The story of atrocities perpetrated by the British Empire in the Boer War is a shocking one indeed, but it wasn't a situation brought about or desired by the British population....it was Imperial strategy from the top down, strategy decided upon by a few powerful men in the British hierarchy. The British population, had they been fully aware of the situation, would have been horrified at what their government was doing in South Africa, and most of them would have opposed it.

That is what usually happens. A few powerful men at the top of the imperial structure decide....a lot of hapless soldiers are made to "follow orders"...and thousands of innocent people suffer and die (among them some of those hapless soldiers).

The British soldeirs who died at places like Spion Kopp did not die for England or on behalf of the English population. They did not die so anyone could be free. They died for a few profit-seeking men of power like Cecil Rhodes and Kitchener.