Painting the Map Red: Canada and the South African War, 1899-1902

Sidney Allinson is a Victoria-based communications consultant, Canadian
news correspondent for Britain’s The Army Quarterly and Defence, and
author of The Bantams: The Untold Story of World War I.

Here it is, at last—the definitive book about the more than 7000
Canadians who volunteered to fight on behalf of Britain in southern
Africa at the turn of the century. Such a long delay is almost
inexplicable, considering what a tremendous social, military, and
political effect that far-off African conflict had on Canada.

The Anglo–Boer conflict foreshadowed events of only a few years
later, during the 1914–18 Great War. As in that much larger conflict,
the Boer War brought first an enormous surge of patriotism for King and
Empire, droves of eager young volunteers, and a manpower crisis
following sobering news of heavy casualties from bullet and disease (270
Canadian soldiers died there). There were the same florid political
arguments, regional disagreements, national navel-gazing about the
wisdom of Canadian participation, and a strong antiwar movement. While
he thoroughly covers civilian events, Miller’s main emphasis is on the
generally valiant combat experiences of our hastily trained troops.
Battlefield accounts follow individual officers and soldiers in action,
and there is a superb description of the Royal Canadian Regiment’s
victory at Paardeberg. In addition to detailing famed conventional
regiments, Miller also tells of some “other Canadians”—a colorful
bunch of rough-riding irregulars. The photographs and numerous maps in
this extensively researched and highly recommended book shed further
light on the course of Canadian operations during the South African War.