Qualla: South West Africa Campaign

South West Africa Campaign: Introduction

Sun, 21 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Dane, Edmund, Public domain. A radio message reached Windhoek on 2 August 1914, relayed across the curve of the continent from a transmitter near Berlin, through Togo, into the German wireless station in the South West African capital. The message was that Europe had gone to war. For the German colony, the news arrived almost as soon as the war itself did. Within weeks the empty veld along the southern border would fill with soldiers, and the man riding at the head of the South African columns would be no ordinary general. He was Louis Botha, the prime minister, who had set aside his desk to take personal command of a war his own cabinet wished he would leave to someone else.

Image: Dane, Edmund | Public domain

South West Africa Campaign: A War of Choosing Sides

Sun, 21 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit British Government, Public domain. When London asked whether South Africa would invade German South West Africa, Botha answered yes. It was not a simple yes. Barely a dozen years had passed since the Second Boer War, when Britain had crushed the two Boer republics and Germany had quietly cheered the Boer cause. Ma...

Image: British Government | Public domain

South West Africa Campaign: The Revolt at Home

Sun, 21 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Public domain. Lieutenant-Colonel Manie Maritz, commanding troops on the very border he was meant to cross, turned instead and joined the Germans. Around twelve thousand men rose with him across the Transvaal and Orange Free State in what became known as the Maritz rebellion. Botha declared mar...

Image: Public domain

South West Africa Campaign: Botha's Advance

Sun, 21 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Unknown author, Public domain. With his home front secured, Botha turned outward. He landed at the coastal town of Swakopmund in February 1915 and pushed inland up the Swakop valley, following the railway line through Otjimbingwe, Karibib, and Okahandja. On 5 May his northern columns entered Windhoek, the Germ...

Image: Unknown author | Public domain

South West Africa Campaign: Surrender at Khorab

Sun, 21 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Eduard Rothert, Public domain. The German forces made their last stand at the Battle of Otavi on 1 July 1915. Eight days later, on 9 July, Governor Theodor Seitz and his commander surrendered at Khorab, north of Windhoek. When the Germans handed over lists naming roughly 2,200 troops, Botha accused them of tri...

Image: Eduard Rothert | Public domain

South West Africa Campaign: What the Conquest Set in Motion

Sun, 21 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Martinvl, CC BY-SA 4.0. Victory in the field opened a chapter that would last three-quarters of a century. The colony being handed over was already scarred by atrocity: between 1904 and 1908, the German Schutztruppe under General Lothar von Trotha had carried out a systematic genocide against the Herero...

Image: Martinvl | CC BY-SA 4.0