Friday, 15 August 2008

Our Own South Ossetias?

Two suggestions on the radio today. But we sent troops into Northern Ireland to protect the Catholics (specifically as British subjects, it is true), who initially welcomed them with open arms. And there were in fact a lot more British passport-holders in Argentina than in the Falkland Islands (although we were right to do what we did, once Thatcher's ineptitude had made it inescapable). So, can anyone think of a British historical parallel with South Ossetia?
Posted by at

2 comments:

  1. Anonymous19 August 2008 at 13:29

    When, in 1886, massive deposits of gold were discovered in the Transvaal, a huge inflow of uitlanders (foreigners), mainly from Britain, came to the region in search of employment and fortune. Gold made the Transvaal the richest and potentially the most powerful nation in southern Africa but it also resulted in the number of uitlanders in the Transvaal eventually exceeding the number of Boers and precipitated confrontations over the old order and the new. Disputes over uitlander political and economic rights resulted in the failed Jameson Raid of 1895. This raid led by (and named after) Dr Leander Starr Jameson, the Administrator in Rhodesia of the Chartered Company, was intended to encourage an uprising of the uitlanders in Johannesburg. However Johannesburg failed to rise and Transvaal government forces surrounded the column and captured Jameson's men before they could reach Johannesburg.[2]

    As tensions escalated from local to national level, there were political manouverings and lengthy negotiations to reach a compromise ostensibly over the issue of 'uitlander rights' but ultimately over control of the gold mining industry and the British desire to incorporate the Transvaal and the Orange Free State in a federation under British control. Given the number of British uitlanders already resident in the Transvaal and the ongoing inflow, the Boers recognised that the franchise policy demanded by the British would inevitably result in the loss of independence of the Transvaal. The negotiations failed and in September 1899, Joseph Chamberlain (the British Colonial Secretary) sent an ultimatum to the Boers, demanding full equality for those uitlanders resident in the Transvaal. President Kruger, seeing no other option than war, issued his own ultimatum giving the British 48 hours to withdraw all their troops from the border of the Transvaal, failing which the Transvaal, allied with the Orange Free State, would declare war against the British. The rejection of the ultimatum followed and war was declared.

    Substitute "Russia" for "Britain", "Georgians" for "Boers", and "oil" for "gold".

    Still the same old story!

    ReplyDelete
  2. David Lindsay19 August 2008 at 16:11

    Yes, I rather thought of that when I heard about "going in to defend our citizens".

    For good or ill, we won the Boer War. The Transvaal and the Orange Free State were made subject to the the British Crown in Parliament's "suzerainty".

    Quite what "suzerainty" was and is, the South Ossetians are about to find out. And at least they want it.

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)