author
Jan Christiaan Smuts
1870–1950
A soldier, statesman, and thinker, he played a major role in South African politics and in both World Wars. He is also remembered for helping shape international cooperation in the first half of the twentieth century.
1 Audiobook
A Century of Wrong
by Jan Christiaan Smuts
About the author
Born near Riebeeck West in the Cape Colony in 1870, Jan Christiaan Smuts studied at Stellenbosch and then at Christ's College, Cambridge, where he excelled in law. He returned to South Africa and became deeply involved in public life during a turbulent period shaped by empire, war, and the struggle over the country's future.
Smuts was both a military leader and a politician. He fought in the South African War, later helped build the Union of South Africa, and served twice as prime minister, from 1919 to 1924 and again from 1939 to 1948. Internationally, he became one of the best-known South African figures of his era through his work with Britain and the Commonwealth during the First and Second World Wars.
Beyond politics, he wrote and reflected on philosophy and nature, and his book Holism and Evolution gave lasting visibility to his broader intellectual interests. His legacy remains complex: he was admired abroad as an international statesman, while in South Africa his career is also tied to the racial inequalities of his time.