1st boer war
The first Boer war was seen as the war of independence for the Boers in the transvaal and orange free states against the british colonies. This first war was the result of the expansion of British territories and the strong Boer opposition to sovereignty with the surrounding British colonies.Diamonds were also found in the Orange free state Britain obtained control of the mines by paying off the orange free state to avoid war, the transvaal however still had a major dispute with the British over the native Africans resulting in British marching on the region and eventually taking over control. The Boers in the Transvaal started to protest in masses in public appearances and seeking help from London and the Secretary of state Sir Michael Hicks Beach saw no change in the situation. In October 1880 a newspaper from Paarl in the Cape Colony took the view that: "Passive resistance is now becoming futile."
The First Boer war was very short (1880-1881) as the British were beaten at every turn by the rebelling Boers due to the poor commanders, Prime Minister Richard Seddon had an interest in the involvement of New Zealand in the first Boer war, answering the call for nearly 150 men. The government had no interest in the completion of the war giving in to the demands of independence from the Boer states, which inevitably left New Zealand troops out of the war. Many of the British leaders felt that it was disgraceful defeat which shouldn't have been cut so short.