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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by El C (talk | contribs) at 04:37, 10 August 2004. The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

In 1970 Rhodesia declared itself a republic. Until then they had been a sort of rebel Dominion, nominally loyal to Queen Elizabeth II but in rebellion against the British government. The UDI ended with the words God Save the Queen. Ties were gradually eroded. In 1968 decimal currency was introduced, replacing the Rhodesian pound, formerly at par with the pound sterling. In 1969 there was a crisis when the Rhodesian government exercised its sovereignty by executing some black criminals. They has been sentenced to death earlier, while the country was still a colony (and when the death penalty was still the norm). The Queen issued a pardon, but the Rhodesian Front government of Ian Smith went ahead and executed them. As a result the British Governor, Sir Vickery Gibbs, left the country. He had been holed up in his official residence, refusing to legitimise the rebel state, but unable to oppose it. The Smith government appointed Clifford Dupont as officer administering the government, the normal title for an acting governor in the absence of a regularly appointed Governor. Gibbs had already granted the Prime Minister authority to declare a state of emergency and rule by decree. Also in 1969 most European countries withdrew their consuls from Rhodesia, leaving only Portugal, South Africa and the United States with a diplomatic post. The guerilla war increased in the 1970s, especially after 1974 when Portugal began to withdraw from her overseas territories. Rhodesia became the next front-line state and Mugabe's ZANU operated from bases in Mozambique, former Portugese East Africa. The Internal Settlement was signed in 1977, with Smith sharing power with Bishop Abel Muzurewa, the Rev. Ndabangi Sithole (the original leader of ZANU) and Chief Jeremiah Cherau. In 1979 this led to the transitional regime of Zimbabwe Rhodesia, in which the white interests were protected with a number of reserved seats in Parliament, and control over the Judiciary and Armed Forces. The major black nationalist parties, ZANU and ZAPU, were excluded from this. A number of guerillas who changed sides were promoted from `terrorist' to auxilliaries of Muzerewa and Sithole, until Sithole's forces were eliminated in a power struggle. Lord Soames restored British rule as Governor in December 1979, and a Commonwealth Ceasefire Monitoring Group supervised the armed groups before free elections led to black majority rule in April 1980.

In lieu of repeatedly rediring and un-rediring this article, let's discuss what this article should be. I think it should be relatively tightly focused on the government and aspects of Zimbabwe connected to the name "Rhodesia", so somewhat narrow and in depth. For instance, to pick a topic near and dear to my heart :-), the postage stamps of Rhodesia would be described here, because they were issued by a different postal administration and have a different character than those of Zimbabwe. The broad-brush continuous narrative of Zimbabwean history is better attached to Zimbabwe however. Stan 15:03, 21 Apr 2004 (UTC)

Well, Rhodesia (including Northern Rhodesia) had underwent several distinct politico-historical stages: from being BSA CO-administred, to self-governing colony (though constituionally, still under the authority of the CO; that is, Colonial Office in contradistinction to the Dominion Office, not 'Company' as in Cecil Rhodes' BSA CO), to terriotries within the Federation (CAF), and finally UDI Rhodesia (including the Republican stage of UDI Rhodesia, as well as the short-lived Internal Settlement Z-R). I believe the focus should be on the history of Zamebezia in so far as it includes a 'Rhodesia' (of any form, of any complexion, at any point in time in history). Thanks. El_C 17:49, 9 Aug 2004.