Second Matabele War

The war, as in the First Matabele War, was fought against the Ndebele and the Shona people. In December/January 1895/96, Cecil Rhodes engineered an armed invasion of the Boers' South African Republic. A force of some 500 mounted men was led by Dr Jameson and Rhodes also sent the British South Africa Police from Matabeleland. In the absence of this paramilitary police force, the Ndebele seized the opportunity to rise in revolt against the white settlers. The war is described in modern Zimbabwe as the First War of Independence.

The traditional way of life was being disrupted by the mining for gold and the settlements of whites' farms across their grazing lands. Convinced by the spiritual leader, The Mlimo, that the white settlers were responsible for the drought, locust swarms and cattle disease (rinderpest), they rose in rebellion to oust the British administration and the white settlers from their lands. The Mlimo had also convinced his believers that the white warriors' bullets would turn to water and their artillery shells into eggs. In the absence of the British South African Police, the settlers, following a series of fatal attacks, withdrew into laagers or made their way to Bulawayo, the location of a large well-defended laager.

The turning point in the campaign against the rising came when The Mlimo was assassinated and resistance waned. It was a personal representation by Cecil Rhodes that persuaded the warring leaders to accept peace, although it was not until October 1897 that the Shona people eventually succumbed.