German colonial troops brutally suppress a rebellion by the Herero people of German South-West Africa (modern-day Namibia). General Lothar von Trotha pledges to exterminate the Herero people in what has become known as the Herero and Namaqua Genocide. The Germans drive ethnic Herero and Namaqua populations into the Namib desert leading to massive death from dehydration and starvation; they also reportedly poison desert water wells. Later, the UN estimates that up to 100,000 were killed, or 70% of the Herero population.
