The Rhodesian War (1965-1980): Counter-Guerrilla and Black-Market Armaments as an Example of Counter-Insurgency Warfare

Introduction

The Rhodesian War (1965-1980) became a long conflict that lasted for 15 years and had special characteristics that could well be classified as a war between guerrilla elements and a government, that is, a priori an irregular war (Gianluigi, 1974). However, Ian Smith's executive, due to problems inherent to the characteristics of its population and the difficulties in supplying its army with military resources, was quickly inclined to turn the conflict into a counterinsurgency war (Fox, 1915; Bratton, 1979; Pulido, 2017). This was demonstrated by the operations carried out by Rhodesian forces, the systematic and punitive execution of guerrillas (De Boer, 2012) and the strategic defence plan against the Zimbabwean guerrillas, which eliminated the likely sympathies they might have aroused in the eyes of the international community and reduced collateral damage to the civilian population. Therefore, the objectives of this paper are:

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  To analyse the nature of counterinsurgency warfare through the case study of the Rhodesian war.

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  To examine the conduct of warfare through military operations, strategic plans and the adaptation of regular troops to a counterinsurgency environment, with the intention of eliminating the guerrillas.

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  To analyse the weaponry available to the Rhodesian army in this war and its varied origins or forms of procurement.

Main Focus Of The Chapter

We approached the Rhodesian War through the use of bibliographical sources. The method used is the hypothetico-deductive method subject to the traditional historical method in which we have differentiated four phases: collection of sources; reading; internal and external criticism; and interpretation of these sources. Throughout the work we have followed a study focused especially on the Rhodesian forces, as a means of approaching the counter-insurgency model that Smith's government put in place. Before undertaking this detailed analysis, we set out to develop a series of hypotheses in order to give the text a scientific character that could be debated in the concluding chapter.