Bush War Rhodesia: 1966-1980

Africa @ War #17

by Peter Baxter

It has been over three decades since the Union Jack was lowered on the colony of Rhodesia, but the bitter and divisive civil war that preceded it has continued to endure as a textbook counterinsurgency campaign fought between a mobile, motivated and highly trained Rhodesian security establishment and two constituted liberations movements motivated, resourced and inspired by the ideals of communist revolution in the third world. A complicated historical process of occupation and colonization set the tone as early as the late 1890s for what would at some point be an inevitable struggle for domination of this small, landlocked nation set in the southern tropics of Africa. The story of the Rhodesian War, or the Zimbabwean Liberation Struggle, is not only an epic of superb military achievement, and revolutionary zeal and fervor, but is the tale of the incompatibility of the races in southern Africa, a clash of politics and ideals and, perhaps more importantly, the ongoing ramifications of the past upon the present, and the social and political scars that a war of such emotional underpinnings as the Rhodesian conflict has had on the modern psyche of Zimbabwe. The Rhodesian War was fought with finely tuned intelligence-gathering and -analysis techniques combined with a fluid and mobile armed response. The practitioners of both have justifiably been celebrated in countless histories, memoirs and campaign analyses, but what has never been attempted has been a concise, balanced and explanatory overview of the war, the military mechanisms and the social and political foundations that defined the crisis. This book does all of that. The Rhodesian War is explained in digestible detail and in a manner that will allow enthusiasts of the elements of that struggle - the iconic exploits of the Rhodesian Light Infantry, the SAS, the Selous Scouts, the Rhodesian African Rifles, the Rhodesia Regiment, among other well-known fighting units - to embrace the wider picture in order to place the various episodes in context

Genres: History, Military Fiction, Nonfiction, Africa, War

455 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 1, 2014

Reviews

[Matt Ely · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was looking for a short overview of a part of history I knew almost nothing about, in this case the civil war that preceded the formation of Zimbabwe. In that respect, this book is extremely successful.

It doesn't dive deeply into any one aspect, but gives a great overview of the major players, key events, and overall narrative.

I think the most interesting thing, though, might be the author's tone. He alternates, roughly chronologically, between the Rhodesian government and nationalist rebel operations. But in each case, he describes events as the participants saw them. So in Rhodesian chapters he smoothly describes the morally defensible resistance to disorder and communism, and in nationalist chapters he illustrates the morally defensible resistance to colonialism and apartheid. He rarely injects his own perspective, mostly seeing the collapse of Rhodesia as courageous, though ultimately indefensible and unwinnable, struggle.

One issue with the Kindle version is it appears to have been scanned in to a reading program. As such there are semi-frequent spelling errors. If you can ignore those, however, this short volume is very much worth the time it takes to read.

[Frédéric · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good and interesting overview of the subject.

Linear/Thematic approach (as opposed to purely linear), necessary with such political conflict.

The purely military aspects are a little bit underdeveloped (but that's not the point of the book anyway) and you'll have to rely on other authors to dig it up further.

Many good pictures. Maps are disappointing though.

[António Laurel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Definitely a good book when the author concentrates on the Rhodesians, South Africans and their marxist insurgent groups, which is the main focus of this work anyway, and the author demonstrates his wide knowledge in the topic. For this I would rate the book with either 4 or 5 stars. The problem with this book, or its revised edition, that I've read, is its approach and evaluation of the Portuguese government and armed forces in general during the wars in Angola and Mozambique between 1961 and 1974. Here the author utterly fails to provide an accurate image of the situation, showing serious signs of ignorance in the topic and following cliches that have been dismissed. I find it hard to believe that Peter Baxter hasn't read or researched enough about the crucial Portuguese military involvement in two strategic theaters of war for both Rhodesia and South Africa. Not to go any further I highly recommend the five books by John P. Cann about the Portuguese Overseas Wars to be found in the same collection, "africa@war", as a great introduction to the theme and where Peter Baxter's thesis about the Portuguese completely collapses. It is impossible to fully understand the Rhodesia Bush War or South Africa's Border War without first having a solid ground in the Portuguese counterinsurgency wars being fought from 1961 until 1974/75. If anyone is interested I can specify the inaccuracies I'm most appalled by, just answer this review. I've read other books by the author and he is a great historian and storyteller, as long as he doesn't mention Portugal.

[Thomas Kanyak · Rating 4 out of 5]

The brief life and death of White Rhodesia. After declaring independence from Britain in 1965 in order to maintain white hegemony and being outnumbered 20-1 by blacks and a international pariah, there could be only outcome to the war with the determined militant groups and Robert Mugabe. However, what a glorious military campaign the Rhodesian armed forces fought. A great account of the campaign, the political dealings and the activities of the guerilla groups ZAPU and ZANU and a few spectacular black-ops..

[Joshua Rotchelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book has good aspects. It's visceral, it has wonderful imagery, it's easy to read, it's focused, and for such a large topic it's commendably brief. It also offers excellent surface-level insight into a topic most aren't familiar with. This does not compensate for its chief flaw. This book staggers and struggles under the weight of absolutely overwhelming bias.

To be fair, many books about the Rhodesian Bush War seem to have this issue, but that doesn't make it any easier to read. As a direct quote, the book summarizes the conclusion of the war as "a heroic, if somewhat misguided defence of white rule in southern Africa". Egregious, to say the very least.

That's perhaps the most blatant example in the book, but there are many smaller ones, and this is very much a piece of propaganda for a nation that no longer exists. That doesn't mean it's devoid of value, and there are some very interesting pieces of information that you can get from it... But it does mean that this is a limited book, stumbling under the girth of its own partiality and testosterone.

[Hunter Radotich]

‘’Bush War: Rhodesia 1966-1980’’ is a good book to read because it’s about the decolonization of Africa and the war that followed after Rhodesia claimed independence from the British Empire in 1965. The reason why I say it is a good book to read because it helps the reader understand what happened when many of the world’s great powers (France, Britain, Portugal, and Belgium) started to give up on their oversea colonies in Africa. ‘’Bush War: Rhodesia 1966-1980’’ starts off talking about the major players in Rhodesia before the war actually started, some of those players where Ian Smith who was the prime minister of Rhodesia, and brings up the rebel leader of the quote on quote liberation movement like Joshua Nkomo of ZAPU and ZANU’s Ndabaningi Sithole. Personally I like how the book starts out because it helped give me an idea of who the big players are and what their views were for the future of Rhodesia. The book also covers the first shots in the war and the successes of the Rhodesian Security Force in the beginning of the war ,while it also brings up the political response to the liberation movements guerilla warfare hit and run tactics against the RCF ( Rhodesia Security Force). Set aside from the political and war aspects of the book it has many pictures of the leaders and military units from both sides of the conflict which gives the reader the visual representation of who was who and what was what.
Why would I recommend this book? My first reason for recommending this book is would be since I go to an project based learning school a student could read this book and use it as a source for a social studies project on the decolonization of Africa for social studies since this book offers a very good portion of knowledge.
My second reason would be if you’re looking for a book that covers a war that know one has really heard about then this would be a good book for you because the Rhodesian Bush War may have been somewhat a not very well known conflict it did play a major role in Africa’s future to come. My third reason would be if you’re looking for a quick read but want read to be packed with lots and lots of knowledge I would recommend reading this book for the simple reason that each page is jammed packed with information about the war itself and the politics that played a role in the bush war. If you’re looking for a great book to read I highly recommend ‘’Bush War Rhodesia 1966-1980’’ because it can help you with planning a project, you can learn about a new conflict, and enjoy a quick but worthwhile read so go check out ‘’Bush War Rhodesia 1966-1980’’.