Jan Smuts

Jan Christiaan Smuts, OM (May 24, 1870 – September 11, 1950) was a prominent South African statesman and general. He was Prime Minister of South Africa from 1919 to 1924 and from 1939 to 1948. He was also a lawyer and an intellectual.

Related Topics:
OM - May 24 - 1870 - September 11 - 1950 - South Africa - Statesman - General - Prime Minister of South Africa - Lawyer - Intellectual

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As Prime Minister, he opposed a majority of Afrikaners that wished to continue and further the de facto Apartheid of the inter-war years. After the Second World War, he established and supported the Fagan Commission, which advocated the complete abandonment of all segregation in South Africa. However, Smuts lost a general election before he could implement the suggestion, and died, just as de jure Apartheid was being implemented.

Related Topics:
Apartheid - Second World War - Fagan Commission

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He led commandos in the Second Boer War for the Transvaal. Later, he led the armies of South Africa against Germany, capturing Namibia and commanding the British Army in East Africa. He became a Field Marshal in the British Army in 1940, and served in the Imperial War Cabinet under Winston Churchill.

Related Topics:
Commandos - Second Boer War - Transvaal - Namibia - British Army - East Africa - Field Marshal - Imperial War Cabinet - Winston Churchill

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Perhaps his greatest accomplishment was in the establishment of the League of Nations, the idea for which is usually credited to Woodrow Wilson, but the inception of which was the design of Smuts. He later urged the formation of a new international organisation for peace: the United Nations. He sought to redefine the relationship between the United Kingdom and her colonies, by establishing the Commonwealth of Nations.

Related Topics:
League of Nations - Woodrow Wilson - United Nations - United Kingdom - Commonwealth of Nations

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In 2004 he was named by voters in a poll held by the South African Broadcasting Corporation as one of the top ten Greatest South Africans of all time. The final positions of the top ten were to be decided by a second round of voting, but the programme was taken off the air due to political controversy, and Nelson Mandela was given the number one spot based on the first round of voting. In the first round, Jan Smuts came sixth.

Related Topics:
2004 - South African Broadcasting Corporation - Greatest South Africans

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