It has been suggested that this article be merged into Herero and Nama genocide. (Discuss) Proposed since December 2025.

Herero Wars
Part of the Scramble for Africa
German troops in combat with the Herero in a painting by Richard Knötel.
Date 1904–1908 Location German South West Africa Result German victory, systematic extermination of native peoples
Belligerents
German Empire German South West Africa	Herero, Nama, and other Namibians
Commanders and leaders
Theodor Leutwein Lothar von Trotha	Samuel Maharero Hendrik Witbooi †
Strength
Initial strength: ~2,000[1]	Herero: 10,000[2]
Casualties and losses
KIA: 676 MIA: 76 WIA: 907 Died from disease: 689 Civilians: 100[3]	65–70,000 including civilians[3]

The Herero Wars were a series of colonial wars between the German Empire and the Herero people of German South West Africa (present-day Namibia). They took place between 1904 and 1908.

The Hereros were cattle grazers, occupying most of central and northern South West Africa. Under the leadership of Jonker Afrikaner, who died in 1861, and later under the leadership of Samuel Maharero, they had achieved supremacy over the Nama and Orlam peoples in a series of conflicts that had in their later stages, seen the extensive use of firearms obtained from European traders.^[4]

In the early 1880s, the German statesman Otto von Bismarck, reversing his previous rejection of colonial acquisitions, decided on a policy of imperial expansion. In 1882 Bismarck gave permission to Adolf Lüderitz to obtain lands which Germany would bring within its "protection", under the conditions that a port was established within the territories taken and that there was "clear title" to the land. Lüderitz bought the title to Angra Pequena (later renamed Lüderitz Bay) from Joseph Fredericks, a chief of the Oorlam people, in exchange for 200 rifles, 2,500 German marks, and some lead toy soldiers, and established a port there. Clarification of Germany's title among the European powers took some time, as the British demurred in response to a German request to clarify the boundaries of their title, however in April 1884 Bismarck instructed the German consul in declare "Lüderitzland" (as Lüderitz's holding in South-West Africa had become known) as under the "protection" of the German Reich. Lüderitz steadily spread Germany's influence throughout the South-West African territory until by 1885 only one tribe within it – the Witboois – had not concluded some kind of arrangement with Germany.^[4]

Whilst Rhenish missionaries, traders, and other Europeans had been present in the territory since the 1830s, it was only with the advent of Germany's claim to South-West Africa that German settlement of the territory began in earnest. By 1903 there were roughly 4,682 European settlers in the protectorate of whom nearly 3,000 were Germans, most of them in the towns of Lüderitz, Swakopmund, and Windhoek. The advent of large-scale German settlement also brought about changes in the treatment of the native Herero and Nama peoples by Europeans, with native people facing increased legal discrimination and expropriation of land for the use of European settlers.^[5]

The Herero's key grievance and the structural condition which led to the outbreak of the war was the existence of an unfair judicial system. If a white person was killed, multiple Africans would be executed as punishment. In contrast, settlers could kill natives with effective impunity because African lives were deemed worthless, so the judicial system would find a way to exonerate or issue a minimal punishment.^[6] The result was widespread murder and rape against Africans by settlers, which weakened the colonial administration's monopoly on violence and overall authority. The victims were powerless to get redress for these crimes because police and soldiers were among the perpetrators.^[7] African witnesses were generally deemed to be unreliable by German courts,^[8] often contributing to the courts exonerating settlers accused of wrongdoings.^[8] Several settlers abused the lopsided judicial system, becoming serial violators. On the other side, Germans who opposed the abuses were ostracized by settlers and even sanctioned by the courts as well as colonial authorities.^[8] German employers were legally allowed to beat, whip, and flog indigenous employees.^[9][8] Even chiefs were subject to corporal punishments. According to historian Horst Drechsler, most "Germans described the Africans as baboons and treated them accordingly".^[8]

The influence of the struggle over land in regards to the Herero uprising remains disputed among researchers. Some studies have emphasized struggle over land as the central cause of the uprising, but the colonist population was not quickly increasing in 1903 and other research has shown that the land question was not urgent.^[10][a] In the period before the rebellion, Leutwein had begun to implement a strategy to concentrate indigenous people on reserves.^[11] The creation of the reserves, alongside a statute limiting contracts in July 1903, were supposed to at least partially remedy abuses against the Herero. Instead, the reserves openly showcased how little land the Herero still held, while the statute led traders to further pressure natives to repay debts. These measures thus led to even greater grievances among the Herero.^[12] The building of the Otavi railway resulted in further seizure of land in the southern territories of the Herero, and the railway's financier –the Otavigesellschaft– openly demanded that the Herero cede not just land for a further expansion of the line itself but also all water rights and a 20 kilometres (12 mi) stretch along the tracks. Leutwein negotiated with Samuel Maharero over these demands until the chief partially yielded. Maharero agreed to relinquish land for the railway's tracks free of charge, but no additional territory.^[13] The Herero were aware that the expansion of the railway might lead to an influx of more settlers into their areas.^[8]

In general, the settler population as well as German authorities ignored the provisions of the protection treaty with the Herero, with Leutwein noting that the majority of the local whites were even ignorant of the treaty's existence. The Herero complained that the Germans were violating their customs and breaking the treaty; realizing that the old promises were ignored, many Herero also no longer felt bound by the agreement by 1904.^[8]

In 1903, some of the Khoi and Herero tribes rose in revolt and about 120-150 German settlers were killed, with many victims tortured and mutilated before death.^[14] Troops were sent from Germany to re-establish order but only dispersed the rebels, led by Chief Samuel Maharero. In a famous letter to Hendrik Witbooi, the Nama chief, Maharero sought to organize his rebellion against the Germans while building alliances with the other tribes, exclaiming Let us die fighting!^[15]

The Herero led a guerrilla campaign, conducting fast hit-and-run operations then melting back into the terrain they knew well, preventing the Germans from gaining an advantage with their modern artillery and machineguns. The German governor Theodor Leutwein sent desperate messages to Maharero in hopes of negotiating an end to the war. The Hereros, however, were emboldened by their success and had come to believe that, "the Germans were too cowardly to fight in the open," and rejected Leutwein's offers of peace. One missionary wrote, "One hears nothing but (Herero) talk of 'cleaning up,' 'executing,' 'shooting down to the last man,' 'no pardon,' etc."^[16]

The Germans were largely surprised by the uprising.^[17] Soon after the rebellion began, German Emperor Wilhelm II replaced Leutwein with the notorious General Lothar von Trotha.^[18]

Some German authorities quickly began to investigate the rebellion's causes. The Reichstag demanded an official inquiry in March 1904, and this demand was reluctantly backed by Oskar Stuebel, director of the Colonial Department. Chancellor Bernhard von Bülow forwarded the demand to Wilhelm II who promptly postponed any investigation indefinitely.^[19] In general, German imperialists showcased little genuine interest in the circumstances of the rebellion, instead viewining it as a good pretext to seize more control as well as territory in South West Africa.^[17] The uprising was broadly blamed on Herero "blood-thirstiness", "racial strife", the traders' practices,^[19] and Leutwein's allegedly too lentient governing style.^[20] British influence was also used as a scapegoat,^[21] with Leutwein quickly joining those who claimed that British individuals had incited the Herero to rebel, seeking to deflect blame from himself.^[20] The ensuing anti-British campaign –including the arrest of British citizens in South West Africa– petered out once no evidence could be found.^[21] German missionaries were also blamed by officials and the pro-colonial press, alleging that the missionaries were somehow abetting the insurgents. Missionaries responded with an anonymous letter in the newpaper Der Reichsbote, clarifying that the rebellion was rooted in the mistreatment of Herero by settlers and officials. This further incited imperialists and colonial officials; the "shadow-boxing" between the missionaries and their critics in the press ultimately availed to little.^[22]

A conclusive battle was fought on 11 August 1904, at the Battle of Waterberg in the Waterberg Mountains. Chief Maharero believed his six to one advantage over the Germans would allow him to win in a final showdown. The Germans had time to bring forward their artillery and heavy weapons. Both sides took heavy losses, but the Herero were scattered and defeated.^[23]

Trotha's troops defeated 3,000–5,000 Herero combatants at the Battle of Waterberg but were unable to encircle and annihilate the retreating survivors.^[24]: 605 The pursuing German forces prevented groups of Herero from breaking from the main body of the fleeing force and pushed them further into the desert. As exhausted Herero fell to the ground, unable to go on, German soldiers killed men, women, and children.^[25]: 22

It took the Germans until 1908 to re-establish authority over the territory. By that time tens of thousands of Africans (estimates range from 34,000 to 110,000) had been either killed^{[26][27][28][29][30][31]} or died of thirst while fleeing. 65,000 of 80,000 Hereros and at least 10,000 of 20,000 Nama died as a result of the conflict.^[32]

In 1915, during World War I, South African forces occupied it in the so-called South West Africa Campaign, and SW Africa officially became a mandate of South Africa in 1920.^[33]

On 16 August 2004, 100 years after the war, the German government officially apologised for the atrocities.^[34] "We Germans accept our historic and moral responsibility and the guilt incurred by Germans at that time," said Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul, Germany's development aid minister. In addition, she admitted that the massacres were equivalent to genocide.^[35]

Not until 2015 did the German government admit that the massacres were equivalent to genocide and again apologised in 2016. The Herero are suing the German government in a class action lawsuit.^[36] In 2021, Germany announced that they would repay Namibia €1.1 billion.^[37]

Some notable fighters in Herero Wars are revered as the national heroes of Namibia.^[38]

The Herero Wars and the massacres are both depicted in a chapter of the 1963 novel V. by Thomas Pynchon. The tragic story of the Herero and Nama Genocide also appears in Pynchon's 1973 novel Gravity's Rainbow.

The heavy toll of the Herero and Nama genocide on individual lives and the fabric of Herero culture is seen in the 2013 historical novel Mama Namibia by Mari Serebrov.^[39]

The war and the massacres are both significantly featured in The Glamour of Prospecting,^[40] a contemporary account by Frederick Cornell of his attempts to prospect for diamonds in the region. In the book, he describes his first-hand accounts of witnessing the concentration camp on Shark Island amongst other aspects of the conflict.

• Herero and Nama genocide
• National heroes of Namibia

• Alnæs, Kirsten (1989). "Living with the past: The Songs of the Herero in Botswana". Africa: Journal of the International African Institute. 59 (3). Cambridge University Press: 267–299. doi:10.2307/1160229. JSTOR 1160229. S2CID 143939978.
• Bridgman, Jon (1981). The Revolt of the Hereros. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-04113-4.
• de Quesada, Alejandro; Dale, Chris (2013). Imperial German Colonial and Overseas Troops 1885–1918. Osprey Publishing. ISBN 978-1780961644.
• Drechsler, Horst (1980). "Let Us Die Fighting": The Struggle of the Herero and Nama against German Imperialism (1884–1915). Zed Press. ISBN 0905762479.
• Faber-Jonker, Leonor (2023). "'Rivers of Blood and Rivers of Money': The Herero and Nama Genocides in German Southwest Africa, 1904–1908". The Cambridge World History of Genocide. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-108-76548-0.
• Gaudi, Robert (2017). African Kaiser: General Paul Von Lettow-Vorbeck and the Great War in Africa, 1914–1918. Caliber. ISBN 978-1-84904-867-5. Retrieved 1 June 2021 – via Google Books.
• Gann, Lewis H.; Duignan, Peter (1977). The Rulers of German Africa, 1884-1914. Stanford University Press. ISBN 978-0804709385.
• Häussler, Matthias (2021). The Herero Genocide: War, Emotion, and Extreme Violence in Colonial Namibia. Berghahn Books. ISBN 978-1-80073-024-3.
• Lindner, Ulrike (2011). Koloniale Begegnungen: Deutschland und Großbritannien als Imperialmächte in Afrika 1880-1914 (in German). Campus Verlag. ISBN 978-3593394855.
• Morlang, Thomas (2008). Askari und Fitafita. "Farbige" Söldner in den deutschen Kolonien (in German). Ch. Links Verlag. ISBN 978-3861534761.
• Zollmann, Jakob (2010). Koloniale Herrschaft und ihre Grenzen: Die Kolonialpolizei in Deutsch-Südwestafrika 1894 - 1915 (in German). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht. ISBN 978-3525370186.

• Bühler, Andreas H. (2003). Der Namaaufstand gegen die deutsche Kolonialherrschaft in Namibia von 1904-1913 (in German). Iko-Verlag Berlin. ISBN 978-3889396761.