The Power of One often refers to the Anglo-Boer war, which killed 1000's of women and children in concentration camps. This was one part of the book that wasn't explained during the book. The book aroused my curiosity, so I googled it.
Apparently, this war was a civil war between the English Immigrants and the Dutch/African speaking immigrants. The war consisted of three phases. First, the Boers (African white people/Dutch immigrants) besieged some British Garrisons. The Boers then won a tactical victory when they stopped the British from freeing the besieged garrisons. In the second phase, the British again mounted a offensive, this time with larger numbers of troops, and succeeded in breaking the siege. The British then advanced to take over the republic city, Pretoria. In the third and final phase, the Boers fought against the British guerrilla style, raiding targets such as British troop columns, telegraph sites, railways and storage depots. The British responded by destroying Boer farms and placing civilians inside concentration camps. Tens of thousands of women and children died in these camps. The war ended two years later, in the year 1902, when the Boers surrendered.
This information shocked me. I had always thought of the Nazi's as extremely bad people who invented the concentration camps to annihilate a entire race of people. Now, I learn that the British were the first people to use concentration camps to kill people possibly related to my ancestors!
In The Power of One, Peekay, who comes from English descent, is bullied. Near the beginning, especially, his tormentor's blame him for killing their relatives in this war. It is because of this bullying that Peekay decides to take on the world, beat the odds, and become the welterweight champion of the world.
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