The Bush War

33.3.2: The Bush War

The Bush War was a civil war that took place from July 1964 to December 1979 in Rhodesia, in which three forces were pitted against one another: the mostly white Rhodesian government and two black nationalist parties.

Learning Objective

Describe the Bush War

Key Points

  • In 1965, the conservative white minority government led by Ian Smith unilaterally declared independence from the United Kingdom as Rhodesia, which led to sanctions from the UN.
  • The United Kingdom deemed the Rhodesian declaration an act of rebellion, but did not re-establish control by force.
  • A guerrilla war subsequently ensued when Joshua Nkomo’s Zimbabwe African People’s Union (ZAPU) and Robert Mugabe’s Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU), supported actively by communist powers and neighboring African nations, initiated guerrilla operations against Rhodesia’s predominantly white government.
  • The war intensified, eventually forcing Smith to open negotiations with the militant nationalists, resulting in Internal Settlement the implementation in June 1979 of universal suffrage and end of white minority rule in Rhodesia.
  • The resulting government was still unrecognized by the international community and the war continued until the British government invited Muzorewa, Mugabe, and Nkomo to participate in a constitutional conference at Lancaster House, resulting in the Lancaster House Agreement, which granted full independence to what was then named the Republic of Zimbabwe.

Key Terms

Lancaster House Agreement
Negotiations in 1980 that brought internationally recognized independence to Rhodesia (as the Republic of Zimbabwe) following Ian Smith’s Unilateral Declaration of Independence in 1965.
Ian Smith
A politician, farmer, and fighter pilot who served as Prime Minister of Rhodesia  from 1964 to 1979. The country’s first premier not born abroad, he led the predominantly white government that unilaterally declared independence from the United Kingdom in 1965, following prolonged dispute over the terms. He remained Prime Minister for almost all of the 14 years of international isolation that followed, and oversaw Rhodesia’s security forces during most of the Bush War, which pitted the unrecognized administration against communist-backed black nationalist guerrilla groups.
Internal Settlement
An agreement signed on March 3, 1978, between Prime Minister of Rhodesia Ian Smith and the moderate African nationalist leaders comprising Bishop Abel Muzorewa, Ndabaningi Sithole, and Senator Chief Jeremiah Chirau. The agreement led to the creation of an interim government in which Africans were included for the first time in Rhodesia.

Overview

The Rhodesian Bush War—also known as the Zimbabwe War of Liberation—was a civil war from July 1964 to December 1979 in the unrecognized country of Rhodesia (modern-day Zimbabwe). The conflict pitted three forces against one another: the Rhodesian government, under Ian Smith (later the Zimbabwe Rhodesian government of Bishop Abel Muzorewa); the Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army, the military wing of Robert Mugabe’s Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU); and the Zimbabwe People’s Revolutionary Army of Joshua Nkomo’s Zimbabwe African People’s Union (ZAPU).

In the first phase of the conflict (until the end of 1972), Rhodesia’s political and military position appeared strong. Nationalist guerrillas had been unable to make serious military inroads against Rhodesia. In the early 1970s, the two main nationalist groups faced serious internal divisions. The black nationalists continued to operate from secluded bases in neighboring Zambia and from the Portuguese colony of Mozambique, making periodic raids into Rhodesia. By 1973 guerrilla activity was increasing in the aftermath of the Altena Farm raid, particularly in the northeast part of the country where portions of the African population were evacuated from border areas. But it would take the collapse of Portuguese rule in Mozambique to create new military and political pressures on the Rhodesian Government to accept the principle of immediate majority rule.

The war and its subsequent Internal Settlement, signed in 1978 by Smith and Muzorewa, led to the implementation in June 1979 of universal suffrage and end of white minority rule in Rhodesia, renamed Zimbabwe Rhodesia under a black majority government. However, this new order failed to win international recognition and the war continued.

Negotiations between the government of Zimbabwe Rhodesia, the British government, and Mugabe and Nkomo’s united “Patriotic Front” took place at Lancaster House, London in December 1979, and the Lancaster House Agreement was signed. The country returned temporarily to British control and new elections were held under British and Commonwealth supervision in March 1980. ZANU won the election and Mugabe became the first Prime Minister of Zimbabwe on 18 April 1980, when the country achieved internationally recognised independence.

Photo of Bishop Abel Muzorewa signing the Lancaster House Agreement seated next to British Foreign Secretary Lord Carrington.

Lancaster House Agreement: Bishop Abel Muzorewa signs the Lancaster House Agreement in 1980 seated next to British Foreign Secretary Lord Carrington.

Background

The origins of the war in Rhodesia can be traced to the colonization of the region by white settlers in the late 19th century and the dissent of black African nationalist leaders who opposed white minority rule. Rhodesia was settled by Britons and South Africans beginning in the 1890s and while it was never accorded full dominion status, white Rhodesians effectively governed the country after 1923. In his famous “Wind of Change” speech addressed to the parliament of South Africa in 1960, British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan stated Britain’s intention to grant independence to British colonies in Africa under black majority rule.

Many white Rhodesians were concerned that decolonization and majority rule would bring chaos, as in the former Belgian Congo in 1960. Britain’s unwillingness to compromise on the policy of “No independence before majority rule” led to Rhodesia’s unilateral declaration of independence on November 11, 1965. Though Rhodesia had the unofficial support of neighboring South Africa and Portugal, which governed Mozambique, it never gained formal recognition from any country.

Many white Rhodesians viewed the war as one of survival with atrocities in the former Belgian Congo, the Mau Mau Uprising campaign in Kenya, and elsewhere in Africa fresh in their minds. Many whites and a sizable minority of black Rhodesians viewed their lifestyle as under attack, which both groups had considered safer and with a higher standard of living than in many other African countries. Although the vote in Rhodesia was technically open to all regardless of race, property ownership requirements effectively denied the franchise to most of Rhodesia’s blacks. The 1969 constitution provided for “Non-Europeans” (principally blacks) to elect representatives for eight of the seats in the 66-seat parliament. Eight seats were reserved for tribal chiefs.

Amidst this backdrop, black nationalists advocated armed struggle to bring about independence in Rhodesia under black majority rule. Resistance also stemmed from the wide economic inequality between blacks and whites. In Rhodesia, whites owned most of the fertile land while blacks were crowded on barren land following forced evictions or clearances by the colonial authorities.

Two rival nationalist organisations soon emerged: the Zimbabwe African People’s Union (ZAPU) and the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU), following a split in the former in August 1963 caused by disagreements over tactics as well as tribalism and personality clashes.

Photo of black soldiers aboard a military boat during the Bush War.

The Bush War: Two soldiers of the Rhodesian African Rifles aboard a patrol boat on Lake Kariba, December 1976. Black Rhodesians made up most of the government’s Security Forces, but some units were all-white.

Attributions