Description: THE LION'S CAGE BRIAN GARDNER ARTHUR BAKER LIMITED 1969 First edition. Cecil Rhodes and the siege of Kimberley. Throughout history sieges have brought out the best and worst in men. Many have found the feelings of claustrophobia, fear and tension, worse than the physical hardships. The little-known Siege of Kimberley in the Boer War of 1899 was remarkable in that, besieged with the tiny garrison, with tough English and American miners and frontiermen, was one of the most significant and fantastic personalities of the late Victorian Age - Cecil Rhodes, the founder of Rhodesia. Why, in messages which got out of the town to London, did Rhodes lie about the situation in Kimberley? Why did he alarm the Cabinet with predictions of disaster ? Why did he watch the progress of the great army sent to relieve Kimberley, almost on his pleas alone, with increasing anger ? Why did he try to take over the town from the military commander, and threaten to surrender it? Was it because he was terrified of the Boers, who had promised to put him in a lion's cage if they captured him? Or was it because he saw his vast fortune -which brought him an income of half a million pounds a year - threatened? With infant mortality among the natives 93.5% and whites eating mule-flesh and roots from their gardens, were these Victorians, of whom Rhodes was the leader, really fighting for the Queen, British prestige, and 'the flag', as countless songs extolled, or for lesser motives? Using unpublished official and unofficial papers, and first-hand accounts, the author tells for the first time the full story of the four-month siege. He has examined the Rhodes' Papers at Oxford, and has come up with a completely new appraisal of the famous Empire builder. To many at the time, Cecil Rhodes seemed to typify the qualities that Victorian Englishmen so loved to see in themselves: fervently patriotic, faintly arrogant towards foreigners, as much at ease around a camp fire as at a ball in Mayfair - above all unflinching in adversity. But was it true? Here too is the remarkable story of the great relief column, which marched indomitably across the South African plains, stumbling through warfare it did not understand, but convinced always of its own invincibility. A force which suffered one of the most ignominious defeats in British military history. Brian Gardner was educated at Haileybury and at Trinity College, Dublin. He has published nine previous books including Mafeking and an official biography of Lord Allenby. The Lion's Cage is the first full account of the Siege of Kimberley to be published and is the result of extensive research of the sources including the unpublished papers at the Public Record Office and the Rhodes' Papers at Oxford. 22 x 15 cm. 200 pp + b/w photo plates. Very good condition. Dust jacket starting to delaminate on the hinges. Rear board bumped at the head of the spine. Previous owner's bookplate on the front pastedown. Page edges slightly age toned but clean and tidy. Images sell! Get Supersized Images & Free Image Hosting Attention Sellers - Get Templates Image Hosting, Scheduling at Auctiva.com.
Price: 6.99 GBP
Location: Carlisle
End Time: 2024-12-05T12:01:39.000Z
Shipping Cost: 14.32 GBP
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Author: B Gardner
Binding: Hardback
Language: English
Non-Fiction Subject: History & Military
Region: Africa
Special Attributes: 1st Edition, Dust Jacket, Illustrated
Year Printed: 1969
