A Time of Change
1923 – 1965

Once the people of Rhodesia had voted for "Responsible Government" at the 1922 referendum, the territory known as Southern Rhodesia began its exciting new course.

Economic development continued apace with peace and prosperity for all people. As 1939 approached the clouds of war in Europe gathered, and when the storm finally broke on September 3^rd 1939, Rhodesians were not found wanting in their desire to serve Queen and country against the great evil of Nazism and oppression

Once the war had been won, Rhodesians retuned home and continued to advance their country into a fully functioning, viable, first world economy. All economic indications were that a nation was being created, which would most certainly be the equal of Australia or New Zealand.

In 1953, Southern Rhodesia joined together with Northern Rhodesia, the territory north of the Zambezi river, now called Zambia, and the small economically unviable colony of Nyasaland, now known as Malawi.

It was seen at the time that this grouping, known as the Central African Federation, would be extremely economically viable, with the territory of Southern Rhodesia providing the developmental impetus for growth. The Federation was brought together in an "Indissoluable Union", with the agreement of the peoples of the territories concerned, and a bright prosperous  future was envisaged for the new grouping.

Unfortunately at about this time, the scramble of the metropolitan powers to get out of Africa had gained momentum. A combination of exhaustion from two world wars, and a general loss of will by the British Government to maintain the Empire, led to the African colonies being granted independence with indecent haste. These colonies were not in any way equipped to handle the transition to self rule in such a short time scale.

These new nations were dropped straight into a sea of tribal warfare, despotism and chaos. The British Government (along with other European governments) had succombed to a misplaced colonial guilt complex, encouraged by African nationalists, who in turn were dancing to the tune of their pipers in the Soviet Union, China and North Korea.

All this pressure was building up around the Central African Federation, and the British Government who had created the "indissoluable union", suddenly found that the Federation was, to suit their own purposes, "soluable" after all. After some very shifty and disgraceful manouvres, Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland were carved off from the Federation and hastily thrust into independence. As with the other nations further north, it did not take long for despotism and chaos to take a firm hold.

Meanwhile, Southern Rhodesia become a separate territory once again under the name of Rhodesia. As such, it sought the independence it had long been promised by the UK, prior to the formation of the Central African Federation.

By this time, the voices of African nationalists were singing the anti-capitalist tune of the Soviet bloc at fever pitch. Like ravenous hyenas, they were waiting to feed on the corpse of decency and  democracy in Africa, once the British had departed.

Many of the new African states were indeed ex-British colonies, and had been joined together under the banner of the Commonwealth of Nations. This grouping was a collection of genuinely democratic countries such as Australia, Canada and New Zealand, and the newly independent despotic and brutal regimes of Africa and Asia. It was mainly a collection of vicious tyrants, who made a farce of the principles upon which the Commonwealth was founded.

With pressure from this fine institution of democracy and freedom, the British Government brazenly went back on, and denied their promise of independence for Rhodesia. A country where democracy was firmly established and genuine elections routinely took place. A country where all people, black and white were able to cast their vote as they saw fit, not as they were instructed to do at the point of a gun, which was the norm in most of the other newly independent African states.

The Rhodesian Government continually compromised and made concessions in the search for a workable solution for independence, but at some time a stand for freedom and democracy had to be made. That stand occurred when the new Rhodesian Front government of Ian Smith was voted into office, by an electoral landslide in 1964.

By this time the British Government were willing to sell Rhodesia for almost any price to appease the Organization of African Unity (OAU), a shambolic association of the newly independent black African states. The British government wanted to confirm its new PC credentials on the world stage, by wearing a misplaced sense of colonial guilt on their sleeve. 

A perfect way to achieve this political self flagellation, was to throw Rhodesia to the wolves of the OAU and their Eastern Bloc paymasters. However, they were not prepared for the refusal of the Rhodesian Government and the Rhodesian people to accept their role as the sacrificial lamb.

Everything eventually came to a head on the 11^th November 1965, after yet another fruitless round of talks during October. Following the example set by the United States of America in 1776, Rhodesians struck a blow for freedom and democracy and declared themselves an independent and sovereign nation.