Goodbye Dolly Gray was the anthem of the South African or Anglo-Boer War —a song that for a generation of British soldiers evoked memories of the Relief of Ladysmith, the Relief of Mafeking, the Battle of Spion Kop, the march on Pretoria and much more.

At the turn of the 20th century the largest army ever to have fought under the Union flag was battling to extend the control of the British Empire over the gold fields of South Africa. Opposing them were the Boers, Afrikaans-speaking settlers who fought under the banner of anti-imperialism.

The Boer War marked the end of Victorian complacency and the beginning of a century of war. South Africa saw the first major use of machine guns, long-range artillery and barbed wire. Also here, making their debut on the historical stage, were the men of the 20th century including Winston Churchill, Mahatma Gandhi and Jan Smuts.

Rayne Kruger’s classic account, written in 1959, places the Boer War squarely in its social and political settings. The narrative ranges easily from the open spaces of the South African veld to the crowded benches of the House of Commons.

It includes vivid pen portraits of the main actors in the drama — from Lord Kitchener to Cecil Rhodes and the Afrikaner leaders like Paul Kruger, Jannie Smuts and Louis Botha — and dramatic accounts of the main battles. It also explores the legacy of the Boer War for South Africa and the British Empire.