Led by George Cathcart, British troops defeated Basuto and Taung forces at the Battle of Berea in present-day Lesotho, leading to an offer of peace from King Moshoeshoe I.

Major-General Sir George Cathcart was a Scottish general and diplomat. He was killed in action at the Battle of Inkerman during the Crimean War.

The Sotho, also known as the Basotho, are a Sotho-Tswana ethnic group indigenous to Southern Africa. They primarily inhabit the regions of Lesotho, South Africa, Botswana and Namibia.

Taung is a small town situated in the North West Province of South Africa. The name means place of the lion and was named after Tau, the King of the Barolong people. Tau is the Tswana word for lion.

The Battle of Berea was a battle between British forces under Sir George Cathcart and Basuto-Taung forces under King Moshoeshoe I that took place on 20 December 1852. The battle began when British forces broke into three columns and crossed the Caledon River in southern Africa, with the goal of seizing Basuto cattle as a form of punishment for past Basuto cattle raiding.

Moshoeshoe I was the first king of Lesotho. He was the first son of Mokhachane, a minor chief of the Bamokoteli lineage, a branch of the Koena (crocodile) clan. In his youth, he helped his father gain power over some other smaller clans. In 1820, at the age of 34, Moshoeshoe succeeded his father as the Bamokoteli chief and formed his own clan. He and his followers settled at the Butha-Buthe Mountain. He became the first and ultimately longest-serving King of Lesotho in 1822.