Very few politicians on the world stage played as large a roll in the events of the 20th century more than Jan Smuts.
Born in 1870, Smuts would play a large roll in the Boer War, World War I and World War II. He passed away in 1950 after a long career representing South Africa and played major rolls in many of the events that defined the 20th century.
He commanded a guerilla army of Boer’s against the British during the Boer War. The war ended in 1902 with the British declaring victory but with the Boer’s extracting a promise for self government which they finally achieved in 1906/07. As the war was coming to a stalemate with the British, Smuts met with Lord Kitchener, the commander of the British and Commonwealth forces. Smuts recognized that although the war was not lost, continuing to fight the British would just lead to the further destruction of the country and further bloodshed with no end in sight. His point of view prevailed amongst the Boer’s who had gathered at a conference to decide upon the fate of the war and the conference ended with overwhelming support for the 1902 treaty.
After the Boer War and before World War I, Smuts would take on leadership roles in key South African political parties. At the onset of World War I, in 1914, Smuts led the South African Army in a successful attack against German East Africa which today includes the countries of Burundi, Rwanda and part of Tanzania.
In 1917, British Prime Minister David Lloyd George asked Smuts to come to London to join the Imperial War Cabinet. Shortly after his arrival, Lloyd George tried to convince Smuts to take over command of the British Army in the Middle East. But Smuts deferred and General Allenby was given the command. Were this not the case, then the bridge crossing the Jordan River would not be called the Allenby Bridge, but would be known today as the Jan Smuts Bridge.
Smuts did however choose to work closely with Allenby and helped Allenby plan for his successful attack into the southern flank of the Turks. This plan called for the construction of a railroad to assist in moving troops from Egypt northwards towards Damascus. With the railroad built, Allenby was able to take Jerusalem, Haifa and Damascus, routing the Turks and pushing them all the way back to Turkey.
Smuts would also play a large role in the formal formation of the Royal Air Force, combining all British air assets under one formal command and providing it with the support that he felt it needed and deserved so that it would not be controlled by the army. It took until World War II for the US to adopt the same idea.
When America entered WW1 , Smuts argued that the US troops should be distributed amongst the other allied armies rather than be allowed to fight as an intact American Expeditionary Force. When this idea was declined by the US, Smuts wrote a confidential letter to Lloyd George arguing that the American General John “Blackjack” Pershing was too inexperienced to lead the US troops and that someone more experienced, like himself, should be put in charge of the Americans. The reader can just imagine the US reaction to that once the letter was leaked to the public. It turned out Smuts was wrong about Pershing who acquitted himself quite well during WW1.
After the war, Smuts attended the Paris Peace Conference on behalf of South Africa. He became a strong supporter of the League of Nation and became a signatory to the Treaty of Versailles where South Africa received a mandate to rule German South West Africa (now known as Namibia).
In the run up to World War II, Smuts returned to politics. As the war was heating up, initially the South African Government tried to remain neutral but the Prime Minister at the time was deposed at a party caucus and Smuts was elected in his place. Smuts was invited to join the Imperial War Cabinet. As Churchill came to power in 1940, Smuts power within the War Cabinet began to rise. Churchill and Smuts had served together in World War I and Churchill grew to appreciate Smuts advice more and more as the war dragged on.
During the Battle of Britain, it was not uncommon for Winston Churchill to tempt fate and watch the bombing of London from a vantage point atop the Admiralty Buildings in Central London. As the War Cabinet became aware that this was going on, they thought Churchill’s wife could make him stop and remain in the relative safety of the large bunker beneath the building. When this failed, they approached the King who they knew Churchill was terribly fond of and asked King George VI if he could talk to Churchill and get him to stop risking his life on the roof. This backfired terribly as Churchill only talked the King into joining him on the roof to watch the bombing. They then approached the Queen to see if she could help. Her solution was to threaten to join the duo up on the roof to “appreciate the show” for herself. As a result, the King acquiesced and agreed to remain safely off the roof. But Churchill remained undeterred. Thus the War Cabinet, with Churchill out of the room, began to deliberate what they should do in the event that Churchill were to be killed either by enemy action or as the result of a heart attack. Interestingly enough, their solution was that they all agreed that Jan Smuts, the Prime Minister of South Africa, would become the Prime Minister of England. This would be accomplished through a unanimous vote of the coalition government that remained in power in England for the duration of the war. Of course this did not happen but its interesting to ponder how history could have recorded that Jan Smuts led Britain and the Commonwealth through the darkest hours of World War II.
At the end of the war, In May of 1945, Smuts represented South Africa in San Francisco at the drafting of the United Nations Charter. He became the South African signatory to that document.
Smuts was also a big supporter of the Balfour Declaration, first adopted in November of 1917 and then again reaffirmed in 1922 in the League of Nations British Mandate for Palestine which set forth British policy towards the establishment of a Jewish national homeland in Palestine. He became personal friends with Chaim Weitzman, who would go on to become the President of Israel and Smuts saw to it that his government voted in the United Nations in support of the creation of the State of Israel. A Kibbutz near Haifa is named for him, Ramat Yohanan.
Smuts saw much change in the world and in his native South Africa over the course of his life. He is the only person to have signed both the League of Nations Charter and the United Nations Charter. He is also the only person whose name adorns both the Treaty of Versailles that ended World War I as well as being the South African signatory to the surrender documents that officially ended World War II. Smuts truly had a seat, front and center, for many of the key events of the 20th century.
Most people have probably never heard of him. Which makes him a good subject for Remembrance Day, 2014.