Battle of Waterburg

The Battle of Waterburg was a pivotal event during the German-Herero conflict of 1904–1907 in German South West Africa (now Namibia). In August 1904, German troops led by General Lothar von Trotha defeated the main Herero army at the Waterberg plateau. Following the battle, von Trotha pursued the defeated Herero into the Kalahari Desert, driving them into harsh conditions where many perished from thirst and starvation. This conflict, considered by many scholars to be genocide, resulted in the deaths of approximately 75 percent of the Herero population. The German colonial conquest of Namibia, which began in the 1880s, was marked by violent resistance from indigenous peoples, including the Herero and Nama, and led to severe repression and the establishment of concentration camps.1234