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Louis Botha
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Image:louisbotha.jpg thumb|Louis Botha
Image:Louis Botha - Project Gutenberg eText 16462.jpg thumb|Louis Botha
'''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
Spioenkop. 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 (South Africa) National Party. When South Africa obtained
dominion status in 1910, Botha became the first Prime Minister of the
Union of South Africa.
After the
World War I 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 Military Mission to Poland British Empire military mission to
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.
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{{succession box|title=
Prime Minister of South Africa|before=(none)|after=
Jan Smuts|years=1910–1919}}
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Category:1862 births Botha, Louis
Category:1919 deaths Botha, Louis
Category:Boer War people Botha, Louis
Category:Prime Ministers of South Africa Botha, Louis
cs:Louis Botha
de:Louis Botha
fr: Louis Botha
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