Botha, Smuts and the Great War

In Botha, Smuts and the Great War 1914–1918 authors Antonio Garcia and Ian Van Der Waag conducted painstaking research in South Africa and the United Kingdom to produce this, first-of-a-kind volume on the wartime roles of South African prime minister, General Louis Botha and his deputy General Jan Smuts. These very different men appealed to different audiences. Botha’s nuance and emotional intelligence complemented Smuts’s intellectualism. Thrown into a world conflagration in August 1914 and facing internal rebellion and the threat posed by German troops on the borders, they led South Africa’s Union Defence Force.

Both Botha and Smuts commanded in the field. Steadily, the South African army they commanded – benefiting from wartime training, sometimes in the field – gained resilience, experience, and battle-hardiness, adapting to the conditions of the campaigns and the demands of the tasks. South Africa’s campaigns were complex and divergent, starting with the invasion of neighbouring German South West Africa – to neutralise enemy radio stations and so aid the security of the South Atlantic. Suddenly suspended following the outbreak of the Afrikaner Rebellion, the campaign recommenced in January 1915. Following its conclusion, an infantry brigade, raised for Western Front service, was diverted to Egypt before facing near annihilation at Delville Wood. Simultaneously, a large South African force, fighting alongside British, African and Indian forces, overcame German resistance in East Africa whilst a brigade of field artillery and later the Cape Corps served in Egypt and Palestine. Moreover, approximately 6,500 South Africans served in the British Army, Royal Flying Corps/Royal Air Force and in the Royal Navy.

Although lionised during the war by a British public hungry for heroes, there is a different side to Botha and Smuts. Shunned by Afrikaner nationalists at the time, they have remained divisive figures. Responsible for the enactment of the Land Act of 1913, which shaped South Africa’s socio-economic and political landscape. Botha’s statues in Cape Town, Durban and Pretoria were vandalised on a number of occasions between 2015 and 2022, and there were recent calls for Smuts’s statues to be removed. Behind Botha’s charming, attractive façade, and Smuts’s stoic machine, were two very human, imperfect, and quite probably inconsiderate, men. Together they provide a wonderful lens through which to examine the potent forces of the early twentieth-century world and the country they hoped to forge. Myopic compatriots had constrained their plans; but it was the outbreak of war in 1914 that offered the most significant opportunities and brought the most adverse challenges. They fought insurmountable odds, and achieved great victories, at home and abroad, but also made startling errors and, ultimately, in classical fashion risked being crushed by the weight of the world they tried to create.

 

Longlisted for the Templar Medal Book Award

'This study adds to the literature on the African theatre in World War 1…It deals with South African involvement…(and) is especially interesting for the way it closely links military decision making in the First World War with the country’s fractious politics'. Dr Paul Rich, Small Wars and Insurgencies Journal

"Botha, Smuts and the Great War achieves what it set out to: the first assessment of the war-time roles of Louis Botha and Jan Smuts… refreshing insights… teasing out of the complexity of cross-cultural relationships in the South African context… the military and politics are interwoven. The authors are to be commended on the archival research undertaken including the use of little-known published memoirs." Anne Samson, Great War in Africa Association

"An important contribution to our knowledge of not just South Africa but of the British Empire in the Great War. Professor van der Waag is one of the leading scholars of the military history (broadly defined) of South Africa, and Dr Garcia is one of the best of the new generation of South African military historians. The authors, by placing the South African experience into the wider context of the war effort of the British Empire, have written a book that is relevant to global as well as national history. While much has been written about Smuts, and, to a lesser extent, on Botha, producing a joint military/political study of the two men during the First World War is largely innovative. So is placing the study of Smuts and Botha into the modern context of culture wars...the authors’ moving beyond the White population to include Black, Indian and Coloured perspectives; the reassessment of Smuts’ period of command in East Africa, and South African manpower problems, particularly the difficulty of keeping the Brigade in France up to strength; and the creation of the South African intelligence service." Professor Gary Sheffield, University of Wolverhampton, Kings College London, University of Buckingham

"The authors correctly point out that regarding the military and political, Botha and Smuts had not been covered in comprehensi

ve fashion, and that there is a significant gap in the historiography. The result is this outstanding academic biographical study with the thematic focus on the First World War. In the process, by drawing on extensive archival sources, especially the use of personal papers, the authors bring a fresh and new interpretation on Smuts and Botha. Apart from the new information on their military campaigns, I can especially refer to their analysis of the 1915 general election in South Africa. This is a significant contribution to South African historiography by reflecting what a challenging and bitter campaign it was for the two generals." Professor Alex Mouton, University of South Africa

"Original research that contributes to the national and international scenes ... provides a useful comparative on a long-standing political partnership which has until now been neglected. By exploring the unique friendship of two powerful and influential men like Botha and Smuts, a firmer understanding of the dynamics of these two men at work, their strengths, weaknesses, hopes and ambitions for their country at a pivotal time in their nation’s history can be investigated. The book will serve a useful benchmark ... an archivally-driven book, they have argued, quite convincingly, that to examine this partnership between Louis Botha and Jan Smuts, an important gap in the literature and historiography of South Africa has been filled. In this they have succeeded very well ... and by comparing and contrasting the leadership styles and characteristics of both men over a fraught period of South Africa’s history, the strengths and weaknesses of these men have been highlighted as never before." Professor Kent Fedorowich, University of the West of England, Australian National University

"It provides much needed insights into South African military politics during the Great War. It is certainly original and thought-provoking as it departs from the traditional narrative concerning race and also illuminates the networks that underpinned the higher direction of the war. It has been well-researched and makes good use of archival collections... Apart from its national significance, it also enhances our understanding of the British Empire during the Great War as well as the relations between the United Kingdom and South Africa. Overall, it brings together a number of key themes while also shedding much light on hitherto obscure personal relationships." Dr Ross Anderson, independent scholar, Lieutenant Colonel (ret)

"A very strong piece of scholarship based on some extensive archival research." Professor Andrew Stewart, National Danish Defence College, Kings College London, Australian National University

"This book’s authors often display a neat turn of phrase. Paul Kruger had ‘a face like a pile of rocks’; while Milner was a ‘hard-boiled imperialist with a moustache too’." Christopher Merrett, From the Thornveld

"....This is a good book to start investigating this part of the war tackling the story of a country divided three ways – South Africans pro and anti the British Empire plus the People of Colour who were far from passive bystanders. However it suffers from being bitty and inconsistently ordered perhaps betraying the joint authorship." Great War Group Magazine

"Botha, Smuts and the Great War is based on meticulous and detailed archival research, much of which is original.....make[s] important contributions to South African First World War history updating a considerable although aging historiography on Botha and Smuts. Anyone interested in the First World War in Africa, and particularly the role of these prominent South African leaders, should read Botha, Smuts and the Great War." Prof Timothy Stapleton, Scientia Militaria, South African Journal of Military Studies, Vol 53, No 1, 2025

“This 311-page volume sheds light on theatres rarely illuminated. Its description of African campaigns, supplemented by photos and maps, describe types of warfare not normally associated with the Great War, but shown to be related to the whole...  Authors Antonio Garcia and Ian Van Der Waag have crafted a valuable addition to Great War literature in this book." Roads to the Great War

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