nor well led enough to retake Katanga in the face of burgher commandos whilst the Free State air bridge can only supply enough to maintain the status quo. Outside the country, a number of UN resolutions were passed ordering Capetown to withdraw its troops, but as the Free State was still not a member of it, they went unheeded. When the railway finally reached
Katanga, the burgher commandos were redeployed to guard it, leaving the Katanga
levies to hold the border. Also and now with an alternative shipping route, the
seceded province began The governor made no attempt to join the Free State, though. Notwithstanding a reduced defence burden that it would gain by doing (the Katangese government paid all the costs of the commandos stationed on its soil), he was currently master in his home and had no wish to reduce his status to becoming a client like the King of KwaZulu. The Portuguese decolonised in
Africa well after their fellow Europeans. In
fact, in its case the process was involuntarily as it was triggered by a
military coup at home. It also took place in a post Vietnam War world in For its part, the Free State did not care that the Portuguese were leaving; if anything it was glad to see the back of them. However, it was not prepared to sit by and see large numbers of Cubans set up camp in Angola. Circumstances though were complicated by the appearance of Russian advisors as well as it was Russian aircraft that were flying the Cubans in. Still, Capetown decided to take military action on the principle of striking before the situation worsened. An expeditionary force was assembled in the Zambezi Valley whilst piston engined bombers (no other Free State warplanes had the range) began bombing Communist air bases in Angola. The Russian reacted as predicted; they flew in a squadron of Migs and set up SAMs and ack ack guns around the Cubans' bases. The Free State was thus forced to curtail its raids to only a few and those by night. However, that was now of little consequence: commandos were beginning to push into Angola. On the face of it, the Cubans had the advantage with their heavy Russian tanks and guns and nominal air superiority. However, the commandos were trained around a more fluid form of warfare where frontline were rarely fixed or even existed in country in which heavy vehicles found it difficult to move. Independent columns would push deep into Angola, attack fixed Communist positions as long as their ammunition lasted then retreat to resupply. Attempts by the Cubans to launch counterattacks resulted in heavy losses in both men and machines; the moment they moved beyond air cover, their unwieldy formations were ambushed. The situation in Mozambique was
more chaotic in that no Cuban forces were despatched and no dominant faction
managed to gain the upper hand. Still the Free State did occupy a corridor along
the railway to Beira and On the Communist side, Russia was not inclined to stand its proxies up against the Free State on territory that it would stand and fight at all costs. The guerrillas that it supported did manage to get a People's Republic established in the north with its capital in Pemba. In theory, the Republic also controlled the south. In practice though, that area was the preserve of various warlords. To have any chance of winning the war in Angola, the Free State needed modern jet fighters comparable to Migs so it set out to acquire them. As there was no possibility of purchasing them from the USA or any Western European country, it approached Israel. There had already been some links between the two, most notably the clandestine sale by Free State of uranium that the Israelis had needed for their atomic weapons programme. However, these had remained on a covert link. The acquisition of jet fighters could not been hidden. Nonetheless, as the Free State could pay in hard cash and on the nail, the Israelis accepted the deal. The Russian High Command knew
that the arrival of Mirages in the conflict would swing the war in the favour of
the Free State and it was seriously proposed that the transports be sunk. That
was immediately vetoed on the Instead, secret negotiations
were opened. In return for a Free State withdrawal from Angola the Russians
offered a major reduction in the Cuban presence there. The Free State did not
bite: they also wanted international The warlords in southern
Mozambique were not so sanguine. The arrival of a well-armed force in their
territory drove many of them into the bush. As the Free State border was sealed
they found it virtually impossible obtain The new state of affairs was not
without controversy. The OAU made new demands for sanctions to be applied to the
Free State and its Katanga client (although not to either of the Cuban sustained
regimes). In this they gained some British support. However, the Russians
declined to play ball; their support for such action would almost certainly
jeopardise their gains in southern Africa. They did though set up an embassy in
Katanga The Russian victories in Africa were short lived. The war in Afghanistan turned into a defeat and consequently led to the collapse of Communism. The US government was thus able to declare the Cold War won and a beginning of a new World Order. There was also a technological as well as political revolution; newshounds could beam pictures from distant lands straight into viewers' living room via communication satellites. People were thus greater aware of events outside their lives. Some countries such as Iraq
failed to note the change to a unipolar world. When it invaded Kuwait, it was
surprised that a UN coalition headed by the Americans was formed to drive it
out. Every night, shots of the war Like Iraq, the Free State also failed to note the changes; it was too busy at home with its own problems. Without Russian support, the Cuban contingents were forced go home to the delight of Capetown. For a year or so, the border states remained quiet. Then a series of military coups and tribal massacres in Rwanda/Burundi created a sense of unrest in central and southern Africa. This sense of chaos permeated into the Free State with dissident movements springing up in both the core of the Free State as well as its KwaZulu and Katanga clients. No withstanding having a higher standard of living than other African states, the main demand of the movements was political independence. Thinking that business was as
usual, Capetown ordered a series of sweeps against the tribes in question. They
were very surprised when their action became headline news across the world,
even topping the Yugoslavian Civil To a certain extent, this was of
little consequence: most electricity in the Free State was generated by coal
fired power stations. On the other hand, in the past oil to be refined into
petrol had been obtainable on the In both cases some form of clash
with the UN was predicted. What the Free State had over Serbia and Iraq though,
was that there were no major bases in its neighbours for hostile air and naval
forces to operate from. Azania (formerly Port Natal) had been given self-rule in
the seventies and not withstanding UN support, would do it best to avoid
provoking its neighbours. Furthermore its sea- and airports were of limited
capacity and easily neutralisable by Free State forces. As for the Russian
facilities in Angola and Mozambique, they had always been marginal and were now
virtually non-existent. Thus, any use of military force against the Free State In addition, there were a large
number of foreign assets in the Free State, any or all which could be held to
fortune. All in all, a clash with the UN had a high possibility of victory. The
only fly in the ointment was The Iraq offensive quickly
ground to a halt. Whilst the Free State was able to purchase a number of old oil
tankers, these were eventually intercepted by UN authorised warships and
boarding parties placed on them. The oil was then calculated against Iraq's
legitimate exports and sold with the resulting funds being placed in an escrow
account. Unless new tankers were escorted which would led to a shooting war, the
Free State had no way to stop them being boarded. Whilst it had upgraded its
fleet during the eighties with destroyers of German and French design, but they
were too few in number for such a task. Possible tit for tat retaliation by
intercepting tankers passing the Cape of Good Hope was rejected on the grounds
that in spite of the difficulties, it could polarise the US and British
government against it. The clientisation of Angola was the only option left. The planned invasion Operation
Jungle Drums had very much of the hallmarks of the incursions in the seventies
with one difference, The Free State had a Bantu ally and ostensibly, it would be
this who would As for the Angolan army, it was dispersed throughout the country in order to attempt to suppress the guerrillas. Thus, it was in no position to resist a series of columns crossing the border and driving deep into its territory. Consequently, it was cut to pieces. The government though reacted with commendable speed by calling upon its allies and the UN for assistance. However, with the West and Russia bogged down in Kosovo and no African country able to quickly put an expeditionary force together, it found that it was on its own. The commandos make rapid gains.
Most cities surrendered rather than allow themselves to be besieged. Those that
did were occupied by KwaZulu and Katangese garrisons; the Free State was
reluctant to overtly deploy An emergency meeting of the Security Council was called, but the debate soon broke down into acrimony. A motion demanding the withdrawal of all foreign troops from Angola was passed, but with all five permanent members abstaining, it had no teeth. Days later, Free State forces were on the outskirts of the capital. To maintain its hold on what
cities were left under its control, the Luanda government was forced to fly in
supplies. Also and not withstanding the UN resolution, the Luanda government
again called upon its allies for When unmarked aircraft appeared
over Luanda, both Lagos and Havana stopped all flights for fear that their
transport aircraft would be shot down transports even though they were unarmed.
What they did not know was that The appearance of enemy aircraft
over Luanda increased the flow of refugees from the city. With it now emptied of
civilians, Free State ground forces stormed in. With superiority in equipment
and supplies over the Given that the all production
was "earmarked" for their use, the Free State did not care that the UN
put an embargo on all exports of Angolan oil. Neither did the new Luanda regime.
It knew to whom it owed power and It then proceeded to consolidate
its position. Those of the old regime and the previous ruling tribe were sacked
and their positions filled by new men. Whilst this created some chaos, it was
not as bad as it might have been. Firstly the previous regime had been corrupt
and disorganised. Secondly, Free State "mercenaries" were employed The surrendered troops were not
so lucky. The Africans were deported to work in the Free State and Katanga on
long indentures (called slavery by the UN): either Capetown nor Luanda wanted a
core on which a new guerrilla army could be formed. As for the Cuban and
Nigerian POWs, with their governments refusing to agree to Free State terms,
they were destined to spend years in captivity. Whilst, it had been a good war
for the Free State, it was also pyrrhic in nature. Thanks to its success,
country was now if anything more isolated than before. There had been an
incident, which boded ill for the future. To persuade the Free State not to
extend the war into the Gabon there had been an overflight by a number of US
stealth bombers. The message had been noted and the US ambassador was duly
informed that the conflict would be contained. So where is the Afrikaan Free State today? Outside the pariah states of Iraq, and North Korea and disorganised states such as Somalia, it is probably the most isolated country in the world. But not completely. It's mines produce a significant amount of the minerals consumed by the world economy and the factories in KwaZulu turn out cheap if not politically correct goods. However, exports tend to be limited by outsiders declining to do business with those in the Free State rather than actions by the latter. Paradoxically, this works in reverse with trade with China in that Cape Town is totally committed to free trade because it's history of being boycotted or embargoed whilst Chinese entrepreneurs are looking for partners without American and European ties. The attack on the World Trade Centre on 9/11 and the War on Terror has essentially past it by; whilst there is a Muslim community within the Indian population, they have yet to become radicalised. In fact, in one respect, the War on Terror is working in its favour in that the USA and Britain have been diverted from their normal hostile relationship with the Free State. The regimes of Katanga and
Angola still rely on support from Cape Town to sustain them. As they do not
allow an effective opposition to develop, this still will continue into the
foreseeable future. It is possible that they A number of leading experts have predicted that if the resulting chaos spills across the border or has impact on the flow of traffic along the Beira railway, the Free State will use it to justify setting up another client state. The OAU would of course do their best to resist this. However without Western support, they are rather impotent. Because of the War on Terror and the Free State most definitely not one of the Axis of Evil, such support is unlikely to be forthcoming. Internally, the balance of power
is still in the hands of the whites although the distribution of wealth is more
equitably spread between them, the Indians and the Bantus. So far the latter two
groups seem content with What is of concern to the political elite, is the number of illegal immigrants coming from other African states without counterbalancing immigration to the white and Indian communities. Should these settle permanently in large numbers, this could shift the balance in favour of the Bantus. This fear is probably why no attempts have been made to further integrate Katanga and Angola into the Free State. It is even possible that they will become dumping grounds for illegal immigrants with all the problems that might create.
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