Jan Smuts and the Old Boers

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Jan Christiaan Smuts, OM (24 May 1870 – 11 September 1950), was a key South African leader who served as Prime Minister of the Union of South Africa from 1919 to 1924 and again from 1939 to 1948. He helped shape the postwar settlements after both World Wars and played a major role in the creation of the League of Nations and later the United Nations. Smuts was a minister in Louis Botha’s government from the formation of the Union in 1910 until World War I began in 1914.

After 1910, Afrikaner political groups formed a new national party to work together. Het Volk, the Afrikaner Bond, and Orangia Unie united with Smuts and Botha’s supporters to form the South African Party (SAP). In the first elections of September 1910, the SAP won a clear majority, and Botha became prime minister with Smuts as his deputy. Smuts also held several important ministries and began to shape national policy.

But old rivalries ran deep. The Old Boers, led by Steyn, Hertzog, and De Wet, resented Anglophone influence and pushed back against Smuts and Botha. In 1913, Hertzog tried to move against the leaders, but Botha and Smuts kept control. The Old Boers left the SAP and formed opposition that would eventually become the National Party.

As tensions grew, so did unrest among workers. In 1913 miners went on strike, and Governor-General Gladstone urged Smuts to mediate. Smuts tried to stay neutral, but the conflict escalated. A major riot broke out in Johannesburg, and 21 demonstrators were killed and many more wounded. Smuts and Botha went to the city to negotiate, but they faced a hostile crowd. In the end, they helped calm the situation and carried on.

In early 1914 another wave of strikes hit the railways. Smuts, now Defense Minister, refused to back down and took strong measures to restore order. He arrested union leaders and, with the army, moved to break the strike. Nine leaders were deported to be tried or removed from the country. Smuts defended his actions with a new bill that would make them legal after the fact, a move that drew heavy criticism from opponents but found support in his party.

World War I began for South Africa in 1914, as the country supported Britain. Some Boers opposed the war, and a rebellion known as the Maritz Rebellion rose up in 1914. General Louis Botha and Smuts led loyal forces to crush it, using martial law and force. The leaders of the rebellion were imprisoned and fined, but two years later they were released as reconciliation grew. The Maritz Rebellion helped push many Old Boers to think about working within the constitutional system, and some joined the future National Party.

The rebellion also left a lasting mark: the Old Boers and their allies eventually formed a larger Afrikaner party that would oppose Smuts and his allies, setting the stage for a longer political contest in the years to come. The Maritz Rebellion is often called simply “the Rebellion” in Afrikaans.

Smuts went on to become a central figure in South Africa’s government and in international diplomacy after the war, helping to shape the League of Nations and, later, the United Nations. He remained a major force in South African politics for many years, guiding the country through difficult times and helping to connect South Africa to the wider world.