Herero Wars

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.

Background

Pre-colonial South-West Africa

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]

German colonization

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]

Rebellion

Rebel actions

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. ^[6] 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! ^[7]

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." ^[6] Soon after the rebellion began, German Emperor Wilhelm II replaced Leutwein with the notorious General Lothar von Trotha. ^[8]

Decline

German garrison of Windhoek, besieged by the Herero, 1904

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. ^[9]

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. ^{[10] : 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. ^{[11] : 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 ^{[12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17]} 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. ^[18]

Aftermath

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. ^[19]

On 16 August 2004, 100 years after the war, the German government officially apologised for the atrocities. ^[20] "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. ^[21]

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. ^[22] In 2021, Germany announced that they would repay Namibia €1.1 billion. ^[23]

Some notable fighters in Herero Wars are revered as the national heroes of Namibia. ^[24]

In literature

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. ^[25]

The war and the massacres are both significantly featured in The Glamour of Prospecting, ^[26] 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.

See also

• Herero and Nama genocide
• National heroes of Namibia

References

1. Bridgman 1981, p. 112.
2. Bridgman 1981, p. 87.
3. Bridgman 1981, p. 164.
4. Bridgman 1981, pp. 36–41.
5. Curson, Peter (2012). Border Conflicts in a German African Colony: Jakob Morengo and the Untold Tragedy of Edward Presgrave. Arena books. pp. 34–36. ISBN   978-1906791964 . Retrieved 11 October 2019.
6. Gaudi 2017, p. 80-81.
7. Gewald, Jan-Bart, Herero Heroes: A Socio-political History of the Herero of Namibia, 1890-1923, London: James Curry Ltd (1999), ISBN   0852557493, p. 156
8. Biographies of Namibian personalities by Klaus Dierks
9. Gaudi 2017, Ch. 7: Hereroland.
10. Clark, Christopher (2006). Iron Kingdom: The Rise and Downfall of Prussia 1600–1947. Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard. pp.  776. ISBN   978-0-674-02385-7.
11. Totten, Samuel; Parsons, William S. (2009). Century of Genocide, Critical Essays and Eyewitness Accounts. New York: Routledge Falmer. p. 15. ISBN   978-0-415-99085-1.
12. Jeremy Sarkin-Hughes (2008) Colonial Genocide and Reparations Claims in the 21st Century: The Socio-Legal Context of Claims under International Law by the Herero against Germany for Genocide in Namibia, 1904-1908, p. 142, Praeger Security International, Westport, Conn. ISBN   978-0-31336-256-9
13. A. Dirk Moses (2008) Empire, Colony, Genocide: Conquest, Occupation and Subaltern Resistance in World History, p. 296, Berghahn Books, NY ISBN   978-1-84545-452-4
14. Dominik J. Schaller (2008) From Conquest to Genocide: Colonial Rule in German Southwest Africa and German East Africa, p. 296, Berghahn Books, NY ISBN   1-8454-5452-9
15. Sara L. Friedrichsmeyer, Sara Lennox, and Susanne M. Zantop (1998) The Imperialist Imagination: German Colonialism and Its Legacy, p. 87, University of Michigan Press ISBN   978-0-47209-682-4
16. Walter Nuhn (1989) Sturm über Südwest. Der Hereroaufstand von 1904, Bernard & Graefe-Verlag, Koblenz ISBN   3-7637-5852-6.
17. Marie-Aude Baronian, Stephan Besser, Yolande Jansen (2007) Diaspora and Memory: Figures of Displacement in Contemporary Literature, Arts and Politics, p. 33, Rodopi ISBN   978-1-42948-147-2
18. Herero und Nama verklagen Deutschland wegen Kolonialverbrechen 06.01.2017, FOCUS Magazine
19. "Namibia | South African History Online". sahistory.org.za. Retrieved 11 November 2019.
20. Onishi, Norimitsu (29 December 2016). "Germany Grapples With Its African Genocide" . The New York Times .
21. "German minister says sorry for genocide in Namibia" (15 August 2004) The Guardian
22. Christoph Schult und Christoph Titz (6 January 2017). "Herero und Nama verklagen Deutschland" Der Spiegel
23. Oltermann, Philip (28 May 2021). "Germany agrees to pay Namibia €1.1bn over historical Herero-Nama genocide". The Guardian.
24. Nujoma, Sam (26 August 2002). "Heroes' Acre Namibia Opening Ceremony – inaugural speech". via namibia-1on1.com.
25. Serebrov, Mari (2013) Mama Namibia. Windhoek, Namibia: Wordweaver Publishing House
26. Frederick Carruthers Cornell (1920). The Glamour of Prospecting: Wanderings of a South African Prospector in Search of Copper, Gold, Emeralds, and Diamonds. London, England: London, T.F. Unwin Ltd.

Bibliography

• Bridgman, Jon (1981). The Revolt of the Hereros. University of California Press. ISBN   978-0-520-04113-4.
• 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.
• 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.