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Smuts and the Liberal-Nationalist Confrontation, 1939–48

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Abstract

Smuts took South Africa into the Second World War out of concern for the future of the human race, and in particular for that of Europe, ‘this glorious mother continent of Western civilization — the proudest achievement of the human spirit up to date’, which seemed to be in danger of destruction in the short term by Hitler, or in the longer term by Stalin. It was a choice, as he put it, ‘between the Devil and Beelzebub’, since Hitler was ‘another Attila’, whereas Stalin and the communists, the ‘looters’ who grabbed half of Poland, had taken the wrong turning, ‘for man is primary, not society’.

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Bibliographical Notes

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa

    T. R. H. Davenport (Emeritus Professor of History)

  2. University of Cape Town, South Africa

    Christopher Saunders (Professor of History)

Authors
  1. T. R. H. Davenport
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  2. Christopher Saunders
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© 2000 T. R. H. Davenport and Christopher Saunders

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Davenport, T.R.H., Saunders, C. (2000). Smuts and the Liberal-Nationalist Confrontation, 1939–48. In: South Africa. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230287549_13

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230287549_13

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London

  • Print ISBN: 978-0-333-79223-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-0-230-28754-9

  • eBook Packages: Palgrave History CollectionHistory (R0)

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