the modern landlocked nation of Zimbabwe evolved out of what was once the territory a South sambisa Cecil Rhodes British business industrialist and mining magnate secured the exclusive mining rights in the territory from the local kingdoms and chieftains whom almost immediately regretted the situation and thought Rhodes his British South Africa company in two wars the territory would be ruled directly by the British South Africa company directly before becoming the British Crown Colony of Southern Rhodesia named in Cecil Rhodes as honor after world war ii Rhodesia had an economic boom stemming from the production of tobacco and chrome which were in high demand worldwide after the war many working-class British families packed up and moved to Rhodesia seeking opportunity in a better life there the white population of 100,000 would quickly triple to 300,000 and over the next few decades would reach 600,000 which was approximately 10% of Rhodesia as rapidly growing population Britain joined three of her colonies together to form the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland seeking to balance the aspirations of the separate black and white populations with the colonial administration with a gradual goal of becoming a federated state such as Australia Canada and South Africa this Federation was a chaotic and short-lived failure after Northern Rhodesia declared independence South Rhodesia simply became the colony of Rhodesia and in 1965 declared its independence this white minority controlled independent Rhodesian State was widely unrecognized by the international community led by native-born world war ii veteran pilot ian smith would become and developed by two cold war proxy forces the Zabu was aligned with the soviet union while the Zanu which split off from Zabu was aligned with and sought inspiration from the People's Republic of China and their mobilization of the rural peasantry rhodesia would be embroiled by this long messy war which would involve several of its neighboring nations which were also involved in cold war political struggles ultimately the weary minority government would settle for peace brokered by Great Britain in which the British would take temporary control over the nation and oversee elections so that an all-inclusive government could be established and with the election results in Zimbabwe s first prime minister would be Robert Mugabe the leader of the communist leanings a new Korea Army Mugabe had once been a peaceful activist when he had become radicalized after being imprisoned for 11 years non racialist in our approach that his regard as an individual as an individual and that everybody must be accorded his full political rights whether he be white or black educated or uneducated rich or poor and this is exactly why we are at the moment struggling to earn for our people one man one vote upon becoming Prime Minister Mugabe announced Rhodesia would be renamed Zimbabwe he also significantly stepped back from Marxist rhetoric stating that he drew more inspiration from Gandhi than from Marx he also created an inclusive government including members of all opposing political parties in his cabinet and rotating native-born white Rhodesian Peter wells his head of the military while Mugabe initial few years Saul Zimbabwe of a small economic boom as Great Britain in the United States sent millions in aid to ensure a peaceful establishment of Zimbabwe is an independent state race relations were amicable as Mugabe sought to ease the tensions of the white population and prevent a mass exodus former opposing commander Peter walls and others expressed that they were impressed with Mugabe sincerity however this situation would not last South Africa's apartheid government and Mugabe became quick foes Mugabe voice support for anti-apartheid groups in South Africa in response they started a military blockade of trade entering landlocked Zimbabwe and backed anti Mugabe white militias after a terrorist attack against Mugabe his party's HQ he began to distrust whites and stop to the rhetoric of racial harmony and began blaming whites for all of Zimbabwe's misfortunes more and more in the 1980s Mugabe his economic reforms slowly began to fail and economic growth ground to a halt throughout the 1990s Mugabe would increase the anti white rhetoric even more and begin seizing white owned farms and other property and redistributed it as most White's had no viable future left in the land of their birth most immigrated to the United Kingdom or South Africa today there are less than 30000 left in Zimbabwe the following years saw massive rise in inflation in Zimbabwe in 2006 it became the highest inflation rate in the world at 7600 percent reaching as high as 100,000 in 2008 essentially making the currency worthless despite an economic downturn that's all hundreds of thousands become homeless and massive shortages Mugabe managed to hold on to power in 2008 after winning another in a long string of elections 153 of his opponents supporters were murdered even more were beaten and raped many thousands more fled in February 2016 Mugabe said he had no plans for retirement and would remain in power until God says come Mugabe Bay's wife and former secretary grace forty years his junior has been widely considered to have been consolidating power in preparation for seizing power once her husband has passed for the past several years this has all changed on November 15 to 2017 Mugabe was placed under house arrest and possibly forced out of office by the Zimbabwe National Army that insists this is not a coup while grace is where pouts are currently unknown this coup has directly followed the October 2017 forced dismissal of vice-president Emerson Managua President Mugabe cited disrespect disloyalty deceit and unreliability for the firing Managua who took part in a Zimbabwe and war liberation is greatly respected by the military including general Constantino chaweng de who recently visited China China has denied any involvement in the coup Mugabe his 37-year rule of Zimbabwe seems to be coming to an end and hopefully a better nation emerges from this than the one Mugabe decimated this has been FME feeis I hope you enjoyed that video if you like the content subscribe and hit that Bell icon to get notifications every time I make a new video and if you loved it and would like to enable me to make more videos like this more often consider supporting me on patreon starting at just $1 a month and for $3 a month you can get your name at the end of the video on all of my videos there are 27 Rhodesian territorials here and a handful of British monitors who are staying on to help with liaison