Because the Bush War accred during the Cold War, Soviet and Chinese communist governments assisted two separate Zimbabwe liberation armies. The United States would intervene in many conflicts around the world especially against the uprising of the communist movements. So why didn't they intervene in the Rhodesian Bush War? Was it because of Race?
To answer your main question, the U.S. provided no overt support to any of the primary belligerents. For your second question, you need to examine it through the lens of the geo-political context of the time. The war occurred during the height of and following the Vietnam conflict. During Vietnam had over 500,000 soldiers deployed to South East Asia at one time or another, with the rest stationed in Europe; and following the war we had no desire to get involved conflict after we left Vietnam in 1975. Second, our primary focus in the late 1970s was in Europe, to counter the Soviet threat. The idea that we did not get involved because of race does not hold water if you have read Kissinger or other strategists at the time. A nation gets involved in such conflicts if they provide some means of achieving strategic political ends, which the Rhodesian conflict did not for the U.S.
Based on Wikipedia information, the following can be stated: the Rhodesian Front (RF) activities were supported by the United States and its Western allies. Many professional American ex-military personnel joined the Rhodesian Front, creating a force of nearly 1,400 soldiers that were highly trained in special forces and guerrilla warfare. The total RF military force reached over 10,000 men. Many of the professional American soldiers entering the RF directly into the force became de facto members of the Rhodesian government.
Returning from teaching abroad I arrived back in London during these years and took up work as a Hotel Manager in Bayswater London while waiting for a lecturing job to come through. In the first week I realised the hotel was a meeting place for mercenaries headed for Africa. None were Americans. Most were British, French and Australians. First time I saw a gun in civilian circumstances.
Margaret Thatcher, the British Prime Minister at the time, was a form supporter of the white Rhodesian government but whether she offered monetary support (if I remember trade was encouraged) sending in any troops would have involved Parliament. So unlikely.
According to available source on this war
The Soldier of Fortune accounts on both the Rhodesian Bush War and the means of entry into the Rhodesian Army is one of the reasons for many American citizens joining the Crippled Eagles. Almost every issue from 1976 to 1980 featured one or more articles about the continuing conflict.
- Badges
- Science topic
- Similar topics
- Psychology