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The ''Bittereinders'' () or irreconcilables were a faction of
The ''Bittereinders'' () or irreconcilables were a faction of Boer
Boers ( ; af, Boere ()) are the descendants of the Dutch-speaking Free Burghers of the eastern Cape frontier in Southern Africa during the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. From 1652 to 1795, the Dutch East India Company controlled this are ...
guerrilla fighters, resisting the forces of the British Empire
The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts e ...
in the later stages of the Second Boer War
The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the So ...
(1899–1902).
By September 1900, the conventional forces of the South African Republic
The South African Republic ( nl, Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek, abbreviated ZAR; af, Suid-Afrikaanse Republiek), also known as the Transvaal Republic, was an independent Boer Republic in Southern Africa which existed from 1852 to 1902, when i ...
and the Orange Free State
The Orange Free State ( nl, Oranje Vrijstaat; af, Oranje-Vrystaat;) was an independent Boer sovereign republic under British suzerainty in Southern Africa during the second half of the 19th century, which ceased to exist after it was defeat ...
had been largely defeated by the British army. The remnants of Boer government resolved to fight on in a guerrilla war
Guerrilla warfare is a form of irregular warfare in which small groups of combatants, such as paramilitary personnel, armed civilians, or irregulars, use military tactics including ambushes, sabotage, raids, petty warfare, hit-and-run tactics ...
, to try to force the British to retreat from the territory. As it became clear that military victory was unlikely, opinion among the guerrillas divided between those who wanted to secure a negotiated peace and those who preferred to fight on to "the bitter end
Bitter end or The Bitter End may refer to:
* Bitter end, the part of a rope used to form a knot
*The Bitter End, a nightclub in New York City
Geography
* Bitter End, Tennessee
*Bitter End, Virgin Gorda
Arts, entertainment, and media Literature
...
" ( af, bitter eind). The decision to continue the fight was given particular motivation by the British use of concentration camps to intern captured Boers.
Taken more generally, it could be used as another name for a "war party" (a faction within a political or military group favouring the waging of war) or for any group which does not wish to diminish its "fighting spirit" wanting to fight it out to the "bitter end".
See also
*Deneys Reitz
Deneys Reitz (1882—1944), son of Francis William Reitz, was a Boer warrior who fought in the Second Boer War for the South African Republic against the British Empire. After a period of exile in French Madagascar he returned to South Af ...
— chose exile (in Madagascar
Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Afric ...
) at the war's end rather than sign an undertaking that he would abide by the peace terms.
*Maritz rebellion
The Maritz rebellion, also known as the Boer revolt or Five Shilling rebellion,General De Wet publicly unfurled the rebel banner in October, when he entered the town of Reitz at the head of an armed commando. He summoned all the town and dema ...
(1914) — took place at the start of World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
by some Boers who were not prepared to see South Africa side with the British against the Germans
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, pop3 = 157,000
3,322,405
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(who had aided the Boer Republics during the Boer War).
References
{{Authority control Afrikaans words and phrases Second Boer War