Battle+of+muizenberg

The Battle of Muizenberg was fought between the Dutch Cape Colony and Great Britain. The Dutch colony had Governor Sluysken and Colonel Jacob Jordan leading them. The British had Admiral Elphinstone, Major General James Craig, and Captain John Blankett leading them. The battle was fought on the seventh of August, 1795.

It happened near Muizenberg, at the Dutch cape colony. The battle was fought because Cape Colony patriots were attempting to seize control of the Cape. If they were successful, British access to the Cape would be denied. This meant that the British would not be able to trade near that region. The Dutch at the Battle of Muizenberg had 670 men to fight, while the British had a much larger force of 1,600 men. The two armies bombarded each other for six weeks. The Dutch were on land, while the British were on boats in the water. It wasn't till one final push by the British that the colony was captured. The Dutch suffered six casualties while the British suffered thirty-four. The colony was then owned by the British for the next seven years until it was returned to the Dutch in 1804. The British came back several years later and defeated the Dutch again. This time they kept the colony for one hundred more years where it played as a key strategic point in both WWI and WWII.