Editing Cecil Rhodes (section)

== Second Boer War ==
{{main|Siege of Kimberley}}
[[File:Le Rire issue 276 1900-02-17 cph.3b48494.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|French caricature of Rhodes, showing him trapped in [[Kimberley, Northern Cape|Kimberley]] during the [[Second Boer War]], here peering from a tower clutching papers, with a champagne bottle behind his collar.]]
During the [[Second Boer War]] Rhodes went to [[Kimberley, Northern Cape|Kimberley]] at the onset of the [[Siege of Kimberley|siege]], in a calculated move to raise the political stakes on the government to dedicate resources to the defence of the city. The military felt he was more of a liability than an asset and found him intolerable. The officer commanding the garrison of Kimberley, Lieutenant Colonel [[Robert Kekewich]], experienced serious personal difficulties with Rhodes because of the latter's inability to co-operate.{{sfn|Pakenham|1992|pp=321–23}}{{sfn|Phelan|1913|p=}}

Despite these differences, Rhodes' company was instrumental in the defence of the city, providing water and refrigeration facilities, constructing fortifications, and manufacturing an [[armoured train]], shells and a one-off gun named [[Long Cecil]].{{sfn|Roberts|1976|p=}}

Rhodes used his position and influence to lobby the British government to relieve the siege of Kimberley, claiming in the press that the situation in the city was desperate. The military wanted to assemble a large force to take the Boer cities of [[Bloemfontein]] and [[Pretoria]], but they were compelled to change their plans and send three separate smaller forces to relieve the sieges of Kimberley, [[Siege of Mafeking|Mafeking]] and [[Siege of Ladysmith|Ladysmith]].{{sfn|Thompson|2007|pp=131–}}