The Republic defeated the British Empire in what is often referred to as the First Boer War and remained independent until the end of the Second Boer War on 31 May 1902, when it was forced to surrender to the British after Lord Kitchener authorised the use of a scorched earth policy and concentration camps to hold captured Boer women and children. More than 27,000 of these civilians died as result. After the war the territory of the ZAR became the Transvaal Colony. During World War I, there was an attempt at resurrecting the republic in the Maritz rebellion.