Notes:

I've been studying modern African history lately, and I am just utterly shocked at the hand that was dealt to Rhodesia.

I'm not sure if the sources I have been reading have been overly biased in their favour, but even stripping away the emotional connections, we are left with the following situation.

An old colony knew it could not provide a stable majority rule within the two-year deadline that Britain demanded of them. Because of this, they decided to declare independence so that this could be carried out at a slower pace so that there would be competent leaders in office, since there was a lack of black Rhodesians who were educated in the ways of politics and statesmanship at the time.

This caused the western powers to get pissy at the Rhodesians and they were embargoed by the UN because of this, with the only imports being snuck in by Mozambique and South Africa. Whilst this was happening, the USSR and China decided to strike and trained communist militias (ZANU and ZAPU) to lead an armed invasion and occupation of the country.

The vast majority of ZANU and ZAPU forces were not even Rhodesians themselves, but native to neighbouring Zimbabwe and Mozambique. Although most footage of the RLI shows the soldiers being predominantly white, there was also a large proportion of the black population who were loyal to Ian Smith's government and fought back against these foreign invaders.

It was only when Mozambique and South Africa were forced to stop trading with Rhodesia that they finally had to accept defeat, ending up with the occupation and assimilation of Rhodesia into Zimbabwe. From this point on, most people who are even vaguely aware of international history and politics will know that Mugabe's government ruled so badly that they made Mao's Great Leap Forward look like a minor failure.

It's just such a bloody tragedy, you know. If Rhodesia was allowed to carry out it's plans for slow and proper integration of majority rule, just think of how many famines could have been averted and how the entire region could have prospered economically and politically from this.