| State |
Entry |
Exit |
Combat Forces |
Population |
Losses |
| Boers |
1914 |
1914 |
85000 |
1500000 |
15000 |
| Britain |
1914 |
1914 |
50000 |
44000000 |
5000 |
*****
In August 1914, Louis Botha and Jan Smuts, amid much controversy, took South
Africa into World War I on the side of the British. Botha and Smuts considered
that South Africa, as a British dominion, had no choice in the matter, and they
sent troops to conquer the German protectorate of South-West Africa (present-day
Namibia, mandated by the League of Nations to South Africa following World War
I). More soldiers, including a corps of coloured volunteers, were later sent to
fight in German East Africa and in France. Many Afrikaners felt no loyalty to
Britain and opposed going to war with Germany, which had aided them during the
South African War. An attempted coup against Botha's government in September was
aborted when one of the leaders, an Afrikaner hero from the South African War,
was killed by police. An armed uprising of nearly 10,000 men in the Orange Free
State and the Transvaal later in the year, led by another war hero, was crushed
by Botha's forces.
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