The Revolt of the Hereros

The Revolt of the Hereros by Jon M. Bridgman reconstructs the largely forgotten war fought from 1904 to 1907, when the Herero and later the Nama (Hottentots) rose against German colonial rule in South West Africa. Though often relegated to a footnote in histories of imperial Germany, the revolt was the defining historical event for the Herero people, costing more lives than many better-remembered nineteenth-century wars. Bridgman situates the conflict within the broader patterns of African resistance, distinguishing it as a case of “secondary resistance,” when Africans who had already endured conquest rose in organized rebellion against colonial domination. Drawing on German records, the book illuminates Herero motives, strategies, and leadership, which combined a conviction of moral justice with tactical sophistication and knowledge of the land. For three years, against enormous odds, the Hereros repeatedly humiliated German forces before being crushed by superior firepower and subjected to genocidal policies.

Bridgman also stresses the war’s wider significance. For Germany, it exposed failures in military training, leadership, and overreliance on technology—patterns later writ large in World War I. For Africa, the revolt epitomized both the tragedy of colonial destruction and the sowing of new political consciousness that would resurface in later nationalist struggles. By recovering this history, Bridgman argues that denying the Herero their story strips them of part of their humanity. He connects the memory of the revolt to later Herero participation in Namibian independence movements, framing the war not as an isolated tragedy but as part of a long struggle to reclaim land and dignity. The book restores the Herero Revolt to its rightful place as both a catastrophic loss and a heroic chapter in the history of resistance to colonialism.

This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1981.