goes to sea with the Terrain Mat.
The First Campaign Victory of the Great War: South Africa, Maneuver Warfare, the Afrikaner Rebellion & the German South West African Campaign, 1914-1915
The First World War molded the global landscape and had a lasting effect on much of the World. Where the majority of international research focuses on the European theater, Antonio Garcia explores one of the peripheral campaigns of the Great War.
South Africa's First World War campaign in German South West Africa was a daring military undertaking epitomized by maneuver and rapidity. The author takes a novel approach in comparing the campaign to maneuver warfare theory. Maneuver theory is based on the principles of mobility, rapidity and surprise, which attempts to achieve victory with the least loss of resources and in the shortest time possible. In order to achieve a rapid victory against the German forces, the South African soldiers were pushed to the limits of exhaustion to achieve the Union of South Africa's strategic objectives.
The campaign in the deserts of German South Africa became the setting for adventure and war, where Briton, Boer and people of color served together as a Dominion of the British Empire. Blacks, coloreds and Indians fought for the hopes of a better political franchise, an ambition which was not to be achieved until 80 years later.
The book addresses the complex political dynamics in South Africa at the time of the Great War, the deep division between Afrikaners and British South Africans, and the Afrikaner Rebellion. With the backdrop of political difficulties and a lack of overwhelming support for the entry into the Great War, the Botha government needed a quick result so as to maintain the delicate balance of power. The author provides an analysis on the campaign through the lens of military theory so as to determine how the swift victory was achieved. The book answers the question of whether the campaign was won through numerical superiority or through the use of a superior operational strategy. The victory was the first campaign victory led by a British Dominion.
Paperback
234mm x 156mm
208 pages
8 black-and-white photos
7 maps
6 tables
12 graphs
3 figures
