Military history of Zimbabwe
![Modern Zimbabwe](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/bc/LocationZimbabwe.svg/400px-LocationZimbabwe.svg.png)
The
Early history
San and invasion by ironworking cultures
Stone Age evidence indicates that the San people, now living mostly in the Kalahari Desert, are the ancestors of this region's original inhabitants, almost 3,000 years ago. There are also remnants of several ironworking cultures dating back to AD 300. Little is known of the early ironworkers, but it is believed that they put pressure on the San and gradually took over the land.
Shona rule
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d9/Great-Zimbabwe-2.jpg/250px-Great-Zimbabwe-2.jpg)
Around the 4th century the Bantu-speaking
The Portuguese began their attempts to subdue the Shona states as early as 1505 but were confined to the coast until 1513. The states were also torn apart by rival factions and trade in gold was gradually replaced by a trade in slaves. The empire finally collapsed in 1629 and never recovered. Remnants of the government established another Mutapa kingdom in Mozambique sometimes called Karanga, who reigned in the region until 1902.[3]
Mfecane
Mfecane (
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b9/Mzilikazi~detail.jpg/150px-Mzilikazi~detail.jpg)
In 1817, the Southern Shona regions were invaded by
As Ndebele moved into Transvaal, the remnants of the Bavenda retreated north to the Waterberg and Zoutpansberg, while Mzilikazi made his chief kraal north of the Magaliesberg mountains near present-day Pretoria, with an important military outpost to guard trade routes to the north at Mosega, not far from the site of the modern town of Zeerust. From about 1827 until about 1836, Mzilikazi dominated the southwestern Transvaal. Before that time the region between the Vaal and Limpopo was scarcely known to Europeans, but in 1829, Mzilikazi was visited at Mosega by Robert Moffat, and between that date and 1836 a few British traders and explorers visited the country and made known its principal features.
Boer confrontations
In the 1830s and 1840s, white descendants of
Voortrekker parties harassed Mzilikazi as late as 1851, but the following year burghers of the South African Republic finally negotiated a lasting peace. However, gold was discovered near Mthwakazi in 1867 and Europe's colonial powers became increasingly interested in the region. Mzilikazi died in 1868, near Bulawayo. His son, Lobengula, granted several concessions to European traders, including the 1888 Rudd treaty giving Cape imperialist Cecil Rhodes exclusive mineral rights in much of the lands east of Matabeleland. Gold was already known to exist in nearby Mashonaland, so with the Rudd concession Rhodes obtained a royal charter to form the British South Africa Company in 1889.
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/04/Pioneer-corps-officers.jpg/200px-Pioneer-corps-officers.jpg)
Pioneer Column
In 1890, Rhodes sent a group of settlers, known as the Pioneer Column, into Mashonaland. The 400+ man Pioneer Column was guided by the explorer and big game hunter
Rhodes had a vested interest in the continued expansion of white settlements in the region, so now with the cover of a legal mandate, he used a brutal attack by Ndebele against the Shona near Fort Victoria (now Masvingo) in 1893 as a pretense for attacking the kingdom of Lobengula.
First Matabele War
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/63/Lobengula-image.jpg/150px-Lobengula-image.jpg)
The first battle in the war occurred on 5 November 1893 when a
Lobengula had 80,000 spearmen and 20,000 riflemen, against fewer than 700 soldiers of the British South Africa Police, but the Ndebele warriors were no match against the British Maxim guns. Leander Starr Jameson immediately sent his troops to Bulawayo to try to capture Lobengula, but the king escaped and left Bulawayo in ruins behind him. The group of white settlers was sent to find Lobengula along the Shangani river, which they did, but nearly all members of this patrol were killed in battle on the Shangani river in Matabeleland in 1893. The incident achieved a lasting, prominent place in Rhodesian colonial history as the Shangani Patrol and is roughly the British equivalent to Custer's Last Stand. But this was no victory for the Ndebele. Under somewhat mysterious circumstances, King Lobengula died in January 1894, and within a few short months the British South Africa Company controlled most of the Matabeleland and white settlers continued to arrive.
Jameson Raid
The Jameson Raid (29 December 1895 – 2 January 1896) was a raid on Paul Kruger's Transvaal Republic carried out by Leander Starr Jameson and his Rhodesian and Bechuanaland policemen over the New Year weekend of 1895–96. It was intended to trigger an uprising by the primarily British expatriate workers (known as Uitlanders) in the Transvaal but failed to do so. The raid was ineffective and no uprising took place, but it did much to bring about the Second Boer War and the Second Matabele War.
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/35/Burnham_%26_Bonar_Armstrong_after_the_assassination_of_Mlimo.jpg/175px-Burnham_%26_Bonar_Armstrong_after_the_assassination_of_Mlimo.jpg)
Second Matabele War
The Second Matabele War—or the First Chimurenga, as it is often called in modern Zimbabwe—comprised revolts against British South Africa Company rule by the Ndebele and Shona peoples during 1896 and 1897.
According to UNESCO General History of Africa - VII Africa under Colonial Domination 1880-1935, the "Chimurenga, as the Shona termed their form of armed resistance, began in March 1896 in Matabeleland and June in Mashonaland. The first casualty was an African policeman employed by the British South Africa Company, killed 20 March. The first attack upon Europeans occurred in the town of
Mlimo, the Ndebele spiritual/religious leader, is credited with fomenting much of the anger that led to this confrontation. He convinced the Ndebele and Shona that the white settlers (almost 4,000 strong by then) were responsible for the drought, locust plagues and the cattle disease
The British South Africa Company immediately sent troops to suppress the Ndebele and the Shona, but it took months for the British to relieve their major colonial fortifications under siege by native warriors. Mlimo was eventually assassinated in his temple in
First World War
Second World War
Malayan Emergency
Rhodesian Bush War
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a7/Rhodesian_African_Rifles%2C_Lake_Kariba%2C_December_1976.png/220px-Rhodesian_African_Rifles%2C_Lake_Kariba%2C_December_1976.png)
The Rhodesian Bush War, also called the Second Chimurenga or the Zimbabwe War of Liberation, refers to the guerrilla war of 1966–1979 which led to the end of Rhodesia and the de jure independence of Zimbabwe. It was a three-way conflict between the predominantly white minority government of Ian Smith and the Rhodesian Front and two rival black nationalist movements: the Maoist Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU), led by Robert Mugabe, drew its support mostly from the Shona people, while the Marxist Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU) of Joshua Nkomo was mostly supported by Ndebele. movements, led by Robert Mugabe and Joshua Nkomo respectively.[6]
Overview
With the breakup of Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland in 1964 the army underwent a large- scale reorganization by the British. In 1965, Southern Rhodesia took matters into its own hands in 1965 with a "Unilateral Declaration of Independence" (UDI). From April 1966 onwards groups of Soviet-supported guerrillas infiltrated Rhodesia from neighbouring Zambia in steadily increasing numbers, with the goal of overthrowing the white-rule government, but the Second Chimurenga is generally considered to have started in earnest on 21 December 1972 when an attack took place on a farm in the Centenary District, with further attacks on other farms in the following days.
As the guerrilla activity increased in 1973 "Operation Hurricane" started and the military prepared itself for war. During 1974 a major effort by the security forces resulted in many guerrillas being killed and the number inside the country reduced to less than 100. However, a second front in the Second Chumerenga emerged in 1974 when the Portugal withdrew from its colonly of Mozambique.
In 1976 Operations "Thrasher" and "Repulse" started in order to contain the ever-increasing influx of guerrillas. At the same time rivalry between the two main guerrilla factions increased and resulted in open fighting in the training camps in Tanzania, with over 600 deaths. The Soviets increased their influence and began to take a more active role in the training and control of the Zimbabwe People's Revolutionary Army (ZIPRA) guerrillas. Perhaps too late, the Rhodesians decided to take the war to the enemy, and cross-border operations, which had started in 1976 with a raid on a major base in Mozambique in which the Rhodesians had killed over 1,200 guerrillas and captured huge amounts of weapons, were stepped up. In 1977, Operation "Dingo" was a major raid on large guerrilla camps such as Chimoio and Tembue in Mozambique which resulted in thousands of guerrilla deaths and the capture of supplies sorely needed by the Rhodesians.
In September 1978, the guerrillas again took the offensive by shooting down a Rhodesian airliner
Rhodesian Light Infantry
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3f/Melander_and_Hupli_RLI_1977_simulation_1.jpg/220px-Melander_and_Hupli_RLI_1977_simulation_1.jpg)
The Rhodesian Light Infantry (RLI) was at the forefront of the Rhodesian war. It was a regular army infantry regiment in the Rhodesian army, composed only of white recruits. The battalion was organised into four company size sub-units called 'Commandos'; 1, 2, 3 and Support Commando. In theory each commando had five 'Troops' (platoon size structures), though much of the time there were only four. The average fighting strength of a Commando was about 70. The rank structure was; Trooper, Lance-corporal, Corporal, Sergeant etc. All ranks were called 'troopies' by the Rhodesian media.
The RLI's most characteristic deployment was the 'fire force' reaction operation. This was an operational assault or response composed of, usually, a first wave of 32 troopers carried to the scene by three helicopters and one DC-3 Dakota (called "Dak"), with a command/gun helicopter and a light attack-aircraft in support. The latter was a Cessna Skymaster, usually armed with two 30 mm rocket pods and two small napalm-bombs (made in Rhodesia and called 'Fran-tan'). The RLI became extremely adept at this type of military operation and the battalion killed or captured around 3000 of the enemy (the vast majority being Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army) in the last three years of the war, whilst losing less than three hundred killed and wounded (not counting those casualties incurred in patrolling or external ops).
In addition to the fire force, the four Commandos were often used in patrolling actions, mostly inside Rhodesia but sometimes in Zambia and Mozambique. In these operations troopies were required to carry well over 100 lbs of equipment for five to tens days for one patrol and come back and repeat, for weeks, sometimes months. Also, they participated in many attacks on enemy camps in above countries. In a few of these attacks most or all of the battalion was involved.
The First Battalion Rhodesian Light Infantry was originally formed within the army of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland in 1961 in
Selous Scouts
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3d/Selous-Scouts-cap-badge.png/150px-Selous-Scouts-cap-badge.png)
During this time period the
The Selous Scouts were racial-integrated unit (approx. 70% black soldiers) which conducted a highly successful clandestine war against the guerrillas by posing as guerrillas themselves. Their unrivalled tracking abilities, survival and COIN skills made them one of the most feared of the army units by enemy. The unit was responsible for 68% of all enemy casualties within the borders of Rhodesia.[8]
British South Africa Police
The BSAP, a unit in existence since the 1890s, formed an important part of the white minority government's fight against black nationalist guerrillas. The force formed a riot unit; a tracker combat team (later renamed the Police Anti-Terrorist Unit or PATU); an Urban Emergency Unit and a Marine Division, and from 1973 offered places to white conscripts as part of Rhodesia's national service scheme. Until the late 1970s, black Rhodesians were prevented from holding ranks higher than Sub-Inspector in the BSAP, and only white Rhodesians could gain commissioned rank.
Patriotic Front
The Patriotic Front (PF) was originally formed in 1976 as a political and military alliance between ZAPU and ZANU during the war against white minority rule. Both movements contributed their respective military forces: ZAPU's military wing was known as Zimbabwe People's Revolutionary Army (ZIPRA) which operated mainly from Zambia and somewhat in Angola, and ZANU's guerrillas were known as Zimbabwe National African Liberation Army (ZANLA) which formed in 1965 in Tanzania, but operated mainly from camps around Lusaka, Zambia and later from Mozambique. Objective of the Patriotic Front was to overthrow the white minority regime by means of political pressure and military force.
End of the war
In 1979 another airliner was shot down and the Rhodesians launched more raids on guerrilla bases, successfully avoiding air-defence systems and the Soviet MiG-17s based in Mozambique. A raid was made by the SAS and the Selous Scouts on the ZIPRA HQ in Lusaka, where they narrowly missed being able to kill the ZIPRA leader, Nkomo. The Rhodesian people tired of increasing war and political isolation, so the war ended when the white-ruled government of Rhodesia handed power over to British at the 1979
Third Chimurenga
Following majority rule elections, the rivalry that had been fermenting between ZAPU and ZANU erupted, with guerrilla activity starting again in the Matabeleland provinces (south-western Zimbabwe). Armed resistance in Matabeleland was met with bloody government repression. At least 20,000 Matabele died in the ensuing near-genocidal massacres, perpetrated by an elite, communist-trained brigade, known in Zimbabwe as the
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f3/Flag_of_ZANU-PF.svg/100px-Flag_of_ZANU-PF.svg.png)
The present era in Zimbabwe is called the Third Chimurenga,[9] by the ruling ZANU-PF. The Mugabe administration claims that colonial social and economic structures remained largely intact in the years after the end of Rhodesian rule, with a small minority of white farmers owning the vast majority of the country's arable land (many partys within Zimbabwe question the extent and validity of these assertions, considering twenty years of ZANU-PF rule, the "Willing Buyer-Willing Seller" policy paid for by Britain and the diminished size of Zimbabwe's white population). By 2000 ZANU militants proclaimed violent struggle for land reform the "Third Chimurenga". The beginning of the "Third Chimurenga" is often attributed to the need to distract Zimbabwean electorate from the poorly conceived war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and deepening economic problems blamed on graft and ineptitude in the ruling party.
The opposition briefly used the term to describe Zimbabwe's current struggles aimed at removing the ZANU government, resolving the Land Question, the establishment of democracy, rebuilding the rule of law and good governance, as well as the eradication of corruption in Government. The term is no longer in vogue amongst Zimbabwe's urban population and lacks the gravitas it once had so was dropped from the opposition's lexicon.
Modern Zimbabwe
In 1999, the Government of Zimbabwe sent a sizeable military force into the Democratic Republic of
Footnotes
- ^ https://batanai.co.za/origin-of-shona-and-their-art/
- ^ https://www.ushistory.org/civ/7d.asp
- ^ Braudel, Fernand (1984). The Perspective of the World vol III of Civilization and Capitalism.
- ^ UNESCO General History of Africa - VII Africa under Colonial Domination 1880-1935. Page 104-5
- ISBN 0-393-04770-9.
- ISBN 978-0-7099-3412-7.
- ^ Melson, C.D., Top Secret War: Rhodesian Special Operations, 2005, Small Wars and Insurgencies Vol. 16, No. 1, pp. 57–82. http://taylorandfrancis.metapress.com/openurl.asp?genre=article&issn=0959-2318&volume=16&issue=1&spage=57
- ^ Radford, M. P., Service Before Self, 1994
- ^ Mugabe, Robert G (2001). Inside The Third Chimurenga. Harare, Zimbabwe: The Department of Information and Publicity Office of the President and Cabinet. pp. 1–201.