Christian Smuts holds the unique distinction of being
the only individual to sign both peace settlements
reached after the First and Second World Wars. Of
Afrikaner roots (Smuts was born in Malmesbury, Cape
Colony), Smuts fought in the Second Boer War of
1899-1902 against the British.
Notwithstanding this, Smuts' argued for South Africa's
place within the British Empire and worked with the
British through both world wars, occupying senior
positions in each.
Like hundreds of other Boer children, it was not until
the age of 12 that he was sent to school, although he
had received some teaching from his mother.
In 1886 Smuts went to Victoria College in Stellenbosch,
forerunner of the present University. After a brilliant
career at Stellenbosch, Smuts went to Cambridge, 1891,
where he read for the Bar, and where he wrote a book,
never published, on the work and poetry of Walt Whitman.
In 1895 he returned to South Africa and began a practice
in 1896 in Johannesburg. His ability brought him to the
notice of President Kruger, who appointed him State
Attorney in 1898.
During the Boer War he served as a commander in the
field, demonstrating a particular talent for guerrilla
warfare. His historic raid far into the Cape Colony
carried him close to Malmesbury and within sight of
Table Mountain. The end of the war found him in the
It was during the Boer War that Smuts became acquainted
with Louis Botha, forming a close friendship that lasted
until the latter's death in 1919. As Cabinet Minister
his personality soon brought him into prominence. He
enjoyed the close friendship of General Louis Botha but
was regarded as being the more reserved and
intellectual. A ruthless streak [sic] in him was shown
in the way he handled the struggle waged by the Indian
community, led by Mahatma Gandhi, even though it was his
personal decision to eventually set Ghandi free.
Upon the establishment of Union, Smuts became Minister
of Defence, Mines and the Interior and created the Union
Defence Force. He ruthlessly put down a civil rebellion
against the decision to ally with Britain by a section
of the Afrikaner population. For what was regarded as
high-handed action, he incurred much odium.
With the declaration of war, he offered immediate
military assistance to Britain. The day to day military
command of the invasion of German Southwest Africa
(Namibia) in July 1915 was handed to Smuts. Curiously,
despite the German guerrilla leader von Lettow-Vorbeck's
success in continually evading Smuts, his success in
capturing large tracts of land, and especially the
German South-western capital of Dar-es-Salaam, brought
Smuts great credit in Britain.
Arriving in Britain in March 1917 as head of the South
African delegation to the Imperial War Conference, Smuts
was feted by an admiring Lloyd George, who offered him a
place in the War Cabinet.
He joined the War Cabinet, became a Privy Councillor and
was largely responsible, in 1918, for the establishment
of the Royal Air Force (formerly the Royal Flying Corps,
but now an independent section of the armed forces in
its own right).
At the Paris Peace Conference, representing South
Africa, Smuts argued for reconciliation with the
defeated Germany, although he did agree the case for
major proponent of the League of Nations (and so,
despite his reservations about growing U.S. worldwide
influence, an ally of President Wilson), Smuts argued
that Germany's overseas possessions - removed from her
by the Treaty of Versailles - should be managed by
League of Nations' 'mandates'.
With Louis Botha's death in 1919 Smuts became Prime
Minister of the South African Union until 1924.
Outside of politics he wrote an important philosophical
work, "Holism and Evolution", in 1926. In 1930 he became
a Fellow of the Royal Society and the following year
Rector of St Andrew's University.
During the Gold Standard Crisis of 1933 he was appointed
as Deputy Prime Minister until 1939. Smuts condemned the
Nazi-inspired Greyshirt movement, and was a great
supporter of Zionism. So much so that Ramat Yochanan, a
Jewish settlement in Palestine, was named in honour of
him in 1937. Upon the outbreak of World War II he again
became Prime Minister. As intimate collaborator of
Winston Churchill and others, his role in this struggle
was almost greater than during World War I. Smuts became
a Field Marshal of the Allied Forces in September 1941.
Following the Second World War, his major achievement
was drafting the Covenant of the United Nations.
Smuts lost the 1948 South African general election,
dying two years later on 11 September 1950. The election
of 1948 signalled the start of South Africa's slide into
Apartheid and the end of a more enlightened era.