British soldiers clashed with Boer commandos upon the South African veld for two reasons: the British Queen and the Boer gold mines.

While the notion of empire was a compelling reason to wage war and conquer the South African Republic and the Orange Free State, the Second Boer War was fought on behalf of the South African mining conglomerate's economic interests. Discretely, mining titans like Alfred Beit and Cecil Rhodes carefully orchestrated this fascinating war by pitting Sir Alfred Milner's political ambition for empire building with Walter Krueger's desire for independent Boer nations.