The Rhodesian government actively recruited white personnel from other countries from the mid-1970s until 1980 to address manpower shortages in the Rhodesian Security Forces during the Rhodesian Bush War. Between 800 and 2,000 foreign volunteers enlisted. This was controversial as international sanctions banned military assistance for Rhodesia due to its illegal declaration of independence and the white minority's dominance. The volunteers were often labelled as mercenaries by opponents of the Rhodesian regime, though the government did not regard or pay them as such. They were motivated by opposition to governments led by black people, anti-communism, a desire for adventure, racism, and economic hardship. The Rhodesian government considered the volunteers to be unreliable and they were often treated poorly by their comrades; this contributed to many deserting. Some modern far-right and white supremacist groups celebrate the volunteers. (Full article...).
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_volunteers_in_the_Rhodesian_Security_Forces> _______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries: 1872: HMS Challenger departed Portsmouth on a scientific expedition that laid the foundations of oceanography. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Challenger_%281858%29> 1919: After serving two years in prison for encouraging people to resist military conscription, anarchist Emma Goldman was deported from the United States to Russia. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emma_Goldman> 1934: Lieutenant Kijé, the first film composition by Sergei Prokofiev, premiered. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lieutenant_Kij%C3%A9_%28Prokofiev%29> 1995: In accordance with the Oslo II Accord, Israeli troops withdrew from Bethlehem in preparation for the transfer of control to the Palestinian National Authority. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bethlehem> _____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day: ransack: 1. (transitive) 2. To search (a place, through things, etc.) thoroughly, especially when vigorous and leaving behind a state of disarray. 3. To search (someone or a place) thoroughly in order to steal something, especially when vigorous and leaving behind a state of disarray; hence, to rob (someone or a place); to plunder. 4. (chiefly passive voice) To search for and steal (something) as plunder. 5. (figurative, archaic) To examine (someone or something) carefully; to investigate; also, to question (someone) thoroughly; to interrogate. 6. (obsolete) 7. To look for or seek out (someone). 8. To search (someone) for a thing. 9. (figurative) Synonym of penetrate (“to make way into the interior of (something); to pierce”); also, synonym of pervade (“to enter and spread through (something); to permeate”). 10. (intransitive) 11. To search thoroughly, especially when leaving behind a state of disarray. 12. (archaic) To search for and steal things. 13. Synonym of ransacking (“an act of ransacking (“searching thoroughly (in order to steal); etc.”) someone or something; an eager search”). <https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ransack> ___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day: Art is at least in part a way of collecting information about the universe. --Rebecca West <https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Rebecca_West> _______________________________________________ Wikipedia Daily Article mailing list. To unsubscribe write to: [email protected] Questions or comments? Contact [email protected]
