What If Rhodesia Survived? | Alternate History

The story of Rhodesia is the story of a British settler colony's struggle for survival against a changing political landscape and social environment, on top of a physical struggle against enemy states and militia groups. The Rhodesians had a lot going for them, but even more acting against them. Between the Rhodesian Bush War, sanctions by Britain, and an inability to gain recognition of its independence, the Rhodesians were ultimately forced to compromise with Britain and the militias, and thus Rhodesia ceased to exist, being replaced by Zimbabwe. But what if that changed? What if in an alternate timeline Rhodesia survived? How would Rhodesia have impacted Southern African geopolitics in the late Cold War, especially with the wars occurring in its neighboring states of Portuguese Mozambique and South African Namibia? We'll be explaining how Rhodesia could have survived, and what the consequences of that would be in this Alternate History.

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[MonsieurDean]

Don't forget to like the video and subscribe for more!

[thewestisthebest]

I’m heard a story about a Rhodesian farmer who was ordered to turn over his farm by the Mugabe government. Before leaving he burning down everything and ripped up all the irrigation equipment.

“They get it exactly as I found it.” -He said

[samwalter]

I used to co-teach with a lady from Rhodesia. She was 18 when Rhodesia collapsed. She told me as she had to escape the country they weren’t afraid of Mugabe’s troops, in fact they were kind to her and her sister. But the ones they were terrified of were the Chinese and the North Korean troops.

[TornadoADV]

Imagine building a small bit of Europe in Africa that the natives never settled and then having to give it back to the natives and watch it fall to ruin.

[ZontarDow]

"What if Rhodesia survived?"

You missed a perfect opportunity to ask "What if Rhodesia never died?"

[Vinn_K]

From being the bread basket of Africa to famine and hyper inflation.

[erichtomanek]

Long ago I watched a documentary, hosted by a black American, on the progress of independent African countries. In Zimbabwe he was dumbfounded by the native Bantu peoples who said they preferred white minority rule as they all had jobs, money, schooling, peace and far less corruption especially in government.
A few years ago I was in hospital and one of the nurses was from Zimbabwe (Shona people). She fled due to the dire poverty, corruption, high inflation and incessant violence. She said to me she wished to go back to the Rhodesia of her parents and grandparents.

[SgtValentine]

I personally think if Rhodesia
had survived. It would have some of the best nature reserves and bio diversity in the world. And less poaching.

[captainexcabier]

I'm honestly surprised that the US and UK took such a harsh stance against Rhodesia in its fight against literal communists considering the regimes that they supported in Central and South America during this time in the name of anti-communism.

[llamamanperson]

An important point you missed was brought up in "Bitter Harvest", the book that Ian Smith wrote. Right at the start it is mentioned that had the Boers not won out in the election just after WW2 in South Africa, the likelihood that SA (and by extension Rhodesia) would have opened their doors to the millions of displaced Europeans is incredibly high. In doing so it likely would've not been a sizable minority in SA and a negligible one in Rhodesia, but in fact a majority in SA and very large minority in Rhodesia.

[SpiritumDeoMachina]

Ian Smith and Rhodesia:
Everything the world feared this man would do, Mugabe did. Once again, the international community ruined a country. Mugabe, the marxist, ruined both Rhodesia and Zimbabwe while Ian ruined neither. The international community isolated Rhodesia, leaving them helpless against "guerrilla fighters"/terrorists, which proved deadly for all groups. At least Rhodesia had tribal reservations and tribal land purchases, which is far less horrible than the situations Mugabe put both blacks and whites through... Even in Canada there's demographic rules for Quebecois which are there to maintain the Quebecois population percentage, Mugabe didn't do that with white Rhodesians who were born there, he took everything from them and essentially forced them to leave and wonder the world pretending to be south africans. It's kind of just a fact life would be better if Rhodesia still existed

[____________]

This is going to make one side of the viewership sad over what was lost, and the other mad that you even reference Rhodesia.

[evalationx]

This is one of the more fair assessments of Rhodesia from what I've seen. Most people, as soon as they hear the name "Rhodesia", rush to a mic and just do the equivalent of screaming "EVIL" like that character from spongebob.

[chieftandriver]

My brother originally moved to Rhodesia in 1978. He left when the violence became too much and moved to South Africa which is now well on the same route unfortunately
I asked him why both countries had been treated the way they had been. The vitriol and hatred from countries like the U.K. who happily used their population to fight Britains wars
His answer was ‘because that’s what they wanted and Europe is going to go the same way’
I thought he was bonkers when he said it. Turns out he was completely right

[britannicgeneral]

My Grandfather fought in the rhodesian Bush war as a volunteer after doing his national service in the british army. Good video by the way!

[normalplayer]

Oi, what if the US kept the Panama Canal?

[scipioafricanus]

if any country deserved to survive throughout history, it was rhodesia.

[tbadbot]

I was a deputy in the jail in Norfolk, Va. We had an ex RLI solider as a prisoner. Dude was very old. But went into a bank and robbed it with a shotgun. RLI was some crazy people, really crazy kill ratio.

[donaldlee]

The fall of Rhodesia is the biggest tragedy of Africa in the 20th century

[jamesseaman]

During best of times, the Rhodesian dollar was on-par with Sterling. During the worst of times, the Zimbabwean dollar exceeded Weimar levels of inflation. So sad for a country that held so much promise at independence.