Publisher's Synopsis
Jan Smuts - British South African Statesman is the biography of Jan Smuts, a prominent South African and British Commonwealth statesman, military leader, and philosopher. In addition to various cabinet appointments, he served as Prime Minister of the Union of South Africa from 1919 until 1924 and from 1939 until 1948. He served as a British Field Marshal in both the First and Second World Wars. Smuts was for most of his life a strong supporter of segregation between the races and always opposed the enfranchisement of the black African majority in South Africa, fearing that would lead to the ultimate destruction of Western civilization in the country. However, in 1948 his government issued the Fagan Report, which stressed the impracticability of complete racial segregation in South Africa and wanted to abolish the restrictions on African migration into urban areas. In this he was opposed by a majority of Afrikaners under the political leadership of the Nationalist Party who wished to deepen segregation and formalise it into a system of apartheid. This contributed to his narrow loss in the 1948 general election. During the First World War, he led the armies of South Africa against Germany, capturing German South-West Africa and commanded the British Army in East Africa. From 1917 to 1919, he was also one of five members of the British War Cabinet, helping to create the Royal Air Force. He became a Field Marshal in the British Army in 1941, and served in the Imperial War Cabinet under Winston Churchill. He was the only person to sign the peace treaties ending both the First and Second World Wars. One of his greatest international accomplishments was the establishment of the League of Nations, the exact design and implementation of which relied upon Smuts. Jan Smuts - British South African Statesman is highly recommended for those interested in the history and life of this accomplished British statesman and military leader.
