Editing Edwardian era (section)

===Boer War===
{{See also|Opposition to the Second Boer War }}

[[File:No. 1 Stationary Hospital at Ladysmith; Boer War Wellcome L0024935.jpg|thumb|The medical staff of No. 1 Stationary Hospital at Ladysmith]]
The government entered the [[Second Boer War]] with great confidence, little expecting that the two small rural Boer republics in southern Africa with a combined White population smaller than that of London would hold off the concentrated power of the [[British Empire]] for {{frac|2|1|2}} years and take 400,000 Imperial troops to secure victory.<ref>G.R. Searle, ''A new England?: peace and war, 1886–1918'' (Oxford UP, 20040 pp 275–307.</ref> The war split the Liberal Party into anti- and pro-war factions. Great orators, such as Liberal [[David Lloyd George]], who spoke against the war, became increasingly influential. Nevertheless, Liberal Unionist [[Joseph Chamberlain]], who was largely in charge of the war, maintained his hold on power.<ref name="jstor_40238883">{{cite journal|jstor=40238883|hdl=10520/AJA03768902_608|title = Social Suffering and the Politics of Pain: Observations on the Concentration Camps in the Anglo-Boer War 1899–1902|journal = English in Africa|volume = 26|issue = 2|pages = 69–88|last1 = De Reuck|first1 = Jenny|year = 1999}}</ref>

When [[Herbert Kitchener|General Kitchener]] took command in 1900, he initiated a scorched earth policy to foil Boer [[Guerrilla warfare|guerrilla]] tactics. Captured Boer combatants were transported overseas to other [[British possessions]] as prisoners of war. However, he relocated non-combatant Boers—mostly women and children—into heavily guarded internment camps. The internment camps were overcrowded with bad sanitation and meagre food rations. Contagious diseases such as measles, typhoid and dysentery were endemic.<ref name="jstor_40238883"/>

Many of the internees died. [[Emily Hobhouse]] visited the camps and was appalled at the living conditions, which she brought to the attention of the British public. Public outcry resulted in the [[Millicent Fawcett|Fawcett Commission]] which corroborated Hobhouse's report and eventually led to improved conditions.<ref name="jstor_40238883"/> The Boers surrendered, and the Boer Republics were annexed by the British Empire. [[Jan Smuts]]—a leading Boer general—became a senior official of the new government and even became a top British official in the World War.<ref>{{cite book|author=Chris Wrigley|title=Winston Churchill: A Biographical Companion|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HBUslUOGOgkC&pg=PA311|year=2002|page=311|publisher=Bloomsbury Academic |isbn=9780874369908}}</ref>