A highly-illustrated account of this significant British defeat during the Second Boer War.

In 1899 Great Britain was at the height of its Imperial power. The Queen Empress had been on the throne for more than 50 years, and her domain touched upon every continent. Yet, as this book describes, the the British army suffered a heavy defeat at the hands of a citizen militia whom the British professionals despised as back-wood farmers.

Alongside battle maps and illustrations, Ian Knight explores two key battles and their origins, including the missteps that led to the extensive British casualties in one week in December 1899.