Military Culture and the South
African armed forces
An historical perspective
Ian van der Waag
Department of Military History,
Stellenbosch University / Military Academy
http://sun.academia.edu/IanvanderWaag
Introduction: identities, cultures,
peoples
• South Africa a unique case?
– Three processes within one
century
1912
1948
1994
1st amalgam
2nd amalgam
3rd amalgam
Transformation
Transformation
Transformation
Military culture
Military culture
Military culture
Introduction: identities, cultures,
peoples
• South Africa a unique case?
• What is military culture?
Williamson Murray (1996)
‘Military culture might best
be described as the sum of
the intellectual,
professional, and traditional
values of an officer corps; it
plays a central role in how
that officer corps assesses
the external environment
and how it analyzes the
possible response that it
might make to “the threat”.’
Introduction: identities, cultures,
peoples
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
South Africa a unique case?
What is military culture?
Contestation
Transfer of British culture?
Multiple identities, cultures
Weight of history
Interdisciplinary approaches
Smuts, the UDF, and the British Empire
Union
1910
•Creation of
the UDF
1912
1914-1918
•First World
War
•Interwar
period
1919-1939
1939-1945
•Second
World War
•Nationalist
hegemony
1948
1975-1989
•“The Border
War”
•Creation of
the SANDF
1994
21st century
First Amalgam
Those left out
Boer
commandos
Cape
Colonial
Forces
British
instructors
Union
Defence
Forces
Transvaal
Volunteers
Natal Militia
Strategic landscape
• South Africa’s fault lines
–
–
–
–
Race
Language
Class
Province
• Military geography
– Threat perception(s)
– Going to war?
Background,
views
Strategic thinking
Threat perceptions
Planning
Force design
Force preparation
Strategic landscape
• South Africa’s fault lines
• Military geography
• Anti-military sentiment
• The “British
connection” and all that
Boonzaaier’s take on the nature
of British militarism [1912]
Boonzaaier’s image of Lukin on
the Western Front [1916]
Factors affecting the nature and
standing of the UDF
Boer
• Military culture
• Politics of integration
– Meeting on an equal basis?
– Balancing of language and
sectarian interested
– Divided command - Union
Defence Forces
• Permanent Force (Lukin)
• Citizen Force (Beyers)
• Cadets (Beves)
– Defence Council
– General staff
UDF
Colonial
British
18
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
English
Afrikaans
1912-20
8
11
1920-30
2
3
1930-40
4
1
General and senior offices in the UDF, 1912-50
n = 61 (English-speaking = 31; Afrikaans = 30)
1940-50
17
15
Career point and force of origin
Career
Point
1912-20
1920-30
1930-40
1940-50
Total
Boer
11
2
1
14
Colonial British
9 (7)
2
3
14
(2)
1
1
5
7
US
Army
1
1
UDF
2
17
19
Civil
Service
6
6
Several factors affected the
nature and standing of the UDF
• Military culture
• Politics of integration
• Appointment of the high
command
• Local British commands
• Stark economic
environment
• Participation in the two
world wars
Nomenclature First World War
‘The European Crisis’ [clerks in
the Defence Department]
‘The German South West
Expedition’ [clerks in the
PM’s office]
‘Die Brits-Duitse-oorlog’ [FS
Malan, member of Botha
cabinet]
Cartoon Second World War
Erasmus, the Afrikaner and the SADF
Republic
1961
•Creation of
the UDF
1912
1914-1918
•First World
War
•Interwar
period
1919-1939
1939-1945
•Second
World War
•Nationalist
hegemony
1948
1975-1989
•“The Border
War”
•Creation of
the SANDF
1994
21st century
Second Amalgam
Those left out
UDF
SADF
AB
OB
Andreas Grové arrived at the Cape as a soldier in
1719, free burgher 1722, farmer at Klapmuts, later
Paardenburg, member of the Burgher Council 1745,
acting governor of the Cape; m. 1721 Anna Nel
Anna Grové bap.1735
m. 1761 Daniel van
Ryneveld, Landdrost of
Swellendam & Stellenbosch
Sophia Grové bap.1722
m.(1) 1738 Andries
Brink, remarried 1749
Alida de Waal
Willem Stephanus van
Ryneveld 1765-1812
Chief Justice of the Cape
Colony & President of the
Council of Justice
Jan Godlieb Brink
bap.1741
m. Susanna Maria
de Kock
Daniel Johannes van
Ryneveld, Landdrost
of Stellenbosch
Andries Brink
1765-1848
m. Hendrina Wium
Andries Brink
1792-1873
m. 1820 Sophia
Eksteen
Willem Stephanus
van Ryneveld
1821-
Jan Godlieb Brink
1788-1840
m. Johanna
Catharina Ahlers
Jacob Eksteen Brink
1843-
Daniel Johannes
van Ryneveld
1845-
Petrus Gerhardus
Brink 1826m. Johanna Jacobs
Andries Jacob Brink
m. 1874 Catherina
Anna Margaretha
Frieslich
Lt Gen Sir Pierre van
Ryneveld 1891-1972
Chief of the General
Staff 1933-49
Johan Godlieb
Brink 1857-1916
m. Magdalena
Hartogh
Stephanus Grové bap.1724
Heemraad van Drakenstein
Jan Brink 1753m.(2) 1787
Susanna Justina
Faure
Maj Gen A.J.E. Brink,
1877-1947
Secretary for Defence
1922-37, Chief of the
General Staff 1920-33
Anna Elisabeth van der Byl
1746-97; m.1769 Jacob
Eksteen 1750-1822,
remarried 1799 Anna
Aletta Malan
Andries Christoffel van der Byl 17491830, farmer Kromme Rhee and Spier,
Stellenbosch
m. 1769 Anne Grové
Pieter Gerhard van der Byl
1753-1831, farmer Welmoed,
Lynedoch; m.(2) 1792 Hester
Elisabeth de Wet +1817
Pieter Gerhard van der Byl 1788-1849,
farmer Paardevallei, Somerset West &
Schoongezicht, Jonkershoek
m. 1821 Anna Maria Brink 1796-1874
Pieter Voltelin van der Byl
1798-1849, farmer Welmoed,
Lynedoch MLC Cape Colony
m. 1818 Johanna Isabella van
Breda 1797-1874
Anna Maria van der Byl
1839-94; m.1855 Christiaan
Frederik Beyers 1839-1886,
farmer Zorgvliet, Banghoek
Pieter
Gerhardus
Beyers
Colonel Carolus
Brink, 1879-1956
Quartermaster
General 1921-37
Lt Gen George Edwin Brink 1889-1971 Director of Army
Organisation and Training 1937-8, Deputy Chief of the
General Staff 1938-40, commander of 1 SA Division,
Director General of Demobilisation 1945-8
Christiaan Frederik Beyers
1868-1914 Commandant
General of the SA Citizen
Forces 1912-14, drowned in
the Afrikaner Rebellion
Lt Gen Leonard Beyers
Chief of the SA General
Staff 1948-50
Elisabeth Grové
m. 1745 Gerrit van der Byl 1704-67, farmer
De Leeuwenhoek, 24 Rivieren, Drakenstein &
Vredenburg, Stellenbosch
Andries Christoffel van der
Byl 1825-86, farmer
Schoongezicht, Jonkershoek
m. 1847 Gezina Wilhelmina
Constantia Marais
Johannes Albertus van der Byl
1825-73, farmer Fairfield,
Caledon; m. 1850 Hester Anna
Myburgh, of Elsenburg
Pieter Gerhard van der
Byl 1848-1919, farmer
Kellerfontein, Boshoff
m. Hester Groenewald
Pieter Voltelin van der Byl
1851-1925, farmer Fairfield,
Caledon; m. 1881 Adelaide
Taylor
Brig Gen Hendrik
Johannes van der Byl
1887-1948 Director
General of War Supplies
Pieter Voltelin Graham van
der Byl 1889Smuts government,
Minister of Native Affairs
1943-8
The SANDF
New South
Africa 1994
•Creation of
the UDF
1912
1914-1918
•First World
War
•Interwar
period
1919-1939
1939-1945
•Second
World War
•Nationalist
hegemony
1948
1975-1989
•“The Border
War”
•Creation of
the SANDF
1994
21st century
SADF
KwaZulu
SelfProtection
Force
Transkei
Defence
Force
Azanian
Peoples
Liberation
Army
(APLA)
Bophuthat
swana
Defence
Force
SANDF
Venda
Defence
Force
Ciskei
Defence
Force
Umkhonto
we Sizwe
(MK)
Those left
out?
Third Amalgam:
The SA National
Defence Force
MK
VDF
Government of
South Africa
TBVC “States”
South African
Defence Force
Transkei Defence
Force (1976)
Bophuthatswana
Defence Force
(1977)
BDF
Venda Defence
Force (1979)
KZSPF
TDF
CDF
Ciskei Defence
Force (1981)
Non-statutory
forces
Homeland
paramilitary forces
Umkhonto we
Sizwe (MK) - ANC
KwaZulu SelfProtection Force
(KZSPF)
Azanian People’s
Liberation Army
(APLA) - PAC
Racial profile of the SANDF and RSA compared
Race
SANDF 1994
post-integration
Defence Review
targets
SANDF 2009
Africans (blacks)
39,2
64,5
70,0
Coloureds
12,6
13,0
13,0
Asians
1,3
1,3
1,0
Whites
46,8
24,4
16,0
Heinecken 2009
Language profile of the SANDF and RSA compared
IsiZulu
IsiXhosa
Afrikaans
Sepedi
English
Setswana
Sesotho
Xitsonga
SiSwati
Tshivenda
IsiNdebele
Population
(RSA)
23,8
17,6
13,3
9,4
8,2
8,2
7,9
4,4
2,7
2,3
1,6
SANDF
8,3
9,0
23,6
7,5
10,3
8,3
5,7
1,6
2,1
3,0
0,5
Language
Heinecken 2009
Composition of the general staff of the SANDF in terms
of former force: 1997 and 2007 (percentages)
Former force
1997
MK
APLA
TBVC
SADF
SANDF
%
15
5
11
58
11
100
Rank profile
Brig-Gen to
Gen
14
1
4
81
0
100
Former force
2007
13
6
7
32
42
100
Rank profile
Brig-Gen to
Gen
37
9
7
47
0
100
Heinecken 2009
History, military culture and the South African military
African way of war
Western way of war
Dutch (1652)
Boer (1715)
East Bloc
British (1795)
Colonial (1688)
UDF (1912)
SADF (1948/1957)
MK (1961) APLA
[German]
TBVC
SANDF (1994)
OB (1938)
Cyclical periods of change
Republic
1961
Union
1910
Unified military
for the colonial
state
•Creation of
the UDF
1912
1914-1918
•First World
War
New South
Africa 1994
The search for an
“Afrikaner” character
for the military
•Interwar
period
1919-1939
Integration
1939-1945
•Second
World War
•Nationalist
hegemony
Unified military
for the “New
South Africa”
1975-1989
•“The Border
War”
1948
Differentiation
•Creation of
the SANDF
21st century
1994
Fragmentation
?