---
product_id: 43514652
title: "Hero of the Empire: The Boer War, a Daring Escape, and the Making of Winston Churchill"
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---

# Hero of the Empire: The Boer War, a Daring Escape, and the Making of Winston Churchill

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From the bestselling author of Destiny of the Republic , this thrilling biographical account of the life and legacy of Wintson Churchill is a "nail-biter and top-notch character study rolled into one" ( The New York Times ). At the age of twenty-four, Winston Churchill was utterly convinced it was his destiny to become prime minister of England. He arrived in South Africa in 1899, valet and crates of vintage wine in tow, to cover the brutal colonial war the British were fighting with Boer rebels and jumpstart his political career. But just two weeks later, Churchill was taken prisoner. Remarkably, he pulled off a daring escape—traversing hundreds of miles of enemy territory, alone, with nothing but a crumpled wad of cash, four slabs of chocolate, and his wits to guide him. Bestselling author Candice Millard spins an epic story of bravery, savagery, and chance encounters with a cast of historical characters—including Rudyard Kipling, Lord Kitchener, and Mohandas Gandhi—with whom Churchill would later share the world stage. But Hero of the Empire is more than an extraordinary adventure story, for the lessons Churchill took from the Boer War would profoundly affect twentieth century history. Look for Candice Millard’s latest book, River of the Gods.

Review: Another Millard Classic - Nobody does it quite like Candice Millard. She finds relatively obscure historical events – the assassination of President Garfield, the desertcart adventure of former President Teddy Roosevelt, and here the young exploits of Winston Churchill in South Africa – and turns them into absolutely top-notch popular history. Her narratives are compulsively readable. My only complaint is that she hasn’t written more. Young Winston Churchill was, to put it mildly, a man on the make. “There is no ambition I cherish so keenly,” he told his younger brother, Jack, “as to gain a reputation for personal courage.” He was as good as his word. Before he was 24-years-old he had experienced close order combat in Cuba as a journalist observer, seen comrades hacked to pieces by Pashtun warriors in Malakand on the Afghan border, and became separated from his regiment in the desert sands of Sudan in the war against the Mahdi. But it wasn’t enough. “[Churchill] wanted not simply to fight,” writes Millard, “but to be noticed while fighting.” He was, in short, a “medal hunter.” And none of his previous adventures had resulted in the public acclaim that he so hungered for. Churchill was, Millard stresses, quite literally willing to risk his life for fame and glory. After defeat in his first stand for election to the House of Commons in 1899, Churchill seized on the conflict in South Africa as the stage upon which he might finally achieve his seemingly unlimited ambitions. Churchill would join the war not as a soldier but as a war correspondent for a respected British daily newspaper, the Morning Post. And he was not just any war correspondent, however, but the most highly paid one in England. Despite his youth and relative inexperience he had established a strong reputation as a fearless man with an unusual skill as a writer. In the glowing words of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the young Churchill was “the greatest living master of English prose.” Churchill left for the front on the same boat that carried the recently appointed British general in chief, General Redvers Buller. The dashing young war correspondent was intent on beating the 30,000 British reinforcements to the front. Many in the British Army at first held a low opinion of their Boer adversary, but not Churchill, who wrote that they were “the finest mass of rifle-armed horsemen ever seen and the most capable mounted warriors since the Mongols.” Through a mix of pluck and ingenuity, Churchill had placed himself about as far forward as was humanly possible for a young British war correspondent in South Africa in late 1899: the small outpost town of Estcourt some 50 miles south of the British forces besieged at Ladysmith in Natal Province. In hopes of getting an even closer look at the fighting – and hopefully finally setting his eyes on a real Boer fighter – he volunteered to accompany a dangerous (and relatively pointless) armored train expedition out of Estcourt in the direction of Ladysmith. The venture was an unmitigated disaster for the British as the Boers effectively ambushed the train on its way back to Estcourt, killing five and taking 60 prisoners, the intrepid journalist Winston Churchill among them. The Boer ambush of the armored train and Churchill’s conspicuous gallantry in the ensuing melee were front-page news all across England. “He had become not only the talk of the city but the subject of widespread praise and admiration,” Millard writes, “something he had long felt deserving of, but had certainly never been before.” Unfortunately, Churchill was in no position to enjoy his newfound fame. He vehemently protested his imprisonment, arguing that he was a journalist and civilian non-combatant. The Boers, however, were not about to release so famous a captive as the son of a British Lord, especially one who had famously maligned the Boers in the past. Millard writes that Churchill absolutely detested captivity and the slovenly guards assigned to prevent his escape from their makeshift POW camp in Pretoria. “[From] the moment he had raised his hands he had hated his captivity with an intensity that surprised even him … So much did Churchill loathe his imprisonment that the experience would stay with him for the rest of his life.” All he could think about was escape, no matter the dangers involved. On December 12, 1899, after a month in captivity, Churchill dashed over the back wall of the prison. His two fellow accomplices were unable to join him. He would have to fight his way through 300 miles of hostile Transvaal territory on his own. “Failure being almost certain,” Churchill later wrote, “no odds against success affected me. All risks were less than the certainty.” The situation for the British in South Africa was bleak in late 1899. Anticipation of a quick and easy victory were dashed by a series of shocking defeats during a short period known as Black Week, none bigger than General Buller’s decisive defeat against Luis Botha at the Battle of Colenso on December 15, 1899. General Buller, nicknamed “the Steamroller,” was unceremoniously sacked after just three months in South Africa. The British, Millard writes, were desperate for heroes. News of Churchill’s dramatic escape from captivity and his treacherous overland flight to safety were just what the British public needed. Churchill’s saga was again front-page news. He was, Millard says, exactly what the British wanted in their heroes – “resilient, resourceful and, even in the face of extreme danger, utterly unruffled.” After stowing away on a train for some 70 miles east of Pretoria, he debarked to find himself, quite miraculously, in the midst of British men operating a coalmine in the Transvaal. At much personal risk, his countrymen kept Churchill hidden away in a rat-invested mineshaft for nearly a week before arranging for him to be spirited away on a train headed to Portuguese East Africa (modern day Mozambique) hidden in a giant spool of wool. It really is an almost unbelievable adventure tale. Churchill arrived in Durban, Natal’s largest city, on 23 December to a raucous hero’s welcome. After two full weeks on the run, he was finally safe and, indeed, the “Hero of the Empire.” Churchill leveraged his newfound fame to the fullest, somehow finagling an Army commission as a lieutenant in the South African Light Horse while retaining his role as foreign war correspondent for the Morning Post. He was present at the Battle of Spion Kop outside of the Ladysmith on 23 January 1900, one of the bloodiest fights of the war that left 600 dead and 1,500 wounded. He was also present for the British capture of Pretoria and the liberation of his POW camp in June 1900. Churchill returned to England and was easily elected to Parliament in the same district where he was defeated in 1899. His remarkable career was on its way; his election no doubt owing to his South African exploits.
Review: A Tribute to Millard's Writerly Skill That She Makes a Book from a Short, Passive Period of Churchill's Life - The author photo on the dust jacket of Hero of the Empire shows Candice Millard sitting cross-armed and cross-legged, looking almost smug. Well it should, as Millard has managed to take a small chunk, of a period of only a few months, in the life of one of the most written-about men in history, and turned it into an interesting book. With Winston Churchill, that's about all that's left for writers to do, as there have been so many full-scale biographies and so many more histories of little pieces of his long and important life. Millard takes for her subject Churchill's "South African period," when he went to Africa as a foreign correspondent hoping to become a war hero. Churchill, from one of England's most aristocratic families, was convinced he was to play a great role in history. At only 24, after an undistinguished experience at public schools and Harrow, he had already seen battle in India and the Sudan and had covered an uprising in Cuba as a war correspondent, but he had not yet made a name for himself. His first run at a seat in Parliament had ended in defeat. Churchill saw the second colonial war against the Boers in 1899 as his main chance for fame and glory. As it turned out, he was quickly taken prisoner by the Boers and spent the next few months in a POW camp in Pretoria. Then, in a bungled escape attempt, luck was with him and he spent the next weeks trying to get to Portuguese territory. What becomes clear, even to a reader such as I who does not know much about either Churchill or the Boer Wars, is that poor Winston had mostly a passive role during this time. He sat around moping in the prison camp and then, wildly lucky, managed to escape through not his own efforts but mostly to the efforts of others. It is difficult to make a book out of such a time in the subject's life, but Millard has succeeded in doing so. Of course, the really important events, the great sweep of history and the beginning of Churchill's true career, take place in the book's 19-page Epilogue. But it is a tribute to Millard's skill as a writer that she makes quite an interesting book out of what to most authors would be a boring short chapter in a long and rich life.

## Technical Specifications

| Specification | Value |
|---------------|-------|
| Best Sellers Rank | #29,746 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #2 in South African History #4 in Historical African Biographies (Books) #74 in Political Leader Biographies |
| Customer Reviews | 4.6 out of 5 stars 4,930 Reviews |

## Images

![Hero of the Empire: The Boer War, a Daring Escape, and the Making of Winston Churchill - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81ZAzul2EBL.jpg)

## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Another Millard Classic
*by T***I on March 4, 2021*

Nobody does it quite like Candice Millard. She finds relatively obscure historical events – the assassination of President Garfield, the Amazon adventure of former President Teddy Roosevelt, and here the young exploits of Winston Churchill in South Africa – and turns them into absolutely top-notch popular history. Her narratives are compulsively readable. My only complaint is that she hasn’t written more. Young Winston Churchill was, to put it mildly, a man on the make. “There is no ambition I cherish so keenly,” he told his younger brother, Jack, “as to gain a reputation for personal courage.” He was as good as his word. Before he was 24-years-old he had experienced close order combat in Cuba as a journalist observer, seen comrades hacked to pieces by Pashtun warriors in Malakand on the Afghan border, and became separated from his regiment in the desert sands of Sudan in the war against the Mahdi. But it wasn’t enough. “[Churchill] wanted not simply to fight,” writes Millard, “but to be noticed while fighting.” He was, in short, a “medal hunter.” And none of his previous adventures had resulted in the public acclaim that he so hungered for. Churchill was, Millard stresses, quite literally willing to risk his life for fame and glory. After defeat in his first stand for election to the House of Commons in 1899, Churchill seized on the conflict in South Africa as the stage upon which he might finally achieve his seemingly unlimited ambitions. Churchill would join the war not as a soldier but as a war correspondent for a respected British daily newspaper, the Morning Post. And he was not just any war correspondent, however, but the most highly paid one in England. Despite his youth and relative inexperience he had established a strong reputation as a fearless man with an unusual skill as a writer. In the glowing words of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the young Churchill was “the greatest living master of English prose.” Churchill left for the front on the same boat that carried the recently appointed British general in chief, General Redvers Buller. The dashing young war correspondent was intent on beating the 30,000 British reinforcements to the front. Many in the British Army at first held a low opinion of their Boer adversary, but not Churchill, who wrote that they were “the finest mass of rifle-armed horsemen ever seen and the most capable mounted warriors since the Mongols.” Through a mix of pluck and ingenuity, Churchill had placed himself about as far forward as was humanly possible for a young British war correspondent in South Africa in late 1899: the small outpost town of Estcourt some 50 miles south of the British forces besieged at Ladysmith in Natal Province. In hopes of getting an even closer look at the fighting – and hopefully finally setting his eyes on a real Boer fighter – he volunteered to accompany a dangerous (and relatively pointless) armored train expedition out of Estcourt in the direction of Ladysmith. The venture was an unmitigated disaster for the British as the Boers effectively ambushed the train on its way back to Estcourt, killing five and taking 60 prisoners, the intrepid journalist Winston Churchill among them. The Boer ambush of the armored train and Churchill’s conspicuous gallantry in the ensuing melee were front-page news all across England. “He had become not only the talk of the city but the subject of widespread praise and admiration,” Millard writes, “something he had long felt deserving of, but had certainly never been before.” Unfortunately, Churchill was in no position to enjoy his newfound fame. He vehemently protested his imprisonment, arguing that he was a journalist and civilian non-combatant. The Boers, however, were not about to release so famous a captive as the son of a British Lord, especially one who had famously maligned the Boers in the past. Millard writes that Churchill absolutely detested captivity and the slovenly guards assigned to prevent his escape from their makeshift POW camp in Pretoria. “[From] the moment he had raised his hands he had hated his captivity with an intensity that surprised even him … So much did Churchill loathe his imprisonment that the experience would stay with him for the rest of his life.” All he could think about was escape, no matter the dangers involved. On December 12, 1899, after a month in captivity, Churchill dashed over the back wall of the prison. His two fellow accomplices were unable to join him. He would have to fight his way through 300 miles of hostile Transvaal territory on his own. “Failure being almost certain,” Churchill later wrote, “no odds against success affected me. All risks were less than the certainty.” The situation for the British in South Africa was bleak in late 1899. Anticipation of a quick and easy victory were dashed by a series of shocking defeats during a short period known as Black Week, none bigger than General Buller’s decisive defeat against Luis Botha at the Battle of Colenso on December 15, 1899. General Buller, nicknamed “the Steamroller,” was unceremoniously sacked after just three months in South Africa. The British, Millard writes, were desperate for heroes. News of Churchill’s dramatic escape from captivity and his treacherous overland flight to safety were just what the British public needed. Churchill’s saga was again front-page news. He was, Millard says, exactly what the British wanted in their heroes – “resilient, resourceful and, even in the face of extreme danger, utterly unruffled.” After stowing away on a train for some 70 miles east of Pretoria, he debarked to find himself, quite miraculously, in the midst of British men operating a coalmine in the Transvaal. At much personal risk, his countrymen kept Churchill hidden away in a rat-invested mineshaft for nearly a week before arranging for him to be spirited away on a train headed to Portuguese East Africa (modern day Mozambique) hidden in a giant spool of wool. It really is an almost unbelievable adventure tale. Churchill arrived in Durban, Natal’s largest city, on 23 December to a raucous hero’s welcome. After two full weeks on the run, he was finally safe and, indeed, the “Hero of the Empire.” Churchill leveraged his newfound fame to the fullest, somehow finagling an Army commission as a lieutenant in the South African Light Horse while retaining his role as foreign war correspondent for the Morning Post. He was present at the Battle of Spion Kop outside of the Ladysmith on 23 January 1900, one of the bloodiest fights of the war that left 600 dead and 1,500 wounded. He was also present for the British capture of Pretoria and the liberation of his POW camp in June 1900. Churchill returned to England and was easily elected to Parliament in the same district where he was defeated in 1899. His remarkable career was on its way; his election no doubt owing to his South African exploits.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ A Tribute to Millard's Writerly Skill That She Makes a Book from a Short, Passive Period of Churchill's Life
*by L***N on November 7, 2016*

The author photo on the dust jacket of Hero of the Empire shows Candice Millard sitting cross-armed and cross-legged, looking almost smug. Well it should, as Millard has managed to take a small chunk, of a period of only a few months, in the life of one of the most written-about men in history, and turned it into an interesting book. With Winston Churchill, that's about all that's left for writers to do, as there have been so many full-scale biographies and so many more histories of little pieces of his long and important life. Millard takes for her subject Churchill's "South African period," when he went to Africa as a foreign correspondent hoping to become a war hero. Churchill, from one of England's most aristocratic families, was convinced he was to play a great role in history. At only 24, after an undistinguished experience at public schools and Harrow, he had already seen battle in India and the Sudan and had covered an uprising in Cuba as a war correspondent, but he had not yet made a name for himself. His first run at a seat in Parliament had ended in defeat. Churchill saw the second colonial war against the Boers in 1899 as his main chance for fame and glory. As it turned out, he was quickly taken prisoner by the Boers and spent the next few months in a POW camp in Pretoria. Then, in a bungled escape attempt, luck was with him and he spent the next weeks trying to get to Portuguese territory. What becomes clear, even to a reader such as I who does not know much about either Churchill or the Boer Wars, is that poor Winston had mostly a passive role during this time. He sat around moping in the prison camp and then, wildly lucky, managed to escape through not his own efforts but mostly to the efforts of others. It is difficult to make a book out of such a time in the subject's life, but Millard has succeeded in doing so. Of course, the really important events, the great sweep of history and the beginning of Churchill's true career, take place in the book's 19-page Epilogue. But it is a tribute to Millard's skill as a writer that she makes quite an interesting book out of what to most authors would be a boring short chapter in a long and rich life.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ An excellent biography of the Winston Churchill few Americans know - the young man before WWII
*by S***N on March 2, 2025*

If Winston Churchill hadn't lived, novelists and playwrights would have had to invent him. Like Theodore Roosevelt, hero of Candice Millard's "River of Doubt," Winston was a larger-than-life braggart oozing talent who was as aware of his talent as he was relentless in his drive to achieve. In "Hero of the Empire," Millard writes as thrilling a history as one can ask for and tells the fascinating story of how Britain came just-that-close to losing one of its paramount 20th century figures. Even Americans who are only distantly connected to history know who Churchill is, but the Churchill they know is the cigar-chomping Prime Minister of World War II. Very few would recognize the trim young man on the cover of Millard's wonderful biography, but Churchill lived a lifetime before he turned 30. Desperate to achieve greatness, Churchill and Roosevelt shared a desire to fight in a war. Teddy's mania for fighting was in part served when he forced his way into Cuba. Churchill was able to use South Africa and the Boer War to place himself in the ultimate crucible of manhood, as he saw it. Millard tells this story with her trademark gifts - economy of language, an eye for the key detail, and an ear for the perfect quote. You can imagine much of the dialogue in her books as spoken with a single arched eyebrow, and "Hero of the Empire" is no exception. Millard expertly details how the Boer War came about and how Churchill got in the front lines of a debacle, a British train blundering headlong into a Boer ambush. The British Army may have been the mightiest in the world, but it's well-ordered discipline and dedication to honorably fighting on the open battlefield was poorly suited in the Boer War, where the locals preferred ambush, clever tactics, and lethal-yet-mobile firearms rather than stupidly banging away toe-to-toe against the plodding Brits. After narrowly surviving a battle, Churchill was taken prisoner - indeed, the only thing that saved Churchill's life was that he misplaced his sidearm, because if he hadn't, he would have gone down in a suicidal blaze of glory, futilely defending his honor. Instead, the unarmed Churchill was dumped into a South African POW prison, and the latter half of the book describes Churchill's daring escape and trek to neutral Portuguese territory. I just love this book and I'm sure I will re-read it again and again. If you know anyone who says "history is boring," give them a copy of this and call their bluff. Highest recommendation.

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