THE HERERO GENOCIDE: The First Genocide of the 20th Century - Softcover

SIMMONS, CHRIS

Softcover

ISBN 13: 9798199188340

Publisher: Independently published, 2026

Synopsis

A Dress Rehearsal for the Holocaust. A Forgotten Blueprint for Annihilation.

Between 1904 and 1908, the German Empire carried out the first genocide of the twentieth century. In German South West Africa, present-day Namibia, tens of thousands of Herero and Nama men, women, and children were systematically driven from their land, forced into the desert, confined in concentration camps, and subjected to conditions designed to ensure their destruction.

Yet despite its historical significance, the Herero and Nama genocide remains one of the least known atrocities of the modern era.
In The Herero Genocide, historian Chris Simmons examines the origins, execution, and legacy of this devastating campaign. Beginning with Germany’s colonial expansion into southern Africa, the book explores the growing tensions between settlers and indigenous communities, the seizure of land and cattle, and the policies that pushed the region toward violent conflict.

Follow the events that led to the Herero uprising of 1904 and the response of General Lothar von Trotha, whose infamous extermination order transformed a colonial war into a campaign of annihilation. Witness the Battle of Waterberg, the forced march into the waterless Omaheke Desert, and the establishment of concentration camps such as Shark Island, where disease, starvation, forced labor, and abuse claimed thousands of lives.

Drawing on historical records, government documents, eyewitness accounts, and modern scholarship, this book reveals how racial ideology, colonial ambition, and military power combined to produce one of the earliest genocides of the modern age. It also examines the long-term consequences for Namibia, the continuing search for justice by Herero and Nama descendants, and the ongoing debate over responsibility, remembrance, and reparations.

More than a forgotten chapter of colonial history, the Herero and Nama genocide stands as a warning about the dangers of racism, dehumanization, and unchecked power. This is the story of a people who endured one of history’s greatest tragedies and whose struggle for recognition continues more than a century later.

Edition details

• Publisher: Independently published
• Publication date: 2026
• Language: English
• ISBN 13: 9798199188340
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 94