1963–1980: (The Central African Federation’s Collapse and the Rhodesian Bush War — Britain Uneasy About Settler Entrenchment, Macmillan’s Wind of Change Spee…

1963–1980: (The Central African Federation’s Collapse and the Rhodesian Bush War — Britain Uneasy About Settler Entrenchment, Macmillan’s Wind of Change Speech, Banda Leading Malawi and Kaunda Leading Zambia to Independence, Ian Smith’s UDI in 1965, UN Sanctions Stimulating Rather Than Collapsing the Rhodesian Economy, ZANU’s Guerrilla War Growing from the Early 1970s Using FRELIMO Bases in Mozambique, and Mugabe Swept to Power in 1980 as Leader of Renamed Zimbabwe): As the Congo underwent its traumas, another crisis unfolded in British Central Africa. Britain had long feared a repeat of South Africa and settler entrenchment — Macmillan had warned the South African parliament that a wind of change was sweeping the continent. In 1963–1964 the Central African Federation collapsed through forceful British intervention and African opposition led by Hastings Banda in Nyasaland and Kenneth Kaunda in Northern Rhodesia, which became independent as Malawi and Zambia respectively. But Southern Rhodesia’s intransigent white minority remained. The Rhodesia Front under Ian Smith declared unilateral independence in 1965, and UN sanctions initially had the reverse of their intended effect, stimulating the economy as Smith found regional partners in Portuguese Angola, Mozambique, and South Africa. ZANU struggled at first to win popular support during relative prosperity, but from the early 1970s the movement grew in stature, developing close cooperation with FRELIMO and using bases across the Mozambican border. As the Rhodesian economy turned down sharply from isolation, widespread unemployment propelled Africans into guerrilla ranks, and conditions on reserves worsened dramatically. By the mid-1970s even South Africa was pressuring Smith to negotiate. In 1980, with settlers militarily beaten and guerrillas controlling most of the country outside main cities, Smith accepted majority rule, and Robert Mugabe was swept to power — though major tensions around land and ethnicity remained unresolved.