Editing History of South Africa (section)

==Union of South Africa (1910–1948)==
{{Main|History of South Africa (1910–1948)|Union of South Africa}}
[[File:Uniegebou in Pretoria, Suid-Afrika c1925.jpeg|thumb|[[Union Buildings]], government administrative centre, Pretoria, {{Circa|1925}}]]

During the years immediately following the Anglo–Boer wars, Britain set about unifying the four colonies including the former Boer republics into a single self-governed country called the [[Union of South Africa]]. This was accomplished after several years of negotiations, when the [[South Africa Act 1909]] consolidated the Cape Colony, Natal, Transvaal, and Orange Free State into one nation. Under the provisions of the act, the Union became an independent [[Dominion]] of the British Empire, governed under a form of [[constitutional monarchy]], with the British monarch represented by a Governor-General. This status was affirmed and further defined at the 1926 Imperial Conference, where the Balfour Declaration officially recognized the Dominions, including South Africa, as "autonomous communities within the British Empire, equal in status, in no way subordinate one to another in any aspect of their domestic or external affairs."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://thecommonwealth.org/history |website=The Commonwealth|access-date=17 January 2024 |title=Our history }}</ref>  Prosecutions before the courts of the Union of South Africa were instituted in the name of the Crown and government officials served in the name of the Crown. The [[High Commissioner#British Colonial usage|British High Commission territories]] of [[Basutoland]] (now [[Lesotho]]), [[Bechuanaland]] (now [[Botswana]]), and [[Swaziland]] (now [[Eswatini]]) continued under direct rule from Britain.<ref>Leonard M. Thompson, ''A history of South Africa'' (Yale University Press, 2001).</ref>

Among other harsh segregationist laws, including denial of voting rights to black people, the Union parliament enacted the 1913 Natives' Land Act, which earmarked only eight percent of South Africa's available land for black occupancy. White people, who constituted 20 percent of the population, held 90 percent of the land. The Land Act would form a cornerstone of legalised racial discrimination for the next nine decades.<ref name="Natives' Land Act">"[http://www.sahistory.org.za/pages/chronology/thisday/1913-06-19.htm 19 June 1913 Native Land Act] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101014095049/http://www.sahistory.org.za/pages/chronology/thisday/1913-06-19.htm |date=14 October 2010 }}", ''This day in history'', publish date unknown (accessed 20 December 2007).</ref>

[[File:DFMalanPortret.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Daniel François Malan]], National Party leader from 1934 to 1953]]

General [[Louis Botha]] headed the first government of the new Union, with General [[Jan Smuts]] as his deputy. Their ''South African National Party'', later known as the [[South African Party]] or SAP, followed a generally pro-British, white-unity line. The more radical Boers split away under the leadership of [[Barry Hertzog|General Barry Hertzog]], forming the [[National Party (South Africa)|National Party]] (NP) in 1914. The National Party championed Afrikaner interests, advocating separate development for the two white groups, and independence from Britain.<ref>Thompson, ''A history of South Africa'' (2001).</ref>

Dissatisfaction with British influence in the Union's affairs reached a climax in September 1914, when impoverished Boers, anti-British Boers and ''bitter-enders'' launched a rebellion. The rebellion was suppressed, and at least one officer was sentenced to death and executed by firing squad.<ref>Denys Reitz, ''Adrift on the Open Veld: The Anglo–Boer War and its Aftermath'', Cape Town: Stormberg 1999, pp.215–228, {{ISBN|0-620-24380-5}}</ref>

In 1924 the Afrikaner-dominated National Party came to power in a coalition government with the Labour Party. Afrikaans, previously regarded as a low-level Dutch patois, replaced Dutch as an official language of the Union. English and Dutch became the two official languages in 1925.<ref>{{cite book|author=Cherryl Walker|title=Women and Resistance in South Africa|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xX-vhZQ1QpIC&pg=PA62|year=1991|page=62|publisher=New Africa Books |isbn=9780864861702}}</ref><ref name="coetzee">{{Cite book|url=http://www.dbnl.org/arch/coet003stan01_01/pag/coet003stan01_01.pdf |title=Standaard Afrikaans |access-date=17 September 2014 |work=Abel Coetzee |publisher=Afrikaner Pers |year=1948 }}</ref>

The Union of South Africa came to an end after a [[South African republic referendum, 1960|referendum on 5 October 1960]], in which a majority of white South Africans voted in favour of unilateral withdrawal from the [[British Commonwealth]] and the establishment of a [[Republic of South Africa]].

===First World War===
{{Main|Jan Smuts|Military history of South Africa during World War I}}
[[File:British Empire 1921 IndianSubcontinent.png|thumb|300px|The [[British Empire]] is red on the map, at its territorial zenith in the late 1910s and early 1920s. ([[India]] highlighted in purple.) South Africa, bottom centre, lies between both halves of the Empire.]]
At the outbreak of [[World War I]], South Africa joined Great Britain and the Allies against the [[German Empire]]. Both Prime Minister [[Louis Botha]] and Defence Minister [[Jan Smuts]] were former [[Second Boer War]] generals who had previously fought against the British, but they now became active and respected members of the [[Imperial War Cabinet]]. Elements of the South African Army refused to fight against the Germans and along with other opponents of the government; they rose in an open revolt known as the [[Maritz Rebellion]]. The government declared martial law on 14 October 1914, and forces loyal to the government under the command of generals Louis Botha and Jan Smuts defeated the rebellion. The rebel leaders were prosecuted, fined heavily and sentenced to imprisonment ranging from six to seven years.<ref name="google2012">{{cite book|author=Bill Nasson|title=Springboks On The Somme – South Africa in the Great War 1914 – 1918|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w0kv8HfrLUoC|year=2012|publisher=Penguin |isbn=9780143027164}}</ref>

Public opinion in South Africa split along racial and ethnic lines. The British elements strongly supported the war, and formed by far the largest military component. Likewise the Indian element (led by [[Mahatma Gandhi]]) generally supported the war effort. Afrikaners were split, with some like Botha and Smuts taking a prominent leadership role in the British war effort. This position was rejected by many rural Afrikaners who supported the Maritz Rebellion.  The trade union movement was divided. Many urban blacks supported the war expecting it would raise their status in society. Others said it was not relevant to the struggle for their rights. The Coloured element was generally supportive and many served in a Coloured Corps in East Africa and France, also hoping to better themselves after the war.<ref name="google2012" />

With a population of roughly 6 million, between 1914–1918, over 250,000 South Africans of all races voluntarily served their country. Thousands more served in the [[British Army during World War I|British Army]] directly, with over 3,000 joining the British [[Royal Flying Corps]] and over 100 volunteering for the [[Royal Navy]]. It is likely that around 50% of [[White South Africans|white men]] of military age served during the war, more than 146,000 whites. 83,000 Black men and 2,500 Coloured and Asian men also served in either [[German South West Africa|German South-West Africa]], East Africa, the Middle East, or on the Western Front in Europe. Over 7,000 South Africans were killed, and nearly 12,000 were wounded during the course of the war.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Great Britain. War Office|url=http://archive.org/details/statisticsofmili00grea|title=Statistics of the military effort of the British Empire during the Great War, 1914-1920|date=1922|publisher=London H.M. Stationery Off|others=Robarts - University of Toronto}}</ref> Eight South Africans won the Victoria Cross for gallantry, the Empire's highest and most prestigious military medal. The [[Battle of Delville Wood]] and the sinking of the [[SS Mendi|SS ''Mendi'']] being the greatest single incidents of loss of life.

[[File:Botha and Smuts in uniforms, 1917.jpg|thumb|right|Generals Smuts (right) and Botha were members of the British [[Imperial War Cabinet]] during World War I.]]25,000 [[Bantu peoples in South Africa|Black South Africans]] were recruited at the request of the British War Cabinet to serve as non-combatant labourers in the South African Native Labour Contingent (SANLC). 21,000 of these people were deployed to France as stevedores at French ports, where they were housed in segregated compounds. A total of 616 men from the Fifth Battalion of the SANLC drowned on 21 February 1917 when the troopship ''[[SS Mendi]]'', on which they were being transported to France, collided with another vessel near the Isle of Wight.<ref>BP Willan, "The South African Native Labour Contingent, 1916–1918". ''Journal of African History'', No 19 Vol 1, 1978, pp. 61–86.</ref> The [[SS Mendi|''Mendi'' disaster]] was one of South Africa's worst tragedies of the Great War, second perhaps only to the [[Battle of Delville Wood]].<ref>Delville Wood Memorial [http://www.delvillewood.com/sinking2.htm ''Sinking of the Mendi'']. Accessed 7 August 2015</ref> The South African government issued no war service medal to the black servicemen and the special medal issued by King George V to "native troops" that served the Empire, the British War Medal in bronze, was disallowed and not issued to the SANLC.<ref>BP Willan, "The South African Native Labour Contingent, 1916–1918", ''Journal of African History'' No.19, Vol 1 1978, p.83</ref>
Black and [[mixed-race South Africans]] who had supported the war were embittered when post-war South Africa saw no easing of white domination and racial segregation.<ref>Bill Nasson, "A Great Divide: Popular Responses to the Great War in South Africa," ''War & Society'' (1994) 12#1 pp 47–64</ref>

The assistance that South Africa gave the British Empire was significant. Two German African colonies were occupied, either by South Africa alone or with significant South African assistance. Manpower, from all races, helped Allied operations not just on the Western Front and Africa, but also in the [[Middle Eastern theatre of World War I|Middle East]] against the [[Ottoman Empire]]. South Africa's ports and harbours on the Home Front were a crucial strategic asset when conducting a war on a global scale. Providing important rest and refuelling stations, the Royal Navy could ensure vital sea lane connections to the [[British Raj]], and the Far East stayed open.

Economically, South Africa supplied two-thirds of [[Gold mining|gold production]] in the [[British Empire]], with most of the remainder coming from Australia. At the start of the war, [[Bank of England]] officials in London worked with South Africa to block gold shipments to [[German Empire|Germany]], and force mine owners to sell only to the [[HM Treasury|British Treasury]], at prices set by the Treasury. This facilitated purchases of munitions and food in the [[United States in World War I|United States]] and neutral countries.<ref>Russell Ally, "War and gold—the Bank of England, the London gold market and South Africa's gold, 1914–19," ''Journal of Southern African Studies'' (1991) 17#2 pp 221–38 [https://www.jstor.org/stable/2637235 in JSTOR]</ref>

===Second World War===
{{Main|Military history of South Africa during World War II}}
During [[World War II]], South Africa's ports and harbours, such as at [[Cape Town]], [[Durban]], and [[Simon's Town]], were important strategic assets to the British [[Royal Navy]]. South Africa's top-secret Special Signals Service played a significant role in the early development and deployment of [[radio detection and ranging]] (radar) technology used in protecting the vital coastal shipping route around southern Africa.<ref>South African Military History Society, [http://samilitaryhistory.org/vol112ml.html "The Special Signals Service"], ''Military History Journal'', Vol 11 No 2, December 1998. Accessed 30 July 2015</ref> By August 1945, South African Air Force aircraft in conjunction with British and Dutch aircraft stationed in South Africa had intercepted 17 enemy ships, assisted in the rescue of 437 survivors of sunken ships, attacked 26 of the 36 enemy submarines operating the vicinity of the South African coast, and flown 15,000 coastal patrol sorties.<ref>Andre Wessels, ''South African Military History Journal'', Vol. 11 No. 5, June 2000, South African Military History Society.</ref><ref name="John Keene 1995">{{cite book|author=John Keene|title=South Africa in World War II|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_iN6AAAAIAAJ|year=1995|publisher=Human & Rousseau|isbn=978-0-7981-3388-3}}</ref>[[File:Simonstown Harbour.jpg|thumb|left|300px|Simon's Town harbour and naval base in South Africa were used by the Allies during World War II.]]

About 334,000 South Africans volunteered for full-time military service in support of the Allies abroad. Nearly 9,000 were killed in action.<ref>Commonwealth War Graves Commission [http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead.aspx?cpage=1 War dead]. Accessed 11 August 2015</ref> On 21 June 1942 nearly 10,000 South African soldiers, representing one-third of the entire South African force in the field, were taken prisoner by German Field Marshal [[Rommel]]'s forces in the fall of [[Tobruk]], Libya.<ref>Neil Orpen, ''South African Forces in World War II'' (3 vols.), Cape Town: Purnell 1971, Vol. II ''War in the Desert''.</ref> A number of South African fighter pilots served with distinction in the Royal Air Force during the [[Battle of Britain]], including Group Captain Adolph "Sailor" Malan who led 74 Squadron and established a record of personally destroying 27 enemy aircraft.<ref>Alfred Price, ''Spitfire Mark V Aces, 1941–45''. Oxford: Osprey Publishing 1997, p. 65. {{ISBN|978-1-85532-635-4}}.</ref>

General Jan Smuts was the only important non-British general whose advice was constantly sought by Britain's war-time Prime Minister [[Winston Churchill]].{{Citation needed|date=May 2015}} Smuts was invited to the [[Imperial War Cabinet]] in 1939 as the most senior South African in favour of war. On 28 May 1941, Smuts was appointed a Field Marshal of the [[British Army]], becoming the first South African to hold that rank. When the war ended, Smuts represented South Africa in San Francisco at the drafting of the [[United Nations Charter]] in May 1945. Just as he had done in 1919, Smuts urged the delegates to create a powerful international body to preserve peace; he was determined that, unlike the [[League of Nations]], the UN would have teeth. Smuts also signed the [[Paris Peace Treaty]], resolving the peace in Europe, thus becoming the only signatory of both the treaty ending the First World War, and that which ended the Second.<ref name="John Keene 1995"/>

====Pro-German and pro-Nazi attitudes====
After the suppression of the abortive, pro-German [[Maritz Rebellion]] during the South African World War I campaign against German [[South West Africa]] in 1914, the South African rebel General [[Manie Maritz]] escaped to Spain.<ref>Denys Reitz, ''Adrift on the Open Veld: The Anglo–Boer War and its Aftermath'', Cape Town: Stormberg 1999, p.227, {{ISBN|0-620-24380-5}}</ref> He returned in 1923, and continued working in the Union of South Africa as a German Spy for the Third Reich.

In 1896, the German Kaiser [[Wilhelm II, German Emperor|Kaiser Wilhelm]] had enraged Britain by sending congratulations to Boer republican leader [[Paul Kruger]] after Kruger's commandos captured a column of British South Africa Company soldiers engaged in an armed incursion and abortive insurrection, known historically as the [[Jameson Raid]], into Boer territory. Germany was the primary supplier of weapons to the Boers during the subsequent [[Second Boer War|Anglo–Boer war]]. Kaiser Wilhelm's government arranged for the two [[Boer Republics]] to purchase modern [[breech-loading weapon|breech-loading]] [[Mauser rifles]] and millions of smokeless gunpowder cartridges. Germany's Ludwig Loewe company, later known as Deutsche Waffen-und Munitionfabriken, delivered 55,000 of these rifles to the Boers in 1896.<ref>Paul Scarlata, [http://www.shootingtimes.com/long-guns/longgun_reviews_st_boermodel_201007/ The 1893/95 "Boer Model" Mauser]. Accessed 21 May 2015</ref>

The early-1940s saw the pro-Nazi ''[[Ossewabrandwag|Ossewa Brandwag]]'' (OB) movement become half-a-million strong, including future prime minister [[B. J. Vorster|John Vorster]] and Hendrik van den Bergh, the future head of police intelligence.<ref>Angelo del Boca & Mario Giovana, ''Fascism Today: A World Survey''. New York: Pantheon Books. {{ISBN|0-434-18040-8}}. p. 382</ref> The anti-semitic ''Boerenasie'' (Boer Nation) and other similar groups soon joined them.<ref>Del Boca & Giovana (1969) p.382</ref> When the war ended, the OB was one of the anti-parliamentary groups absorbed into the [[National Party (South Africa)|National Party]].<ref>Del Boca & Giovana (1969), pp. 381–83</ref><ref>Ivor Wilkins & Hans Strydom, ''Broederbond: The super-Afrikaners'', London: Corgi, 1980, pp.1–2, {{ISBN|0-552-11512-6}}</ref>

The South African ''[[Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging]]'' or AWB (meaning Afrikaner Resistance Movement), a militant neo-Nazi, mainly Afrikaner white supremacist movement that arose in the 1970s, and was active until the mid-1990s, openly used a flag that closely resembled the swastika.<ref>Anti-defamation League, [http://www.adl.org/combating-hate/hate-on-display/c/triskele.html Hate on Display], Accessed 25 April 2015</ref><ref>[[:File:Afrikaner Weerstandsbewegung flag.svg|AWB neo-Nazi insignia]]</ref> In the early to mid-1990s, the AWB attempted unsuccessfully through various acts of public violence and intimidation to derail the country's transition to democracy. After the country's first multiracial democratic elections in 1994, a number of terrorist bomb blasts were linked to the AWB.<ref>''Mail & Guardian'', [http://mg.co.za/article/1997-01-10-new-bomb-blast-links-to-awb "New bomb blasts link to AWB"] 10 January 1997. Accessed 14 May 2015.</ref> On 11 March 1994, several hundred AWB members formed part of an armed right-wing force that invaded the nominally independent "homeland" territory of [[Bophuthatswana]], in a failed attempt to prop up its unpopular, conservative leader Chief Lucas Mangope.<ref>Nelson Mandela Foundation, [https://www.nelsonmandela.org/omalley/cis/omalley/OMalleyWeb/03lv02424/04lv03275/05lv03279/06lv03282.htm ''Mandela: 'A lesson they will never forget' '']. Accessed 29 May 2015</ref> The AWB leader [[Eugène Terre'Blanche]] was murdered by farm workers on 3 April 2010.

A majority of politically moderate Afrikaners were pragmatic and did not support the AWB's extremism.<ref>[http://sun025.sun.ac.za/portal/page/portal/Arts/Departemente1/geskiedenis/docs/coming_to_terms_with_past_present.pdf Wessel Visser, ''Coming to terms with the past and the present: Afrikaner experience and reaction to the "new" South Africa''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304191439/http://sun025.sun.ac.za/portal/page/portal/Arts/Departemente1/geskiedenis/docs/coming_to_terms_with_past_present.pdf |date=4 March 2016 }}, (Seminar lecture presented at the Centre of African Studies, University of Copenhagen, 30 September 2004), p.2. Accessed 3 May 2015.</ref>

[[File:The Union of South Africa, Its Land and Its People (1956), Encyclopedia Britannica Films, Inc..webm|thumb|''Encyclopedia Britannica'' documentary about South Africa from 1956]]