What is breaker morant about

The vast numerical difference led the Boers to employ irregular, guerrilla tactics and eventually the British followed suit. During the guerrilla phase of the war, the British Army, commanded by Lord Kitchener, sought to cut the Boer commandos off from their food supplies and the support of their families. This meant destroying Boer farms and interning civilians in concentration camps. There, weakened by malnutrition, 28, Boer women and children and at least 20, Africans died of disease.

The strategy was brutally effective and the Boers surrendered in May As part of the British Empire, the Australian colonies and after , the Australian federal government provided volunteer troops for the war. As many as 16, Australians fought in the Boer War. Almost died. Australians at home initially supported the war but became disenchanted as the conflict dragged on, especially as the suffering of the Boer civilians became known. Edwin Henry Murrant was born in England but moved to Australia around at the age of There he changed his name to Harry Harbord Morant and reinvented his past.

He acquired a reputation as a horse-breaker, drover and womaniser and from contributed bush ballads to the Bulletin as 'the Breaker'. Morant spent nearly a year serving in South Africa before sailing for England where he befriended Captain Percy Hunt, who had also served in the war.

Morant joined Hunt in returning to South Africa in March They were soon posted to Fort Edward in the remote Spelonken district in the northern Transvaal where the fighting was especially bitter.

On patrol in August Hunt was killed by a group of Boers and his body mutilated. The patrol captured one of their number, a man called Visser, and Morant had him shot. There was no political pressure to convict Morant, and Lord Kitchener did not issue a secret "no prisoners" order. Instead, the killings occurred because Morant wanted vengeance for the death and alleged mutilation of his friend Percy Hunt. Peter Handcock was executed along with Breaker Morant.

As the murders continued, witnesses also started to die — first Trooper Van Buuren, a member of the Carbineers, and then the Reverend Daniel Heese. The official explanations for both deaths were unconvincing, and a group of Carbineers would later allege Handcock had killed Van Buuren and Heese to keep them from talking.

FitzSimons has always been unapologetic about his desire to "bring the story part of this history" alive, a task he tries to accomplish by writing in the present tense and structuring the book as a novel. For about pages Breaker Morant is an engaging enough thriller, as a handful of honest soldiers work to prevent Morant and his henchmen from committing further crimes and expose the ones already committed, all while trying to avoid the fate of Trooper Van Buuren.

As is always the case with FitzSimons, there is a lot of fiction spliced in with the fact, as what he imagines characters would have thought or said is put alongside what is in the historical record. Morant, Handcock and other officers were arrested on 22 October and, in January, were court martialed for the killings. On one occasion, while the trial was taking place, the accused helped fend off a Boer attack on Pietersburg.

Acquitted for murdering the German missionary it later emerged that Handcock did kill him at Morant's instigation , Morant was convicted on all other charges and sentenced to be shot along with Handcock. The sentence was carried out on 27 February Morant became something of a folk hero and his memory was revived with the film Breaker Morant in The evidence, however, suggests that he was guilty of the crimes for which he was tried even if his execution resulted from political pressure after the death of the German missionary.

Photograph A Collection items. Letters relating to Peter Joseph Handcock, February Share this page. Related information. Director Bruce Beresford handles the action scenes very well but in this type of story the most important aspect is the cast and their acting , and the director gets the best out of his cast especially Edward Woodward Normally an actor I don't like who gives a career best performance and Jack Thompson.

My only criticism of the casting is that a couple of actors playing British characters let their Aussie accents slip a little , but I'm nitpicking. Just to sum up this is a very intelligent story of a dirty war , dirty politics and dirty justice which will appeal to serious historians and former servicemen rather than professional pacifists.

Theo Robertson Oct 28, FAQ 1. Is this a true story? Details Edit. Release date July 3, Australia. English Afrikaans. Der Fall des Lieutnant Morant. Box office Edit. Technical specs Edit. Runtime 1 hour 47 minutes. Related news. Contribute to this page Suggest an edit or add missing content. Top Gap. By what name was 'Breaker' Morant officially released in India in English?

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