Wolseley And South Africa

Everyone knows about Rorke`s Drift and Isandlwana but what happened at the end of the Zulu War has never been told before ‒ and it’s every bit as exciting.

New South Africa emerged peacefully and full of hope after Apartheid. Yet life is looking desperate for one white family, struggling to survive. Martha, Hendrik and their daughter Magda are six months behind with their rent when they are finally asked to vacate their house in the quiet town of Wolseley. Selling their remaining things, they head to Cape Town, their last chance. Cape Town proves to be unconcerned with their misfortune and the broken family must navigate the streets. It is from the streets that they'll learn that though Apartheid has ended, it is poverty that still segregates. Each character narrates their part of the story and the journey, moving further away from the hot coffee and sanity of Wolseley.Wolseley tells the story of a white family struggling to survive in post- apartheid South Africa. They eek out an existence, trying to make some money every month. However, the inevitable happens, and they are no longer able to pay rent, which leads to their path to homelessness.Wolseley, charts the family's descent into poverty, as they move from Welkom to Wolseley to Cape Town, in expectation of better opportunities, only to learn that poverty knows no geography.The story is unique, as each family member is able to narrate their version of the story, and as various circumstances change, so those that remain behind are able to express themselves through their narrative.

Field Marshal Lord Wolseley was an eminent Victorian, one of a handful of late nineteenth-century military men whose reputation transcends his age. He served the British empire in Burma, India, China, the Crimea, Canada, Asante, Egypt, South Africa and the Sudan. He excelled as a regimental soldier, staff officer, army commander and reformer and eventually commander-in-chief. Yet there has been no substantial work on Wolseley for a generation and a reassessment based upon a fresh look at the man and his achievements is long overdue. That is why Stephen Manning’s perceptive military biography, which sets Wolseley firmly in the context of his period and seeks to strip away the legend that developed during his lifetime, is so timely and important. Each of Wolseley’s campaigns is examined in vivid detail and there are graphic descriptions of the major battles in which he took part, either as an officer or a general. His performance as a commander, from his great success during the expedition against the Asante to his failure to rescue Gordon from Khartoum, is critically assessed to see if he deserves his brilliant reputation. His efforts as an army reformer are examined too, in particular whether he could have done more to prepare Britain for war against the Boers. Stephen Manning’s incisive account of Wolseley’s career will be fascinating reading for anyone who is interested in the British army in the nineteenth century, in colonial warfare and in the exploits of one of Queen Victoria’s most admired generals.

This case study of the power struggle between politicians and generals for control of the strategic management of the South African War illuminates Victorian and Edwardian civil-military relations.