DIE GESKIEDENIS VAN DIE TWEEDE VRYHEIDSOORLOG IN SUID-AFRIKA, 1899-1902
The Government Printer, Pretoria, 1969-1996, hardcovers, Afrikaans text, cloth boards, six volumes complete, 24,5 cms x15 cms, some slight wear to board on one volume, otherwise condition: very good.
Johan Breytenbach - compiler
Four volumes, illustrations, portraits (some as frontispieces, colour. maps (some folding, one in pocket on rear endpaper of volume one).
Volume One. Die Boere-offensief, Okt.-Nov.1899, x prelims, 508 pages.
Volume Two. Die eerste Britse offensief, Nov.-Des. 1899, x prelims, 513 page.
Volume Three. Die stryd in Natal, Jan.-Feb. 1900, xi prelims, 594 pages.
Volume Four. Die Boereterugtog uit Kaapland, xiii prelims, 513 pages.
The detailed research and equally detailed maps that accompany the text make this publication a cornerstone of any collection dealing with this war.
Johan Breytenbach (1917 - 1994) was the official South African state historian for the Second Boer War. He was employed by the National Archives in Pretoria and studied the Second Boer War since 1940. In 1959 the Minister of Education, Arts and Science appointed Breytenbach state historian for the Second Boer War, supervised by the Department of History of the University of Pretoria. Using Breytenbach's notes, the State Archives finalised and published Volume six posthumously.
"There are various reasons why the Government of the Republic of South Africa decided to have the history of the Second War of Independence described and published. Firstly, it is the largest and most glorious war ever fought in South Africa... Yet the history of the war in its entirety has never been scientifically described.... Secondly, the works fully treating the war all suffer from serious defects. In most, truth and fabrication are so mixed up due to the writers' sentiments that they fail to give a faithful picture of what really happened. Again, the few exceptions are all based on incomplete and hasty research... Furthermore, these works are not scientifically accounted for... The compiler of the present work has devoted himself since 1940 continuously to an in-depth study of the sources... Many of which are propaganda..." (Translation from Afrikaans) - Johan Breytenbach
