James Barry Munnik Hertzog, better known as
J. B. M. Hertzog (3 April 1866 near
WellingtonWellington is a town in the Western Cape Winelands 45 minutes from Cape Town, in South Africa with a population of approximately 57,500. Wellington's economy is centered around agriculture such as wine, table grapes, citrus fruit and a brandy industry...
,
Cape ColonyThe Cape Colony, part of modern South Africa, was established by the Dutch East India Company in 1652, with the founding of Cape Town. It was subsequently occupied by the British in 1795 when the Netherlands were occupied by revolutionary France, so that the French revolutionaries could not take...
– 21 November 1942 in
PretoriaPretoria is a city located in the northern part of Gauteng Province, South Africa. It is one of the country's three capital cities, serving as the executive and de facto national capital; the others are Cape Town, the legislative capital, and Bloemfontein, the judicial capital.Pretoria is...
,
Union of South AfricaThe Union of South Africa is the historic predecessor to the present-day state of the Republic of South Africa. It came into being on 31 May 1910 with the unity of the previously separate colonies of the Cape, Natal, Transvaal and the Orange Free State...
) was a general on the
BoerBoer is the Dutch word for farmer which came to denote the descendants of the proto Afrikaans-speaking pastoralists of the eastern Cape frontier in Southern Africa during the 18th century as well as those who left the Cape Colony during the 19th century to settle in the Orange Free State,...
side during the second Anglo-Boer War and the
Prime Minister of the Union of South Africa from 1924 to 1939. Throughout his life he encouraged the development of the
AfrikanerAfrikaners are White Afrikaans speakers who have been established in Southern Africa since the 17th century. They are mainly of northwestern European descent , but their native tongue is Afrikaans, a purported close relative of Dutch...
culture, determined to protect the Afrikaner from British influence.
James Barry Munnik Hertzog, better known as
J. B. M. Hertzog (3 April 1866 near
WellingtonWellington is a town in the Western Cape Winelands 45 minutes from Cape Town, in South Africa with a population of approximately 57,500. Wellington's economy is centered around agriculture such as wine, table grapes, citrus fruit and a brandy industry...
,
Cape ColonyThe Cape Colony, part of modern South Africa, was established by the Dutch East India Company in 1652, with the founding of Cape Town. It was subsequently occupied by the British in 1795 when the Netherlands were occupied by revolutionary France, so that the French revolutionaries could not take...
– 21 November 1942 in
PretoriaPretoria is a city located in the northern part of Gauteng Province, South Africa. It is one of the country's three capital cities, serving as the executive and de facto national capital; the others are Cape Town, the legislative capital, and Bloemfontein, the judicial capital.Pretoria is...
,
Union of South AfricaThe Union of South Africa is the historic predecessor to the present-day state of the Republic of South Africa. It came into being on 31 May 1910 with the unity of the previously separate colonies of the Cape, Natal, Transvaal and the Orange Free State...
) was a general on the
BoerBoer is the Dutch word for farmer which came to denote the descendants of the proto Afrikaans-speaking pastoralists of the eastern Cape frontier in Southern Africa during the 18th century as well as those who left the Cape Colony during the 19th century to settle in the Orange Free State,...
side during the second Anglo-Boer War and the
Prime Minister of the Union of South Africa from 1924 to 1939. Throughout his life he encouraged the development of the
AfrikanerAfrikaners are White Afrikaans speakers who have been established in Southern Africa since the 17th century. They are mainly of northwestern European descent , but their native tongue is Afrikaans, a purported close relative of Dutch...
culture, determined to protect the Afrikaner from British influence. He is named after Dr.
James BarryJames Barry may refer to:*James Barry, 1st Baron Barry of Santry *James Barry *James Barry *James Barry *James Barry *James Barry...
who performed the first successful caesarean section in Africa by a British surgeon, in which both the mother and child survived the operation. In 2007 a
buildingIn architecture, construction, engineering and real estate development the word building may refer to one of the following:# Any man-made structure used or intended for supporting or sheltering any use or continuous occupancy, or...
was built in
PaarlPaarl is a town with 191,013 inhabitants in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Its the third oldest European settlement in the Republic of South Africa and the largest town in the Cape Winelands.It is situated about northeast of Cape Town in the Western Cape Province and is renowned for...
and named after him to honor his legacy.
General Hertzog
Hertzog first studied law at
Victoria CollegeStellenbosch University is a university situated in the town of Stellenbosch, South Africa. Other nearby universities are the University of Cape Town and University of the Western Cape....
in Stellenbosch,
Cape ColonyThe Cape Colony, part of modern South Africa, was established by the Dutch East India Company in 1652, with the founding of Cape Town. It was subsequently occupied by the British in 1795 when the Netherlands were occupied by revolutionary France, so that the French revolutionaries could not take...
. In 1889 he went to the
NetherlandsThe Netherlands is a country in Northwestern Europe, constituting the major portion of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is a parliamentary democratic constitutional monarchy. The Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east...
to read law at the University of Amsterdam, where he prepared a dissertation on the strength of which he received his
doctorateA doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries represents the highest level of formal study or research in a given field. In some countries it also refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder to practice in a specific profession . The best-known example...
in law on 12 November 1892.
He had a law practice in Pretoria from 1892 until 1895, when he was appointed to the
Orange Free StateThe Republic of the Orange Free State was an independent Boer republic in southern Africa during the second half of the 19th century, and later a British colony and a province of the Union of South Africa. It is the historical precursor to the present-day Free State province...
High Court. During the
Boer WarThe Second Boer War , commonly referred to as The Boer War and also known as the South African War , the Anglo-Boer War and in Afrikaans as the Anglo-Boereoorlog or Tweede Vryheidsoorlog , or the Engelse oorlog was fought...
of 1899-1902 he rose to the rank of general, becoming the assistant chief commandant of the military forces of the Orange Free State. Despite some military reverses, he gained renown as a daring and resourceful leader of the guerilla forces continuing to fight the British. Eventually, convinced of the futility of further bloodshed, he signed the May 1902
Treaty of VereenigingThe Treaty of Vereeniging was the peace treaty, signed on 31 May 1902, that ended the South African War between the alliance of the South African Republic and the Republic of the Orange Free State and the British Empire on the other.- Terms of the settlement :This settlement entailed the end of...
.
Politician
With the country now at peace, Hertzog plunged into politics as the chief organizer of the Orangia Unie Party. In 1907, the
Orange River ColonyThe Orange River Colony was the British colony created after this nation first occupied and then annexed the independent Orange Free State in the Second Boer War...
gained self-government and Hertzog joined the cabinet as Attorney-General and Director of Education. His insistence that
DutchDutch is a West Germanic language spoken by over 22 million people as a native language, and over 5 million people as a second language.
"1% of the EU population claims to speak Dutch well enough in order to have a conversation." Outside the European Union the number of second language...
as well as
EnglishEnglish is a West Germanic language that developed in England during the Anglo-Saxon era. As a result of the military, economic, scientific, political, and cultural influence of the British Empire during the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries, and of the United States since the mid 20th century,...
be taught in the schools met bitter opposition. He was appointed Minister of Justice in the new nation formed on 31 May 1910 called the
Union of South AfricaThe Union of South Africa is the historic predecessor to the present-day state of the Republic of South Africa. It came into being on 31 May 1910 with the unity of the previously separate colonies of the Cape, Natal, Transvaal and the Orange Free State...
. He continued in office until 1912. His antagonism to
imperialismImperialism, as defined by the dictionary of human geography, is “the creation and maintenance of an unequal economic, cultural and territorial relationship, usually between states and often in the form of an empire, based on domination and subordination.” Imperialism, in many ways, is described...
and to
Premier BothaLouis Botha was an Afrikaner and first Prime Minister of the Union of South Africa—the forerunner of the modern South African state...
led to a ministerial crisis. In 1913 he led a secession of the Old Boer and anti-imperialist section from the
South African PartyThe South African Party was a political party that existed in the Union of South Africa from 1911 to 1934.The outline and foundation for the party was realized after the election of a 'South African party' in the 1910 South African general election under the leadership of Louis Botha...
.
At the outbreak of the
South African rebellionThe Maritz Rebellion or the Boer Revolt or the Five Shilling Rebellion, occurred in South Africa in 1914 at the start of World War I, in which men who supported the recreation of the old Boer republics rose up against the government of the Union of South Africa...
in 1914, he kept aloof, not opposing either side. In the years following the war, he headed the opposition to the government of
General SmutsField Marshal Jan Christiaan Smuts, OM, CH, PC, ED, KC, FRS, GCTE was a prominent South African and British Commonwealth statesman, military leader and philosopher. In addition to holding various cabinet posts, he served as Prime Minister of the Union of South Africa from 1919 until 1924 and from...
.
Prime Minister
In the general election of 1924, his
National PartyThe National Party was the governing party of South Africa from June 4, 1948 until May 9, 1994, and was disbanded in 2005. Its policies included apartheid, the establishment of a republic, and the promotion of Afrikaner culture...
defeated the
South African PartyThe South African Party was a political party that existed in the Union of South Africa from 1911 to 1934.The outline and foundation for the party was realized after the election of a 'South African party' in the 1910 South African general election under the leadership of Louis Botha...
of
Jan SmutsField Marshal Jan Christiaan Smuts, OM, CH, PC, ED, KC, FRS, GCTE was a prominent South African and British Commonwealth statesman, military leader and philosopher. In addition to holding various cabinet posts, he served as Prime Minister of the Union of South Africa from 1919 until 1924 and from...
and became the government. In 1934, the National Party and the South African Party merged to form the
United PartyThe United Party was South Africa's ruling political party between 1934 and 1948. It was formed by a merger of most of Prime Minister Barry Hertzog's National Party with the rival South African Party of Jan Smuts, plus the remnants of the Unionist Party...
.
Hertzog was a
republicanRepublicanism is the ideology of governing a nation as a republic, where the head of state is appointed by means other than heredity, often elections. The exact meaning of Republicanism varies depending on the cultural and historical context. The sometimes contrary definitions are all covered in...
who believed strongly in promoting the independence of the Union of South Africa from the
British EmpireThe British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom, that had originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height it was...
. His government approved the
Statute of WestminsterThe Statute of Westminster 1931 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which established a status of legislative equality between the self-governing dominions of the British Empire and the United Kingdom, with a few residual exceptions...
in 1931.
On 4 September 1939, the United Party caucus refused to accept Hertzog's stance of neutrality in
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
and deposed him in favor of Smuts.