North Zimbabwe (1983: Doomsday)

Zimbabwe is a landlocked African nation that had only acquired its indepedence in 1980. After Doomsday, Zimbabwe was slowly isolated from the outside war and collapsed into civil war. Today...

Pre-Doomsday
The first societies in Zimbabwe were formed after the Bantu migrations during the 9th century. In the following centuries, several significant civilizations would rise, including Great Zimbabwe from which modern Zimbabwe takes its name. The Kingdom of Zimbabwe was followed by the Kingdom of Mutapa, which was the first major civilization in the region to interact with the Europeans. After the collapse of Mutapa, the Rozwi Empire rose to power and drove the Portuguese from Zimbabwe, securing its independence for several centuries.

In the nineteenth century, the Mfecane destabilized the entire region as various tribes were forced to relocate. The Ndebele forced their way northward and conquered Zimbabwe from the declining Rozwi. During the Ndebele-era, the British began their encroachment into modern-day Zimbabwe. Led by the efforts of Cecil Rhodes's British South Africa Company, the British would slowly conquer the whole of Zimbabwe, which became the Southern Rhodesia colony in 1924.

After World War II, Africa was decolonizing, but Rhodesia fell under the rule of the white-minority Rhodesian Front. On November 11, 1965, Rhodesia declared its unilateral independence from Britain, which was only recognized by South Africa. A civil war between the Rhodesian Front and Joshua Nkomo's Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU) and Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU), using assistance from the governments of Zambia and Mozambique. In March 1978, the Rhodesian Front surrendered and the Internal Settlement established a multiracial democracy. Finally, Zimbabwe's independence was internationally recognized in 1980 with Robert Mugabe as its first president.

Doomsday
Since independence, the two major African political groups, the Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU) and Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU), had come to blows several times. ZAPU was largely Ndebele and operated in Matabeleland. ZANU was largely Shona and operated in the rest of the country. The military wings of each group, Zimbabwe People's Revolutionary Army (ZIPRA) and Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army (ZANLA), fought each other during the Entumbane uprisings in November 1980 and February 1981. These uprisings led to the Gukurahundi (Shona: "the early rain which washes away the chaff before the spring rains") or the Matabeleland Massacres. Robert Mugabe, President of Zimbabwe, used the military to crush any resistance in Matabeleland. The Gukurahundi began in 1982, but was interrupted by Doomsday. Suddenly, most of the northern hemisphere was destroyed and along with it much of the world's trade and foreign aid. The disaster failed to halt the Gukurahundi, but it certainly caused great concern in Zimbabwe.