Nice map but I do have some questions. Are Angola, Namibia and Mozambique independent? Also Lebanon (independent?) being considered African is also pretty weird. Lastly isn't all of Libya being called Cyrenacia illogical?
Map Thread XIX
- Thread starter water123
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Nice map but I do have some questions. Are Angola, Namibia and Mozambique independent? Also Lebanon (independent?) being considered African is also pretty weird. Lastly isn't all of Libya being called Cyrenacia illogical?
Found a way, at last on paper, to make it statistically much harder for the marginalization of Tuareg to occur without them actually having their own country, since even today the various tribes don't share the same opinion on the matter.
Zarma (Songhai) people in Niger: 3922000/4095800
Tuareg people in Niger and Mali (north of the Mopti Region): 2971800/3596000
See where I'm going with this?
Zarma (Songhai) people in Niger: 3922000/4095800
Tuareg people in Niger and Mali (north of the Mopti Region): 2971800/3596000
See where I'm going with this?
Give Niger Northern Mali ?Found a way, at last on paper, to make it statistically much harder for the marginalization of Tuareg to occur without them actually having their own country, since even today the various tribes don't share the same opinion on the matter.
Zarma (Songhai) people in Niger: 3922000/4095800
Tuareg people in Niger and Mali (north of the Mopti Region): 2971800/3596000
See where I'm going with this?
After cutting off the Nigerien Hausaland, the 2012 Goure Department and the Diffa Region, the latter two having a Kanuri majority, so that Zarma and Tuareg are left the two largest ethnic groups in the country with a much less numerous Fulani minority in third place.
Do you want some bordergore?
This is what happens if an anglo german partition plans happens before the second boer war (along the 1898 agreement), so that all of mozambique south of the zambeze is given to rhodesia, and the British angolan strip is given to Barotseland-North West Rhodesia, then the latter is amalgamated with southern rhodesia
And this is what happens if the partition happens after the boer war (but before 1913), with the sul do save region of mozambique given to the transvaal colony, and the german part of angola south of the british strip is merged with south west africa, then the latter is given as a LoN mandate in its entirety to south africa after WW1.
sweats in Setswana
This is what happens if an anglo german partition plans happens before the second boer war (along the 1898 agreement), so that all of mozambique south of the zambeze is given to rhodesia, and the British angolan strip is given to Barotseland-North West Rhodesia, then the latter is amalgamated with southern rhodesia
And this is what happens if the partition happens after the boer war (but before 1913), with the sul do save region of mozambique given to the transvaal colony, and the german part of angola south of the british strip is merged with south west africa, then the latter is given as a LoN mandate in its entirety to south africa after WW1.
sweats in Setswana
Last edited:
ST15RM
Banned
Do you want some bordergore?
This is what happens if an anglo german partition plans happens before the second boer war (along the 1898 agreement), so that all of mozambique south of the zambeze is given to rhodesia, and the British angolan strip is given to Barotseland-North West Rhodesia, then the latter is amalgamated with southern rhodesia
And this is what happens if the partition happens after the boer war (but before 1913), with the sul do save region of mozambique given to the transvaal colony, and the german part of angola south of the british strip is merged with south west africa, then the latter is given as a LoN mandate in its entirety to south africa after WW1.
sweats in Setswana
and the result is pure evil.
Nod
What happens when you fall out of time?
I mean, everyone wonders if there are other universes like our own, but slightly different. As time has gone on, world after world after world has discovered the means and ways of getting from one system to the next. However, the process is horrifically complex and complicated. Failure is...an almost universal part of discovering this technology. Most of the time, the unlucky souls would find themselves sheared across a thousand different worlds, having felt decapitation, burning, freezing, disentigration, and every other possible aliment in the millisecond before expiration. However, this only occurs in 99.99999999% or so of cases. Every once and a while, a scientist will completely fall out of time itself. Not just flung into the utter void between worlds, but flung outside of it altogether. And what happens then?
The World Beyond Worlds is a...strange place. Nearly all of those who fall out of time end up on the Northern Hemisphere. The Northern Hemisphere is a "blank slate" for humanity. In the beginning, there were no hills or mountains. The oceans were all the same temperature. The weather still has a predictable rain-sun-rain structure. The temperature get to nearly 75F in the day and 65F at night. There were no trees, no forests. The entire world was covered in either grass or moss. The oceans were nearly empty except for a few small creeping things that ate on the massive kelp forests. It seems as if even at the edge of the universe life finds a way. However, this is all different now. Even with the incredible slim chances, the Northern Hemisphere has become utterly overpopulated as trillions from worlds vast and diverse found themselves "lost" here. Fortunately, something about the world itself kept diseases from occurring, and so what would normally be a catastrophic disease massacre ended up simply being an almost postbabelian confusion as sojurners from worlds innumerable suddenly found themselves forced to work together. The resulting world order works well enough. The world's edenic properties kept most of the humans alive long enough for the first few plants from seeds scraped off of sandwiches and other such things to begin to bear fruit in enough quantity to feed everyone. Trillions of the Universe's best scientists all working together meant that things were able to stay at least somewhat coherent long enough for societies to bear fruit themselves. The Northern Hemisphere is still horrifically overpopulated, but between the fact that plants seem to be able to grow anywhere (which is fortunate, considering that the World Beyond Worlds has no sun or stars) and the massive quantities of "Everymetal," a fascinating compound basically capable of doing "whatever is required of it" found just beneath the surface, things are doing ok.
The Southern Hemisphere is... different. The world is covered in vast deserts and graveyards, with the Celestialium controling what they claim to be the only fresh water left. The Celestialium is not evil; the whole "plants grow everywhere" thing itself meant that the Celestailium knew that if they angered the people enough they would simply leave and move somewhere else. However, society is far, far different from the North. Significantly less people have "fallen into" the South, and so many of the concerns of utter overpopulation are nonexistent. Yet, the massive scars and grooves in the land suggest that there had been an immense change of things at some point, almost as if a war had occured there.
Between those is Nod. In time immemorial, a scientist in the South nearly succeed in being able to "unlock" the properties of the World Beyond Worlds. If he had done so, he would have gained powers over the multiverse that we have created to rival ours. However... well, it's rude to talk about someone who's listening...
What happens when you fall out of time?
I mean, everyone wonders if there are other universes like our own, but slightly different. As time has gone on, world after world after world has discovered the means and ways of getting from one system to the next. However, the process is horrifically complex and complicated. Failure is...an almost universal part of discovering this technology. Most of the time, the unlucky souls would find themselves sheared across a thousand different worlds, having felt decapitation, burning, freezing, disentigration, and every other possible aliment in the millisecond before expiration. However, this only occurs in 99.99999999% or so of cases. Every once and a while, a scientist will completely fall out of time itself. Not just flung into the utter void between worlds, but flung outside of it altogether. And what happens then?
The World Beyond Worlds is a...strange place. Nearly all of those who fall out of time end up on the Northern Hemisphere. The Northern Hemisphere is a "blank slate" for humanity. In the beginning, there were no hills or mountains. The oceans were all the same temperature. The weather still has a predictable rain-sun-rain structure. The temperature get to nearly 75F in the day and 65F at night. There were no trees, no forests. The entire world was covered in either grass or moss. The oceans were nearly empty except for a few small creeping things that ate on the massive kelp forests. It seems as if even at the edge of the universe life finds a way. However, this is all different now. Even with the incredible slim chances, the Northern Hemisphere has become utterly overpopulated as trillions from worlds vast and diverse found themselves "lost" here. Fortunately, something about the world itself kept diseases from occurring, and so what would normally be a catastrophic disease massacre ended up simply being an almost postbabelian confusion as sojurners from worlds innumerable suddenly found themselves forced to work together. The resulting world order works well enough. The world's edenic properties kept most of the humans alive long enough for the first few plants from seeds scraped off of sandwiches and other such things to begin to bear fruit in enough quantity to feed everyone. Trillions of the Universe's best scientists all working together meant that things were able to stay at least somewhat coherent long enough for societies to bear fruit themselves. The Northern Hemisphere is still horrifically overpopulated, but between the fact that plants seem to be able to grow anywhere (which is fortunate, considering that the World Beyond Worlds has no sun or stars) and the massive quantities of "Everymetal," a fascinating compound basically capable of doing "whatever is required of it" found just beneath the surface, things are doing ok.
The Southern Hemisphere is... different. The world is covered in vast deserts and graveyards, with the Celestialium controling what they claim to be the only fresh water left. The Celestialium is not evil; the whole "plants grow everywhere" thing itself meant that the Celestailium knew that if they angered the people enough they would simply leave and move somewhere else. However, society is far, far different from the North. Significantly less people have "fallen into" the South, and so many of the concerns of utter overpopulation are nonexistent. Yet, the massive scars and grooves in the land suggest that there had been an immense change of things at some point, almost as if a war had occured there.
Between those is Nod. In time immemorial, a scientist in the South nearly succeed in being able to "unlock" the properties of the World Beyond Worlds. If he had done so, he would have gained powers over the multiverse that we have created to rival ours. However... well, it's rude to talk about someone who's listening...
Map of European alliances in 1980, a continuation of my New Albion timeline. Link to the thread: https://www.alternatehistory.com/fo...-of-north-america.451627/page-3#post-19003137
https://www.reddit.com/r/imaginarymaps/comments/bvds94/remains_of_austriahungary_in_1929_new_albion/
Previous map in the timeline.
During the late 1910s, Germany, Poland, the Baltics, and Russia allied to form an alliance contrary to the Liberal Democracies of Western Europe. Meanwhile the countries of France, Italy, Switzerland, Austria, Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxembourg came closer together in the internationalist tradition of continental Social Democracy.
A conflict began between the Commonwealth countries and Germany when Germany attempted to invade Austria in 1958. Socialist uprisings took over Poland and the Baltics with Transleithanian help. The Commonwealth countries occupied Germany. As of 1980, Transleithania, Romania, Poland, Latvia, Bulgaria, and Estonia are authoritarian communist countries, while Czechia and Portugal are libertarian socialist countries (established in the 1920s).
What's with the Turkey-Levantine confed? Seems a little ASB to me.
Map of European alliances in 1980, a continuation of my New Albion timeline. Link to the thread: https://www.alternatehistory.com/fo...-of-north-america.451627/page-3#post-19003137
https://www.reddit.com/r/imaginarymaps/comments/bvds94/remains_of_austriahungary_in_1929_new_albion/
Previous map in the timeline.
During the late 1910s, Germany, Poland, the Baltics, and Russia allied to form an alliance contrary to the Liberal Democracies of Western Europe. Meanwhile the countries of France, Italy, Switzerland, Austria, Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxembourg came closer together in the internationalist tradition of continental Social Democracy.
A conflict began between the Commonwealth countries and Germany when Germany attempted to invade Austria in 1958. Socialist uprisings took over Poland and the Baltics with Transleithanian help. The Commonwealth countries occupied Germany. As of 1980, Transleithania, Romania, Poland, Latvia, Bulgaria, and Estonia are authoritarian communist countries, while Czechia and Portugal are libertarian socialist countries (established in the 1920s).
Yeah, I am concerned about the plausibility of that. The reason for its existence was that the Ottomans managed to transition into a democratic confederation after their complete loss of all Balkan possessions in this timeline's first world war. Their Republican allies of France and Germany played a big part in the democratization. In present day there's many separatist movements and terrorism related to separatism. The federation is at roughly OTL Poland level wealth and it has decent democratic institutions. This arrangement seems way "too good to be true", but I think it's too late for me to retcon that.
Burton K Wheeler
Moderator
Ridiculous flamebait like "cultural marxism" does not make for productive discussion. Please do not troll.
May I recommend you to save in PNG? it looks like you saved in JPEG, which is never good for maps, due to compression.
Map of European alliances in 1980, a continuation of my New Albion timeline. Link to the thread: https://www.alternatehistory.com/fo...-of-north-america.451627/page-3#post-19003137
https://www.reddit.com/r/imaginarymaps/comments/bvds94/remains_of_austriahungary_in_1929_new_albion/
Previous map in the timeline.
During the late 1910s, Germany, Poland, the Baltics, and Russia allied to form an alliance contrary to the Liberal Democracies of Western Europe. Meanwhile the countries of France, Italy, Switzerland, Austria, Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxembourg came closer together in the internationalist tradition of continental Social Democracy.
A conflict began between the Commonwealth countries and Germany when Germany attempted to invade Austria in 1958. Socialist uprisings took over Poland and the Baltics with Transleithanian help. The Commonwealth countries occupied Germany. As of 1980, Transleithania, Romania, Poland, Latvia, Bulgaria, and Estonia are authoritarian communist countries, while Czechia and Portugal are libertarian socialist countries (established in the 1920s).
Is that peak Czech? probably up there with the Hussite. And definitely best Portugal. I think I'm going to need a read about how that came to be. How are their relations with the rest of the world?
Map of European alliances in 1980, a continuation of my New Albion timeline. Link to the thread: https://www.alternatehistory.com/fo...-of-north-america.451627/page-3#post-19003137
https://www.reddit.com/r/imaginarymaps/comments/bvds94/remains_of_austriahungary_in_1929_new_albion/
Previous map in the timeline.
During the late 1910s, Germany, Poland, the Baltics, and Russia allied to form an alliance contrary to the Liberal Democracies of Western Europe. Meanwhile the countries of France, Italy, Switzerland, Austria, Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxembourg came closer together in the internationalist tradition of continental Social Democracy.
A conflict began between the Commonwealth countries and Germany when Germany attempted to invade Austria in 1958. Socialist uprisings took over Poland and the Baltics with Transleithanian help. The Commonwealth countries occupied Germany. As of 1980, Transleithania, Romania, Poland, Latvia, Bulgaria, and Estonia are authoritarian communist countries, while Czechia and Portugal are libertarian socialist countries (established in the 1920s).
Very intriguing map. Just out of interest, what's stopping Russia from steamrolling the Bratislava Group states?
This is a very simple map I made so that I could get a handle on Inkscape, the basic premise is that Germany wins WW1 (Overdone, I know, sue me) and manages to not only keep its African colonies, but also manages to carve out a Mittelafrika. While Mittelafrika fractures under inefficient, corrupt colonial bureaucracy, Germany manages to keep Southwest Africa firmly under its boot. It also (slightly) helped that Southwest Africa has a higher German population ITTL due to increased colonization efforts after the Great War and a large number of immigrants moving to Africa in an alternate Great Depression because of job opportunities.
Now, you’re probably wondering what happened to South Africa’s border. Well, they break free from Britain like OTL, but then they get a bit uppity and contest British authority in the Bechuanaland Protectorate. Britain obviously doesn’t take too kindly to this, and a rather bloody war breaks out between the two that pushes the South Africans past the Orange and Vaal rivers. This war is commonly seen in Britain (and, to a lesser extent, the world) as a pointless colonial war, and the high casualty rating is used by anti-war and anti-colonialist groups to prove their point. While this would help push towards decolonization in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia in the 70s and 80s, it would not bring the soon-to-be created Imperial Federation out of Belize, Malta, and the Caribbean.
In
Windhok, Großfontane,and Kietmanshop.
In that case, I believe, the placenames of Namibia would not be Afrikaans but Standard German. Therefore, you would have:
Windhok, Großfontane,and Kietmanshop.
I just failed to find a reason, local politicians aside, or indeed a long term viable way to split Nigeria up. On the other hand, I also just made the Nigeria-Cameroon dispute about the Bakassi peninsula a moot point.
Deleted member 108228
“But we're all Rhodesians
And we'll fight through thick and thin
We'll keep our land a free land
Stop the enemy coming in!"
"We'll keep them north of the Zambezi
Till that river's running dry
This mighty land will prosper
For Rhodesians never die!”
And we'll fight through thick and thin
We'll keep our land a free land
Stop the enemy coming in!"
"We'll keep them north of the Zambezi
Till that river's running dry
This mighty land will prosper
For Rhodesians never die!”
Rhodesia, the Jewel of Africa, is home to the hardiest group of bastards you’ll ever meet. It is also home to one of the world’s last white supremacist states. Unlike its neighbor South Africa, however, Rhodesia is engulfed in chaos and violent misery. So what caused this state to devolve into this brutality, this desperation? Well, that’s a story of misfortune, misery, and how a people pushed around for too long finally said ‘no’.
Let’s start with how this mess was caused in the first place.
1973. The Estado Novo Regime was beginning to show cracks in its veneer. People wanted something different than what they’re given by the regime. Some wanted the ability to express their god-given freedoms, while others wanted something more...authoritarian. Enter General Kaúlza de Arriaga, the military commander for the then-Portuguese Mozambique Province. He was a man disgruntled by the current state of affairs in the metropole, seeing the current prime minister Marcelo Caetano as nothing more than a weak willed, centrist technocrat. To remedy this malignancy, Arriaga decided to try something bold; he would attempt a coup to purge the technocrats, restore dignity to the regime, and to bring back glory for the Republic. Yet he needed someone to serve as his puppet. He knew he couldn’t form a legitimate government by force, so he needed to show to the public that he nominally respected state functions. What he formulated was simple; install Adriano Moreira as PM after removing Caetano, and eventually wait for the Council of Ministers/Corporate Chamber to appoint him as President..
January 12, 1974. The stage was set. The coup commenced...Caetano was forced to resign in a rather timely way, and with President Tomás planning to resign on his 80th birthday, the country felt barely any disturbance. Soon afterwards, Arrianga began to take military action. The Alcora Exercise was strengthened, mainly in the form of shared military operations and technology-sharing agreements. Next was the reprioritization of the military. As of 1974, the Guinean Front was consuming 50% of the defense budget, not to mention troops that could be redirected towards Angola or Mozambique. Almost immediately, the situation in Guinea was rectified- in exchange for independence, the Guinean PAIGC would cease hostilities with the Portuguese regime. With the regime freed from the Guinean quagmire, Portugal was free to concentrate offensives against FRELIMO, MPLA, and the rest. By the time Arriaga was appointed as President, the conflict in the Overseas Provinces has died down. Although the multiple revolutionary fronts would continue fighting, they had effectively lost their ability to wage major offensives against the Portugese government.
1981. Although FRELIMO and MPLA could no longer wage active war against Portugal, the Soviet Union was still all too happy to funnel weapons to the two organizations through Congo-Brazzaville and Tanzania. Back in the metropole, things were starting to unravel. The Arriaga Presidency was starting to decompose. The Ultras and corporatists deadlocked the government between them. People began to starve, supported only by a meager social security net. And so began the People’s Movement began. Fueled by their anger at being starved, they began to initiate mass protests throughout the metropole, and even in Northern Angola/Southern Mozambique. Suffice to say, the Ultras were not going to deal with threats to their order. The protests were brutally crushed, with explicit orders to shoot anyone) who threatened the regime.
Yet oddly enough, this didn’t stop the protests. If anything, this made the protests even worse. Peaceful protests became violent. Violent protests became riots, and soon, riots became a full on revolution. Soon after the news spread, the government could no longer handle the constant stream of protests, riots, and guerilla wars in the overseas provinces and the metropole. Eventually, theUltras were overthrown by another Army faction. A more progressive faction, the MFA, would seize power. And when they did, did things go downhill fast. Soon after the formal declaration of independence of Angola and Mozambique in 1981, and the acceptance of said declaration of independence by the People’s Salvational Council, did the Ultras declare a separate government, the National Council for Restoration. Neither side recognized each other, and soon a full on civil war broke out in the metropole, tearing it apart.
Why is it important to divulge information about the Portuguese colonial debacle? Well, it is simple, the Portuguese were a major contributor to the Rhodesian military, providing weapons and assistance to the fledgling republic. It also explains the events that preceded the Portuguese Civil War.
1982. With the Mozambican and Angolan states beginning to rear their ugly head towards the Rhodesian state (never mind their own shaky internal politics), the Rhodesians found themselves quagmired in a renewed Bush War. With ZANU/ZAPU now receiving funding from the then-tumultuous Angola and Mozambique, the amount of activities these two groups could do into the country only began to increase as the months went by. Incursions intensified, each more brutal than the last. The nationalists had the conviction that the Rhodesians could not last more than five years, given how they had the backing of two communist behemoths (that being China and the USSR), and how Portugal, Rhodesia’s ally, fell into civil strife. Ian Smith, Rhodesia’s Prime Minister, saw the writing on the wall, and began casting about desperately to save his nation.
January 1984. Salisbury. Ian Smith, with the approval of his cabinet, began to draft an agreement, which would keep the Rhodesian nation alive. Fear drove them to proclaim independence, and fear drove them to the negotiating table.
But first, they needed to meet the enemy.
July 24th, 1984. Salisbury. Smith received a phone call from a high ranking official from the American CIA, going under the codename Rho. Rho proposed a deal- in exchange for negotiating with Joshua Nkomo, head of the Zimbabwe African People’s Union, they would negotiate for financial assistance against ZANU, as well as for their deteriorating economy. This was a godsend for the economic advisors of the regime. The economy was suffering from increasingly arbitrary sanctions, not to mention the surrounding states blocking off all trade save for South Africa. But this was also a risky move. Negotiating with a force that wanted nothing more than majority rule could spell a ‘white flight’. Yet the allure for a future for their embattled nation was very enticing.
So, with no other options left, Nkomo (who was informed of the proposed agreement) and Smith agreed to convene at a neutral spot. They met near the outskirts of Kariba, near the artificial lake. With them together, unarmed, they began to negotiate the future of the country of Rhodesia. To start off, would the country still be called Rhodesia? Despite certain objections by the white delegates, who suggested Rhodesia be the official name of the country, the Africans were adamant that a different name would be used. After all, why should they be proud to call themselves the name of an infamous colonial explorer? Ultimately, a compromise was made; the country was to be called Zimbabwe-Rhodesia, and the delegations awkwardly moved on.
Next came the agreement that everyone knew would either make or break the negotiations; representation. The main concern brought up was the issue of the majority exerting control over the minority, and ultimately kicking out said minority from their homes, their jobs, and ultimately their country. What the blacks feared was their voice not being heard well enough, and the white’s fear was not being heard at all. What to do? The answer as simple, but it draw some controversy among the black delegates-a white roll. A white roll designed to give 15 of the 100 seats in the House to the white minority, while the rest would be decided through democratic vote. To account for an eventual demographic shift, the proportion would be taken into account every 10 years after the agreement. Land reform was itself was another major issue. Land reform was itself was another major issue. Since the majority-Ndebele ZAPU were the first group willing to compromise with the Rhodesian government, they get to have their voice heard in the process. The Matabeleland provinces, the Ndebele homeland, would experience the bulk of the land reforms. The policy was simple; a 'willing seller, willing buyer' program, where the government would purchase the land, and sell it back to the Ndebele peoples at a fixed rate, thus ensuring a fairer deal as well as equitable land plots. Another thing that came to the table was segregation. This was a no brainer, even to the whites. Rho expressly informed them that any form of segregation was off the table, and that anything short of economic and legal desegregation would result in the US rescinding its agreements with the Rhodesian government. Eventually, the economic and social segregation policies implemented in the 60’s and 70’s would be abolished, allowing for greater economic and general mobility within the countr
While there were smaller details, such as integration of ZAPU into the armed forces, there was a general consensus that the now christened Kariba Accords would settle the tumultuous era that Zimbabwe was going through for the past 19 years. Elections were held, and Nkomo became the first president of the Republic.
At least, that’s what everyone thought. In reality, things were about to get worse.
Much, much worse.
September 1984. News of the Kariba Accords reached Robert Mugabe, head of the Zimbabwe African National Union. Suffice to say, he was enraged over ‘our comrades betrayal to the Rhodesian pigs’. The only thing that enraged Mugabe even more was the apparent favoritism of the Ndebele over the Shona, who constituted a majority of the population. Mugabe, an ethnic Shona, would not tolerate this obvious favoritism. Reports came in from the Shona within ZAPU that the Republic would not try to include ZANU in the negotiations, furthering Mugabe’s radicalism. He declared the Patriotic Front dead, and vowed to continue the armed struggle, ‘even if it meant killing every last white pig’. Yet he wasn’t the only one. Throughout the northern and eastern regions of Zimbabwe-Rhodesia, news of the Kariba Accords sparked mass unrest throughout the Shona villages and border towns. They were being sidelined in favor of another minority, and they weren’t going to have any of it.
October 1984. Sanyatwe. Protests sparked across the city, demanding that they have their voice heard. Suffice to say, the local police were worried. They had to deal with constant attacks by ZANU over the years, and they were not going to deal with what appeared to be a ZANU front. Yet they knew damn well that if they fired, the city would burn. All it took for it to get violent was one officer, and an easy trigger finger...
Bang.
And just like that, the city erupted in an orgy of violence.
It was only the first to fall. All across Manicaland and Mashonaland, local forces began to protest the conditions, and taking hints from Sanyatwe, they quickly began to shed blood. Raids, riots, and clashes were all too common within the north and east. The Zimbabwe-Rhodesian government feared this spreading throughout the country, creating a vacuum to be filled by insurgents and foreign fighters.
Yet that is exactly what happened.
Fast forward a couple of months, and ZANU, a previously hated organization by the majority of the population, became a movement; one which has attracted hundreds of thousands of followers in the span of a year. Soon ZANU became a movement not just for the liberation of Zimbabwe-Rhodesia, but for the advancement of the Shona peoples over every other group, be they black, white, etc. Their gains increased. First it was Marandellas, which was human-waved into surrendering, then Rusape. Soon afterwards, they began to seize major military installations in the east, by 1986, they controlle a third of the country. This was compounded by the FRELIMO-ruled Mozambique, who supplied them more directly. Given how Zimbabwe-Rhodesia was now in a full-on civil war, one could argue that covering up their activities didn’t matter, and now they could freely send in advisors, troops, and weapons into a war-torn country. ZANU’s momentum was on the rise.
Meanwhile, the Zimbabwe-Rhodesian government, which, despite holding onto a good chunk of the infrastructure, was slowly being whittled away on all fronts. With President Nkomo directing the war effort, more and more executive actions were taken in order to secure the country. After the Salisbury bombings of ‘88, martial law was declared through the lands that the Salisbury government held While this was to ‘ensure safety’, all it did was rile up the remaining Shona to join ZANU and conduct guerrilla tactics within Zimbabwe-Rhodesia’s territory. Perhaps the last blow was the ever increasing “Flight of the Rhodesians”. That is to say, the fleeing of whites from the country at a rate of 2000 per year. This was worrying to the Nkomo government, who feared a flight of intellectuals and technical workers from the country, thus hindering the war effort. In response to this, he issued restrictions on travel within the territory that was not related to the military. Yet people still found a way to leave the country, desperate to leave the hell that had become of their jewel.
A third player was the Zimbabwe African National Front for Unity, or ZANFU. Supplied by the Zambian government, ZANFU is effectively a front for Zambia to control Lake Kariba and, as a side goal, to establish their own government in Zimbabwe-Rhodesia. A government that is beholden to their own interests. ZANFU initially started as a fringe faction within ZANU, disgruntled at Mugabe’s absolutism and apparent cronyism. However, Zambia, eager for any chance to remove the Nkomo regime, began to arm this fringe faction. With Zambian support they began a march to Kariba, one of the largest cities in Zimbabwe-Rhodesia. After a long slog, they managed to conquer the city, expel the whites, and proclaimed ZANFU, angering Mugabe in the process. Soon after that, they began to march southwest, surrounding the artificial lake, and pushing towards the city of Wankie, a strategic Zimbabwe-Rhodesian stronghold. Despite these stunning military victories, it would be wise to remember that ZANFU is nothing more than a puppet for the Zambians, who want to profit from the mess that is Zimbabwe-Rhodesia and gain power and influence among the destruction.
Meanwhile, the rest of the country is nothing more than a hodgepodge of breakaway factions, militias, and rogue squads. This isn’t even taking into account the mass exodus of supremacist militias into the country, white or black. With the war entering its 4th year, one can see it as the reversal of everything the Rhodesians had worked to build. The breadbasket of Africa was now engulfed in civil war and famine. It seems as if Ian Smith’s greatest success…
Turned out to be his greatest folly.
Last edited by a moderator:
I read an article on the stability of states, and it mentioned Nigeria as an example of avoided civil conflict: in 1979, during the Muslim awakening which caused the Iranian Revolution and nearly caused the overthrow of Saudi Arabia, Northern Nigeria could easily have rebelled, except in the wake of the Biafra war, the country's constitution was re-written to essentially require the major ethnic groups to reach consensus in governing the country.
Granted, this came with an effective one-party state with pre-decided elections, but it was interesting to read nonetheless.
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