Louis Botha
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Louis Botha (September 27 1862 – August 27, 1919) was an Afrikaner and first Prime Minister of the modern South African state, then called the Union of South Africa.
He became a member of the parliament of Transvaal in 1897, representing the district of Vryheid. Two years later he was made a general in the Second Boer War, fighting with impressive capability at Colenso and Spion kop. On the death of P. J. Joubert, he was made commander-in-chief of the Transvaal Boers, where he demonstrated his abilities again at Belfast-Dalmanutha. After the fall of Pretoria, he led a concentrated guerrilla campaign against the British together with Koos de la Rey and Christiaan de Wet.
He later worked towards peace with the British, representing the Boers at the peace negotiations in 1902. His war record made him prominent in the politics of Transvaal and he was a major player in the postwar reconstruction of that country, becoming Prime Minister of Transvaal on March 4, 1907. In 1911, together with another Boer war hero, Jan Smuts, he formed the South African Party, or SAP. Widely viewed as too conciliatory with Britain, Botha faced revolts from within his own party and opposition from James Barry Munnik Hertzog's National Party. When South Africa obtained dominion status in 1910, Botha became the first Prime Minister of the Union of South Africa.
After the First World War started, he sent troops to take German South West Africa, a move unpopular among Boers, which provoked the Boer Revolt.
At the end of the War he briefly led a British Empire military mission to the Second Polish Republic during the Polish-Soviet War. He argued that the terms of the Versailles Treaty were too harsh on the Central Powers, but signed the treaty.
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by: formerly Cape Colony | Prime Minister, Union of South Africa 1910 – 1919 | Succeeded by: Jan Smuts |
| Party Political Offices | ||
| Preceded by: John X. Merriman | Leader of the South African Party 1910 – 1919 | Succeeded by: Jan Smuts |
de:Louis Botha fi:Louis Botha fr:Louis Botha id:Louis Botha it:Louis Botha ur:لوئیس بوتھا
