The Resilience of Ethiopia: A Historical Perspective on Resistance and National Identity.
I am P.L.O. Lumumba here at Paradise Gardens in Kiambu County in the Republic of Kenya. We continue with our conversations about the continent of Africa and today we focus on a country that has a rich history. Historians at one time referred to her as Abyssinia but known to most of the world as Ethiopia and one of its greatest claims to fame is that it is a country that was never colonized. That is not to mean that there were no attempts at colonization. There were. After the Berlin Conference in 1884 and 1885, the European power that made every effort to colonize Ethiopia was Italy. It is interesting to note that Ethiopia gained significance throughout the world because she succeeded in defeating the Italians at the Battle of Adwa, sometimes referred to as the Battle of Adwa. The battle took only two days and King Menelik II, or if you like Emperor Menelik II, a descendant of Menelik I, claimed that he was a descendant of King Solomon who was of the Jewish heritage.
What is interesting about Ethiopia is that they were so organized because this is an old empire and to appreciate their military prowess at that time, it is also important to appreciate that in terms of technology and in terms of other areas which can be characterized as civilization, the Ethiopians were. Traditionally, of course, the Ethiopian Orthodox Church was a church that was very well organized. They had a writing style, the Giz, a complete alphabet which was as sophisticated as any and an army that was organized in a manner that was as sophisticated as any. The Italians underestimated the Ethiopians and when they attacked, they were of course rooted as it were and it goes down in history that the Battle of Adwa or Adwa which is celebrated up till today is emblematic of the fact that there was an empire within the continent of Africa which had the military prowess to fight the sophisticated European powers.
But after the Battle of Adwa had been fought and after the Italians had been defeated, they did not rest on their laurels. They did not allow their memories to disappear. They remembered that they were beaten and in 1935, the Italians came back again when the fascist regime of Benito Mussolini was in place. The Italians attacked Ethiopia again in the year 1935 and for five years, Ethiopia was occupied but never colonized with the Emperor Rastafari, then known as Haile Selassie, seeking exile in the United Kingdom and later was restored as the Emperor of Ethiopia. I think it is important to appreciate that this entire enterprise the fight that took place within Ethiopia and the occupation of the Italians was characterized by several things.
One of which was to try to impose Italian culture on Ethiopia and indeed if you travel to Ethiopia today, you’ll see certain vestiges of that interaction between Ethiopia and Italy. One of the big markets in Addis Ababa is Mercato, which takes its name from the market, which is the Italian word for the market. You also see certain vestiges of Italian presence in Ethiopia in different parts of Ethiopia and the reality of course is that we end up with a situation where an attempt at colonization only ended with occupation. But it’s important to note, even as we focus on Ethiopia, to note that in the neighbourhood of Ethiopia, the Italians did succeed in occupying Eritrea and Eritrea became an Italian colony for quite some time, but that did not filter into the Ethiopian environment.
Which then begs the question, which I think ought to be addressed, what is it that enabled the Ethiopians to organize themselves in such a manner as they were able to resist the Italians and to do so in a successful manner? Let us go back to the Battle of Adwa sometimes referred to as the Battle of Adwa. The reason why the Ethiopians were successful is because of the mode of organization. The organization was of such a nature that power was centralized and centralized under an emperor who was fundamentally a feudal leader with a very sophisticated military organization. So that when the Italians came, they were not confronting a force that was not organized, which was typical in many African societies which did not have standing armies and that fighters were mobilized on a need basis. The emperor did have a fighting force, which was sophisticated. The emperor had had interaction with the rest of the world and had acquired armament that put them in a good state. Some historical commentators and sympathizers of Italy, of course, suggest that because they were numerically superior, that is why they were overpowered. But that is an argument which is without merit. We have seen in many instances armies which enjoyed numerical superiority but were defeated that notwithstanding.
Indeed, as regards the interaction between the Italians and the Ethiopians during the famous Battle of Adwa, it can therefore be said that the military superiority of the Ethiopians is what carried the day. And of course, in addition to that, we must also appreciate that this was a proud empire with a rich history, rich culturally, rich militarily, and rich in many ways. One only has to go and see the very sophisticated dugout churches in Lalibela to appreciate how sophisticated the Ethiopians were. This then brings us to what one may characterize as the appetite for revenge, which manifested itself several years later in 1935 and ultimately the occupation. But the message to be taken home is that the Italian noses were bloodied. And they were bloodied, and they went home defeated. With the short occupation, Ethiopia did come back and succeed in ensuring that it continued and enjoyed the historical label that it is one of the only two territories in the continent of Africa that were never colonized, that is to include Liberia. And I think that that is what has defined modern-day Ethiopia.
Divided as she is, it is an empire that stands out. And when I say divided, it must be appreciated that Ethiopia has over 80 nationalities. We only talk about the major nationalities such as the Oromo, the Amhara, the Tigre, and of course the Somalis. But there are many other nationalities which succeeded in organizing themselves around the fact that they had a sophisticated civilization. Another important thing to demonstrate that the interaction between Ethiopia and Italy was a fleeting one, is that the Italian language never took root in Ethiopia. And that is indicative of the fact that there was no successful colonization. Throughout the period, Amharic remained the dominant language, and the Ethiopian alphabet remains one that is informed by the Giz. And we also know, of course, that even in terms of the organization of their calendar, the Ethiopian calendar remained Julian rather than Gregorian, which is what one would have wanted to see if the Italians had succeeded in colonizing the place that we so admire called Ethiopia.
It is also important to note when we talk about that interaction between the Italians and the Ethiopians, and we give it the historical context, the question that must then be asked is, what value did it add to the entire project of decolonization, particularly about the countries in the neighbourhood, or not so much in the neighbourhood, that had been conquered by the Italians? I’m talking about Somalia in Mogadishu, and I’m talking about Libya up in the Maghreb. The message it sent to all these peoples is that Africa had a duty to fight the Italian colonization, and it is critical in this regard. It is critical in the sense that when the Italians joined the side of the Germans in the so-called Second World War, Ethiopia was at the forefront of the fight against the Italians, while we know that quite several African countries, which were then under the yoke of colonization, were compelled to participate on behalf of their colonizers. The Ethiopians were quite clear, and the Ethiopians were clear in the sense that they had fought against the fascist regime of Benito Mussolini between 1935 and 1936, and during the occupation, and they were clear that as a result of that, it was incumbent upon them to ensure that they participated in the four efforts for decolonization. So when the world war ended in 1945 with the defeat of Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler on the one hand, you can see Ethiopia emerging almost as an African power with unique credentials, and these unique credentials are informed by history and by the fact that they had succeeded in defeating this power, this power whose activities were known to be inimical to the interest of Africa, and those credentials are the credentials that therefore gives Emperor Haile Selassie the moral high ground, which moral high ground he then uses to be the host of the first African heads of states meeting, which ensured that 32 heads of state meet in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and if only to go outside of the subject of Ethiopia and Italy, it must be remembered that at that time the two leading leaders Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt and Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana had wanted the meeting to be held, Ghana in Accra, Gamal Abdel Nasser in Cairo, but Haile Selassie said, here I am, come to Addis.
That history is what makes Ethiopia a standout country because they defeated the fascist Italians. The conversations about and around the continent of Africa will always continue, but we come again and again. Goodbye until we interact again as we continue this significant conversation. Goodbye and see you again. Use the following link to watch the video via YouTube: https://youtu.be/B4VV1BfBKdI
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The opinions and views expressed in this write-up are entirely those of the Writer(s). They do not reflect the opinions and views of the Publisher (Nze Ikay Media) or any of its employees. The designations employed in this publication and the presentation of materials herein do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever of the Publisher (Nze Ikay Media) or its employees concerning the legal status of any country, its authority, area or territory or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers. Equally, the sketches, images, pictures and videos are gotten from the public domain.
