General Jan Smuts And His First World War In Africa 1914 19 17

Author : David Brock Katz
Publisher : Jonathan Ball Publishers
ISBN 13 : 1776192311
Total Pages : 394 pages
Book Rating : 4.11/5 ( download)

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Download or read book General Jan Smuts And his First World War in Africa (1914-19-17) written by David Brock Katz and published by Jonathan Ball Publishers. This book was released on 2022-08-24 with total page 394 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'An engaging, well-written and meticulously researched military biography ...' – Tim Stapleton, Professor, Department of History, University of Calgary Jan Smuts grabbed the opportunity to realise his ambition of a Greater South Africa when the First World War ushered in a final scramble for Africa. He set his sights firmly northward upon the German colonies of South West Africa and East Africa. Smuts's abilities as a general have been much denigrated by his contemporaries and later historians, but he was no armchair soldier. He first learned his soldier's craft under General Koos de la Rey and General Louis Botha during the South African War (1899−1902). He emerged from that conflict immersed in Boer manoeuvre doctrine. After forming the Union Defence Force in 1912, Smuts played an integral part in the German South West African campaign in 1915. Placed in command of the Allied forces in East Africa in 1916, he led a mixed bag of South Africans and imperial troops against the legendary Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck and his Schutztruppen. His penchant for manoeuvre warfare and mounted infantry freed most of the vast German territory from Lettow-Vorbeck's grip. General Jan Smuts and his First World War in Africa provides a long-overdue reassessment of Smuts's generalship and his role in furthering the strategic aims of South Africa and the British Empire during this era.

Author : David Brock Katz
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781776192304
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.03/5 ( download)

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Download or read book General Jan Smuts and His First World War in Africa, 1914-1917 written by David Brock Katz and published by . This book was released on 2022 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Author : David Brock Katz
Publisher : Casemate
ISBN 13 : 1636240186
Total Pages : 409 pages
Book Rating : 4.83/5 ( download)

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Download or read book General Jan Smuts and his First World War in Africa, 1914–1917 written by David Brock Katz and published by Casemate. This book was released on 2022-05-19 with total page 409 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A new assessment of Jan Smuts’s military leadership through examination of his World War I campaigning, demonstrating that he was a gifted general, conversant with the craft of maneuver warfare, and a command style steeped in the experiences of his time as a Boer general. World War I ushered in a renewed scramble for Africa. At its helm, Jan Smuts grabbed the opportunity to realize his ambition of a Greater South Africa. He set his sights upon the vast German colonies of South-West Africa and East Africa – the demise of which would end the Kaiser’s grandiose schemes for Mittelafrika. As part of his strategy to shift South Africa’s borders inexorably northward, Smuts even cast an eye toward Portuguese and Belgian African possessions. Smuts, his abilities as a general much denigrated by both his contemporary and then later modern historians, was no armchair soldier. This cabinet minister and statesman donned a uniform and led his men into battle. He learned his soldiery craft under General Koos De la Rey's tutelage, and another soldier-statesman, General Louis Botha during the South African War 1899–1902. He emerged from that war, immersed in the Boer maneuver doctrine he devastatingly waged in the guerrilla phase of that conflict. His daring and epic invasion of the Cape at the head of his commando remains legendary. The first phase of the German South West African campaign and the Afrikaner Rebellion in 1914 placed his abilities as a sound strategic thinker and a bold operational planner on display. Champing at the bit, he finally had the opportunity to command the Southern Forces in the second phase of the German South West African campaign. Placed in command of the Allied forces in East Africa in 1916, he led a mixed bag of South Africans and Imperial troops against the legendary Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck and his Shutztruppe. Using his penchant for Boer maneuver warfare together with mounted infantry led and manned by Boer Republican veterans, he proceeded to free the vast German territory from Lettow-Vorbeck’s grip. Often leading from the front, his operational concepts were an enigma to the British under his command, remaining so to modern-day historians. Although unable to bring the elusive and wily Lettow-Vorbeck to a final decisive battle, Smuts conquered most of the territory by the end of his tenure in February 1917. General Jan Smuts and His First World War in Africa makes use of multiple archival sources and the official accounts of all the participants to provide a long-overdue reassessment of Smuts’s generalship and his role in furthering the strategic aims of South Africa and the British Empire in Africa during World War I.

Author : J. H. V. Crowe
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781843429494
Total Pages : 316 pages
Book Rating : 4.97/5 ( download)

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Download or read book General Smutso Campaign in East Africa written by J. H. V. Crowe and published by . This book was released on 2004-08 with total page 316 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The career of Jan Smuts is one of the most remarkable military and political stories of the 20th century. A gifted guerilla commander against the British in the Boer War; by 1914 Smuts was happy to stand with the British as head of a large army fighting to conquer German East Africa (today s Tanzania). Sadly the campaign was not one of his finest hours. Both the text of this book, and Smuts own somewhat defensive introduction, gives a good idea of why the resourceful German commander, Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck, was able to run rings round the superior allied forces trying to trap him. Lettow and his staff, and their small army of trained native Africans, the 'Askaris , knew the lie of the land and were able to live off it. The allied frustration, as they repeatedly tracked and attacked him, only to find Lettow melting away to fight another day, is palpable. Evcentually, the allies, at enormous cost, succeeded in conquering the territory and forcing Lettow into neighbouring areas, but the 1918 Armistice found him still at liberty and with his force intact. By then Smuts had long departed. It is pleasant to record that Smuts ended his career as a valued member of Churchill s War Cabinet and South African Prime Minister, and that in the hungry months for Germany that followed the Second World War he was able to supply his old opponent, Lettow, with food parcels. Illustrated with a photograph of Smuts and four maps.

Author : Herbert Charles O'Neill
Publisher : Westholme Publishing
ISBN 13 : 9781594160684
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.86/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The War in Africa and the Far East, 1914-17 written by Herbert Charles O'Neill and published by Westholme Publishing. This book was released on 2012 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Fight for Germany's African and Asian Colonies During World War I "This account will be welcome to a large circle of readers. . . . The arduous nature of these campaigns deserves to be far more widely known, and this is just the book for the purpose--short, clear, and easy to read."--Journal of the African Society The largest battles of World War I were fought in Europe, and it is there where most critical studies focus. The fate of the far-flung colonies of Germany, however, are what gave the war its global scope, with campaigns reaching from China to New Guinea and East to West Africa. While there are detailed accounts of most of these campaigns, The War in Africa and the Far East, 1914-17 is unique in providing a concise history of the entire series of military events in Africa and Asia, giving the reader a better idea of the relationship and chronology of these wide-ranging events. While Germany was stripped of all its overseas colonies, the change in power had unintended consequences, most importantly the rise of Japan in the Pacific, where former German colonies now stood at the territorial boundary between Japan and the United States. Waged by Allied troops from Britain, Kenya, Zambia, Portugal, Japan, India, Netherlands, and other countries and led by such personalities as General Jan Christian Smuts, the theater of operations crossed modern-day Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, Togo, Cameroon, Namibia, New Guinea, Qingdau, the Bismarck Archipelago, and other Pacific Island chains. Originally published in 1918 using official dispatches and other sources, and presented here for the first time in paperback, completely retypeset and with the original maps and additional photographs, The War in Africa and the Far East is a compact overview of an important aspect of the First World War.

Author : David Jordan
Publisher : Amber Books Ltd
ISBN 13 : 1906626146
Total Pages : 226 pages
Book Rating : 4.43/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Balkans, Italy & Africa 1914–1918 written by David Jordan and published by Amber Books Ltd. This book was released on 2012-03-22 with total page 226 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Italy had been allied with the German and Austro-Hungarian Empires since 1882 as part of the Triple Alliance. However, the nation had its own designs on Austrian territory in Trentino, Istria and Dalmatia. Rome had a secret 1902 pact with France, effectively nullifying its alliance. At the start of hostilities, Italy refused to commit troops, arguing that the Triple Alliance was defensive in nature, and that Austria-Hungary was an aggressor. The Austro-Hungarian government began negotiations to secure Italian neutrality, offering the French colony of Tunisia in return. However, Italy then joined the Entente in April 1915 and declared war on Austria-Hungary in May. Fifteen months later, it declared war on Germany. Faced with Russia, Austria-Hungary could spare only one third of its army to attack Serbia. After suffering heavy losses, the Austrians briefly occupied the Serbian capital, Belgrade. Serbian counterattacks, however, succeeded in driving them from the country by the end of 1914. The Serbs suffered defeat near modern day Gnjilane in Kosovo, forces being evacuated by ship to Greece. In late 1915 a Franco-British force landed at Salonica in Greece, to offer assistance and to pressure the government to declare war against the Central Powers. Only at the end of the conflict were the Entente powers able to break through, which was after most of the German and Austro-Hungarian troops had been withdrawn. Some of the first clashes of the war involved British, French and German colonial forces in Africa. On 7 August, French and British troops invaded the German protectorate of Togoland. On 10 August German forces in South-West Africa attacked South Africa; sporadic and fierce fighting continued for the remainder of the war.

Author : John C. Mitcham
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 110713899X
Total Pages : 271 pages
Book Rating : 4.95/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Race and Imperial Defence in the British World, 1870-1914 written by John C. Mitcham and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2016-03-17 with total page 271 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A comprehensive account of how British race patriotism shaped the defense partnership between Britain and the dominions before the Great War.

Author : Timothy J. Stapleton
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 349 pages
Book Rating : 4.28/5 ( download)

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Download or read book A Military History of South Africa written by Timothy J. Stapleton and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2010-04-09 with total page 349 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This work offers the first one-volume comprehensive military history of modern South Africa. A Military History of South Africa: From the Dutch-Khoi Wars to the End of Apartheid represents the first comprehensive military history of South Africa from the beginning of European colonization in the Cape during the 1650s to the current postapartheid republic. With particular emphasis on the last 200 years, this balanced analysis stresses the historical importance of warfare and military structures in the shaping of modern South African society. Important themes include military adaptation during the process of colonial conquest and African resistance, the growth of South Africa as a regional military power from the early 20th century, and South African involvement in conflicts of the decolonization era. Organized chronologically, each chapter reviews the major conflicts, policies, and military issues of a specific period in South African history. Coverage includes the wars of colonial conquest (1830-69), the diamond wars (1869-81), the gold wars (1886-1910), World Wars I and II (1910-45), and the apartheid wars (1948-94).

Author : Margaret MacMillan
Publisher : Random House
ISBN 13 : 0307432963
Total Pages : 626 pages
Book Rating : 4.64/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Paris 1919 written by Margaret MacMillan and published by Random House. This book was released on 2007-12-18 with total page 626 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A landmark work of narrative history, Paris 1919 is the first full-scale treatment of the Peace Conference in more than twenty-five years. It offers a scintillating view of those dramatic and fateful days when much of the modern world was sketched out, when countries were created—Iraq, Yugoslavia, Israel—whose troubles haunt us still. Winner of the Samuel Johnson Prize • Winner of the PEN Hessell Tiltman Prize • Winner of the Duff Cooper Prize Between January and July 1919, after “the war to end all wars,” men and women from around the world converged on Paris to shape the peace. Center stage, for the first time in history, was an American president, Woodrow Wilson, who with his Fourteen Points seemed to promise to so many people the fulfillment of their dreams. Stern, intransigent, impatient when it came to security concerns and wildly idealistic in his dream of a League of Nations that would resolve all future conflict peacefully, Wilson is only one of the larger-than-life characters who fill the pages of this extraordinary book. David Lloyd George, the gregarious and wily British prime minister, brought Winston Churchill and John Maynard Keynes. Lawrence of Arabia joined the Arab delegation. Ho Chi Minh, a kitchen assistant at the Ritz, submitted a petition for an independent Vietnam. For six months, Paris was effectively the center of the world as the peacemakers carved up bankrupt empires and created new countries. This book brings to life the personalities, ideals, and prejudices of the men who shaped the settlement. They pushed Russia to the sidelines, alienated China, and dismissed the Arabs. They struggled with the problems of Kosovo, of the Kurds, and of a homeland for the Jews. The peacemakers, so it has been said, failed dismally; above all they failed to prevent another war. Margaret MacMillan argues that they have unfairly been made the scapegoats for the mistakes of those who came later. She refutes received ideas about the path from Versailles to World War II and debunks the widely accepted notion that reparations imposed on the Germans were in large part responsible for the Second World War. Praise for Paris 1919 “It’s easy to get into a war, but ending it is a more arduous matter. It was never more so than in 1919, at the Paris Conference. . . . This is an enthralling book: detailed, fair, unfailingly lively. Professor MacMillan has that essential quality of the historian, a narrative gift.” —Allan Massie, The Daily Telegraph (London)

Author : John Higginson
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 1316061418
Total Pages : 411 pages
Book Rating : 4.11/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Collective Violence and the Agrarian Origins of South African Apartheid, 1900–1948 written by John Higginson and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2014-11-24 with total page 411 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book examines the dark odyssey of official and private collective violence against the rural African population and Africans in general during the two generations before apartheid became the primary justification for the existence of the South African state. John Higginson discusses how Africans fought back against the entire spectrum of violence ranged against them, demonstrating just how contingent apartheid was on the struggle to hijack the future of the African majority.