The Most Famous
MILITARY PERSONNELS from South Africa
This page contains a list of the greatest South African Military Personnels. The pantheon dataset contains 2,058 Military Personnels, 2 of which were born in South Africa. This makes South Africa the birth place of the 71st most number of Military Personnels behind Peru, and Colombia.
Top 3
The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the most legendary South African Military Personnels of all time. This list of famous South African Military Personnels is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity.
1. Piet Cronjé (1836 - 1911)
With an HPI of 53.92, Piet Cronjé is the most famous South African Military Personnel. His biography has been translated into 16 different languages on wikipedia.
Pieter Arnoldus "Piet" Cronjé (4 October 1836 – 4 February 1911) was a South African Boer general during the Anglo-Boer Wars of 1880–1881 and 1899–1902.
2. Koos de la Rey (1847 - 1914)
With an HPI of 50.36, Koos de la Rey is the 2nd most famous South African Military Personnel. His biography has been translated into 21 different languages.
Jacobus Herculaas de la Rey (22 October 1847 – 15 September 1914), better known as Koos de la Rey, was a South African military officer who served as a Boer general during the Second Boer War. De la Rey also had a political career and was one of the leading advocates of Boer independence.
3. Constand Viljoen (1933 - 2020)
With an HPI of 43.25, Constand Viljoen is the 3rd most famous South African Military Personnel. His biography has been translated into 16 different languages.
General Constand Laubscher Viljoen (28 October 1933 – 3 April 2020) was a South African Army officer and politician. He co-founded the Afrikaner Volksfront (Afrikaner People's Front) and later founded the Freedom Front (which in turn merged into the Freedom Front Plus before the 2004 election). He is partly credited with having prevented the outbreak of armed violence by disaffected white South Africans prior to post-apartheid general elections.
People
Pantheon has 3 people classified as South African military personnels born between 1836 and 1933. Of these 3, none of them are still alive today. The most famous deceased South African military personnels include Piet Cronjé, Koos de la Rey, and Constand Viljoen. As of April 2024, 1 new South African military personnels have been added to Pantheon including Piet Cronjé.
Deceased South African Military Personnels
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Piet Cronjé
1836 - 1911
HPI: 53.92
Koos de la Rey
1847 - 1914
HPI: 50.36
Constand Viljoen
1933 - 2020
HPI: 43.25
Newly Added South African Military Personnels (2024)
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Which Military Personnels were alive at the same time? This visualization shows the lifespans of the 3 most globally memorable Military Personnels since 1700.
