Although the Ovaherero had at this point lost approximately 10% of their grazing land to white settlers, this was only one factor in the rebellion.  The Ovaherero were protesting settler conduct and a legal system that treated them as juvenile subjects.  This was aggravated by "business practices which not only systematically swindled the Herero, but also drove them into traps of debt." Initially the Germans were unable to effectively resist the Ovaherero.  Against the 8,000 Ovaherero fighting-men, 6,000 of whom were equipped with firearms, the Germans could only present a 750-man garrison.