Book Review

Soldiers and statesmen: Reflecting on Botha and Smuts’s leadership during WWI

Book title: Botha, Smuts and the First World War

Author: Antonio Garcia and Ian van der Waag

ISBN: 9781776194131

Publisher: Jonathan Ball Publishers, Johannesburg & Cape Town, July 2024, R350.00*

Review Title: Soldiers and statesmen: Reflecting on Botha and Smuts’s leadership during WWI

Reviewers:
Suné van Achterbergh¹

Affiliation:
¹Department of History, Faculty of Humanities, North-West University, Potchefstroom, South Africa

Corresponding author: Suné van Achterbergh, sune.kleynhans2@gmail.com

How to cite this book review: Van Achterbergh, S. “Soldiers and statesmen: Reflecting on Botha and Smuts’s leadership during WWI” New Contree 92(0) (2025): a894. https://doi.org/10.4102/nc.v92i0.894

Copyright Notice: © 2025. The Authors. Licensee: AOSIS. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Introduction

Louis Botha and Jan Smuts are well-known figures and an iconic duo in South African history. At the turn of the 20th century, Botha and Smuts faced a unique position as military leaders in the South African War (1899–1902) who then took the reins as political leaders in forging a new South Africa. One of their greatest tasks was guiding South Africa through the turbulent waters of the First World War. In Botha, Smuts and the First World War, Antonio Garcia and Ian van der Waag contribute to original research by exploring in depth the dynamics between Botha and Smuts, and the role of these two figures during the war. The book testifies of a high level of academic research interwoven with a captivating narrative, and at times, strikingly beautiful prose.

Discussion

Garcia and Van der Waag do not shy away from difficult questions of heritage, and they address the controversy around these figures right from the start. In a post-apartheid South Africa, the remembrance of Botha and Smuts has received regular scrutiny as leaders from an earlier and exclusivist South Africa. The politics and debate surrounding these figures have at times gone as far as the vandalisation of their statues. Garcia and Van Der Waag use this contemporary debate as a starting point for their comparative biographical discussion. The book aims to address the flaws of Botha and Smuts, while providing new insights and credit where it is due, which results in a thought-provoking discussion which points out the historical nuances and gaps in previous research.

The book covers the period from the end of the South African War in 1902 up to Botha’s death in 1919. This scope provides the reader with the necessary historical context of the build-up to the First World War, as well as a reflection on its aftermath. Garcia and Van Der Waag firstly examine the road to South Africa’s unification in 1910 and how Botha and Smuts established themselves as prominent political figures. The end of the South African War provided the opportunity for Botha and Smuts to transform themselves from Boer-generals fighting against British imperialism into statesmen pursuing the same goal – this time, however, via a journey of politics instead of war. In this journey, Botha and Smuts would become a dynamic pair that complemented each other’s roles. Botha helped to form a clear vision of the new South Africa where unity between the English and Afrikaans-speaking white population would be promoted. Smuts enriched this with his legislative strategies and notably through the formation of the Union Defence Force, which would later become South Africa’s main military body during the war. This first part of the book also elaborates on how ideological differences created rifts between the Botha government and leaders such as Barry Hertzog, which further illuminates the complicated internal division in the politics of the day.

The book secondly moves to discuss the hefty debate surrounding South Africa’s participation in the First World War. It provides insight into the pro-war as well as anti-war viewpoints and elaborates on one of the immediate effects of this division, namely the Afrikaner Rebellion of 1914. The rebellion is effectively summarised by explaining how it was a result of years-long tension. The book also touches upon how narrative played a role in portraying martyrdom after the rebellion. The tensions between imperial loyalty and nationalist undercurrents are efficiently portrayed.

After providing a thorough contextual background, the book thirdly shifts to a strong military focus. It discusses the performance and operations of the Union Defence Force during the war, for example, the re-invasion of Southwest Africa, the German East African and European campaigns. It is also here where the authors illustrate the military prowess of Botha and Smuts, while also having to maintain a political position in domestic politics. The chapters covering the war also provide fascinating tables, maps, figures, and photos, which visually showcase the reality of the war circumstances that South Africa faced at the time.

The book also reflects on the legacy of Botha, Smuts, and their role on both the home front as well as on an international stage. They both, often in connection with each other, were cast in radically different lights by their peers and historians alike. For Union loyalists, they represented leaders who led South Africa from the South African War to the establishment of a new South Africa and then through the First World War. From an imperial viewpoint, they represented examples of ‘Boers’ successfully reformed and integrated into the international sphere, to such an extent that they ironically sat around the same conference table as their previous colonisers during the Treaty of Versailles. For Afrikaner nationalists, however, Botha and Smuts were villainised for their willingness to cooperate with the British Empire and for seemingly turning against Afrikaner interests during the 1914 Rebellion, for example. Finally, in recent years, Botha and Smuts have become symbols of a bygone era – a past regime whose role in, for example, creating the Native Land Act of 1913 made them responsible for many of the inequalities South Africans later fought for. From being honoured as heroes to being blamed for contemporary problems, they were certainly divisive figures.

Conclusion

The book succeeds in its aim of comparing the charismatic, visionary Botha and the stoic intellectual, Smuts. It not only analyses them as major military and political figures but also showcases the very real and often flawed human beings behind the façade. It makes a valuable contribution to the historiography of South Africa during the First World War and would make a fine addition to the bookcase of historians and readers interested in South Africa’s wartime history. The nuance of the topic is aptly captured by the authors when they conclude:

They [Botha and Smuts] fought seemingly insurmountable odds, and at times achieved great victories, but they were also warriors who made startling errors, and ultimately – in classical fashion – they were crushed by the weight of the world they tried to create. (p. 280)