Jan Christian Smuts: egy „tiszteletbeli” közép–európai Dél–Afrikából

Jan Christian Smuts is one of the most remarkable figures of the 20th century. His fate has crossed twice Central Europe, firstly in 1917 when he had held secret negotiations with the representatives of Austria-Hungary in Switzerland and secondly in 1919 when he was sent to a mission to Budapest. His „Cape Dutch”, i.e. Afrikaner or „Boer” origin created expectations in Central Europe that he will be able to understand the ethnic, etc. complexity of our region much better than the representatives of the great nations and powers. It was not his fault that he was not able to fulfill those expectations. His deeds during World War I and after is a well processed and documented topic in the Central European historiography but not the decade between 1899–1909 when the legend of Smuts got created as of a person who is able to win the peace after military defeat.