Alfred Milner becomes High Commissioner and Governor of the Cape Province

Sir Alfred Milner became High Commissioner for South Africa and Governor of the Cape Province in 1897. His efforts to gain political rights for the "Uitlanders" (foreigners who flocked to the gold-fields in the Transvaal) heightened growing tension between Britain and the South African Republic (Transvaal). With his rigid attitude he played a prominent role in events leading up to the Second South African War (Anglo-Boer War 2). He assisted in negotiating a peace treaty that ended the South African War. After the war he became the British governor of the Orange Free State (Orange River Colony) and the Transvaal Colony and was tasked with reconstructing South Africa. To that effect he introduced a policy of reconstruction dubbed "reconstruction under arms".