In October 1899, the Second Anglo-Boer War was declared between Britain and the Independent Boer States of the South African Republic and the Orange Free State. In 1902 the war ended following a campaign by the British against the Boers under the leadership of Lord Kitchener and Lord Frederick Roberts. The British merged the two former republics into the Union of South Africa, (now the Republic of South Africa), bringing it under the control of the British Empire, in 1910. Aspects of the military strategy pursued by Kitchener and Roberts (and with some support from Lord Alfred Milner, the High Commissioner of South Africa) during this conflict attracted strong criticism from some quarters. The establishment of concentration camps for Boer people (predominantly women and children) and Black South Africans resulted in thousands of civilian deaths. The ‘scorched earth policy’ – the burning of Boer farms as a form of resource denial – was similarly extremely controversial.