South African statesman and military leader (1870–1950)
Field Marshal The Right Honourable
Jan Smuts
OM CH DTD ED KC FRS
Smuts in 1947
2nd Prime Minister of South Africa
In office 5 September 1939 – 4 June 1948
Monarch
George VI
Governors‑General
Sir Patrick Duncan
Nicolaas Jacobus de Wet
Gideon Brand van Zyl
Preceded by
Barry Hertzog
Succeeded by
Daniel François Malan
In office 3 September 1919 – 30 June 1924
Monarch
George V
Governors‑General
The Viscount Buxton
Prince Arthur of Connaught
The Earl of Athlone
Preceded by
Louis Botha
Succeeded by
Barry Hertzog
Leader of the Opposition
In office 4 June 1948 – 11 September 1950
Monarch
George VI
Prime Minister
Daniel François Malan
Preceded by
Daniel François Malan
Succeeded by
Jacobus Strauss
Personal details
Born
Jan Christiaan[1] (or Christian) Smuts[2]
(1870-05-24)24 May 1870 Bovenplaats, Cape Colony
Died
11 September 1950(1950-09-11) (aged 80) Irene, Transvaal, Union of South Africa
Nationality
South African
Political party
South African Party
United Party
Spouse
Isie Krige
Children
6
Alma mater
Victoria College, Stellenbosch
Christ's College, Cambridge
Middle Temple
Profession
Barrister
Signature
Military service
Allegiance
South African Republic Union of South Africa United Kingdom
Rank
Field Marshal
Commands
South African
Defence Forces
Field Marshal Jan Christian Smuts, OM, CH, DTD, ED, PC, KC, FRS (baptismal name Jan Christiaan Smuts, 24 May 1870 – 11 September 1950) was a South African statesman, military leader and philosopher.[1] In addition to holding various military and cabinet posts, he served as prime minister of the Union of South Africa from 1919 to 1924 and 1939 to 1948.
Smuts was born to Afrikaner parents in the British Cape Colony. He was educated at Victoria College, Stellenbosch before reading law at Christ's College, Cambridge on a scholarship. He was called to the bar at the Middle Temple in 1894 but returned home the following year. In the leadup to the Second Boer War, Smuts practised law in Pretoria, the capital of the South African Republic. He led the republic's delegation to the Bloemfontein Conference and served as an officer in a commando unit following the outbreak of war in 1899. In 1902, he played a key role in negotiating the Treaty of Vereeniging, which ended the war and resulted in the annexation of the South African Republic and Orange Free State into the British Empire. He subsequently helped negotiate self-government for the Transvaal Colony, becoming a cabinet minister under Louis Botha.
Smuts played a leading role in the creation of the Union of South Africa in 1910, helping shape its constitution. He and Botha established the South African Party, with Botha becoming the union's first prime minister and Smuts holding multiple cabinet portfolios. As defence minister he was responsible for the Union Defence Force during the First World War. Smuts personally led troops in the East African campaign in 1916 and the following year joined the Imperial War Cabinet in London. He played a leading role at the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, advocating for the creation of the League of Nations and securing South African control over the former German South-West Africa.
In 1919, Smuts replaced Botha as prime minister, holding the office until the South African Party's defeat at the 1924 general election by J. B. M. Hertzog's National Party. He spent several years in academia, during which he coined the term "holism", before eventually re-entering politics as deputy prime minister in a coalition with Hertzog; in 1934 their parties subsequently merged to form the United Party. Smuts returned as prime minister in 1939, leading South Africa into the Second World War at the head of a pro-interventionist faction. He was appointed field marshal in 1941 and in 1945 signed the UN Charter, the only signer of the Treaty of Versailles to do so. His second term in office ended with the victory of his political opponents, the reconstituted National Party at the 1948 general election, with the new government beginning the implementation of apartheid.
Smuts was an internationalist who played a key role in establishing and defining the League of Nations, United Nations and Commonwealth of Nations. He supported racial segregation and opposed democratic non-racial rule. At the end of his career, Smuts supported the Fagan Commission's recommendations to relax restrictions on black South Africans living and working in urban areas.
^ abRoot, Waverley (1952). "Jan Christian Smuts. 1870–1950". Obituary Notices of Fellows of the Royal Society. 8 (21): 271–73. doi:10.1098/rsbm.1952.0017. JSTOR 768812. S2CID 202575333.
^"Great Contemporaries: Jan Christian Smuts". The Churchill Project. 1 December 2017. Retrieved 18 May 2021.
Field Marshal Jan Christian Smuts, OM, CH, DTD, ED, PC, KC, FRS (baptismal name Jan Christiaan Smuts, 24 May 1870 – 11 September 1950) was a South African...
JanSmuts Avenue is a major street in Johannesburg, South Africa. It begins in Randburg, and passes through important business areas like Rosebank. It...
Sybella (Isie) Margaretha Smuts née Krige, also known as Ouma Smuts, (22 December 1870 — 25 February 1954), was the second First Lady of the Union of...
contemporary JanSmuts to bake a version of their own called "JanSmuts cookies". This confection also became popular in the 1920s and 1930s. JanSmuts cookies...
The JanSmuts Stadium is an athletics and football stadium in the Arcadia suburb of East London, Buffalo City. The stadium is named in honour of Jan Smuts...
Williams, Basil (1946). Botha Smuts and South Africa. London: Hodder and Stoughton. (comprehensive commentaries on Smuts and Botha, or as William's titled...
Jan Christian Smuts (aka Jan Christiaan Smuts), OM, CH, ED, KC, FRS (24 May 1870–11 September 1950) was a prominent South African and Commonwealth statesman...
include: Barbara Smuts (born 1950), American anthropologist Dave Smuts (David, flor. 1980–2023..), Namibian Supreme Court judge Dene Smuts (1949–2016), South...
favour of Smuts. Upon becoming Prime Minister of South Africa, Smuts declared South Africa officially at war with Germany and the Axis. Smuts immediately...
SAS JanSmuts was a Minister-class strike craft of the South African Navy. The SAS JanSmuts was the first of the Minister class to be built and initially...
was coined by JanSmuts (1870–1950) in his 1926 book Holism and Evolution. While he never assigned a consistent meaning to the word, Smuts used holism to...
JanSmuts Regiment, and have 3 years to design and implement new regimental insignia. JanSmuts, the regiment's honorific, was chosen because Smuts was...
Second Cabet of Louis Botha, 1915–1919 First Cabinet of JanSmuts, 1920–1921 Second Cabinet of JanSmuts, 1921–1924 First Cabinet of J.B.M Hertzog, 1924–1929...
Jan Christiaan Smuts, OM (24 May 1870 – 11 September 1950) served served as Prime Minister of the Union of South Africa from 1919 to 1924 and from 1939...
of Smuts. Upon becoming Prime Minister, on 6 September Smuts declared South Africa officially at war with Germany and the Axis. Immediately, Smuts set...
(c.1923) Front (left to right): Thomas Watt, F.S. Malan, JanSmuts, Thomas Smartt and Henry Burton. Back (left to right): Nicolaas de Wet, Deneys Reitz...
developed from the imperial conferences. A specific proposal was presented by JanSmuts in 1917 when he coined the term "the British Commonwealth of Nations"...
seats in the Transvaal Legislative council were offered to Louis Botha, JanSmuts and Koos de la Rey, but they turned the British down.: 269 Due to a lack...
becoming known as bittereinders. Led by generals such as Louis Botha, JanSmuts, Christiaan de Wet, and Koos de la Rey, Boer guerrillas used hit-and-run...
National Party's constant promotion of JanSmuts to be similar to the British. Leading the United Party, Smuts proposed rather liberal policies, more...
flight from Chiang Kai-shek International Airport, Taipei, Taiwan, to JanSmuts International Airport, Johannesburg, South Africa, with a stopover in...
to elect the 150 members of the House of Assembly. The United Party of JanSmuts won an absolute majority. Although the United Party was victorious, special...
prime minister Sir Robert Borden and South African minister of defence JanSmuts demanded that, at the Versailles Conference, the dominions be given full...
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