Modern Era
Siege of Ladysmith (1899-1900): The 118-Day Siege in Natal
The garrison held out until Buller's army broke through the Tugela Heights and relieved the town on 28 February 1900.
Region
Africa
Modern Era
Siege of Mafeking (1899-1900): Baden-Powell's 217-Day Defence
The garrison held out for 217 days until a relief column arrived; the news set off wild celebrations across Britain.
Modern Era
Second Boer War (1899-1902): Britain Against the Boer Republics
British victory; the two Boer republics were annexed and later joined the Union of South Africa in 1910.
Modern Era
War of the Golden Stool (1900): Yaa Asantewaa's Asante Uprising
British victory; Asante was annexed as a British colony in 1902, but the Golden Stool itself was never surrendered.
Modern Era
Battle of Spion Kop (1900): The Bloody Hilltop of the Boer War
Boer victory; the British abandoned the summit and the relief of Ladysmith was delayed by more than a month.
Modern Era
Boer War Concentration Camps (1900-1902): Civilians in the War
About 26,000-28,000 Boer civilians, mostly children, and at least 14,000 Black Africans died in the camps, leaving a lasting legacy of bitterness.
Modern Era
Treaty of Vereeniging (1902): The End of the Second Boer War
The Boer republics accepted British sovereignty in return for amnesty, reconstruction aid and a promise of eventual self-government.
Modern Era
Entente Cordiale (1904): Britain and France End Old Rivalries
Britain and France resolved their main colonial disputes and began a diplomatic partnership that grew into the Triple Entente with Russia.
Modern Era
Herero and Nama Genocide (1904-1908) in German South West Africa
German forces crushed the uprisings, killing an estimated majority of the Herero and about half of the Nama; Germany formally recognised the killings as genocide in 2021.
Modern Era
Maji Maji Rebellion (1905-1907) in German East Africa
The rising was crushed by German forces using scorched-earth tactics; an estimated 75,000 to 300,000 Africans died, most from famine.
Prehistory
Tendaguru Excavations: The German Dinosaur Dig in Tanzania
Some 225 tonnes or more of fossil material reached Berlin, including the giant sauropod Giraffatitan, mounted in 1937 and still one of the tallest dinosaur skeletons on display.
Modern Era
Italo-Turkish War (1911-1912): Italy's Conquest of Libya
Italian victory; the Ottoman Empire withdrew from Libya under the Treaty of Ouchy, and Italy kept the Dodecanese islands it had occupied.