Editing History of South Africa (section)

===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>