Louis Botha: A Man Apart by Steyn, Richard
Dedicated and Signed by the Author, Richard Steyn on the Title page.
Louis Botha: A Man Apart by Steyn, Richard
Softcover
ISBN 9781868429226 / 1868429229
Publisher: Jonathan Ball Publishers , 2018
Condition: Very Good +. This book is in very good condition. The wraps have some very slight/limited signs of wear and the book pages are clean, intact and the corners and spine remains undamaged. This book has clearly been well maintained and looked after thus far.
*LOUIS BOTHA, THE FIRST PRIME MINISTER of the Union of South Africa, was a brilliant Boer general who won significant victories over the British in the early stages of the Anglo-Boer War. When the weight of the British arms eventually overwhelmed the Boers, Botha and Jan Smuts encouraged peace between English and Afrikaner and led the four South African colonies into Union in 1910.
Botha was a big-hearted and generous man in his dealings with all. In 1914, he had to put down an Afrikaner rebellion over the Union's participation in the Great War. The experience broke his heart, as many of the rebels were old Anglo-Boer War comrades. At Versailles in 1919, representing South Africa, he pleaded unsuccessfully for magnanimity towards a defeated Germany. Globally respected, Botha and Smuts operated as a double act before Botha's untimely death in August 1919.
Richard Steyn's recent books, Jan Smuts: Unafraid of Greatness and Churchill and Smuts: The Friendship, have won him a loyal readership. In Louis Botha: A Man Apart, he again masterfully brings to life a great South African.
*In A Man Apart Richard Steyn once again brings to life a South African icon. Louis Botha was the first Prime Minister of the Union of South Africa, a union he did much to create in the decade after the devastation of the Anglo-Boer War. During the war Botha was a brilliant young Boer general who through his battlefield strategy won significant victories over the British in the early stages of the war. When the weight of British arms overhelmed the Boers, Botha along with Smuts did much to encourage peace between English and Afrikaner and led the country to Union in 1910 and dominion status.
Botha was a big-hearted and generous man who showed magnanimity in his dealings with all, including former enemies. He led the South African troops to victory and the capture of German South West Africa – prior to this he had to put down a revolt of pro-German Afrikaners. At the Peace of Versailles, representing South Africa, he pleaded unsuccessfully for magnanimity towards the Germans. Botha was a globally respected figure – he and Smuts effectively operated as a double act in South Africa and on the international stage before Botha’s untimely death in August 1919 at only 57. In A Man Apart this tragically short life is illuminated in full.
