The
Siege of Mafeking was the most famous
British action in the
Second Boer War. It took place at the town of
Mahikeng (called Mafeking by the British) in
South Africa over a period of 217 days, from October 1899 to May 1900, and turned
Robert Baden-Powell, who went on to found the
Scouting Movement, into a national hero. The
Relief of Mafeking (the lifting of the siege) was a decisive victory for the British and a crushing defeat for the
Boers.