Jan Christiaan Smuts Biography

Jan Christiaan Smuts

(Bovenplaats, present-day South Africa, 1870-Irene, id., 1950) South African military and politician.The son of farmers with predominantly Dutch roots, Jan Smuts spent his childhood in South Africa until he entered the University of Cambridge (UK) in 1891.As a law student, he quickly excelled, graduating number one in his class.

Jan Smuts

Back in his native country in 1895, he was drawn to politics.He married Isie Krige, and in 1898 he was appointed state attorney.During the Boer War he excelled at designing and introducing guerilla tactics against British troops.

After the conflict, with his political ally Louis Botha carried out numerous public demonstrations in favor of greater self-government of the former republics.It is worth mentioning to the credit of Smuts important advances in this regard, such as the concessions in autonomic matters granted to the Transvaal province in 1906, and to the South African Union in 1910.

After addressing in the company of Botha a vast national reunification process, in 1917 he was required by the English Prime Minister David Lloyd George to participate, as a British subject, in the European warlike conflict with the post of Minister of Air.

Shortly after his return to South Africa, Botha's death propelled him to the post of prime minister.After being defeated by a coalition of Nationalists and Labor, in 1933 he again won the elections in the company of J.B.M.Hertzog, with whom he later maintained strong disagreements regarding the participation of South Africa in the recently started World War II.

After a very tight vote in Parliament, Jan Smuts was ratified as Prime Minister, and in 1939 the country declared war on Germany.Participant in the San Francisco conference, in which the Charter of the United Nations was drawn up, in the 1948 elections he was defeated by Daniel François Malan's Nationalist Party.

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