Background

Ethnicity: Jan Smuts was an Afrikaner whose ancestors came from Holland in the mid-17th century, at the very start of Dutch settlement.

Jan Smuts was born on May 24, 1870, on a farm near Riebeeck West in the Cape Colony (now South Africa), to Jacobus Smuts and his wife Catharina. His father was a prosperous farmer and a member of the Cape Legislative Assembly. He was one of six children and the second son of the family.

Education

Jan Smuts grew up on a farm and developed into a natural countryman, botany being his expertise. Growing up in a Boer region of Cape Colony, he heard no English until went to school. Until he went to a boarding school at Riebeek West at the age of 12, Smuts lived the life of a South African farm boy, taking his share in the work of the farm, learning from nature, and developing a life-long love of the land.

Although he was shy and physically weak, Smuts possessed a great zeal for learning. Four years later he entered Victoria College at Stellenbosch and there compiled a brilliant academic record. While a student at Stellenbosch, Smuts met Sybella Margaretha Krige, whom he later married. In 1891 Smuts won the Ebden scholarship and went to Christ's College, Cambridge, to study law. He came in first in both parts of the Law tripos (final honors examinations) - an unprecedented achievement.

From Cambridge, Smuts went to London, where he came first in the Inns of Court honors examination and was awarded two prizes. It seemed clear that a distinguished academic career lay ahead of him; nevertheless, Smuts wanted to return to South Africa. Apart from law, he read widely in philosophy, poetry, and science, and it was at this time that he first read the poems of Walt Whitman.

Career

In 1895 Smuts returned to South Africa, settled at Cape Town, and was admitted to the bar. Because of his reserved ways, however, he was not immediately successful; consequently, he developed an interest in journalism and politics. In politics, he was initially attracted to Cecil Rhodes, who was prime minister at that time. After the Jameson Raid was made and Rhodes's part in it became known, Smuts repudiated Rhodes. He moved to Johannesburg and resumed the practice of law.

In Johannesburg, Smuts quickly won the recognition of Paul Kruger, the president of Transvaal, and in 1898 Smuts was appointed state attorney of the republic. He became attached to the Boer cause and, when the Boer War began, published a propaganda pamphlet in 1899 entitled A Century of Wrong. During the war, Smuts discovered that he was a natural fighter, and he became a leader of one of the most successful of the Boers' guerrilla bands. At the end of the war, in 1902, Smuts participated in the peace negotiations at Vereeniging.

After the war, Smuts returned to Pretoria, Transvaal, and once again practiced law. A few years later he reentered politics. In 1904 Smuts joined Louis Botha to launch a political party, Het Volk (The People). The party's aim was to work for a responsible government. The following year Smuts was sent to England to carry his party's demands directly to Henry Campbell-Bannerman's new Liberal government. When the British prime minister approved of the Het Volk request, not only did the Boer Republic regain its self-government but also Smuts regained his British sympathies.

For the 15-year period from 1904 to 1919, the Smuts-Botha combination was the great fact of South African politics. These two former Boer generals collaborated to produce qualities needed for political leadership. Smuts was a scholar and a reformer in politics who combined vision and ambition; he remained the source of ideas and the power behind the scenes. In 1906, when Transvaal was granted responsible government, he supported Botha for the premiership of the republic, and he himself became colonial secretary and minister of education.

Later, when his great dream of the Union of South Africa became a reality in 1910, Smuts worked hard to have Botha accepted as the first premier of South Africa. He himself accepted the portfolios of mines, defense, and interior. Botha and Smuts merged their Het Volk party with other provincial parties and formed the South African party.

Just as Smuts was drawn into the public life of his own country, so, after the outbreak of World War I, he was drawn into international affairs. When he and Botha had suppressed a rebellion in South Africa, conquered South West Africa, and launched a campaign in East Africa, he went to England for an imperial conference (March 1917). Prime Minister Lloyd George at once recognized his abilities and made him minister of air.

From then on he was used in a variety of tasks. He organized the Royal Air Force and was concerned in all major decisions about the war. At the peace conference at Versailles, the English economist J.M. Keynes regarded him as the greatest protagonist of a moderate peace that would not crush Germany, and he may justly be called one of the principal progenitors of the League of Nations.

A few months after their return from Versailles, Botha died, and Smuts became prime minister. Nearly five years later he was defeated by a coalition of the Nationalist and Labour parties and remained in opposition until 1933 when he and J.B.M. Hertzog joined forces against the more extreme nationalists. Smuts was content to serve under Hertzog, but they were in deep disagreement about whether South Africa should go to war if Britain did. When the crisis came in September 1939 Smuts’s view prevailed by a narrow majority of 13 in Parliament. Smuts became prime minister, and South Africa declared war on Germany.

During World War II South Africa played a much greater part than in World War I, but Smuts himself was not as important a figure as he had been during 1914-1918. He was consulted by Sir Winston Churchill and other Allied leaders, but his main role was to prevent Germany and Italy from conquering North Africa. Once that objective was achieved, he and his country became of relatively minor importance. Smuts represented South Africa at the 1945 San Francisco Conference at which the Charter of the United Nations was drafted.

At the general election of 1948 Smuts’s party was defeated by the Nationalists. D.F. Malan became prime minister, and one of his first acts was to offer Smuts an official airplane to go to Cambridge, where he was to be installed as chancellor, an offer that Smuts accepted. Two years later, at his home near Pretoria, he died.

Achievements

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  During his lifetime Jan Smuts excelled as a soldier, statesman of world fame, philosopher, naturalist, and scholar. He held the position of Prime Minister twice in his lifetime, from 1919 until 1924 and from 1939 until 1948. Jan Smuts received throughout his career a large number of decorations, honors, and awards. His house at Doornkloof is preserved as a museum, while his birthplace was declared a historical monument in 1955. Smuts has also been honored with statues including one in Durban, Cape Town, and in Westminster, London.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Holism and Evolution

    (It was Smuts's expressed the conviction that a time would...)

    1927
  • The League of Nations; a Practical Suggestion 1918

Religion

Smuts was a deeply religious man, a devoted Christian, and an admirer and follower of Jesus.

Politics

Smuts had become a great supporter of Paul Kruger, President of the Transvaal Republic and during the Second Boer War played one of the leading roles in fighting the British and was one of the leaders who brought about the eventual peace treaty that was signed on 31st May 1902. He then played a key role during discussions with the British and eventually his beliefs and dreams were realized when a constitution was drawn up and the Union Of South Africa was born in 1910 with General Louis Botha as the Prime Minister and Jan Smuts holding 3 key ministries which included Defence Minister.

Views

Jan Smuts was one of the architects of segregation. The black majority (and white women) were entirely excluded from any political participation. Racial segregation became the official policy throughout the Union and laid the foundation for apartheid.

Quotations: "If there was to be equal manhood suffrage the whites would be swamped all over South Africa by the blacks and the whole position for which whites have striven for 200 years or more would be given up."

"I fail to believe that Hitler's war – the most terrible in history – was merely due to economic causes, and not to something deeper and more sinister in human outlook and beliefs. ... It was an ideology and not merely materialism. It was an ideological obsession, a madness, which can operate as disastrously in nations as in individuals."

Personality

Jan Smuts spoke fluent English, Afrikaans, High Dutch, German, and ancient Greek languages. Although something of a reserved intellectual, he possessed a ruthless streak.

Quotes from others about the person

• "Smuts and I are like two old love-birds molting together on a perch, but still able to peck." - Winston Churchill

Interests

• plants

• Politicians

  Paul Kruger

• Writers

  Walt Whitman, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

• Sport & Clubs

  mountain climbing

Connections

While a student at Stellenbosch, Smuts met Sybella Margaretha Krige, whom he later married.

Father:

Jacobus Smuts

Mother:

Catharina Smuts

Spouse:

Sybella Margaretha Krige Smuts

Friend:

Winston Churchill

Winston Churchill had met Jan Christian Smuts when he returned from the Boer War in 1900. Smuts was a man whom Churchill regarded not only as an equal but in many ways superior to himself.

References

• Jan Smuts: Unafraid of Greatness Jan Smuts: Unafraid of Greatness is a re-examination of the life and thoughts of Jan Smuts. It is intended to remind a contemporary readership of the remarkable achievements of this impressive soldier-statesman.
  2015
• Jan Smuts: A Biography The biography of an important figure - political philosopher, a soldier in three wars, scientist, statesman - Jan Smuts, who has played along and decisive role in the formation and consolidation of South Africa.
  1943
• Churchill's Confidant: Jan Smuts, Enemy to Lifelong Friend Brought together first as enemies in the Anglo-Boer War, and later as allies in the First World War, the remarkable, and often touching, the friendship between Winston Churchill and Jan Smuts is a rich study in contrasts.
  2018