Battle of Majuba Hill 1881
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Date | 27 February 1881 | Wikidata |
|---|---|---|
| Year | 1881 | Wikidata P585 (point in time) |
| Era | 19th century (1800–1913) | derived from year |
| Location | South Africa | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | Africa | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | First Boer War | Wikidata P361 |
| Participants | United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland | Wikidata P710 |
| Coordinates | -27.4616, 29.8613 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The Battle of Majuba Hill on 27 February 1881 was the final and decisive battle of the First Boer War that was a resounding victory for the Boers. The British Major General Sir George Pomeroy Colley occupied the summit of the hill on the night of 26–27 February 1881. Colley's motive for occupying Majuba Hill, near Volksrust, now in South Africa, may have been anxiety that the Boers would soon occupy it themselves, since he had witnessed their trenches being dug in the direction of the hill.
The Boers believed that he might have been attempting to outflank their positions at Laing's Nek. The hill was not considered to be scalable by the Boers for military purposes and so it may have been Colley's attempt to emphasise British power and strike fear into the Boer camp.
The battle is considered by some to have been one of the "most humiliating" defeats suffered by the British in their military history.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Battle of Majuba Hill (revision 1379907369), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
Nearby battles
- Battle of Laing's Nek 1881 · 1 km
- Battle of Schuinshoogte 1881 · 17 km
- Battle of Blood River Poort 1901 · 74 km
- Battle of Intombe 1879 · 78 km
- Battle of Kambula 1879 · 84 km
- Battle of Talana Hill 1899 · 88 km
Other battles of the First Boer War
- Battle of Bronkhorstspruit 1880
- Siege of Rustenburg 1880
- Battle of Elandsfontein 1881
- Battle of Laing's Nek 1881
- Battle of Rooihuiskraal 1881
- Battle of Schuinshoogte 1881
- Siege of Lydenburg 1881
- Siege of Marabastad 1881
All 9 battles of the First Boer War →
Browse more: battles in South Africa · Africa · 19th century battles