Iain R. Smith

Iain Robertson Smith (born July 1939) is emeritus reader in history at the University of Warwick. He is a specialist in the history of South Africa and the South African War in particular. Smith was a member of Council of The Historical Association from 1980 to 1995 and editor of the New Appreciations in History series.

Iain Smith was born in July 1939. He received his advanced education at the University of Edinburgh (M.A.) and the University of Wisconsin (M.A.) where he was a Fulbright Scholar. He earned his D.Phil. from St. Antony's College, University of Oxford.

Smith is emeritus reader in history at the University of Warwick. He is a specialist in the history of South Africa and the South African War in particular. His book on The origins of the South African War, 1899-1902 (1996) was welcomed in Afrikaans circles but criticised by some English speaking scholars as too limited in scope. Kobus du Pisani in H-Net praised it for its "old-fashioned approach, maintaining a strong narrative line" but also criticised the book as "one-sided" and for failing to examination contemporary Boer sources. Smith recently contributed to a reappraisal of the Siege of Mafeking and is researching the concentration or internment camps, established for Boer and Black civilians in South Africa by the British.

He was a member of Council of The Historical Association from 1980 to 1995 and editor of the New Appreciations in History series. He has held visiting academic positions at the University of Cape Town (1989), University of Pretoria (1993, 2001), Institute of Commonwealth Studies London (1987), Mansfield College Oxford (1997), University of Tbilisi, Georgian Republic (1991), and the Institute of Historical Research, Helsinki (1998).

Books

• The Emin Pasha relief expedition 1886–1890. Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1972. ISBN 978-0198216797
• The origins of the South African War 1899–1902. Longman, Harlow, 1996. ISBN 978-0582495203
• The siege of Mafeking. 2 vols. The Brenthurst Press, Johannesburg, 2001.

Articles

• "The origins of the South African War: a reappraisal", South African Historical Journal, 22 (November 1990).
• "Jan Smuts and the South African War", South African Historical Journal, 41 (November 1999).
• "The revolution in South African historiography", History Today, February 1988.
• "New Lessons in South Africa's History", History Today, July 1993.
• "The Boer War Diary of Charlie Moses", History Today, May 1998. (with Fransjohan Pretorius)