Wikipedia:Today's featured article/August 5, 2014

The involvement of Southern Rhodesia in World War I began on 5 August 1914, when it learned that the United Kingdom had declared war on Germany a day earlier. The British territory of Southern Rhodesia provided over 8,000 soldiers to the British Army during the hostilities, including 1,720 officers. About two-thirds of these servicemen came from the country's white minority—about 40% of the colony's white men enlisted—and these fought primarily on the Western Front in Belgium and France (Rhodesian platoon pictured). Other Southern Rhodesian troops, including 2,500 black soldiers, took part in the South-West African and East African campaigns. Over 800 Southern Rhodesians of all races lost their lives on operational service. The colony's contributions played a part in the UK's decision to grant self-government in 1923, and remained prominent in the Rhodesian national consciousness for decades. Since 1980, when the country became Zimbabwe, the government has removed many memorial monuments and plaques from public view, regarding them as unwelcome vestiges of white minority rule and colonialism. The country's war dead today have no official commemoration, either there or overseas.

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