PAST AS FUTURE: THE SOUTH AFRICAN WAR, DUTCH OBSERVERS AND MILITARY MEMORY

dc.creator	Henk De Jong
dc.date	2013-06-01T00:00:00Z
dc.date.accessioned	2015-07-20T20:08:39Z
dc.date.available	2015-07-20T20:08:39Z
dc.identifier	10.5787/41-1-1052
dc.identifier	2224-0020
dc.identifier	https://doaj.org/article/a8076bde85c9411fa983bc6a55518d14
dc.identifier.uri	http://evidence.thinkportal.org/handle/123456789/8370
dc.identifier.uri	https://doaj.org/article/a8076bde85c9411fa983bc6a55518d14
dc.description	In 1900, the Dutch Ministry of War sent four military observers to South Africa, in an attempt to come to terms with the latest developments in the military field. Once in South Africa, the promising young Dutch officers selected for the mission remained focused strongly on decisive battles Jominian style, which they considered relevant for future warfare in Europe. They almost completely ignored guerrilla warfighting. However, inspired by the Boer commandos, their analysis of the Anglo-Boer War also ended in pleas for a fundamentally new relationship between army and society in Holland, and a new Dutch militia army organisation (a <em>volksleger</em>), comparable to the Boers’ commandos. Fascinatingly, this ideal of a militia army had probably much more to do with the observers’ interpretation of the Dutch national past and the values they regarded characteristic of it, than with contemporary South Africa, since the earliest forms of the Dutch army were also believed to have been a <em>volksleger</em>. In this way, the military observers from the Netherlands converted the South African present into Dutch history to serve their country’s national future.
dc.language	English
dc.publisher	University of Stellenbosch. Faculty of Military Science (Military Academy)
dc.relation	http://scientiamilitaria.journals.ac.za/pub/article/view/1052
dc.relation	https://doaj.org/toc/2224-0020
dc.source	Scientia Militaria : South African Journal of Military Studies, Vol 41, Iss 1 (2013)
dc.subject	Military Science
dc.subject	U
dc.subject	DOAJ:Military Science
dc.subject	DOAJ:Technology and Engineering
dc.subject	Military Science
dc.subject	U
dc.subject	DOAJ:Military Science
dc.subject	DOAJ:Technology and Engineering
dc.subject	Military Science
dc.subject	U
dc.subject	Military Science
dc.subject	U
dc.subject	Military Science
dc.subject	U
dc.title	PAST AS FUTURE: THE SOUTH AFRICAN WAR, DUTCH OBSERVERS AND MILITARY MEMORY
dc.type	Article