Lost In Beauty-

Saturday, April 21, 2007

hellooooo!

GUESS WHAT? GOING BACK TO SINGAPORE ON THE 24TH OF JUNE!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! CAN'T WAIT CAN'T WAIT CAN'T WAIT! SLOW, CHERYL, BIRDIE, CHIA, MARIE! WE HAVE TO GO OUT OKAY!!! HAHAHAHA. will be staying at the RTC so i can practically walk to school la. hahaha. and so sad. 25th is the day school starts again so like...veri hard. awwww. anws, today went horse riding. it was okay i guess. i met aniline and josh. aniline goes to shalom and josh goes to norville. and got another girl who goes to st. john's but i dunno her name. hahahaha. well, i'm gonna type out somemore sose stuff. hahahaha. it's about australia and the boer war, 1899-1902:

From the time of its acquisition by Britain during the Napoleonic wars, southern Africa had been shared between British colonies and independent republics of Dutch-Afrikaner settlers, known as Boers. Throughout the nineteenth century the two powers had maintained a wary co-existence, although increasingly the question became whether Britain or the Boers should control southern Africa. The two had already fought an inconclusive war in 1880. The discovery of gold and diamonds in the Boer republics in the 1880s intensified rivalry, and British imperial ambition and Boer independence resulted in friction that in 1899 provoked the Boers to attack, in order to forestall what they saw as an impending British conquest.

As part of the British Empire, the Australian colonies offered troops for the war in South Africa. At least 12,000 Australians served in contingents rasied by the six colonies or (from 1901) by the new Australian Commonwealth (about a third of men enlisting twice) , and many more joined British or South African colonial units in South Africa. At least 600 Australians died in the war, about half from disease and half in action.

Australians served mostly in mounted units formed in each colony, often known as "mounted rifles", "bushmen" or "imperial bushmen". They fought in both the British counter-offensive of 1900 which resulted in the capture of the Boer capitals, and in the long, weary guerrilla phases of the war lasting until 1902. Colonial troops were valued for their ability to "shoot and ride", and they performed well in the open war on the veldt. Australians at home generally supported the war, but as it dragged on became disenchanted, especially as they became aware of its effects on Boer civilians, through cases such as the conviction and execution of Lieutenants Morant and Handcock in 1902.

The conflict in SA is generally divided into three phases:
1. the early phase from October to December 1899, when the British armies, mainly infantry, were defeated by highly mobile Boer mounted troops;
2. the second phase, from December 1899 until September 1900, which involved a British counter-offensive resulting in the capture of most of the major towns and cities of South Africa;
3. the third and longest phase, from September 1900 to May 1902, when the war was mainly a guerrilla conflict between British mounted troops and Boer irregulars.

The outbreak of war had long been expected in both Britain and Australia. Queensland had offered troops in July, expecting that conflict was imminent, and the same month Britain had requested participation from NSW and Victoria. Each of the colonies ultimately sent between four and six contingents.

okay, i'm gonna like end here coz there's heaps more. hahaha. more next time!

the beauty exposed ;