On the Eleventh of November 1965, Ian Smith read out on the radio from Salisbury the Unilateral Declaration of Independence, making Rhodesia a sovereign country in her own right.
Great Britain had wanted to grant independence to Rhodesia, but under the principle of one man - one vote. This was unacceptable to the white Rhodesians, who were first hand witnesses of the post-colonial wars that ripped through Africa in the 1960s.
A war began between the Government of Rhodesia and Marxist terrorist groups supported by the Soviet Union and Communist China. The chief terrorist organisations were ZANU, headed by Robert Mugabe, a Shona, and Joshua Nkomo's ZAPU.
Nkomo's men for example were responsible for the shooting down of an Air Rhodesia Viscount, and the subsequent torture, rape and murder of the survivors.
Despite the War, Rhodesia survived essentially unchanged until the Internal Settlement took place in April 1979, when Bishop Abel Muzorewa became the country's first black Prime Minister. The terms of the settlement did not satisfy the British, who refused to lift sanctions against Zimbabwe-Rhodesia, as it was now called.
As a result, on 18th April 1980, following British-sponsored elections, the Marxist terrorist leader Robert Mugabe, backed by Communist China, became President of Zimbabwe. He is still there today, and has the reputation of being one of Africa's nastier progeny.
It makes you proud to be British, doesn't it.
Great Britain had wanted to grant independence to Rhodesia, but under the principle of one man - one vote. This was unacceptable to the white Rhodesians, who were first hand witnesses of the post-colonial wars that ripped through Africa in the 1960s.
A war began between the Government of Rhodesia and Marxist terrorist groups supported by the Soviet Union and Communist China. The chief terrorist organisations were ZANU, headed by Robert Mugabe, a Shona, and Joshua Nkomo's ZAPU.
Nkomo's men for example were responsible for the shooting down of an Air Rhodesia Viscount, and the subsequent torture, rape and murder of the survivors.
Despite the War, Rhodesia survived essentially unchanged until the Internal Settlement took place in April 1979, when Bishop Abel Muzorewa became the country's first black Prime Minister. The terms of the settlement did not satisfy the British, who refused to lift sanctions against Zimbabwe-Rhodesia, as it was now called.
As a result, on 18th April 1980, following British-sponsored elections, the Marxist terrorist leader Robert Mugabe, backed by Communist China, became President of Zimbabwe. He is still there today, and has the reputation of being one of Africa's nastier progeny.
It makes you proud to be British, doesn't it.
