The Rhodesian Insurgency: A Failure of Regional Politics

Abstract

This Strategy Research Project (SRP) will examine the impact that regional politics had on the outcome of the Rhodesian insurgency that was fought between 1965 and 1980. Specifically it will focus on how the foreign policy of South Africa in conjunction with the foreign policies of the U.S. and Britain affected the outcome of the insurgency and ultimately led to the fall of the white-rule government in Rhodesia. The central position of this SRP is that the outcome of the Rhodesian insurgency was determined by the political goals of South Africa the regional power. The U.S. Britain and the other western powers were pre-occupied with the Cold War and allowed South Africa to set the strategic agenda in Southern Africa during the period of the Rhodesian insurgency. This study will briefly describe the military developments and economic aspects of the insurgency as well as the diplomatic developments that led to Rhodesia losing its war against the nationalist insurgents.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Mar 18, 2005
Accession Number
ADA432376

Entities

People

  • Bobby R. Pinkston

Organizations

  • United States Army War College

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical
  • Energy and Power Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Africa
  • Agreements
  • Cold War
  • Economic Sanctions
  • Foreign Policy
  • Governments
  • Information Operations
  • Insurgency
  • Military Operations
  • Military Organizations
  • National Politics
  • National Security
  • New York
  • Petroleum
  • South Africa
  • Students
  • War Colleges

Fields of Study

  • Sociology

Readers

  • East Asian Political and Security Studies within the Soviet Union
  • International Relations, focusing on Korea-Africa and North Korea-South Korea relations, and Nigeria-Latin American Relations.
  • Strategic Security Studies