The Rhodesia Myth

Hessian

Hessian

Well-Known Member
Fascinating how determined Britain was to destabilize Rhodesia and they seemed indifferent to the collapse of society that would follow.
Is it much different than rabid abolitionists in 1859....not caring one wit as to what would happen in 13 southern states...and how long it would take to recover?
 
GURPS

GURPS

INGSOC
PREMO Member
Hessian said:
Fascinating how determined Britain was to destabilize Rhodesia and they seemed indifferent to the collapse of society that would follow.
Is it much different than rabid abolitionists in 1859....not caring one wit as to what would happen in 13 southern states...and how long it would take to recover?
Click to expand...


Having studied this a bit, Britain was publicly criticized [ embarrassed ] on the world stage for former Colonial / Imperial Power - remember in the 1960's the spread of communism was in full swing, multiple former African Colonials were either occupied or suffering Marxist / Communist Insurgency - Like Vietnam this was primarily fought on the pagers of Western Media to dry up support - Smith fought the Insurgents to a stand still and his small motivated forces killed them by the 100's to 1000's over time stacking bodies - international pressure caused Britain to pull support and pressure South Africa to pull support

in fact Insurgents hid out in neighboring states - Angola, Mozambique, Zambia Botswana - Rhodesian Defense Forces had multiple successful cross border attacks vs these insurgencies - the balls on these guys, landing helicopters and driving right through the front gates of these camps and SHOOTING Everyone Insight - of course the communists claimed refugee camps full of innocent women and children

AS typical Communists murdered many more 10's of thousands of civilians and blamed Smith's forces

this book lays it all out and will only take a couple of days to read;

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Amazon product

Cold War politics​


Cold War politics played into the conflict. The Soviet Union supported ZIPRA and China supported ZANLA. Each group fought a separate war against the Rhodesian security forces, and the two groups sometimes fought against each other as well.[30] In June 1979, the governments of Cuba and Mozambique offered direct military help to the Patriotic Front, but Mugabe and Nkomo declined.[31] Other foreign contributions included military officials from North Korea, who taught Zimbabwean militants to use explosives and arms in a camp near Pyongyang.[32] By April 1979, 12,000 ZANLA guerrillas were training in Tanzania, Ethiopia, and Libya while 9,500 of its 13,500 extant cadres operated in Rhodesia.[8] South Africa clandestinely gave material and military support to the Rhodesian government.[26]

The Rhodesian Front (RF)—the ruling party—took an uncompromising position against the communist ideology of the ZIPRA and ZANLA. Ian Smith further expounded this by portraying the conflict as primarily anti-communist in nature.[33] The Rhodesian whites viewed the British demand for majority rule as a direct attack on their way of life.[34] Having previously witnessed the Mau Mau Rebellion, Rhodesians refused to allow the majority-rule policy to come into effect. Much of the Rhodesian economy as well as the land was controlled by white Rhodesians, and, fearing total confiscation by either the ZIPRA or ZANLA, the RF elected to hold onto unofficial minority-rule. In ignoring other contributing factors to the conflict, Smith and the RF were able to strengthen ties with the West, but Britain remained neutral. The division between the communists and anti-communists caused the fighting to spill over the Rhodesian borders. Neighbouring African nations, supported primarily by North Korea, China, and the Soviet Union, used communist material support to begin launching guerrilla attacks on the RSF and on Rhodesian civilians and infrastructure.[citation needed]

The United States took the official position that it would not recognise Rhodesia as an independent state, but some American soldiers who had seen combat in Vietnam joined the Rhodesian Security Forces. The Rhodesian government created advertising campaigns in order to attract soldiers from Western countries, and the security forces amassed a force of nearly 1,400 soldiers who were highly trained in special forces and guerrilla warfare, bringing the total of the Rhodesian military force to over 10,000 men.[35]

The Soviet Union became involved in the Rhodesian Bush War to combat the push from the anti-communist West and to challenge the Chinese presence in the region.[36] Soviet military technology quickly appeared in the Zimbabwean countryside and by 1979 ZIPRA were utilizing SAM weaponry to target Rhodesian civilian assets and Viscount aircraft.[37] Just as they had done in various other African countries and conflicts, the Soviets supported opposition forces with weapons and training. Moscow also launched a propaganda campaign exaggerating British involvement in the conflict in order to boost support for intervention. The Soviets were large suppliers of munitions and training, but refused to directly enter the conflict. The Chinese, on the other hand, were limited in their abilities to offer tangible aid to the ZANLA. Chinese influence throughout the conflict was primarily focused on small scale sabotage efforts and anti-western propaganda.[38]

Inevitably, the Bush War occurred within the context of regional Cold War in Africa, and became embroiled in conflicts in several neighbouring countries. Such conflicts included the Angolan War of Independence (1961–1975) and Angolan Civil War (1975–2002), the Mozambican War of Independence (1964–1974) and Mozambican Civil War (1977–1992), the South African Border War (1966–1989), and the Shaba I (1977) and Shaba II (1978) conflicts.[39]
 
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