Jan Smuts
Prime minister
Jan Christiaan Smuts OM CH DTD ED KC FRS PC (24 May 1870 – 11 September 1950) was a prominent South African and British Commonwealth statesman, military leader and philosopher. In addition to holding various cabinet posts, he served as prime minister of the Union of South Africa from 1919 until 1924 and from 1939 until 1948. He was a supporter of racial segregation based on separate territory for blacks and whites, but by the time of the 1948 elections he supported a policy of initiating some measures of integration.He led the Boer Commando in the Second Boer War for the Transvaal. During the First World War, he led the armies of South Africa against Germany, capturing German South-West Africa and commanding the British Army in East Africa. From 1917 to 1919, he was also one of the members of the British War Cabinet and he was instrumental in the founding of what became the Royal Air Force (RAF). He became a field marshal in the British Army in 1941, and served in the Imperial War Cabinet under Winston Churchill. He was the only man to sign both of the peace treaties ending the First and Second World Wars.
Personal facts
| Birth date | May 24, 1870 |
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| Birth place | Malmesbury Western Cape , Cape Colony , Riebeek West |
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| Religion | |
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| Date of death | September 11, 1950 |
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| Place of death | Pretoria , Union of South Africa , Transvaal Province , Irene Gauteng |
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