Maritz rebellion | |||||||
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Part of South West Africa Campaign of World War I | |||||||
The Battle of Mushroom Valley, one of the most decisive battles in the Maritz Rebellion | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Supported by: German Empire | |||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Strength | |||||||
32,000 | 12,000 | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
101 killed and wounded |
124 killed 300 dead from illness 229 wounded[1] 1 executed |
The Maritz rebellion, also known as the Boer revolt, Third Boer War,[2] or the Five Shilling rebellion,[3] was an armed pro-German insurrection in South Africa in 1914, at the start of World War I. It was led by Boers who supported the re-establishment of the South African Republic in the Transvaal. Many members of the South African government were themselves Boers who had fought with the Maritz rebels against the British in the Second Boer War, which had ended twelve years earlier. The rebellion failed, with 124 out of 12,000 rebels killed in battle, another 300 dying during a retreat into the Kalahari Desert, and 229 wounded. The surviving ringleaders received heavy fines and prison terms. One of them, Jopie Fourie, was executed.