Britain has prospered rapidly since the opening of the new air route. After centuries of colonial expansion, Britain reached the peak of development at the end of 19. Colonies spread all over Canada, India, Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, West Indies, South Africa and other corners of the world, with a total area of more than 100 times that of the local area, which is called the empire that never falls. From the frozen and barren Canadian coast to the hot and rich Indian subcontinent, from vast expanse to the small islands in the Atlantic Ocean, in order to build and maintain a great empire. In Europe, Britain plays the role of offshore balancer and maintains the stability of the European continent. Over the past four centuries, Britain has waged more than 200 wars, and the Boer War was the most cruel one. Ying Bu War happened at the turn of19th century. The purpose of this war is to continue to expand the territory and sphere of influence of the British Empire, but the end of this war will eventually come to nothing. The Ying Bu War took place in South Africa. There were two wars before and after. The first war was small in scale and lasted only a few months, with little casualties on both sides. However, it was the second Ying Bu War in the 20th century that dealt a great blow to the British Empire. Because Africa had endless resources at that time, in order to plunder more colonies, raw materials and markets here, European emerging powers and established powers began a new round of competition. 1886, a gold mine was discovered in Witwatersrand, which greatly increased the value of the known mineral deposits in Bohr and China. At this time, after Britain annexed Zulu territory in 1887, it had cut off the Boers' access to the sea, further increasing the tension in South Africa. 1896 65438+1On 2 October, more than 2,000 Boer troops ambushed the British army in the suburb of Clesdorp, killing 134 people and seizing all the guns of the British army. This behavior makes the arrogant British feel unable to bear such a great humiliation. As a result, the British Empire in its heyday mobilized the strength of the mainland, Canada, Australia and New Zealand and invested 450,000 troops to attack Boer. At that time, Boer was only a small country with a total population of only 440,000 and only 80,000 young men who could fight. However, it is such a country's army, supported by strong spiritual strength to defend its homeland, fought against the British Empire for more than two years, and the male teenagers lost 70% and had to negotiate with the British Empire. The war in the traditional sense has ended, but in fact the Boers have turned to guerrilla warfare. Although Britain won a superficial victory, it was exhausted by Boer guerrillas. At that time, in order to save the unfavorable situation in Boer, the British even began to slaughter and abuse civilians, which also caused dissatisfaction among other European powers. In the end, it took the British three years and paid a huge price to win. However, the number of British troops far exceeds the total population of Boers, with nearly 22,000 British casualties and nearly 2.5 billion pounds spent, which was unanimously condemned by European powers. So when Britain was at war in 1900, France and Russia bypassed Britain and secretly carved up Turkey's sphere of influence. Ying Bu War was the last overseas colonial expansion war of Britain, and it was also one of the few overseas colonial aggression wars launched by Britain before the First World War. It was a war with the largest number of troops, the highest cost, the longest time and the heaviest casualties. After that, Britain could no longer afford to spend a huge price to maintain the monarchy, and the Ying Bu War became the starting point of the decline of the British Empire. After this war, the British Empire no longer adhered to the slogan of free trade economically, but began to raise the banner of free trade and protectionism. Later, instead of insisting on glorious isolation in diplomacy, it signed an alliance treaty with Japan in 1902. This war became a turning point in the collapse of the British colonial system. After the First World War, the British Empire completely disintegrated.