Jan Smuts and a British Transvaal

Jan Christiaan Smuts, OM (24 May 1870 – 11 September 1950) was a prominent South African and Commonwealth statesman and military leader. He served as a Boer General duning the Boer War, a British General during the First World War and was appointed Field Marshal during the Second World War. In addition to various Cabinet appointments, he served as Prime Minister of the Union of South Africa from 1919 to 1924 and from 1939 to 1948. He played a leading part in the post war settlements at the end of both world wars, making significant contributions towards the creation of both the League of Nations and the United Nations.

This article is about Jan Smuts in the government of South Africa when part of the British Empire, from the Transvaal's defeat at the end of the Second Boer War in 1902 until the creation of the Union of South Africa in 1910. Smuts emerged from the Boer War as one of the foremost Afrikaner leaders. Working closely with Louis Botha, Smuts engineered the restoration of . Having won the elections to the restored Transvaal Parliament, Smuts and Botha proceeded to negotiate beneficial terms of unification.

The Second Boer War had irrevocably changed the face of South Africa, but, for Smuts, it was back to work as usual. Whilst Christiaan De Wet, Koos de la Rey, and Louis Botha toured Europe, hailed as conquering heroes, Smuts returned to his former day job, as a mediocre lawyer. Smuts was as restless in this capacity as ever, and yearned to take part in politics again. Alas for Smuts, the British dominance of South Africa since Vereeniging made it almost impossible for an Afrikaner, no matter how well versed in the English language or British thinking, to break through. More worrying for Smuts, many Boers disapproved of his, and others', leadership during the war: some wished for a fight to the death, whilst some wished that the war had ended after the fall of Pretoria.

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