South Africa’s Nationalist party reunites in opposition…
1939 CE
South Africa’s Nationalist party reunites in opposition to the nation’s entry into the Second World War.
Hertzog, opposed to South Africa’s entry into the war, resigns as prime minister in September 1939 following the defeat in Parliament of his motion of neutrality.
Jan Smuts, who succeeds Hertzog, favors South Africa’s entry into the war on the side of the allies; former Stellenbosch University professor Hendrik F. Verwoerd opposes it.
South Africa declares war on Germany.