Speaker 1: What's recording my this meeting? I'm Robert Evans, hosted Behind
Speaker 1: the Bastards, ripping off the zoom robot lady who yells
Speaker 1: at us at the start of every meeting to let
Speaker 1: us know that it's being recorded. She'd she's been rebranded,
Speaker 1: she's nice or now she doesn't say that they they
Speaker 1: were like, you know, a little too intense, might sound
Speaker 1: like a cop rebrand after like two weeks rebrand fucking cops, cops.
Speaker 1: I don't know what I'm going for here today. Our
Speaker 1: guest is Joel Monique, producer here at I Heart Radio. Joel,
Speaker 1: how are you doing today? Oh my god, I'm in
Speaker 1: a very good mood to learn about some bad people
Speaker 1: like I. I really want to feel the hate for people.
Speaker 1: We're doing a bit of a different kind of episode
Speaker 1: this week. Right the last episode you did with us,
Speaker 1: we talked about Roy Cone, which is obviously we're going
Speaker 1: very deep into the personal history of one influential, shitty person.
Speaker 1: Today is more of a broader history podcast. There's a
Speaker 1: lot of bastards, but really the bastard of this episode
Speaker 1: is the Nation of Italy and the victor. Yes, fucking Italians.
Speaker 1: We're finally taking it to I'm god, damn them all prepared.
Speaker 1: Dan A little country, Well, let's do No, it's there's
Speaker 1: one country. It's okay to hate all of and it's Italy. Okay, fine,
Speaker 1: I should not Robert as Italian and you should. I
Speaker 1: don't sunburn like it's we're we're a demon, people's sunburn, Okay. Um,
Speaker 1: So Italy is the bastard and the victim of Italy
Speaker 1: is a little country you might have heard of called Ethiopia.
Speaker 1: We're gonna be talking a lot about yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: in yeah, I mean less than most of so, I mean,
Speaker 1: we'll talk about this a bit later. But one of
Speaker 1: the things that makes Ethiopia unique is that it's the
Speaker 1: only African nation that wasn't colonized. It was, up until
Speaker 1: the twentieth century, the only independent African nation after the
Speaker 1: Scramble for Africa. Right there was kind of Liberia, but
Speaker 1: Liberia kind of started as a US colony. Was a
Speaker 1: different than a normal colony, right because we were It's
Speaker 1: not quite the same as like you know, South Africa
Speaker 1: or whatever. But Ethiopia was never conquered throughout the entire
Speaker 1: colonialism here. Um, we're gonna talk about Ethiopian history is
Speaker 1: actually fascinating. Part of why I'm doing this as I've
Speaker 1: been trying to study up on the current conflict what
Speaker 1: is probably a genocide at least an ethnic cleansing in
Speaker 1: tigray Um, which is a part of the nation of Ethiopia.
Speaker 1: A lot of people who want to be separatists there,
Speaker 1: the tigray like a separate ethnic group. Um. We're not
Speaker 1: going to talk a lot about that hit right now,
Speaker 1: because again I'm part of my learning up on this
Speaker 1: has been studying the last couple hundred years of Ethiopian history,
Speaker 1: trying to get a build up a better base of understanding.
Speaker 1: And when you go through eighteen hundreds nineteen hundreds Ethiopian history,
Speaker 1: the recurring bastard is the nation of Italy. So we're
Speaker 1: talking about that today, Um, And I think we make
Speaker 1: a lot of jokes about being anti Italian because it's
Speaker 1: funny to talk about the spicy meat, the balls and whatnot. Um,
Speaker 1: But I think it actually, for the most part, when
Speaker 1: you're kind of looking at the imperial powers, Italy doesn't
Speaker 1: really wind up on anyone's radar. Right France, You've got
Speaker 1: a bunch of horrible and extensive Fuccorre in Indo, China.
Speaker 1: Some really terrible ship they did, Like the British Empire
Speaker 1: obviously carried out like Nazi level crimes against humanity and
Speaker 1: multiple United States bunch of ethnic cleansings and mass murders
Speaker 1: of the Philippines. Horrible, horrible shit. Italy, you know, you
Speaker 1: had spicy meatball bit ready to go. Yeah. Mostly it's
Speaker 1: the spicy the heel of all of these other major
Speaker 1: powers for a long time, Like Brits were like, I
Speaker 1: guess if you have to marry an Italian, you can,
Speaker 1: but why you know, I've watched down Town Abbey the
Speaker 1: last couple of weeks. A lot of hate for the
Speaker 1: Italians and that thing. Uh, you know, And when they
Speaker 1: came to America the same situation, ye yep. And and
Speaker 1: the big European powers were all really competent, right. The
Speaker 1: British Empire very good at what they did. That's why
Speaker 1: they were the British Empire. The French you know, imperial,
Speaker 1: very good at what they did up until you know,
Speaker 1: it all fell apart. The Germans really scary nation in
Speaker 1: terms of like the kind of ship that they were
Speaker 1: able to pull off, like really frighteningly competent. Not the
Speaker 1: same thing with the Italians. You know, they're part of
Speaker 1: the access in World War Two. Nobody scared about the
Speaker 1: fashion of the fascist Italians, right. The Nazis are Mussolini's
Speaker 1: a joke, right, like Italy comes came off that war
Speaker 1: as like the bumbling and incompetent partner to these like
Speaker 1: nightmare warriors the Germans. Gone were the glory days of Rome?
Speaker 1: For sure? Yeah, for sure. And it's um there's actually
Speaker 1: this goes back in European history, back to really at
Speaker 1: the hundreds. There's this like long standing. There's even a
Speaker 1: Latin phrase for it that I don't have memorized. But
Speaker 1: the joke is Italians can't fight. They're not good fighters,
Speaker 1: which is gonna sound like if you know Roman history,
Speaker 1: like one of the things I mean. And this this
Speaker 1: does go back a bit because even in ancient Rome,
Speaker 1: Italian Italians Romans in particular, were the best heavy infantry
Speaker 1: the world had ever seen. Right, But an army includes
Speaker 1: a lot of stuff that's not heavy infantry. You've got
Speaker 1: you've got archers, You've got you know, sling throwers or
Speaker 1: what not. You've got different kinds of cavalry. You've got skirmishers.
Speaker 1: None of those were ever Italians. They always went with
Speaker 1: That's part of why they colonize is they would take
Speaker 1: these you know, Balaric slingers and arthur archers from you know,
Speaker 1: Crete and all these different like Gallic cavalry and whatnot.
Speaker 1: And that's what made the Roman Empire imposing the heavy infantry,
Speaker 1: which were Italians were really good, but they had all
Speaker 1: these different peoples that they would bring in to fill
Speaker 1: these other roles that they just weren't very good at. Um.
Speaker 1: They're really good at artillery, but you know they have
Speaker 1: and they have a really significant period of military dominance
Speaker 1: during Ancient Rome, and then they're kind of not that impressive, right.
Speaker 1: Some of the Italian city states do some okay ship
Speaker 1: and like you know the Renaissance period, the Medieval period,
Speaker 1: but like they're not there. You know, when you're talking
Speaker 1: about like the dominant military powers in Europe for most
Speaker 1: of less thousand years, talking about the French, you're talking
Speaker 1: about the German's, talking about the British, you know, Um,
Speaker 1: nobody's all that impressed with Italy military might. Um. And
Speaker 1: it's it's there's also some aspects of this that are
Speaker 1: weird because like when Mussolini first came to power in
Speaker 1: like twenty two, the first like ten years of his reigners,
Speaker 1: so he was the fascist right, nobody cared about Hitler,
Speaker 1: Nobody talked about Hitler. Hitler was kind of cribbing off
Speaker 1: of him, and he was a very popular leader worldwide.
Speaker 1: Mussolini was. He was super popular in the United States,
Speaker 1: and we've kind of forgotten that because by the time
Speaker 1: the war started, it fascist Italy was such a ship
Speaker 1: show that like everybody just like wrote Mussolini off as
Speaker 1: like Hitler's bumbling sidekick, when it really was the opposite
Speaker 1: at the start. Um and this kind of bumbling reputation
Speaker 1: has led to a lot of it's kind of benefit
Speaker 1: did the Italian nation in the modern era, because we
Speaker 1: don't remember all of the horrific crimes against humanity that
Speaker 1: that steadily committed outside And part of that is because
Speaker 1: the number one place fascisteadily committed crimes against humanity was Ethiopia,
Speaker 1: a place where Westerners do not think about, they don't
Speaker 1: care about it. Yeah, and that's what we're talking about today. Now,
Speaker 1: our story begins in one thousand BC, because we're gonna
Speaker 1: talk about where Ethiopia comes from. And one thousand BC
Speaker 1: is about the time roughly when a bunch of folks
Speaker 1: in Northeast Africa were like, what if we did an Ethiopia. Right,
Speaker 1: that's kind of like when the what becomes the modern
Speaker 1: nation of Ethiopia, Like, Ok, let's do an Ethiopia. It
Speaker 1: seems like a good idea, and they're still doing in Ethiopia.
Speaker 1: So clearly there were some some good ideas there. Um.
Speaker 1: Now I'm gonna leave out some stuff, but the gist
Speaker 1: of the stories that the nation of Ethiopia has existed
Speaker 1: in some broadly recognizable form though for about three thousand years, right,
Speaker 1: that's a long time for there's been a recognizable not
Speaker 1: a nation in the modern sense, but in Ethiopian people
Speaker 1: inhabiting and exerting political power in that area. But like
Speaker 1: three thousand years, which is huge. You know, very few
Speaker 1: other peoples that are in that. China would be one, right,
Speaker 1: but not a lot of different peoples around the world
Speaker 1: that could say three thousand years we've more or less
Speaker 1: been an entity, you know, not the Brits, because even
Speaker 1: the Brits where you know, it was the Anglo Saxons
Speaker 1: and the Vikings just tearing at each other's throats. Um,
Speaker 1: the thousand years is a dynasty, Yeah, because like modern
Speaker 1: you know, people usually like the start of kind of
Speaker 1: like what we recognize the Brits as being is like
Speaker 1: ten sixty six. Right, the Battle of Hastings is kind
Speaker 1: of when that starts to form. Ethiopia's two thousand years
Speaker 1: old at that point, right, just for an idea of
Speaker 1: like how far this this culture goes back? Um. And
Speaker 1: again I'm not saying the modern nation of Ethiopias three
Speaker 1: thousand years old, but something broadly recognizable in that way. Um. Now,
Speaker 1: during this time, a shipload of different stuff went down. Right.
Speaker 1: You had your Alexander the Greats, You've got your Roman Empire,
Speaker 1: You've got a couple of different caliphates. You've got some Mongols,
Speaker 1: you get another caliphate after the Mongols. And through sheer
Speaker 1: cussedness and the fact that their homeland is what historians
Speaker 1: call a natural fortress. It's huge, it's mountainous, it's difficult
Speaker 1: to fight in if you're invading, right, you're in it's
Speaker 1: a defensible position. Um. And because of this, Ethiopia manages
Speaker 1: to stay more or less independent through all of these
Speaker 1: different empires. Just rolling through the neighborhood. Right. You know,
Speaker 1: Rome is in the Middle East and North Africa, Alexander
Speaker 1: the Great Fox around and chunks of that area. Um caliphates,
Speaker 1: you know, Mongols were not. All of these guys are
Speaker 1: kind of sucking around in and around, but none of
Speaker 1: them destroy Ethiopia. UM and staying continuing to exist through
Speaker 1: all of this UM was not a simple matter, as
Speaker 1: Emperor highly Selassie wrote in the early nineteen hundreds, quote,
Speaker 1: throughout history, the Ethiopians have seldom met with foreigners who
Speaker 1: did not desire to possess themselves of Ethiopian territory and
Speaker 1: to destroy their independence. With God's help and thanks to
Speaker 1: the courage of our soldiers, we have always come what
Speaker 1: might stood proud and free upon our native mountains. Now,
Speaker 1: the rise of Islam was probably the biggest challenge for
Speaker 1: the Ethiopians and in terms of remaining independence, since for
Speaker 1: most of their history, or most of the at least
Speaker 1: their modern history, they've been kind of their own brand
Speaker 1: of orthodox Christianity. Right, That's one of the things. You're
Speaker 1: in the Middle East, North Africa very much much heavy
Speaker 1: Muslim populations, and then there's Ethiopia, which is christian Um.
Speaker 1: And that's that's difficult, right, because yeah, there's like seven
Speaker 1: hundred years where you know, the Caliphates are kind of
Speaker 1: the biggest power in the region, UM, and there are
Speaker 1: attempts to take over Um Ethiopia by these folks. Um
Speaker 1: Ethiopio was invaded constantly, and it existed as kind of
Speaker 1: an island of Christianity in the middle of the Muslim world,
Speaker 1: which was at that point that kind of the center
Speaker 1: of Western military power. Uh. They were invaded by Albania
Speaker 1: and Turkey in the early fifteen hundreds in a brutal
Speaker 1: war that pushed the King of Ethiopia back to the
Speaker 1: giant plateau that is the Ethiopian heartland. Disaster was only
Speaker 1: narrowly avoided by the intervention of Portugal, who at that
Speaker 1: point was probably the greatest power in Europe. This European
Speaker 1: colonizers sent four hundredmen with early rifles to beat back
Speaker 1: the Turks and Albanians, which they did, saving Ethiopia. Of course,
Speaker 1: Portugal didn't leave, but they didn't succeed in properly colonizing
Speaker 1: Ethiopia either. UM. And so again, one of the things
Speaker 1: that makes Ethiopia weird is unlike a lot of the
Speaker 1: rest of the region. There there are elements to which
Speaker 1: they benefit from not colonization, but from colonizing powers because
Speaker 1: portable kind of saves their bacon. And they do it
Speaker 1: for selfish reasons. I mean they justify it, be like
Speaker 1: were we have these people are Christians, we're Christians, We've
Speaker 1: got to save them. They're also they have a financial
Speaker 1: interest here. But for a variety of factors. Um, they
Speaker 1: don't take power right, you know in Portugal. Does that
Speaker 1: all throughout South America because it's not like just from
Speaker 1: a distance first suspective Portugally, it seemed Portugal to be
Speaker 1: like perfect, like already a strong Christian like hold here.
Speaker 1: It's hard to cap sure, we're already on the inside,
Speaker 1: and we know they were really about conquering ship like
Speaker 1: that was their main sham. They did a lot of that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's in a lot of that. That's why there's a
Speaker 1: Brazil Yes, exactly. Quite astounding that they wouldn't just immediately
Speaker 1: try to especially knowing how much uh the other European
Speaker 1: powers were at the time conquering portions of Africa, and
Speaker 1: like everyone would want to get their foothold. There hundreds
Speaker 1: European powers weren't. This is like Europe hadn't really done
Speaker 1: anything in Africa very much at that point. Some in
Speaker 1: northern Africa, right, there's always been interchanged between Northern Africa
Speaker 1: and Europe because it's not very far. But Um colonization
Speaker 1: hadn't started in mass in Portugal fift hundreds. They don't
Speaker 1: really have the resources to do it because number one,
Speaker 1: after all this war against Turkey in Albania, Ethiopia is devastated,
Speaker 1: so they don't have a like a functional state to
Speaker 1: just kind of pick up. The terrain is really difficult,
Speaker 1: it's very rugged, they don't have a lot of minutes
Speaker 1: hard to get people there. It just doesn't wind up
Speaker 1: being practical. So eventually the Portuguese kind of give up
Speaker 1: and leave Um. And the next few centuries after this
Speaker 1: are a chaotic period for Ethiopia. There's a number of
Speaker 1: invasions and warlords um. And for a big chunk of
Speaker 1: this time, there's an Emperor of Ethiopia, but he's basically
Speaker 1: a token figure, and there's kind of these vying local
Speaker 1: kings and war lords who were you know, one of
Speaker 1: them will be more of the power than he is,
Speaker 1: and this kind of continues off and on until the
Speaker 1: mid eighteen hundreds. That's when an adventurer named Casa defeated
Speaker 1: all of the different regional kings vying for power and
Speaker 1: declared himself King of Kings. He took the name Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, it sounds like there's a lot of movies
Speaker 1: that should be made. I mean maybe there are a
Speaker 1: couple of Yeah, So he takes the name Theodros. Some
Speaker 1: people will call him Theodore, right, like it's usually anglicizes that,
Speaker 1: But his name was theodros Is. His name was not
Speaker 1: fucking Theodore um And he became the first modern Emperor
Speaker 1: of Ethiopia um And like most emperors in history, Theodros
Speaker 1: veered between kindly and wise and the narcissistic, murderous madman,
Speaker 1: depending on whether or not he was having a good day. Right,
Speaker 1: No one who wants to be the King of kings
Speaker 1: is going to be a nice dude, right, doesn't matter
Speaker 1: that they're pretty much ship get, you know, defying God
Speaker 1: coming down to me like he should be your leader. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, sometimes you got don't get to be king
Speaker 1: of kings by handing out backrubs. You know. He maintained
Speaker 1: power by virtue, of his mighty army. So he's got
Speaker 1: a really good army. That's why he's in power. But
Speaker 1: he fucks up, you know, after some time in power,
Speaker 1: he focks up because he has these he has these
Speaker 1: fits of rage and right, who knows, maybe he had
Speaker 1: some head injuries from battles, maybe he was drinking lead,
Speaker 1: or there's all sorts of reasons people's death. Yeah, you
Speaker 1: have all these This happens all throughout a lot of
Speaker 1: You have a lot of Roman emperors like that were like, well,
Speaker 1: he was prone to these fits of rage, and now
Speaker 1: we know they're like, oh, well they were head lead
Speaker 1: in the drinking water, Like there's all this ship that
Speaker 1: might have been, like why this rage happened? Like who
Speaker 1: knows what was going on? But he has a fit
Speaker 1: of rage and he makes the mistake during one of
Speaker 1: these of imprisoning a British envoy. And by this point
Speaker 1: we're in the midds, Like the eighteen forties, the British
Speaker 1: are the one people you don't want to piss off,
Speaker 1: right fucking unless you're the United States, you don't want
Speaker 1: to piss off Britain. In the early eighteen hundreds, it
Speaker 1: doesn't end well for you Victoria's reigned by eighteen forty. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: this is the Victorian period, I think, um, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: so yes, because um so he imprisons prisons of British
Speaker 1: a British envoy, and he seems to have done this
Speaker 1: because of a male dispute. So Emperor Theodorum sent a
Speaker 1: letter to Queen Victoria and it didn't reach her. Um
Speaker 1: And I don't think we know why it didn't reach her.
Speaker 1: It may have been a slight. It may have just
Speaker 1: at least the eighteen hundreds, right, it could have just
Speaker 1: gotten lost, you know, that probably didn't make it to
Speaker 1: his death. I don't know. There's a long history that
Speaker 1: we'll talk about later in this episode of like particularly
Speaker 1: British monarchs being racist towards Ethiopian monarchs. But honestly, this
Speaker 1: might have just been a funk up. It's getting a
Speaker 1: letter from Ethiopian a UK in the eighteen forties not
Speaker 1: an easy task. But this letter doesn't reach her, she
Speaker 1: doesn't respond, and he feels in Alton because a fellow
Speaker 1: monarch had neglected to respond to him. Um And this
Speaker 1: may have also been a deliberate slight. We really don't know.
Speaker 1: In any case, he arrested. The British consule. England sends
Speaker 1: another envoy to ask him to release their first envoy,
Speaker 1: and the emperor arrests this guy too, and then he
Speaker 1: arrests sixty other Europeans in his country to boot. This
Speaker 1: sparks a major debate within the halls of power in
Speaker 1: the British Empire. Um, they did not have a meaningful
Speaker 1: presence in Ethiopia, They did not have a whole lot
Speaker 1: of soldiers anywhere near Ethiopia, And so there's this big
Speaker 1: debate in parliament is it worth deploying an army to
Speaker 1: free two dudes? Being the British Empire, they say yes,
Speaker 1: like they like, yeah, this is worth it enough men,
Speaker 1: let's go yeah, I mean, And to be honest, we
Speaker 1: talk about like why the British are and empire. It's
Speaker 1: because they make choices like this, right, It's because they're
Speaker 1: willing to deploy power like this. It will get him
Speaker 1: in trouble at points, but like these are the kind
Speaker 1: of calls empires make. UM. In eighteen sixty seven, the
Speaker 1: British send their first European invasion force into Ethiopia, and
Speaker 1: it was twenty thousand men, which is a massive army
Speaker 1: for the day, especially in in in that part, especially
Speaker 1: in Africa. Like, that's a huge army in eighteen forty
Speaker 1: to send. And this army lands on the coast of
Speaker 1: what is now Somalia. They marched through some of the
Speaker 1: most rugged mountain terrain on Earth until in April of
Speaker 1: eighteen sixty eight they reached the emperor's walled city of Magdela. Uh.
Speaker 1: It was not much of a fight because the emperor
Speaker 1: had alienated all of his vassals because he was a dick. Um.
Speaker 1: So all of these different you know, it's a feudal system.
Speaker 1: He relies on all these levies from different local kings
Speaker 1: and lords and whatnot to fill his army. And none
Speaker 1: of these guys are willing to fight against the British
Speaker 1: for him. Um. And so Emperor Theodros winds up yeah,
Speaker 1: shooting himself to avoid capture. Now yeah, yeah, So he's
Speaker 1: out of the picture now and and ship like this
Speaker 1: happens all throughout the colonial period, and usually it ended
Speaker 1: with Great Britain owning another giant fucking chunk of the planet.
Speaker 1: It doesn't in this case. Um. And it's worth worth
Speaker 1: asking why, because the British obviously take anything that's not
Speaker 1: fucking nailed. Um. I found a really fascinating right up. Um.
Speaker 1: It's a master's thesis for the Department of History at
Speaker 1: Kansas State University, written by an Ethiopian historian named two
Speaker 1: Fairy tech lehman at Um who got his b a.
Speaker 1: From highly Salassia University in Ethiopia and then went to
Speaker 1: Kansas States. This is not like a white guy European
Speaker 1: view of history. This is an Ethiopian guys writing about
Speaker 1: the history of his nation, which is what I wanted
Speaker 1: for this. And here's what to ferry rights to explain
Speaker 1: why England didn't stay and do you know British Empire
Speaker 1: ship in Ethiopia quote. An interesting question now arises, why
Speaker 1: did not the British colonize the country? There is, of
Speaker 1: course no evidence that they had any that the general,
Speaker 1: who they said had any orders to do so. In fact,
Speaker 1: the British government was at that time not very keen
Speaker 1: in further acquisition of colonial lands. But even if the
Speaker 1: general had wanted, he could not have accomplished the task
Speaker 1: to begin with. The expedition itself could very well have
Speaker 1: failed if it were not for the indifference of the
Speaker 1: regional rulers. Indeed their active disobedience and time of emergency
Speaker 1: so to Ferry argues that these local chiefs gave aid, food,
Speaker 1: and guidance to the British forces. They were so angry
Speaker 1: at the empery. They helped these guys through the mountains, right.
Speaker 1: But they also they didn't just help them. They made
Speaker 1: certain to put on a display of their military might,
Speaker 1: marching their soldiers past the British Empire, just to be like,
Speaker 1: we're not going to fight you, but we could, right, Like,
Speaker 1: we're cool with you now. We want like you suck
Speaker 1: the emperor. You can take the emperor out, but if
Speaker 1: you try to stick around, we have enough dudes to
Speaker 1: wreck your ship, right right, and we would combine our
Speaker 1: forces against you. So definitely watch out. I love them.
Speaker 1: This is this is forward leaders with forward thinking power,
Speaker 1: unlike the guy who literally shot the messengers. Yes yes,
Speaker 1: um and two, Ferry goes under right. Quote. After the meeting,
Speaker 1: this meeting where the Ethiopian show off their military power,
Speaker 1: the British general proceeded to magdela Uh and, as he
Speaker 1: put it, quote somewhat less confident than before, having seen
Speaker 1: the bearing in arms of the Ethiopian soldiery. Um. So yeah,
Speaker 1: the British go in here, um, and and they don't
Speaker 1: they don't stay. And probably part of it is that,
Speaker 1: you know, this is something that probably should be talked
Speaker 1: about more colonization. You know, it was never the thing
Speaker 1: that even the British political class was whole log for
Speaker 1: a lot of guys through every stage of the expansion
Speaker 1: of the British Empire keep saying this is a bad idea.
Speaker 1: Now they don't win, um, but they're that like they
Speaker 1: were kind of more dominant during this period. Maybe that
Speaker 1: played a role. But there's also and this what Taffaria
Speaker 1: is arguing is the British number one, they see the
Speaker 1: kind of country. They're like, we're we only got through
Speaker 1: all these mountains because these locals led us through and
Speaker 1: there's a lot of them, and they're good fighters, and
Speaker 1: if they wanted to make a problem for us, they
Speaker 1: could really wreck our day. It's it's not worth it,
Speaker 1: you know. And that's why Ethiopia stays independent this entire period,
Speaker 1: is it's not worth it to funk with them. Um.
Speaker 1: I love the idea of land having such an advantage,
Speaker 1: like it's kind of I don't know if it. Impressive
Speaker 1: is right word. But it's sort of miraculous almost that
Speaker 1: there was any space in Africa that people were just like,
Speaker 1: you know what, why bother with this one? It's it's
Speaker 1: it's very similar. I see a lot of similarities when
Speaker 1: I read about the Ethiopians to the Kurds. Right, you
Speaker 1: have these peoples who are continuously have are surrounded by enemies,
Speaker 1: but never get quite wiped out because they have the mountains, right,
Speaker 1: and they know they're fucking mountains And if you come
Speaker 1: into the mountains, you're probably not going to live, right.
Speaker 1: You may not they may not be able to like
Speaker 1: run what is a functional nation because they may not
Speaker 1: have access to the sea or infrastructure, but you're not
Speaker 1: going to wipe them wipe them out because they have
Speaker 1: the fucking mountains um. And the Ethiopians have the goddamn
Speaker 1: mountains um and that is a huge asset to them. Um.
Speaker 1: So after the British leave, Ethiopia has another one of
Speaker 1: its periods of internesting conflict. Right the Emperor's gone, all
Speaker 1: these local leaders who weren't willing to fight for him
Speaker 1: wind up fighting amongst themselves. Um. And after a period
Speaker 1: of this, another guy, Casa of tig Gray wound up
Speaker 1: and charged next and Tigray a mountainous region in the
Speaker 1: north of Ethiopia. Right um, in eighteen seventy two, Cosa
Speaker 1: is crowned Emperor Johannes the Fourth. Now almost as soon
Speaker 1: as he comes to power, Egypt invades. The Ethiopians beat
Speaker 1: Egypt into horrific battles. But they you know, this is
Speaker 1: like an ugly victory, right, they lose a lot of
Speaker 1: men doing it. Uh, This is eighteen seventy eighteen seventy
Speaker 1: six um. And again, one of the things that should
Speaker 1: make clear about Ethiopia that makes it unique is that
Speaker 1: during this time, when most other African nations are being
Speaker 1: in the eighteen seventies, were starting to see the scramble
Speaker 1: for Africa. They're starting to steal everything that's not nailed
Speaker 1: down on the continent. While all of these colonizers are
Speaker 1: doing that to the rest of Africa. Ethiopia's main conflicts
Speaker 1: are either internal or with other African nations, and Europeans
Speaker 1: had actually up to this point been more of a
Speaker 1: neutral or even sometimes beneficial force for their sovereignty, which
Speaker 1: is very unique, very very unique for for because again
Speaker 1: everyone else is getting horribly fucked over. There's obviously there's
Speaker 1: reasons for that. It's not out of the good of
Speaker 1: the European's heart. It's just practicalities and realities of the
Speaker 1: situation in the terrain. Um. Now, by the early eighteen eighties,
Speaker 1: Egypt had gotten fucked over by the Mahdi. And the
Speaker 1: Mahdi was a Messianic Muslim leader who led a revolution. Um.
Speaker 1: He beat a couple of British armies, He beat a
Speaker 1: couple of Egyptian armies. He eventually gets crushed by the British.
Speaker 1: But the Mahdi's army invades Ethiopia because Ethiopia is Christian
Speaker 1: and the Maddy this is like a Messianica Islamist movement. Um.
Speaker 1: And Ethiopia beats them, you know, they win the battle
Speaker 1: against the Maddy's army, but the Emperor Johannes dies fighting. Um.
Speaker 1: And by the time this fighting is over, Ethiopia is
Speaker 1: just fucking exhausted, right, I mean, there's yeah, there's a
Speaker 1: lot going on. Yeah. Um. Now, they had, however, been
Speaker 1: fortunate that through this period they completely missed the Scramble
Speaker 1: for Africa. Now, Scramble for Africa starts in the eighteen seventies.
Speaker 1: And it starts because we talk about King Leopold of Belgium, right,
Speaker 1: the guy who stole the congo and killed thirteen million people.
Speaker 1: Horrified because suddenly one of the worst people who's ever lived,
Speaker 1: one of the one in the top one percent of
Speaker 1: bad people on this show. Um, maybe the very top
Speaker 1: of the list. Um, real piece of shit. Uh he
Speaker 1: uh so he's you know, Belgium steals the Congo basically,
Speaker 1: and all of the other European leaders freak out because
Speaker 1: they're like, oh my god, Belgium took all of the Africa. Soon,
Speaker 1: we're going to run out of Africa. We'd better all
Speaker 1: steal a bunch of Africa. And so they steal a
Speaker 1: bunch of Africa in the conference in Berlin. Yeah, it's
Speaker 1: just it's a shady position to be in, just like
Speaker 1: I have to be right under these assholes, Like god damn,
Speaker 1: I couldn't even get like the months of boat ride
Speaker 1: to get from one space to the other. Yeah. And
Speaker 1: and during this period, almost every inch of Africa is
Speaker 1: either conquered or claimed, but not Ethiopia. And to understand why,
Speaker 1: it helps to understand how Europeans talked about Ethiopia In
Speaker 1: this period, it, as one contemporary Western historian wrote, quote,
Speaker 1: encompassed on all sides by the enemies of their religion.
Speaker 1: The Ethiopians slept near a thousand years forgetful of the
Speaker 1: world by whom they were forgotten. Now that's obviously not true,
Speaker 1: right because we just talked about all the people who
Speaker 1: invaded them. Yeah, but that is how Europeans think about them. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's a dark, mysterious land. It's forgotten. It's like you
Speaker 1: guys invaded it like twice. But like, yes, it's that's
Speaker 1: the European enity. Yes, it was like whow you're writing
Speaker 1: this dude? Um? Yeah, but it is good for Ethiopia
Speaker 1: though that Europeans tend to think about Ethiopia this right, right,
Speaker 1: because whenever they thought about a country a lot, they
Speaker 1: would suck it over right, like you don't want them,
Speaker 1: You don't want Europeans paying a lot of attention to you.
Speaker 1: If you're an African nation, it doesn't end well. Um. Now, Unfortunately,
Speaker 1: Ethiopias splendid isolation from colonialism was not going to last forever.
Speaker 1: From a right quarts quote at the Berlin Conference of
Speaker 1: eighteen eighty four to eighteen eighty five, fourteen European countries
Speaker 1: divided Africa among themselves. Before the conference, only about ten
Speaker 1: percent of Africa was controlled by Europeans. The remaining was
Speaker 1: ruled by indigenous and traditional rulers. Italy had a colonial
Speaker 1: possession over a sub port since eighteen eighty two. At
Speaker 1: the Berlin Conference, European colonial powers agreed that Italy could
Speaker 1: take over Ethiopia as its future colony. So they don't
Speaker 1: take Ethiopia, but they have this port that's on the
Speaker 1: it's kind of in I think modern day Somalia. Right,
Speaker 1: they have this little bitty chunk of the African coast.
Speaker 1: And while everyone's gobbling everything else up, Italy is like, well,
Speaker 1: I guess we'll take Ethiopia because it's close to what
Speaker 1: we already have. And the rest of Europe is like, yeah,
Speaker 1: it's a pain in the s to get there. It's
Speaker 1: a pain in the Yeah, if you guys can take Ethiopia,
Speaker 1: it's yours. You know. That's basically what they were. Just
Speaker 1: sitting down at a continent. They were like, all right,
Speaker 1: I guess this part that No, it's sleepy, nobody has
Speaker 1: really been there. We'll take it. That's ours now, Wow,
Speaker 1: just be a conversation. You haven't even tried militarily or
Speaker 1: really that is mind blowing that people can just think
Speaker 1: they can possess other people's land like that. That is
Speaker 1: it's wild, unhandished. I can't. But you know what won't
Speaker 1: divide up the nations of Africa between a handful of
Speaker 1: European colonial powers for the profit of the Western world. Well,
Speaker 1: what's that the products and services that support this podcast?
Speaker 1: Can you guarantee that not a single, not a single
Speaker 1: one of our sponsors is the government of Belgium. That's
Speaker 1: say that we were getting those I don't even let
Speaker 1: Belgians listen to the podcast. That is illegal. If you're
Speaker 1: Belgian and you're listening, like, you know, get out of here,
Speaker 1: Get out of here Belgian listeners. I'm sorry, Yeah, we apologize.
Speaker 1: It's on the Italians that we don't want listening. Um,
Speaker 1: all right, here's Samad's uh we're back and we're talking
Speaker 1: about Ethiopia. So at the Berlin conference, Italy is like,
Speaker 1: we'll take Ethiopia and everyone else's and I think it
Speaker 1: might have been kind of like, yes, you're you'll take Ethiopia, right, yes,
Speaker 1: gets a little jest like yeah, okay, dude. Now, because
Speaker 1: Italians spend all their time making olive oil and eating
Speaker 1: six hour dinners, they tend to be late for everything,
Speaker 1: and they were extremely late for the scramble for Africa.
Speaker 1: Italy only managed to get two tiny colonies, one and
Speaker 1: what they called Italian Somali Land modern day Somalia, and
Speaker 1: a little trading post that port we talked about on
Speaker 1: the Red Sea coast. These were not lucrative or large possessions. Uh.
Speaker 1: And this hurt the famously a national pride of the
Speaker 1: Italian people who remember that one time they had conquered
Speaker 1: the whole known world at liked years ago, and they
Speaker 1: thought that being rabid years ago still mattered, which it
Speaker 1: didn't do they still think that today, Robert, Yeah, um,
Speaker 1: look just lean into the pasta. You're fine at pasta
Speaker 1: bad at war, you're now. Both of Italy's colonial possessions
Speaker 1: bordered Ethiopia, and Italy's laziest nationalists started saying, hey, we
Speaker 1: should take that too, um. Now, While Italy had kind
Speaker 1: of like gotten like, yeah, you can take this at
Speaker 1: the conference, neither France nor England really wanted them, like
Speaker 1: to take Ethiopia. Both France and England supported Ethiopian independence. Again,
Speaker 1: not because France and England were like, yes, it's of
Speaker 1: course these people have the right to national self determination
Speaker 1: human beings. No, yeah, it's because the Suez Canal was
Speaker 1: a thing at that point, Um, and the British basically
Speaker 1: going to Egypt and they saw like this, So because
Speaker 1: of the way the Nile is built and ship not
Speaker 1: built is the wrong over because of the geography, Ethiopia
Speaker 1: has the ability if they were to damn things to
Speaker 1: choke Egypt off from like the like, they could funk
Speaker 1: up the channel by like fucking with the way the
Speaker 1: water works. Right, It's a thing that was possible. And
Speaker 1: so the British were scared of France scanning influence here,
Speaker 1: right because Britain and France, like literally until World War
Speaker 1: One starts, are like at each other's throats constantly, like
Speaker 1: up until like like everyone kind of assumed the big
Speaker 1: European war would be between them, right. Um, So the
Speaker 1: British are scared. The British one Ethiopia to be independent
Speaker 1: because they don't want France to get it and to
Speaker 1: get the ability to choke off Egypt. Um. And the
Speaker 1: Brits or and the French didn't want the British to
Speaker 1: get Ethiopia because they didn't want the British to have
Speaker 1: any more power than they already had, and the would
Speaker 1: a power in that specific I'm seeing it, yeah. So
Speaker 1: as a result, both powers were fine with Ethiopia staying
Speaker 1: independent because it was just easier for them than figuring
Speaker 1: out something else. So the Italians had to be sneaky
Speaker 1: about things, as is in their conniving nature. They started
Speaker 1: their plans when Ethiopia was already deeply in meshed in
Speaker 1: war in eighteen sixty nine, by having a private company
Speaker 1: purchased a trading post on the coast from a local sultan.
Speaker 1: This company then sold said post to the Italian government
Speaker 1: in eighteen eighty two uh and during the modest uprising
Speaker 1: the the Italians took another chunk of coastline, and like
Speaker 1: most of their colonial possessions, Italian Africa wasn't apartheid state.
Speaker 1: Um Italian and Native housing was strictly separate. Different schools
Speaker 1: were established for Italians and natives. There was also a
Speaker 1: system called mada mismo, which was basically codified sex trafficking.
Speaker 1: Italian officials, soldiers, and other citizens were allowed to take
Speaker 1: Native wives or mistresses and these women had no rights
Speaker 1: under the law. Um. Oh yeah, so just sex sleeve's
Speaker 1: great super slash domestic sleeve, I guess, oh god, yeah
Speaker 1: yeah perfect. So Ethiopia is a landlocked country, right and
Speaker 1: this has been a real problem for Ethiopia for a
Speaker 1: while because you don't want to be landlocked, you want
Speaker 1: to have sport, not to your advantage. Absolutely kind of
Speaker 1: a big deal. Have an report. Um. And during the
Speaker 1: fighting with the Mahdi. This again, the Mahdi is a
Speaker 1: big problem for the British Empire there. They fight a
Speaker 1: bunch of battles against him. Um. Ethiopia work fights alongside
Speaker 1: the British against the Mahdi because he's fucking with them too,
Speaker 1: and they make an arrangement with the British and basically
Speaker 1: we're like, the British need Ethiopian helped to evacuate a
Speaker 1: bunch of Egyptian garrisons, and the Ethiopians do this for
Speaker 1: them in exchange for the British promise them free access
Speaker 1: to a coastal port. Now, the Ethiopians fulfill their end
Speaker 1: of the bargain and save these garrisons, but the British
Speaker 1: do not fulfill their end. Of the bargain um, and
Speaker 1: so Ethiopia gets screwed out of access to this port um,
Speaker 1: in part because Italy is gobbling up a bunch of
Speaker 1: this coastline. Right, never trust the British um seven Italy
Speaker 1: invades Ethiopia for the first time. They send in a
Speaker 1: scientific mission, that's what they call it, a five hundred
Speaker 1: armed men to occupy a piece of ethio be in territory.
Speaker 1: And this is a thing that European powers do a lot, right.
Speaker 1: You send in a small group of armed men, you
Speaker 1: take a little area, you hang out there. Usually the
Speaker 1: leaders don't funk with you, right because they don't want
Speaker 1: to deal with the hassle. And once you get that foothold,
Speaker 1: then you could take another piece, and another piece and
Speaker 1: another piece. Eventually work straight a war and you take
Speaker 1: it all. Yeah, yeah, just a slow invasion of the body, horrifying,
Speaker 1: and their hope had been that has often happened in Africa.
Speaker 1: The locals would launch an ill equipped counter attack which
Speaker 1: would be easily defeated by modern Italian guns, and the
Speaker 1: bloodshed would service the justification for a more comprehensive Italian
Speaker 1: land grap But the Italians forgot one crucial thing, Joel,
Speaker 1: was it the mountains Italians? No, it's it's that Italians
Speaker 1: suck acid war and Ethiopians don't pretty good. So Italy
Speaker 1: is defeated decisively at a battle called dega Ali. Now
Speaker 1: from this experience, Italy learned that in Ethiopia is not
Speaker 1: an easy thing to steal. The next to the strategy
Speaker 1: then of under my yeah ship, they really want to
Speaker 1: keep being Ethiopia. We didn't anticipate this. It's too spicy
Speaker 1: if meat the ball the last word of many an
Speaker 1: Italian soldier bleeding in the dust of spicy meat the ball.
Speaker 1: I feel like spicy meat ball is going to end
Speaker 1: up on the behind the bastards bingo board that fans make.
Speaker 1: We could do like a little photoshop of Ethiopia as
Speaker 1: a meat ball and like an Italian choking on it,
Speaker 1: like that's a spicy meat the ball. I was thinking
Speaker 1: more like a drinking game or something that doesn't like
Speaker 1: no death. Oh okay, well now, uh so Italy gets
Speaker 1: rebuffed in this first attempt, so they sat next to
Speaker 1: they establish a new strategy. And this strategy is kind
Speaker 1: of more like what the British would try to do,
Speaker 1: right because the British. There's sometimes where they use brute force,
Speaker 1: they rarely start with that. They're a usually a lot
Speaker 1: more cunning. Um and Italy adopts the same strategy. The
Speaker 1: idea is to undermine Ethiopian unity, Um, because this is
Speaker 1: a known vulnerability. Right. There's a lot of infighting in Ethiopia.
Speaker 1: All these different regional lords don't always work together. They
Speaker 1: like to fight for dominance. So the Italians like, okay,
Speaker 1: what if we try to play these different tribal groups
Speaker 1: and local leaders against one another and the emperor and
Speaker 1: kind of fragment Ethiopia and then we can take, you know,
Speaker 1: eat it up piecemeal, right, um, which is a better strategy,
Speaker 1: And they were much more successful at this. The guy
Speaker 1: they chose to reach out and bribe was a local
Speaker 1: king named Menelik two ferry rights quote. As king of Shoa,
Speaker 1: away from the central government in the north, Menelik enjoyed
Speaker 1: unlimited power over his kingdom. He conquered Gali lands to
Speaker 1: the south and expanded his territory greatly through his large
Speaker 1: and relatively well armed forces. Thus, conscious of his growing power,
Speaker 1: Menelik became less and less obedient to the emperor and
Speaker 1: the Italians were not slow in noticing this. Accordingly, after
Speaker 1: the presentation of gifts and tempting promises, the Italians were
Speaker 1: able to have Menelik sign in a secret treaty in
Speaker 1: which he was promised money, arms, and the province of
Speaker 1: Tigray and in recognition is the king of Kings if
Speaker 1: he allied with them in attacking Emperor Johannes the Fourth.
Speaker 1: This is while Johannes is still alive. Um to this,
Speaker 1: Menelik agreed and the treaty was signed in eighteen eighty eight.
Speaker 1: Uh that the Italians would benefit. What the Italians would
Speaker 1: benefit from this was little. It meant the annexation of
Speaker 1: Eritrea in the northernmost province. But the Italians were solidifying
Speaker 1: their hold and they were ready to wait for further demands.
Speaker 1: So Italy gets this guy on board. They're like, well,
Speaker 1: back this guy, this guy is the most powerful king.
Speaker 1: Will back him against the emperor, will let him take
Speaker 1: a big chunk of Ethiopia. But if we get this emperor,
Speaker 1: we can take other chunks and eventually we'll eat this
Speaker 1: guy up to right, will either make him into a
Speaker 1: rump kingdom or like that's the plan, right, they're going
Speaker 1: to use this guy to fragment Ethiopia, to let him
Speaker 1: be independent, probably for the rest of his life, and
Speaker 1: then take it over right whenever he passes, right whatever.
Speaker 1: Pretty standard. Yeah, this happens all the time. Yes, they're
Speaker 1: they're natural backstabbing people, the Italians. Um. So no, Now,
Speaker 1: this basic tactic is one a bunch of European powers
Speaker 1: would use all over the world during the age of colonization,
Speaker 1: most local rulers around, not just Africa, but we're talking
Speaker 1: like Southeast Asia, a bunch of places, and you know
Speaker 1: it earlier. Very versions of this are done in like
Speaker 1: Central and South America. To most local rulers in mental
Speaker 1: exposition kind of would agree to do help whatever power
Speaker 1: would overthrow the ruler um and they would be called
Speaker 1: either betrayed immediately or bribed off and used to oppress
Speaker 1: their fellows for the profit of England or France or whatever.
Speaker 1: But so this was generally a successful strategy. But Italy
Speaker 1: made a mistake, and the mistake was picking Menelik because
Speaker 1: Menelik was really fucking smart, way smarter than any of
Speaker 1: the Italians trying to manipulate him. Um. Yeah, So right
Speaker 1: after the Italians signed this secret contract. Right, the Modests
Speaker 1: invade again and the Emperor Johannes you know, dies fighting them,
Speaker 1: which means the emperor that Menelik had agreed to fight
Speaker 1: alongside the Italians isn't the emperor anymore? Um. And as
Speaker 1: soon as the Italians here that Johannes is dead, they
Speaker 1: send a telegram to Mendelick, who again they think is
Speaker 1: their boy, and their exact phrasing was something like, it's
Speaker 1: time for our two countries to establish a more solid friendship,
Speaker 1: which is colonizers speak for we're coming right, We're gonna
Speaker 1: take the ship. And it seemed initially that Menelik was
Speaker 1: falling for their sneaky tricks. He signed a treaty with Italy,
Speaker 1: which the Italians claimed would just officially lay out their
Speaker 1: separate territories and enshrine Ethiopian independence into international law. This
Speaker 1: was a lie because there were discrepancies between the version
Speaker 1: of the treaty written in Italian, which is the one
Speaker 1: that Europeans are going to consider value. And this again,
Speaker 1: they do this all the time. This is something the
Speaker 1: US does. A ship load to the indigenous people's right,
Speaker 1: classic colonizer move. Right. It's so se like base level,
Speaker 1: like you the way you just what is whatever for
Speaker 1: inventialize your your enemy is just embarrassing. Yeah, and so
Speaker 1: there's a difference between the Italian version and the MRK
Speaker 1: is the is the language that in the Ethiopia. Um,
Speaker 1: I think amhrek is how it's pronounced. It's a m
Speaker 1: h A R I C. Now, the Italian version of
Speaker 1: the of the treaty included an article that read, quote
Speaker 1: his majesty, the King of Kings of Ethiopia consents to
Speaker 1: avail himself of the Italian government for any negotiations which
Speaker 1: he might enter into with other powers. Now what that
Speaker 1: means is under the Italian version of the treaty, Menelik
Speaker 1: is agreeing that he has to ask the the Italian
Speaker 1: government for permission before making any arrangements with other countries.
Speaker 1: This would make Ethiopia into what is known as a protectorate,
Speaker 1: which is not an independent nation. A protectorate is under
Speaker 1: the government governance of another country. Um. Because if you
Speaker 1: can't make your own contracts and treaties foreign countries, you're
Speaker 1: not really independent. That what that line is the Italian
Speaker 1: is trying to steal Ethiopian sovereignty in a very clever way, right. Um. Now,
Speaker 1: the Amharic version of the treaty, which mentally gets, is
Speaker 1: crucially different. It just says that the emperor might, if
Speaker 1: he desired, avail himself of Italian help and foreign matters.
Speaker 1: So his version of the treaty is like, since we're friends,
Speaker 1: if yeah, if you want to make a deal with
Speaker 1: the European nation, hey where European will help you with it?
Speaker 1: You know, we might write exactly crucial difference. One of
Speaker 1: them is a nice thing that a friend would do,
Speaker 1: and one of them is somebody stealing your fucking house,
Speaker 1: you know. Um yeah. So the Italians, of course, as
Speaker 1: soon as this treaty has signed, the Italians informed the
Speaker 1: rest of Europe like, hey, we've basically we've acquired one.
Speaker 1: Ethiopia slightly used like congratulations, look at how who we are?
Speaker 1: Um now to Ferry, that Ethiopian scholar who a big
Speaker 1: basis of this junk of the history, seems to think
Speaker 1: that Menelik was legitimately fooled by this, that he thought
Speaker 1: he'd signed a friendship treaty and was shocked when the
Speaker 1: Italians were like, we own you now. But other schollers
Speaker 1: disagree now to Ferry's pieces, very good, which is why
Speaker 1: I've used it, but it's also rather old. It's a
Speaker 1: couple of decades old. It's not a new piece of scholarship.
Speaker 1: There's a two thousand eleven book by Cambridge historian Raymond
Speaker 1: Jonas that makes a different argument, and I'm gonna quote
Speaker 1: from a writeup of his book by Ohio State University's
Speaker 1: Origins Project. Quote Jonah suggests that Menelick used his protectorate
Speaker 1: status to his advantage, such as a loan of four
Speaker 1: million lira from Italy, used to purchase weapons until his
Speaker 1: position was strong enough to claim there was a mistranslation.
Speaker 1: So by this interpretation of events, the emperor knew Italy
Speaker 1: was trying to funk him over. But he also knew
Speaker 1: that the etho Opian army was exhausted and was badly
Speaker 1: outgunned by any European force. Because all these worth they fought,
Speaker 1: to have any hope of victory against a full invasion,
Speaker 1: they would need refitting. So he was like, if the
Speaker 1: Italians think I'm a protectorate, they'll give me a loan.
Speaker 1: I can use that loan to buy guns, and I
Speaker 1: can use those guns to kill Italians. Listen, I love
Speaker 1: the double play that we're grad Yeah, this is a
Speaker 1: very very smart guy. So Italy strategy here is to
Speaker 1: gradually move forces further and further into Ethiopia, which they
Speaker 1: start to do. They sent in soldiers and they occupy
Speaker 1: a city called Addagat for a full year, and the
Speaker 1: emperor doesn't do anything. And again, the last time they
Speaker 1: tried this, they immediately got counterattacked and pushed out. So
Speaker 1: they're like, oh, it's working, it's working. This guy's gonna
Speaker 1: let us in spicy yeah. Um, right, So they think
Speaker 1: Ethiopia is going to be a big push over. They
Speaker 1: think they finally cracked cracked the nut. Now they had
Speaker 1: further reason to believe that Ethiopia would be easy pickings
Speaker 1: because they also brought a horrible plague with them when
Speaker 1: they invaded the first time. Um, the historical record shows
Speaker 1: that when the Ethiopians wiped out that first expeditionary force
Speaker 1: and rated its camp, they stole cattle that had been
Speaker 1: infested with a disease called the render pest. This pest
Speaker 1: quickly spread throughout the country, wiping out all cattle in
Speaker 1: Ethiopia and causing a nightmarish famine. So this is all
Speaker 1: happening at the same time. Right. I'm gonna quote from
Speaker 1: a write up by the Aromo Studies Association. This historical
Speaker 1: period is recorded in the collective memory of the Aroma
Speaker 1: people as Bara Nama Niata the period of human eater,
Speaker 1: bara Uxia, Rukisa the period of extreme famine, and Cina
Speaker 1: the period of termination. So those are the three periods
Speaker 1: of this plague. Um we have no evidence that the
Speaker 1: Italians had deliberately introduced our PV into Abyssinia. However, the
Speaker 1: colonial public health history made clear that the colonizers knowingly
Speaker 1: and with wittingly neglected the needs of the colonized people,
Speaker 1: and this is evident in the case of our PV
Speaker 1: in Ethiopia. As we know today, the practice of quarantine
Speaker 1: began in Italy during the fourteenth century. It was started
Speaker 1: in an effort to protect coastal cities from plague epidemics.
Speaker 1: Italy and many European countries practiced quarantining. For example, in
Speaker 1: thirteen seventy seven, the Great Council of Ragusa and Southern
Speaker 1: Italy passed a law establishing a trentino or thirty day
Speaker 1: isolation period. This made Italy the first in Europe to
Speaker 1: organize institutional responses to disease control that began during the
Speaker 1: plague epidemic of thirteen forty seven to thirteen fifty two.
Speaker 1: Ships arriving in Italian ports were required to sit an
Speaker 1: anchor for forty days before landing. Although the Italians had
Speaker 1: practiced quarantining ships arriving in their reports ever since the
Speaker 1: fourteenth century, when they brought the infected cattle to the
Speaker 1: Red Sea coast, they did not take the necessary quarantine
Speaker 1: steps and caused the RPV epidemic. Whether or not it
Speaker 1: was deliberate, the Italian Army introduced the deadly RPV infection
Speaker 1: to Africa. Carried by just three infected cows. RPVs spread
Speaker 1: from Ethiopia's east coast across the Sahela Desert, killing in
Speaker 1: just one year of the domesticated cattle plus countless whild, buffalo, giraffe,
Speaker 1: and antelope. RPVs swept from the Horn of Africa west
Speaker 1: to the Atlantic and south to the Cape of Good Hope.
Speaker 1: Ethiopia lost of its cattle and most of the human
Speaker 1: populations starved to death. According to Yoma, thirty to sixty
Speaker 1: of Ethiopia's population started at that year. Oh my god,
Speaker 1: that's devastating. And it's important to note the Italians know
Speaker 1: how to quarantine, which is why some people suggest they
Speaker 1: did this on purpose. They introduced this plague to prepare
Speaker 1: the area, to basically wipe out the population and prepare
Speaker 1: the area for colonization. We don't know that. We do
Speaker 1: know they knew how to quarantine and shows not to
Speaker 1: and that's why this plague spreads and kills as many
Speaker 1: as sixty percent of the people in Ethiopia. And that's
Speaker 1: happened right as this as the EI, as the Italians
Speaker 1: are moving in, as they take this city. So Menelik
Speaker 1: is not just dealing with recovering from all these wars,
Speaker 1: like fucking half of his population has just gotten wiped
Speaker 1: out by this devastating, fucking plague. So by the early
Speaker 1: eighteen nineties, Ethiopia is in bad shape, right, this is
Speaker 1: they're about as vulnerable to colonizations you could possibly be,
Speaker 1: you know, like that's a bad position. Um, and the
Speaker 1: Italians tried to take further advantage of the situation by
Speaker 1: using the desperation of the famine to drive divisions between
Speaker 1: Menelik's kingdom Showa and the Northern Tigray Kingdom the two
Speaker 1: most because these are the two most powerful chunks of Ethiopia.
Speaker 1: But in this they were outflanked because Menelik married the
Speaker 1: Empress Tattoo from Tigray, which effectively united the two great
Speaker 1: power walks in the country. He also used the Italians
Speaker 1: during their early stages of investment in the country to
Speaker 1: crush local princes and warlords who were threats to his power.
Speaker 1: In effect, he used the army he would one day
Speaker 1: have to fight to crush resistance to his rule and
Speaker 1: ensure that when the big fight came, Ethiopia was united
Speaker 1: behind him. The Italians were willing to do this because
Speaker 1: this was a normal colonialism thing. Right, you fight these
Speaker 1: little powers so you don't have to fight the big war.
Speaker 1: Right Um. They thought they're sinking their teeth into this country,
Speaker 1: wrapping their Italian tentacles around it, but they're really being
Speaker 1: used by Menelik. In eighteen ninety three, Italy announced to
Speaker 1: the rest of Europe that Ethiopia was their protectorate. They
Speaker 1: did not bother making an announcement to Metelk. He found
Speaker 1: out during the course of his normal diplomatic correspondence when
Speaker 1: he reached out to a European nation and was informed
Speaker 1: by their emissary that they would not treat with him directly.
Speaker 1: All communication would have to go through Italy. So Menelik
Speaker 1: wrote a letter to the King of Italy. Quote, when
Speaker 1: I made the treaty of friendship with Italy in order
Speaker 1: that our secrets might be guarded and that undertaking should
Speaker 1: not be spoiled. I said that, because a friendship, our
Speaker 1: affairs in Europe might be carried on with the aid
Speaker 1: of the Sovereign of Italy. But I have not made
Speaker 1: any treaty which obliges me to do so, and today
Speaker 1: I am not the man to accept it that one
Speaker 1: independent power does not seek the aid of another to
Speaker 1: carry on its affairs. Your Majesty understands very well. Basically,
Speaker 1: you're a king and you wouldn't put up this with
Speaker 1: with this, why would you expect me to? Yeah, okay,
Speaker 1: laid down the la like I love the respect being commanded.
Speaker 1: This is amazing. You know what else is a king
Speaker 1: of Italy? Is the king of the sovereign of Italy.
Speaker 1: Is it that? Yes, we are supported by the Italian crown?
Speaker 1: I thought, okay, all right, I mean they're looking they
Speaker 1: like to be kings of other things. So you know,
Speaker 1: if you're looking for a king, you know, if you
Speaker 1: if you would like to be a king um, or
Speaker 1: if you would like to have a king, you know,
Speaker 1: consider the sovereign of Italy. You know, you could do worse. Right,
Speaker 1: there's worse kings. Not a lot of worse things, but
Speaker 1: there's a couple. Yeah, anyway, we'll take it. Uh, we're back.
Speaker 1: I hope you all enjoyed. Um, I hope you all
Speaker 1: enjoyed this. Those ads from the King of Italy. Um.
Speaker 1: Italy it's a country technically, So for the next three years,
Speaker 1: the Italians wage a shadow war against Ethiopian independence. They
Speaker 1: reached out to Menlik's rivals to try and turn other
Speaker 1: kings against him. They tried to trick him into further
Speaker 1: treaties with tricky language, but everywhere they're out maneuvered because
Speaker 1: mental Wick is just smartest shit. Like, it seems silly
Speaker 1: to me to be like that first contract mistake. Let's
Speaker 1: try it again. Yeah. The thing that I love about this, dude, well,
Speaker 1: this is such a cool story. Um. This part of
Speaker 1: it as a cool stories because this whole period is
Speaker 1: all of these different African leaders just getting completely fucked
Speaker 1: over by Europeans, um and and and and brute with
Speaker 1: a huge body counts as a result. And this this
Speaker 1: guy though, he's just so much fucking smarter than them,
Speaker 1: Like he's just running circles around these motherfucker's And it's beautiful.
Speaker 1: Um it's it's a it's a really gratifying story compared
Speaker 1: to everything else happening between Europeans and Africans in this
Speaker 1: period of time, which is mostly you know, genocide. Um so, yeah,
Speaker 1: we might as well enjoy the good story while we
Speaker 1: I mean, there's a genocide here too. They killed half
Speaker 1: the country. Uh so, I don't know. You take the
Speaker 1: winds when you get them. You gotta find your victory
Speaker 1: somewhere for ye, So he out maneuvers them, um and. Finally,
Speaker 1: in eighteen nine, Italy decides they have no option but
Speaker 1: to invade with a real class army, and they assemble
Speaker 1: a full modern European army of twenty five thousand men
Speaker 1: under the command of a general named Baratieri, and they
Speaker 1: invade for Mauritrea. Now, unbeknownst to Italy, Menelik had started
Speaker 1: preparing for war in earnest in eighteen ninety three, He'd
Speaker 1: ordered the creation of food depots across the country, leading
Speaker 1: to a place called Adwa, where he believed the Italians
Speaker 1: would advance towards next From a write up in Quartz,
Speaker 1: on September seventeenth, eighteen ninety five, Menelik declared a total
Speaker 1: mobilization of war against Italy. He called on all Ethiopians
Speaker 1: to defend their country, family, and religion. He ordered every
Speaker 1: capable person to fight and those incapable to pray for
Speaker 1: Ethiopia's victory. Ethiopians from every tribe, culture, and community answered
Speaker 1: Mendelick's call. Regional leaders from diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds
Speaker 1: responded unanimously, creating an army of one hundred thousand. They
Speaker 1: had inferior weapons but a strong cause. The first showdown
Speaker 1: occurred at Amba Alagi on December seventh, eighteen ninety five,
Speaker 1: where a relatively smaller Italian army was wiped out. The
Speaker 1: next encounter was at Mcelly, where the Italians were stationed
Speaker 1: behind a strong fort. The Ethiopians surrounded the Italians for
Speaker 1: two weeks, and, upon Empress Tattoo's advice, cut off the
Speaker 1: fort's water supply. The Italian in commander agreed to surrender
Speaker 1: if they would be allowed to leave with their firearms.
Speaker 1: Menelik agreed that they could leave the garrison unharmed, but
Speaker 1: the Italians remained in their strongholds, fortifying their position at
Speaker 1: Adigrat and Saria. Menelik was not in a hurry to
Speaker 1: attack these forts. After two weeks of an activity, General
Speaker 1: Baratieri decided to advance for a surprise attack. It was
Speaker 1: marched first eighteen ninety six, or according to the Ethiopian
Speaker 1: counter Yakati, eighteen eighty eight, the day of St. George.
Speaker 1: The priests carried the Taboau, a replica of the Ark
Speaker 1: of the Covenant, a religious icon that symbolizes the sanctity
Speaker 1: of Ethiopia, to the battlefield. The twenty thousand Italian and
Speaker 1: Italian trained native troops, who advanced in three columns, fought
Speaker 1: bravely with their cannons and machine guns before facing a
Speaker 1: decisive defeat. Casualties were severe on both sides. So the
Speaker 1: you know, there's this kind of like ongoing war and
Speaker 1: it comes to a head at this place of Ottawa,
Speaker 1: and the Ethiopians smash this Italian army of twenty thousand people.
Speaker 1: This is we'll talk about that a sex. So it
Speaker 1: is us noting before we move on that during this battle,
Speaker 1: the Ethiopians are one of the things that I don't
Speaker 1: know if I wouldn't say it makes them a unique
Speaker 1: but one of the things that's worth noting is that
Speaker 1: there were a significant number of women fighting in the
Speaker 1: Ethiopian army. This is a thing in Ethiopian military history,
Speaker 1: including a tatool the empress who led a unit of
Speaker 1: six thousand cavalry into battle. And also, as we talked about,
Speaker 1: she was a major strategic leader of the army. She
Speaker 1: has all these plans for cutting off water supplies and stuff.
Speaker 1: She's a big part of this um the Battle of Ottawa. Sorry,
Speaker 1: I was just gonna say, I love how all of
Speaker 1: these like high ranking um monarchs or queens and kings
Speaker 1: and emperors are like dying on the battlefield, which seems
Speaker 1: very to history to that they're fighters, rare, that they're
Speaker 1: like in the front on the front lines. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: mean it happened like if you go to the European
Speaker 1: Europe a thousand years before, right the Battle of Hastings,
Speaker 1: the monarch dies in the field. That happens in European
Speaker 1: history a lot earlier. Um. But yeah, like fucking Menelik
Speaker 1: is on the field, as is his wife. They're both
Speaker 1: fighting in this battle, which I've never heard of before.
Speaker 1: Like it like a like an emperor and an empress
Speaker 1: fighting like side, like a side by side. Because she
Speaker 1: was leading the cavalry. I think he had another gig.
Speaker 1: But like they're both fighting in the same battle, which
Speaker 1: is pretty fucking rad. Um. So, the Battle of Ottawa
Speaker 1: is the first defeat military defeat, like major military defeat
Speaker 1: of a European power by indigenous Africans. It was the
Speaker 1: only such defeat during the Scramble for Africa that also
Speaker 1: led to the complete victory of the native people. Right.
Speaker 1: There's other times where like a small European army will
Speaker 1: like lose, but they always win the war, right, that
Speaker 1: doesn't happen here, they win the war, um, And this
Speaker 1: is the only time that happens. This is a huge
Speaker 1: victory not just within a you know, African military history,
Speaker 1: but within the annals of global military history. Menelik's campaign
Speaker 1: against the Italians covered more miles than Napoleon's advance into Russia. Um.
Speaker 1: This is like a really fastening, extremely influential battle Um.
Speaker 1: The news of the Italian defeat spreads rapidly, um. And
Speaker 1: this is this hits European news like a bomb because
Speaker 1: a full European army has just gotten fucking annihilated by
Speaker 1: an indigenous army. Be afraid. Yeah, that's exactly how it's taken.
Speaker 1: And Ethiopia becomes an international symbol of black resistance to colonialism.
Speaker 1: This battle is celebrated by men like W. E. B.
Speaker 1: Dubois and Benito Sylvain of Haiti Um. And this is
Speaker 1: in spite of the fact that many Ethiopians themselves didn't
Speaker 1: see themselves as part of a Pan African resistance to
Speaker 1: Western imperialism. Menelik was not an idealist. He was a
Speaker 1: pragmatic emperor. Before the war, when he was gathering up forces,
Speaker 1: he had appealed to the common blackness of the different
Speaker 1: peoples of Ethiopia against the white invader. But when Benito Sylvain,
Speaker 1: who was a Haitian Pan Africanist, got to sit down
Speaker 1: and talk with Menelik about their common struggle, the emperor
Speaker 1: informed Benito that while he sympathized with the black struggle
Speaker 1: struggle mental it, considered himself Caucasian. So again, this is
Speaker 1: like there's a lot of weird dimension here. Yeah, some picture, sir, Sorry,
Speaker 1: but you look good. You look really I got a
Speaker 1: pretty faith for an emperor who's actually doing battle on
Speaker 1: a battlefield. You could have been, uh, you know, a
Speaker 1: wealthy prince who was like, I'm just not gonna bother
Speaker 1: with any of these things. But definitely black. But but
Speaker 1: but a big part of I think part of why
Speaker 1: he's saying that, And there's others, Like one of the
Speaker 1: things is that like the Ethiopians considered themselves different because
Speaker 1: they were never colonized, right, they were never like taken
Speaker 1: out of their homeland and mass or anything like that. Um.
Speaker 1: Also the kings of Ethiopia. Um, I don't know if
Speaker 1: you could say this is genealogically true, but they are.
Speaker 1: They believe they are descended directly from King Solomon. Right,
Speaker 1: that's the that's the lineage of the royal lions of Ethiopia.
Speaker 1: They are the descendants of King Solomon. So that may
Speaker 1: have that may play a role in it, but it's
Speaker 1: so Menelik himself doesn't really see himself as like a
Speaker 1: representative of this global struggle against white imperialism, but he's
Speaker 1: in that way in this battle is seen that way internationally,
Speaker 1: in a very big way. The first Afro Brazilian newspaper
Speaker 1: was named oh Menelik. The green, yellow and red Ethiopian
Speaker 1: flag was later adopted by multiple African nations when they
Speaker 1: finally threw off the colonial yoke. And of course Ottawa. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so yeah, that's why that is that, that's why that
Speaker 1: flag means. What it does is the Battle of Ada
Speaker 1: is at this time where the where Africans stopped a
Speaker 1: colonial power from from you know, facori um. And of
Speaker 1: course the Battle of Ittawa had great but much darker
Speaker 1: significance to Europeans to ferry rights quote. In some quarters
Speaker 1: in Europe, the news was received with alarm. Germany complained
Speaker 1: that England should have come to Italy's aid. General Kitchener
Speaker 1: expressed his desire to support Italy, but that the British
Speaker 1: government would not allow him to do so, and the
Speaker 1: Times of London limited in an editorial, you may be
Speaker 1: sure that from one part of Africa to the other,
Speaker 1: the defeat of Italy has already known, or we will
Speaker 1: be tomorrow that Africa has conquered Europe. This is the
Speaker 1: reason why the whole business is so serious and nothing
Speaker 1: could be more heedless than to rejoice at the defeat
Speaker 1: of the Italians. That defeat is also ours Europe. Europe.
Speaker 1: Let's let's sidebar and have a quick conversation. One smaller
Speaker 1: sized country defending itself is not conquering. And I think
Speaker 1: you know that you did a lot of conquering, you
Speaker 1: you're That's a weird way to find conquering. Is someone
Speaker 1: broke into their house and they kicked him out, Like,
Speaker 1: I don't know if the conquer is the right word.
Speaker 1: Just defeated Italy, Like, let's really get some context here, yeah, wild,
Speaker 1: So Italy gets beaten so badly. And again, one of
Speaker 1: the things that's really unique here, there are other European
Speaker 1: armies defeated in Africa. The Europeans always win. In the end,
Speaker 1: Italy basically capitulates right away. They sign a treaty with
Speaker 1: Ethiopia that officially recognizes Ethiopian independence. Obviously, of course, the
Speaker 1: fact that this happens means nothing to the other crownheads
Speaker 1: of Europe. Right they don't care that Ethiopia has been
Speaker 1: is independent that same year um or sorry not that
Speaker 1: that's nineteen o six. Britain, France and Italy meet to
Speaker 1: hold a conference to decide the fate of Ethiopia. UM.
Speaker 1: And there were no representatives of the Ethiopian government at
Speaker 1: this And during this conference, three European powers agree in
Speaker 1: essence that they will not take any further actions towards
Speaker 1: Ethiopia unless they all agree on it. So whatever happens
Speaker 1: to Ethiopia next, Britain, France and Italy agree they have
Speaker 1: to all come to an accord before doing anything. UM.
Speaker 1: So again zero recognition of Ethiopian independence by European governments,
Speaker 1: although there is a treaty with Italy, right, so they've
Speaker 1: you know, as we end part one, this is maybe
Speaker 1: the brightest spot we've ended, uh, one of our episodes
Speaker 1: on um. They've defeated the imperial power. Things are looking great.
Speaker 1: Um gonna be a real bummer in part two. I'm
Speaker 1: sorry to say it is behind the bastards. Uh. It's
Speaker 1: still a really important story in a really inspiring story,
Speaker 1: so I think it's it's worth telling, even though it's
Speaker 1: going to get a lot darker in part two. Listen.
Speaker 1: As a fantasy writer and lover a fantasy, I'm really
Speaker 1: big on pulling from monarchs of the past to create
Speaker 1: you know, modern fantasy as we've seen half of our
Speaker 1: cross you know, a Lord of the Rings. You can
Speaker 1: look at any of Georgia Martin stuff. Uh. This guy
Speaker 1: is brilliant and I really hope to pull him into
Speaker 1: some of my fantasy lit. Uh. First of all, his
Speaker 1: style is banging. Uh. I know he's fucking rad looking
Speaker 1: right Listen. Not only does he looks like a very
Speaker 1: like cool hit model and or that teacher you all
Speaker 1: had a crush on, but also all of his clothes
Speaker 1: are bomb like he's got Flago style. Uh. And I
Speaker 1: would I would just and t outsmart empires and sort
Speaker 1: of be funny in his cunningness. Like, I just feel
Speaker 1: like I would like to learn. I'm definitely gonna learn
Speaker 1: more about metal. Like he's a badass. Yeah, he's fucking rad. Um.
Speaker 1: So that's gonna do it for us here at behind
Speaker 1: the Bastards. Um until next time, which will happen Thursday,
Speaker 1: when it'll get a lot sadder. You know, go go
Speaker 1: out into the world and I don't know, um, uh,
Speaker 1: really sock it to an Italian, find an Italian and
Speaker 1: make him pay what Sophie Robert Look, they're never gonna
Speaker 1: learn if we don't all start fighting back against deadly.
Speaker 1: Give him a spicy meat, a ball of their own.
Speaker 1: That's all. I'm sac knew it was coming. Okay, we
Speaker 1: needed one more, all right, all right? Go oh yeah,
Speaker 1: I have Joel. You got you got puble doubles. Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: y'all already know me. I'm Joel Monique. Can find me
Speaker 1: all over the internet at Juan Monique. It's j O
Speaker 1: E L L E M O N I q u E.
Speaker 1: So many podcasts we come to my Twitter and you
Speaker 1: will learn about them. Hell yeah, I have a novel.
Speaker 1: It's called After the Revolution. You can find it in
Speaker 1: podcast form anywhere. Just type in After the Revolution to
Speaker 1: whatever podcast app you have. It will be there. You
Speaker 1: can also find the full text, uploaded of three new
Speaker 1: chapters every week at a t r book dot com
Speaker 1: as an e pub again a t r book dot com.
Speaker 1: You can find the book there, so check it out please. Um.
Speaker 1: You can also find it on Reddit at our slash
Speaker 1: after the Revolution. There's a fan reddit open. People are
Speaker 1: talking about it if you want to chat with people
Speaker 1: about my novel. So there you go. All right, We'll
Speaker 1: be back whenever. At some point