An Overview of the Rhodesian Bush War

A civil war which lasted from 1964 to 1979, the Rhodesian Bush War was what ended white-minority rule in present-day Zimbabwe and the ascendancy of Robert Mugabe to power in Zimbabwe. The history of Zimbabwe/Rhodesia is among the most unique in all of Europe's colonies. Rhodesia was a breakaway colony that never actually gained recognition as a state among the world's nations. A racist white government ruled over Rhodesia/Zimbabwe, taking apartheid to a whole new level. The 15 year civil war that ensued not only ended in Black rule of Zimbabwe but the deportation of most of the country's white population.

Most colonies after WWII fought for independence. Whites who settled in Africa usually controlled most of the wealth of their provinces, such as was the case in Namibia, South Africa, and particularly, Zimbabwe or 'Southern Rhodesia'. After the Sino-Soviet split of 1961, Communist powers China and the Soviet Union began supporting separate and competing African liberation groups throughout the colonies, leading to the creation of two separate liberation groups in Zimbabwe.

Before the establishment of Rhodesia in 1965 as a quasi-independent state, southern Rhodesia was beginning to see 'change' as early as 1957, when the City Youth League boycotted riding the buses because of high prices in the capital of Salisbury. The Prime minister of the colony of South Rhodesia, Edgar Whitehead, early on began outlawing Nationalist African groups such as the Southern Rhodesia African National Congress, National Democratic Party, and Zimbabwe African People's Union, most of whose leader's were arrested. Finally, black Zimbabwean leaders had enough with white racist policies formed under the leadership of Nkomo the Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army (ZANLA) and formed a military wing. They gained much support from Communist China. The war began with the assassination of a Rhodesian official in 1964 by ZANLA.

Prominent leaders Nkomo and Mugabe were arrested promptly. Militants from ZANLA began attacking Rhodesian bases from Mozambique and Zambia. Other forces supported by the Soviet Union and other African states began launching separate attacks against Rhodesia soon thereafter. In 1965, Rhodesian officials declared independence from the United Kingdom and attacks against them only grew more hostile.

In 1971, all strong anti-Rhodesian militias joined together to become the 'Joint Guerilla Alliance to Overthrow the Government'.

Rhodesia by 1975 was surrounded on all sides by hostile governments. It received worldwide condemnation with the exception of South Africa, another minority-white lead government. Most of the fighting occurred in rural Zimbabwe and many white and black civilians died. By 1979, some factions fighting for black control of Zimbabwe signed an agreement with Rhodesia for the creation of Zimbabwe-Rhodesia, which lasted less than half a month. Authority over Rhodesia was given back to the British until Rhodesia officially became the black-led independent Zimbabwe in 1980. Most of Rhodesia's whites ended up leaving back to the United Kingdom and did not receive compensation for the vast amount of land they owned Zimbabwe. Robert Mugabe, one of the leaders of ZANLA, became president of the Republic of Zimbabwe in 1980, and remains president to this day. The Bush-War of Southern Rhodesia led to the toppling of one of the modern world's most controversial and illegitimate regimes.

Works Cited

"BBC NEWS | Programmes | UK Confidential | Government compromise in 1971 Rhodesian talks." BBC NEWS | News Front Page. 21 June 2009 .

"Getting Ready for War - TIME." Breaking News, Analysis, Politics, Blogs, News Photos, Video, Tech Reviews - TIME.com. 21 June 2009 .

"RHODESIA PSYOP 1965." PSYOP PSYOPS PSYWAR Psychological Operations Psychological Warfare. 21 June 2009 .

"Rhodesian Bush War -." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 21 June 2009 .

"WAR IN THE BUSH." THE SELOUS SCOUTS "PAMWE CHETE" 21 June 2009 .