What happened?

>muh whites were victims meme
Black Zimbabweans freed themselves from oppression and rose to become the richest nation in the world

Either:
People who were unskilled in matters pertaining to a developing country told people who were skilled in such matters to leave, and instead of attempting to find other skilled people to replace them they tried to do jobs that they were not qualified to do in the first place with predictable results.
OR
>hurr niggers ruin everything

>Zimbabwe
>Rich
choose one

ZAPU and ZANU were thugs trying to seize power using the veil of liberation. The West, especially Britain, content to simply abandon their colonies and wash their hands of the wanton destruction that resulted from the power vacuum (see the Congo), tried to do the same here. Ian Smith wouldn't have it, and declared independence. The entire U.N. sanctioned them, but they managed to get by, thanks to their vast technological and tactical superiority over the Soviet and Chinese-backed guerrillas and also trade with South Africa and Portugal. As those nations went through their own political changes however, things went from bad to worse.

Smith tried multiple times to propose perfectly reasonable peace solutions, including one that would have put the government in control of a council made up of both blacks and whites for a certain period and required them to draft a new constitution with 1 man 1 vote at the end of this period, then hold free elections. They eventually did hold free elections, electing a black man, but ZANU and ZAPU consistently refused these offers, because they weren't actually fighting for noble reasons of change, but for power.

How hypocritical of the UK to create the colony, create the colonial system which disenfranchises blacks in the first place, then turn around and admonish Rhodesia for not being a paragon of equality (in the 1960s no less - when the US still had Jim Crow laws!). Things weren't perfect, but blacks at least could vote if they passed the requirements and the standard of living was quite higher than other parts of Africa, unlike today. I would be perfectly okay with Zimbabwe and Mugabe if he truly fought for freedom. Uncomfortable freedom is preferable to comfortable tyranny, but Mugabe is just a thug, and now his people starve.

Rhodesia was prosperous, but not entirely equal. Zimbabwe is neither prosperous nor equal.

A poorly put together marble cake recipe.

Smartest thing for the government to do would’ve been adopting something like the Internal Settlement right off the bat instead of dragging their feet until both major African ethnic groups had united against them, the USSR and PRC got involved, most of the white Rhodesian population had fled, the country was devastated, and they no longer had the ability to enforce any measures or resist foreign sanctions. Say, guaranteed 40% white representation in the legislature + putting non-violent Africans into positions of leadership + name/flag change + some kind of land reform. Even if there was a white Rhodesian deep state secretly running the show, having somebody like Bishop Abel Muzorewa as official head of state would’ve taken a lot of heat off Rhodesia from the international community.

Best second option was to take a page from the French or German Empires and strongly favor some of the cultural/ethnic groups over the others. In Rhodesia’s case, the best bet was probably the Ndebele. They’re descendants of a Zulu general that conquered Zimbabwe, ruled over the place before the diamond company invaded, had a history of making other peoples assimilate, and have a rather tense relationship with the Shona, the other large group in the area and Mugabe’s people. The Ndebele majority ZIPRA and Shona majority ZANLA went at each other’s throats on multiple occasions during the Bush War, and after ZANLA won and Mugabe took power one of the first things he did was purge Ndebele from the military and launch a genocidal campaign against their population centers with the help of North Korea. Prior to that little extermination effort they were about ¼ of Zimbabwe while the Shona made up 2/3.

Instead, Ian Smith & co doubled down on an unsustainable political arrangement and kept treating the Africans that hadn’t joined ZIPRA or ZANLA like dirt despite white Rhodesians never topping 4% of the populace.

continued from Give the Ndebele and other minority ethnic/cultural groups equal or near-equal status, appoint some uncle toms to high government positions, provide them with ample social services and land, pay bog standard soldiers from those groups the same rate they paid bog standard white soldiers, adopt a stronger version of the British regimental traditions to institutionalize loyalty among the native African units, let them directly run the Shona dominated areas like they used to and do the dirty work for the regime. Result: significant population of Africans heavily invested in keeping the Rhodesian government in power because the arrangement directly and clearly benefits them, and fear of the Shona rising up and delivering payback.

As a bonus, said oppressed groups start hating the regime's favored groups/lackeys more than they do the actual government.

I think it's a joke because Zimbabwes currency is massively inflated, so they have millions of dollars but they're not worth anything.

Niggers can't be trusted with instant self rule.
Britain knew this and wanted to spite Rhodesia.

A bunch of WWII veterans and Western trained soldiers fought quite possibly the most dysfunctional armies to have ever existed, wasted a ton of opprotunities, and eventually lost. They then entered the halls of worship for /pol/tards and that weird fat guy with a table at the gunshow selling poorly printed copies of The Turner Diaries and ranting about the New World Order because they had a high kill/death ratio in their war with the aforementioned beyond pleb-tier hordes that were so incompetent they make your average African military look like the Roman legions by comparsion. Also because it was the closest thing IRL to the "race war" they fantasize about to escape their dim and meaningless lives.

racist whiteys got btfo

>education requirements for voting and tribal niggers who refuse to even learn to read is racist

>ZAPU and ZANU were thugs trying to seize power using the veil of liberation.

You could say that for like any war ever. Hurr the USA was a thug during WWII trying to seize global power using the veil of liberation.

>The West, especially Britain, content to simply abandon their colonies

Or, had economies so war torn that the massive unprofitable expenditures required to hold onto rebellious colonies would've been anywhere from impossible to self-destructive, see: Portugal.

> Smith tried multiple times to propose perfectly reasonable peace solutions

You mean the same Ian Smith who took Rhodesia from "apartheid-lite" to regular apartheid? Shocking that no one would negotiate or trust him. Also, your "free elections" occurred when everyone realized that White Rhodesia was lost.

>but blacks at least could vote

Yes, all 2,500 blacks in 1965

>Rhodesia was prosperous, but not entirely equal. Zimbabwe is neither prosperous nor equal.

In other words, Rhodesia was dank if you were white, but sucked ass otherwise. In Zimbabwe, things all suck ass, but at least you're not oppressed by a racist regime.

4/10 go back to /pol/ and try harder next time.

whites came in, saw a bunch of warring tribes in some of the most fertile land on earth and said "hey niggers quit dicking around and get plowing/mining"
And thus Rhodesia was formed
Then the blacks, no longer starving to death or being killed by enemy tribes, decided they didn't like whitey telling them what to do; so they killed all the whites they could and took over and now the country is dead

what type of democratic shitshow has a 10% minority that has a guaranteed 40% representation? That's actually even worse then before because at least it THAT was honest.

No one ever posts this. It's a summary od Rhodesian history in a folk song:

youtube.com/watch?v=DVLS8ny0HUU

Don't forget that the white farmers employed 30% of the black population. Rhodesia was also a major exporter of cash which made the country very influential in the area.

Rhodesia was able to hold on to its power and remain fairly wealthy because of their trade agreements with South Africa and the surrounding Portuguese colonies. Things started going south once the Portuguese colonies gained independence and black rebels started to use those areas as areas to train their troops.

Get your head out of your ass kaffer :DDDD :DDDDD :DDD

White South Africa got fucked over by the retardation of Afrikaaner Nationalism, which Rhodesia didn't actually buy into. However the movement's impacts were so strong and far-reaching that a South African election killed them before anybody even started firing guns.

other user is clearly skimming over this thing and owns a green and white dildo which he calls 'Ian' but you aren't doing much better.

Kek what's the song name

I'm spitballing potential ways the Rhodesian government could've avoided the massive guerilla slogged capped off by Mugabe taking a flaming shit on everything that wasn't fucked up by the end of the war; not perfect democratic solutions.