Speaker 1: Welcome to Behind the Bastards, the podcast that is generally
Speaker 1: started with atonal grunting. That was the language of kings.
Speaker 1: Thank you so things. Yeah, atonal grunting, that's that's the
Speaker 1: most based way to talk. Um. This is a podcast
Speaker 1: about bad people. Tell you all about them, such and such, etcetera.
Speaker 1: I'm back with my guest producer, Joel Monique. Joel say
Speaker 1: hello to the people. Hello people, Thank you, Thank you Joel,
Speaker 1: thank you for saying hello to the people, Juel. In
Speaker 1: part one, we talked about Ethiopia a lot, and we
Speaker 1: talked about Italy a lot, specifically Italy, as they are
Speaker 1: the bastards of Ethiopia's recent history. UM. And Part one
Speaker 1: ended on a pretty good note. We gotta we got
Speaker 1: a pretty rad king, Menelik, who did do some outsmart
Speaker 1: some colonizers and beat them in a big war. UM.
Speaker 1: And now part two, things are about to be a
Speaker 1: lot less pleasant. So uh, strap in, UM, take some
Speaker 1: take some take some happy pills or some sad pills.
Speaker 1: Just take some pills, whatever kind of pills you like
Speaker 1: to take. Take a couple of pills and let's continue
Speaker 1: the story. I'm gonna have somemins is that I yeah,
Speaker 1: popped an edible right before we started the second recording,
Speaker 1: So I'm let's do this. Sorry about some bad people.
Speaker 1: So the disastrous Italian defeated Adwa was one of the
Speaker 1: problem was the largest loss of European lives during the
Speaker 1: Scramble for Africa. It was such a disaster that the
Speaker 1: government of Italy under Francesco cripsy Are crispy uh collapsed
Speaker 1: as soon as the news was delivered. Many anti colonialist
Speaker 1: Italians celebrated the defeat. So again there's an Italian left
Speaker 1: wing that's like, we shouldn't be doing colonizing, you know,
Speaker 1: it's it's it's bad uh. And they celebrate the fact
Speaker 1: that their army gets wiped out. In Ottawa, students from
Speaker 1: the University of Rome marched through the streets of Rome
Speaker 1: chanting Viva menelik. So there's a lot of like in
Speaker 1: the Italian support for this Athiopian king who's like, beat
Speaker 1: their army. Now, this is a large part of why
Speaker 1: the Battle of Adwa was a lasting success, right, because
Speaker 1: you have other cases, as we talked about, where Africans
Speaker 1: will beat a European army but it doesn't last. Right.
Speaker 1: The Europeans always come back. Um. The Battle of Attwa
Speaker 1: is a lasting success um. And the reason why is
Speaker 1: because of the path. There's like, you know, there's this
Speaker 1: anti Italian, anti colonial movement, right, and they use the
Speaker 1: Battle of Attwa and this disaster to force the government out.
Speaker 1: And it's kind of like, I see this. We shouldn't
Speaker 1: be sucking around there. Look at what you get from that.
Speaker 1: It's you lose all your money, you lose this army.
Speaker 1: It's just just stupid and it's bad now. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: Italy did have in this period a pretty potent anti
Speaker 1: colonial movement um, which is why they're colonizing. Was kind
Speaker 1: of half asked. That's another part of it is that
Speaker 1: like they're not of one mind about this. A lot
Speaker 1: of Italians like this is a dumb thing to do, um.
Speaker 1: And part of why is because a lot of Italians
Speaker 1: there were people like living Italians who had remember who
Speaker 1: remembered or had relatives who remembered when a big chunk
Speaker 1: of Italy was occupied by Austria. Um. It's kind of
Speaker 1: the same thing you see with the Irish. Right. When
Speaker 1: you've got a European people who endure some version of colonization, themselves.
Speaker 1: They often expressed sympathy with other people and during the
Speaker 1: same thing. So there's there's an element of that in
Speaker 1: in this kind of Italian anti colonial movement to at
Speaker 1: this time like he existed, it was there. It's why
Speaker 1: football games the Irish bring out Palestinian flags, you know.
Speaker 1: So in the immediate wake of Adua, the Italian government
Speaker 1: did something that no European power, other European power did
Speaker 1: in Africa. They admitted defeat. Italy remained a colonial nation,
Speaker 1: but calling it a power would be a little bit much.
Speaker 1: It hung on to some to its East African possessions
Speaker 1: for the next decade change. Though. In the years leading
Speaker 1: up to World War One, the international situations fell into
Speaker 1: a relatively stable holding pattern. The Czars of Russia acted
Speaker 1: alongside France to protect their interests in Stymy the British Empire.
Speaker 1: Italy meanwhile lined up on the side of London. Right,
Speaker 1: So you have these blocks kind of forming uh the
Speaker 1: Tsars are Russia and France are on one side, Italy
Speaker 1: and UH and in England are on another. And in
Speaker 1: time the Italians hash out a crude bargain um with
Speaker 1: with the British. Italy will support British ambitions in Northeast Africa.
Speaker 1: In an exchange, the British would support the Italian dream
Speaker 1: of a colony in what is now Libya. And this
Speaker 1: is actually very fascinating little bit of a digression. But
Speaker 1: in I think nineteen eleven and nineteen twelve, Italy invades Libya,
Speaker 1: which is an Ottoman possession, um and this is actually
Speaker 1: the first this war, this little war that Italy fights
Speaker 1: in Libya includes the first use of an airplane for
Speaker 1: a scouting mission in a military conflict, and the first
Speaker 1: use of an airplane to bomb enemy soldiers in the
Speaker 1: history of warfare, and the first example of an airplane
Speaker 1: shot down in the history of warfare by rights. UM.
Speaker 1: So it's very actually kind of an important little war
Speaker 1: and not really much talked about. And the Italians technically win. Um.
Speaker 1: They take basically the chunk of the Libyan coast, but
Speaker 1: they can't get off the coast. Right, they're kind of
Speaker 1: harried constantly by this insurgency. It doesn't go great for them.
Speaker 1: They do kind of have a colony and Liby as
Speaker 1: a result of this UM. Rome then opposed France and Russia. Right,
Speaker 1: so Rome is on the side of the British, France
Speaker 1: and Russia on another side. And there's a bunch of
Speaker 1: little diplomatic scuffles prior to World War One which fox
Speaker 1: absolutely everything up right, everything that had been kind of
Speaker 1: the standard in European diplomacy up until World War One.
Speaker 1: A lot of that gets thrown out the window, and
Speaker 1: very suddenly England and France are on the same side
Speaker 1: along with Russia, and they're all piste off at Germany
Speaker 1: because you know, the Germans are scary sons of bitches
Speaker 1: when they on paper by treaty, Italy should have backed
Speaker 1: Germany in this war, because Italy had a treaty with Germany.
Speaker 1: But the Italians are an untrustworthy people, and they switched
Speaker 1: sides fairly early on and wind up spending the war
Speaker 1: sending their teenagers off to die in the Alps fighting
Speaker 1: Austria um, which also doesn't go well to them world.
Speaker 1: So the British lose about seven and fifty thousand men
Speaker 1: killed in World War One, if I'm remembering correctly. The
Speaker 1: Italians it's about six and fifty thousand people killed, and
Speaker 1: they're in the war for a year less um like.
Speaker 1: It goes bad for Italy. Italians fighting not bad at fighting,
Speaker 1: real bad at war um. And they spend all of
Speaker 1: World War One Italy is basically standing in the same
Speaker 1: chunk of frigid mountains getting like murdering Austrians back up,
Speaker 1: and the Austrians aren't much better at war Like, they
Speaker 1: both just kind of hang around in the same positions
Speaker 1: the whole war, murdering each other in mass It's horrible.
Speaker 1: Some of the worst fighting in the entire war is
Speaker 1: these these Alpine battles, just real nightmare fighting because there's
Speaker 1: a lot of Italian French warfare up there. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: but it's like even worse than normal trench warfare because
Speaker 1: you're like carved into the ice in these trenches, freezing
Speaker 1: all the time, and when bombs explode, they said, ice
Speaker 1: shards shrapneling into these bodies. It's a horrible, horrible war
Speaker 1: up in the alps um one of the worst theaters
Speaker 1: of a really shitty war. Um. And you know, this
Speaker 1: pisss off a lot of Italians because there was no
Speaker 1: reason Italy needed to be involved in World War One.
Speaker 1: They wanted to get ship right, the Italians wanted more land,
Speaker 1: they wanted the spoils of war, so they kind of backed,
Speaker 1: you know, the initially backed the Germans but then switched
Speaker 1: and back the Allies um and the World War One,
Speaker 1: they get very little as a result of this. They
Speaker 1: lose a lot of young men and they achieved almost
Speaker 1: nothing militarily. When the war ended, though, Italy was kind
Speaker 1: of optimistic because they had backed the winning side and
Speaker 1: there was a widespread hope that this would finally bring
Speaker 1: them the colonial possessions they had so long coveted. But
Speaker 1: Britain and France were like, hell o, l no, I
Speaker 1: feel like absolutely not, You're not getting shit, and Italy
Speaker 1: gets kind of screwed out of the spoil the spoils
Speaker 1: of war in their view right, a lot of Italians
Speaker 1: feel like we got kind of sucked over by our
Speaker 1: allies in this. They didn't get much. Now. This resentment
Speaker 1: was combined with economic contraction and a lower birth rate,
Speaker 1: which all together helped to fuel a general surge in
Speaker 1: right wing resentiment that came to dominate Italian politics. In
Speaker 1: n two, Bnito Mussolini took power after his stupid March
Speaker 1: on Rome. Bullshit. The fascists are now in charge after
Speaker 1: Nino uh, and they, you know, murder a bunch of
Speaker 1: people on the left and suppress you know, all resistance
Speaker 1: to their movement. Yeada YadA, basic fascist stuff. Now these
Speaker 1: fascists or the leftists that these fascists are murdering also
Speaker 1: often times are the kind of anti colonialist guys who
Speaker 1: had like marched the Rome after Ottawa. So when Mussolini
Speaker 1: comes to power, they stamp out not just the left,
Speaker 1: but this anti colonial movement in Italian politics. Mussolini was
Speaker 1: very pro colony. His stated goal was to more or
Speaker 1: less recreate the Roman Empire and make the Mediterranean and
Speaker 1: Italian ache again. Yeah, he wanted to make Italy great again. Right. So,
Speaker 1: and for Italians in Romans, like during Roman we basically
Speaker 1: say the Mediterranean is an Italian lake, right, We're so
Speaker 1: powerful that like the entire Mediterranean is our lake because
Speaker 1: we own everything around it, which they did, and that's
Speaker 1: kind of the dream for Mussolini, right. So that so
Speaker 1: obviously that includes you got to get all in North
Speaker 1: Africa for that ship, or at least a lot of it, right,
Speaker 1: you want Africa because that's like that's traditionally was Rome's possession. Um.
Speaker 1: So Mussolini wants all this ship um and his desire
Speaker 1: to you know as a result kind of if you
Speaker 1: want to take North Africa in a big chunk of
Speaker 1: the Middle East and make it Italian territory, you probably
Speaker 1: the first step towards achieving this is going to be
Speaker 1: to conquer Ethiopia. Um. Now, this isn't because Ethiopia is
Speaker 1: the smartest strategic place to start, or because there's a
Speaker 1: lot of money and conquering Ethiopia, And in fact, there
Speaker 1: were a lot of very real questions about whether or
Speaker 1: not conquering Ethiopia could possibly be worth the money required
Speaker 1: to do the job. This was about pride. The Italians
Speaker 1: had suffered the greatest defeat of any imperial power in
Speaker 1: Africa and they had to wipe away the stain of defeat.
Speaker 1: But never your military like strategic plan on pride that
Speaker 1: should not be No, no, it really never works out
Speaker 1: very well. Um yeah, I mean there's this happens all
Speaker 1: throughout history. One of the funniest things to me is
Speaker 1: um in Afghanistan, the furthest northern position of US troops
Speaker 1: in Afghanistan was, and I believe it was the Corengal Valley.
Speaker 1: And the specific position they picked was chosen because it
Speaker 1: was something I think it was just like a hundred
Speaker 1: meters or so, but it was. But it was they
Speaker 1: picked it because it was a little bit further north
Speaker 1: than the British had ever gotten when they took Afghanistan.
Speaker 1: And that's why we put a unit there, because we're like, well,
Speaker 1: we gotta go a little bit further than the last guys. Um.
Speaker 1: And you saw how well that worked for us, right.
Speaker 1: Not an intelligent plan, oh boy, yeah. Um. So there's
Speaker 1: more to it, though than just pride wiping away the
Speaker 1: stain of defeat. And this is something I've read a
Speaker 1: lot of different explanations about why this Italian invasion of
Speaker 1: Ethiopia happens, and this fact is missed in most of
Speaker 1: the different analyzes I've read. Um. And it's the fact
Speaker 1: that Benito Mussolini was terrified of the Japanese UM. After
Speaker 1: World War One, Japan became one of the surprise great
Speaker 1: powers of the world. Right, they're seen as this kind
Speaker 1: of like backwards Asian people who aren't as you know,
Speaker 1: not nearly as good as white people. Will call itize
Speaker 1: them one day, right, then they beat they destroy the
Speaker 1: Russian navy in nineteen o five um. And then during
Speaker 1: World War One they take a bunch of German possessions
Speaker 1: um that are like like islands and ship that the
Speaker 1: Germans have in Asia. Um. And suddenly, kind of by
Speaker 1: the time World War One end is Japan is becoming
Speaker 1: a major world power um. And in the early nineteen thirties,
Speaker 1: Japan starts making trade deals with Ethiopia. These mostly focused
Speaker 1: around agricultural land, and they were part of a broader
Speaker 1: Japanese strategy of trying to free themselves from dependence on
Speaker 1: Western supplies and trade. After nineteen thirty one, this was
Speaker 1: a particularly pressing matter for Japan. That year, they invaded Manchuria,
Speaker 1: otherwise known as a huge chunk of coastal China and
Speaker 1: Korea significantly larger than Japan. Now, the invasion of Mancheria
Speaker 1: could rightly be viewed as Japan doing what they had
Speaker 1: to do to colonized China, just like Europe had colonized Africa. Right,
Speaker 1: that's kind of how Japan is looking at it, certainly
Speaker 1: like you guys are doing this over here, We're gonna
Speaker 1: do this over here. Um. Now. The way they justified
Speaker 1: the start of this invasion of man Cheria, Japan basically
Speaker 1: carries out a false flag incident to make it look like, oh,
Speaker 1: we've been attacked, now we have to attack man Cheria
Speaker 1: UM and they claimed that this, you know, so they
Speaker 1: could claim it was a defensive war. Of course, immediately
Speaker 1: they went beyond anything you could justify as defense. They
Speaker 1: conquer all of Korea and a bunch of the coast
Speaker 1: of China. Besides, this was in massive violation of the
Speaker 1: rules of the League of Nations, of which Japan was
Speaker 1: a member. Now, the League was extremely new at this point, right,
Speaker 1: the League of Nations a precursor to the United Nations.
Speaker 1: It's established after World War One. UM, and the League
Speaker 1: had been created due in large part to Woodrow Wilson.
Speaker 1: He really thinks this is going to stop the next
Speaker 1: Great War from breaking out. He's a huge backer of
Speaker 1: the League of Nation. He lays out the points by which,
Speaker 1: you know, the kind of its guiding principles, and he
Speaker 1: envisioned it as a global governing body and to sort
Speaker 1: out disagreements and stop another world war from breaking out. Uh.
Speaker 1: And so a lot of the League's rules had to
Speaker 1: do with when nations could and could not go to war.
Speaker 1: When Japan invaded China, pleaded with the League of Nations
Speaker 1: to help them force Japan out. The League duly voted
Speaker 1: that Japan's actions had been illegal. They ordered it to
Speaker 1: leave Manchuria in February of nineteen thirty three. Japan does
Speaker 1: not do this, They're like, make us basically, like what
Speaker 1: are you gonna Are you gonna come all the way
Speaker 1: over to my house? You know? Wow? Wow. Russia just
Speaker 1: tried to make us do something in Asia, and you
Speaker 1: know what happened. They all wound up on the bottom
Speaker 1: of the fucking sea. So come on, try your ship.
Speaker 1: Like that's basically Japan's attitude. Um And instead, instead of
Speaker 1: doing what the League tells them, Japan and leaves the
Speaker 1: League of Nations. And this the League of Nations has
Speaker 1: kind of left scratching their heads and trying to figure
Speaker 1: out what do you do when a nation? Now that
Speaker 1: international law is a thing, what do you do if
Speaker 1: a nation won't obey international law? So a number of
Speaker 1: League states, Yeah, it's a big question, right, this is
Speaker 1: the first time anyone had ever really tried to do
Speaker 1: this in an organized way. Um So, a number of
Speaker 1: League states sever trade ties with Japan, which did hurt,
Speaker 1: but Japan was already gripped by a depression at this point,
Speaker 1: and they actually invaded man Charia to gain access to
Speaker 1: natural resources, and so they were like, yeah, I mean
Speaker 1: the severing of trade ties hurts, but we were already hurting,
Speaker 1: and we're going to benefit more by taking Mancharia than
Speaker 1: we will by trading with Europe. Right, so they don't
Speaker 1: stop as a result of this. Now, this might have
Speaker 1: worked if the League had agreed on like unified sanctions,
Speaker 1: if the whole global community had imposed sanctions on Japan,
Speaker 1: it might have done something. But they didn't. They number
Speaker 1: when they couldn't come to an agreement. A lot of
Speaker 1: A big part of this, by the way, is that
Speaker 1: um I just said Woodrow Wilson is why we have
Speaker 1: a league, had a league of nations, the US never joins,
Speaker 1: Like because we're the United States, we didn't want to
Speaker 1: give up any sovereigntyre there was this whole big fight politically,
Speaker 1: but we never joined. So Number one, any sort of
Speaker 1: sanctions wouldn't have included the United States, which was a
Speaker 1: big trading partner of Japan. We gave them a lot
Speaker 1: of ship they needed, so that meant that it didn't
Speaker 1: have any teeth. But also the League couldn't agree to
Speaker 1: go after unified sanctions on Japan anyway. Um, And a
Speaker 1: big part of why is because a lot of the
Speaker 1: heads of Europe at the time didn't have a problem
Speaker 1: with Japan taking over China because they saw what Japan
Speaker 1: was doing to China is like what we're doing in Africa.
Speaker 1: Why would we have an issue with this? Started making
Speaker 1: laws against them, and those laws are going to govern
Speaker 1: us and that, yeah, exactly like I don't want anyone
Speaker 1: to look too hard at what I'm doing here yet perfect. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And to kind of embody that view, I want to
Speaker 1: quote from a letter by some guy who's no ship.
Speaker 1: Real title was the Master of Peter House at Cambridge University.
Speaker 1: Because everything, everything the British do sounds ridiculous. And this
Speaker 1: is a letter the Master of the Peter House sent
Speaker 1: to the British Foreign Secretary about what was happening in Mancheria.
Speaker 1: I know this sounds all wrong, perhaps immoral, when Japan
Speaker 1: is flouting the League of Nations, But number one, she
Speaker 1: was greatly provoked. Number two she must ere long expand
Speaker 1: somewhere for goodness sake, let or rather encourage her to
Speaker 1: do so they're instead of Australia. And three her control
Speaker 1: of Manchuria means a real block against communist aggression. She
Speaker 1: could she could go after the place we send our prisoners.
Speaker 1: No no, yeah, yeah, we don't want them to take Australia.
Speaker 1: And also its fuck the communists. Yeah, why we have
Speaker 1: a problem with this. In the end, the League failed
Speaker 1: to even pass a ban on weapons sales to Japan. Um. Now, yeah,
Speaker 1: so they don't do shit. Um so the US of
Speaker 1: course keeps selling japan fueling bullets. League of Nations And
Speaker 1: a big influence of like what happens here with the
Speaker 1: League is that this is their first major test, like
Speaker 1: the Mancharia issue, and they fail badly. Right, so not
Speaker 1: off to a great start at the League of Nations.
Speaker 1: They failed to come to completely in this. So the
Speaker 1: same year this all comes to a head in nineteen
Speaker 1: thirty three, is that they invade In thirty one. Thirty
Speaker 1: three is when the big fight in the League of
Speaker 1: Nations happened. So that same year thirty three, the Japanese
Speaker 1: starts sniffing around Ethiopia. Um, even though they had kind
Speaker 1: of one in Mancharia. You know, the diplomatic ship had
Speaker 1: gone as well as possible for them. They were wary
Speaker 1: of the fact that their future plans for expansion in
Speaker 1: Asia would provoke a more concerted response from the international communities.
Speaker 1: They let us get away with Mancharia, but we're gonna
Speaker 1: take more China, like we're going to conquer more Land. Eventually,
Speaker 1: they might carry out a unified set of sanctions, right,
Speaker 1: and that's going to be a problem for us because
Speaker 1: Japan doesn't have ship for natural resources, right. That's like
Speaker 1: Japan's constant. That's why they're invading China is they need
Speaker 1: they need, they need stuff. It's the same thing the
Speaker 1: British have, right, So the British actually have UM. So
Speaker 1: they're looking for ways to make themselves more independent of
Speaker 1: European resources in case mass sanctions do come down. Ethiopia.
Speaker 1: Trade with the Ethiopia is a part of this because
Speaker 1: they see Ethiopia is the place where they can grow
Speaker 1: ship to reduce their dependence on foreign countries UM. And
Speaker 1: the agreements between Japan and Ethiopia are never much more
Speaker 1: than a set of like kind of modest trade agreements.
Speaker 1: But the fact that this starts terrifies Europe And it's
Speaker 1: because Europeans are racist as hell. See Ethiopia. I don't
Speaker 1: know if you're aware of this. Not a white country, right,
Speaker 1: but they successfully yeah, famously not a white country. Ethiopia
Speaker 1: Japan also famously not white people. Both of these non
Speaker 1: white countries had beaten white nations in wars. So the
Speaker 1: fact that they're talking with each other scares the white
Speaker 1: people really bad. They're Maryland or not. I'm sorry, they're
Speaker 1: Manson straight out of prison when he sees the Black
Speaker 1: Panthers and it's like, what the fuck these guys get guns?
Speaker 1: Were done for it, We are done for God. Start
Speaker 1: killing celebrities. It's a problem. Yeah, yeah, yea, yes they yea.
Speaker 1: Europe goes full Manson on this, and well you know
Speaker 1: who else will go full Manson? Oh no, I hope
Speaker 1: it's not your advertiser. Yes, yes, we are actually supported
Speaker 1: by Charles Manson's hope. Incredible that the show has been
Speaker 1: on the air for soul. I am amazed and I
Speaker 1: love it. I love that belly steeping here we The
Speaker 1: primary product we sell is uh, that weird album Manson
Speaker 1: put out. That's that's our That's our only backer is
Speaker 1: Charles Manson's music. So My God Behind the Bastards is
Speaker 1: supported by Charles Manson's music and of course, the Uni
Speaker 1: Bomber Manifesto, which you can find on our T Public
Speaker 1: store printed on T shirts. So let's go check both
Speaker 1: those out. Here's some ads. Ah, we're back, We're back,
Speaker 1: and I'm just enjoying wearing my new Industrial Society and
Speaker 1: its consequences have been a disaster for the Human Race shirt,
Speaker 1: which you can get in URT public Store courtesy of
Speaker 1: friend of the Pod uncle Ted. Um, Jesus, what, Sophie,
Speaker 1: It's fine, it's fine. Look, I know he doesn't have
Speaker 1: abs as hot as Koresh did. They didn't give him
Speaker 1: that model word what those For those listeners that have
Speaker 1: been playing the behind the Bastard's bingo, there's your Koresh.
Speaker 1: God damn it, you get a Koresh and and uncle Ted.
Speaker 1: This is a real Bonanza episode. I mean, if you
Speaker 1: if your board technically says Waco, I think that counts.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, I mean we're kind of I mean, you know,
Speaker 1: poison gas is used in this episode and was used
Speaker 1: on those children in that basement at Waco. So yeah, absolutely, yeah,
Speaker 1: definitely it's going to get real dark. Look one of
Speaker 1: those memes where it's the two hands meeting in the
Speaker 1: middle and it's like the FBI and the colonial Italian militaries,
Speaker 1: and then the middle is poison gas on children. That's
Speaker 1: the only meme you like. You bring it up all
Speaker 1: the time. It's effective, I do is my favorite meme. Um.
Speaker 1: All right, So the legal nations, you know, fox up
Speaker 1: Japan and Etho, we start talking. It just scares all
Speaker 1: of the white people because you've got these two non
Speaker 1: white nations who have beat white nations and military conflicts.
Speaker 1: Racists see this as a terrifying example of racial solidarity
Speaker 1: between two powerful colored people's. Italy's under Secretary of Colonies,
Speaker 1: Alessandro Asna claimed the birthrate, energy, and spirit of sacrifice
Speaker 1: of the Japanese, the imperious necessity for always seeking new markets,
Speaker 1: all these combined to make Japan a very great danger
Speaker 1: for Europe. The more one restrains the Japanese expansion in
Speaker 1: the East, the more she will try to expand another
Speaker 1: sectors and another continents, as is proved already by the
Speaker 1: japan activity in Ethiopia. To draw the Dark Continent into
Speaker 1: Japan's orbit would deprive Europe of the possibility of using
Speaker 1: Africa for the defense of her civilization. Yeah, just a
Speaker 1: lot going on there. It's just a lot happening gymnastics.
Speaker 1: Just we won't be able to use this huge continent
Speaker 1: with multiple multiple countries tens of millions of people are
Speaker 1: very tiny island. From that tiny island, you might do
Speaker 1: the same thing we're doing. Oh no, they might steal
Speaker 1: Africa fasta racism bers. Yeah, yeah, you might say that
Speaker 1: Italian foreign minister thought Japan was too spicy a meat
Speaker 1: a ball. God, I gotta get a big card. Very angry,
Speaker 1: very angry, as are all the Italian listeners. But angry,
Speaker 1: but kind of proud because you got it in there,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean, Like I'm like, he did
Speaker 1: it again, but also like, yeah, good job. At the
Speaker 1: same time, you know, very conflicted. I appreciate I'm always
Speaker 1: trying to find spicy meat a balls. The second time
Speaker 1: it was not necessary continue. So while all this is
Speaker 1: going on with Japan, right, Mussolini is paying attention. Um
Speaker 1: so he watches nineteen thirty one is Japan invades Mancharia.
Speaker 1: In my nineteen thirty two, it had become clear that
Speaker 1: funk all was going to be done about it. And
Speaker 1: again the Italians are scared of the Japanese. They're scared
Speaker 1: of Japanese dominance. They don't like that Italy that that
Speaker 1: Japan is talking to Ethiopia, but they also are paying
Speaker 1: attention to how Japan gets away with conquering Mancharia, and
Speaker 1: they're like, well, fuck, we could probably do the same
Speaker 1: thing with Ethiopia, and I bet the League Nations isn't
Speaker 1: going to do shit, right, That's also what he's thinking.
Speaker 1: So Mussolini in thirty two sends a dude to Ritrea
Speaker 1: to see if it would be an acceptable base of
Speaker 1: operations for an invasion. Uch and his advisers concluded that
Speaker 1: an invasion would need to be carried out before nineteen
Speaker 1: thirty six because of the Tripartite agreement Italy had signed
Speaker 1: with France and England back in eight though, he would
Speaker 1: need to obtain the consent of his co imperialists before
Speaker 1: doing anything, right, So he does have. He thinks he can,
Speaker 1: he knows he can, He knows that the League of
Speaker 1: Nations won't stop him as long as he works things
Speaker 1: out with Italy and France, with France and England first, right,
Speaker 1: because that does matter. You don't want to funk over
Speaker 1: France and England if you're Italy, like especially now that's
Speaker 1: would be best for Italy. Okay, got it. Yeah, not
Speaker 1: gonna go well for you. They actually are good at things, um,
Speaker 1: so that could be really frightening for Italy. Yeah, they
Speaker 1: know how to do wars. Gonna laugh. So one thing
Speaker 1: that complicated matters was the fact that as soon as
Speaker 1: it had become a thing, Ethi, as soon as the
Speaker 1: League of Nations had become a thing, because Ethiopi has
Speaker 1: been a thing for three thousand years, as soon as
Speaker 1: the League of Nations became a thing, Ethiopia made a
Speaker 1: point to join it. Um. And this was a decision
Speaker 1: made by the new Emperor of Ethiopia, Menelik is dead
Speaker 1: by this point a fellow who's probably heard of named
Speaker 1: Highly Selassie um, and Selassie seems to have been a
Speaker 1: true believer in the League of Nations. And before we
Speaker 1: get into that, we should probably have another digression, because
Speaker 1: we should talk about Highly Selassie more than we generally
Speaker 1: do for heads of state and episodes like this, because
Speaker 1: he's a really interesting guy. Um, he's also an important guy.
Speaker 1: Highly was born ross Tafari, which is again where the
Speaker 1: name Rastafarianism comes right after Yeah, and then Highly Selassie.
Speaker 1: When you become emperor, you take on a different name. Right,
Speaker 1: that's kind of like a pope, you know, like Pope
Speaker 1: Benedict's real name wasn't BENEDICTI had another name. He became
Speaker 1: the pope, they get a name. Rastafari was the name
Speaker 1: this guy was born with, and he became highly Selassie.
Speaker 1: Now Ross is actually not his name. Ross is his title.
Speaker 1: Ross is an amhrek term, and it's equivalent to duke
Speaker 1: or lord. Because again, Ethiopia is a very kind of
Speaker 1: feudal mon arcic society. So any Ross could become the
Speaker 1: emperor if ship broke right for them. Right when I
Speaker 1: when we talk about how there's these different nobles who
Speaker 1: are kind of like fighting for dominance, these are all
Speaker 1: Ross's basically. Um. So, when Ross Stafari was young in
Speaker 1: nineteen o six, Emperor Menelik brought him to his court
Speaker 1: to be a gentleman in waiting, and as best as
Speaker 1: I can tell, this was a mix of the you know,
Speaker 1: keep your friends close and your enemies closer kind of thinking.
Speaker 1: Because he's like, this kid is smart. I want to
Speaker 1: keep an eye on him. Right, he's got any designs,
Speaker 1: um But It's also the way Ethiopian statecraft worked. The
Speaker 1: emperor would surround himself with high born men and train
Speaker 1: them up so that they could govern the country and
Speaker 1: so that you know, you could develop a sense of trust. Right,
Speaker 1: that's how you that's how you work things in a monarchy.
Speaker 1: And for like an insulary society that has been able
Speaker 1: to like set off any enemy, any enemy invasion for
Speaker 1: quite some time, it makes sense that like everybody would
Speaker 1: sort of want to be of the same mind, especially
Speaker 1: now that they're facing so many enemies. Yeah. Now, when
Speaker 1: Ross was sixteen, he's given his first major responsibility as
Speaker 1: a local governor. UM. He was also still in school,
Speaker 1: so this was basically a learn on the job sort
Speaker 1: of situation. But the singling a sizable chunk. Yeah, he's
Speaker 1: sixteen and he becomes a governor, and he's still in school,
Speaker 1: so like in between classes he's governing you know, a
Speaker 1: sizeable chunk of Ethiopia. Um. During this time, he learned
Speaker 1: the important lessons he would need to learn in order
Speaker 1: to rule. Mainly, he learned how to bribe other nobles
Speaker 1: and government officials. He made connections through the country's ruling elite.
Speaker 1: H and when Emperor Menelik started stroking out. The Emperor's
Speaker 1: warrior wife, tATu took up more responsibilities, and some other
Speaker 1: nobles schemed to take her down. Ross was in a
Speaker 1: pretty powerful position at this point, and so these nobles
Speaker 1: who want to take down the empress go to him
Speaker 1: and he refuses to back their plot um. But also
Speaker 1: when the plot is found out, he refuses to knark
Speaker 1: on the conspirators. So he's kind of playing both sides here.
Speaker 1: He's like, I'm not going to help you overthrow the empress,
Speaker 1: but I'm not going to sell you out. Listen just
Speaker 1: launched a news series of gossip Girl, and I feel
Speaker 1: like this is the direction you need to take it.
Speaker 1: I want to see this origin of gossip Girl. They're
Speaker 1: in high school, but they're also governors and they're bribing
Speaker 1: people and they're taking over lance. They are powerful bitches.
Speaker 1: Yeah I would. I'm this definitely like this whole period. Yeah,
Speaker 1: there ought to be a show about it. It's really interesting. So,
Speaker 1: as this demonstrates, Rastafari was good at the sort of
Speaker 1: politicking that you need to be good at if you
Speaker 1: want to become the king of Kings of Ethiopia. He
Speaker 1: became a provincial governor next, and he proved himself a
Speaker 1: man of the people. His first big duty was he
Speaker 1: reformed the tax system to take the tax burden off
Speaker 1: of poor peasants, which is good. He marries into the
Speaker 1: royal family. He becomes friends with the crown Prince, and
Speaker 1: when Menelik dies, the Crown Prince becomes emperors a Menelik's son.
Speaker 1: But this kid, Yasu is It's bad. Emperor Yasu's reign
Speaker 1: does not go well. Um. So the first thing Emperor
Speaker 1: Yasu does is he in immediately kicks the old Empress
Speaker 1: out of the palace. Then he makes a baffling decision
Speaker 1: to curry favor from the country's Muslim population at the
Speaker 1: expense of the Christian population, which is a really weird
Speaker 1: move since Ethiopia is more Christian than Muslim. It's a
Speaker 1: very strange decision that he makes. I'm already predicting a
Speaker 1: divide of the people who are helped by one man
Speaker 1: via taxes and who shunned by the other via religion. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it doesn't. It proves he's not very good at being
Speaker 1: the emperor. Is the short of Emperor Yasu's reign. Um
Speaker 1: During the Great War he makes the questionable call to
Speaker 1: side with Germany and Turkey. Uh. Britain in France put
Speaker 1: an arms. Yeah, not a great decision. Britain and France
Speaker 1: put an arms embargo on Ethiopia as a result of this,
Speaker 1: and this terrifies the ruling class in Ethiopia because if
Speaker 1: they can't buy guns, any European country can come in
Speaker 1: and succeed where Italy has failed. Right, So a lot
Speaker 1: of people are angry at Emperor Yasu Um by the
Speaker 1: time you know what, World War one shakes out, So
Speaker 1: because you know, unhappiness that this guy at the emperor
Speaker 1: builds and building builds, and eventually the Ethiopians have themselves
Speaker 1: a little war Um and Rastafari turns on Yasu and
Speaker 1: sends an army and to beat him uh, and he
Speaker 1: basically forces Yasu off of the throne, and he gives
Speaker 1: the throne to Menelik's daughter, who becomes the empress next
Speaker 1: and she makes Ross the regent. So the regent does
Speaker 1: all the stuff a king does, but he's not the king, right,
Speaker 1: it's somebody it's the actual sovereign says, you do the
Speaker 1: king's stuff, I'll be a figurehead basically, so Rastafari isn't
Speaker 1: the emperor now, but he's the regent and he's acting
Speaker 1: as the emperor. The Empress is like, she's very Christian,
Speaker 1: she's very religious. She doesn't really do much other than
Speaker 1: like religious stuff, and she doesn't want to so she's like,
Speaker 1: you take you, you handle the rest um. So while
Speaker 1: the Empress is the figurehead, Rastafari centralizes power behind the
Speaker 1: scenes and starts sending loyal young men abroad to get
Speaker 1: educated and then come back to help him rule, right,
Speaker 1: which is very smart. He's like, want, I'm gonna send you,
Speaker 1: guess to Europe and a send you wherever you can
Speaker 1: go to learn state craft. So that because I'm going
Speaker 1: to be the emperor soon and I want I want
Speaker 1: a deep bench and deep motherfucker's you know what they're doing.
Speaker 1: So when World War One ends, Rastafari sends his congratulations
Speaker 1: to Woodrow Wilson and furthermore expresses Ethiopia's sincere willingness to
Speaker 1: join the League of Nations. Now. The fact that this
Speaker 1: thing is the lead of Nations becoming a thing and
Speaker 1: the fact that a black nation might want to join
Speaker 1: the Community of Nations was extremely controversial among the leaders
Speaker 1: of the European nations who are all howling bigots, just
Speaker 1: just however racist you're thinking, like twice that racist, it's like,
Speaker 1: and that's the least racist of them. Yeah. Uh, sometimes
Speaker 1: racism looks like caricature, but it's you're actually looking at
Speaker 1: racism and it's baffling. Yeah, they are real racist. Um,
Speaker 1: so they're not happy with this idea um. And so
Speaker 1: for several years, Rastafari campaigns for E e Oopia's membership
Speaker 1: in the League, without success. When they applied in nineteen three,
Speaker 1: England turned them down on the basis that Ethiopia still
Speaker 1: allowed slavery, which is true. Ethiopia was one of the
Speaker 1: latest nations to have slavery codified in law. Now, I
Speaker 1: should note that while this is a very valid criticism
Speaker 1: of the Ethiopian state, slavery is always a bad thing.
Speaker 1: The British ambassador in Ethiopia also owned slaves. So it's
Speaker 1: a little bit rich there. Wait wait wine, quite a
Speaker 1: goddamn minute. It's like, and I know a lot of
Speaker 1: Brits like profited off of slave labor after and and
Speaker 1: then shutting in America still having slaves. The entire Industrial
Speaker 1: Revolution does not happen without slave cotton, like even all
Speaker 1: of Europe's like, yeah, I have the goal, I want
Speaker 1: to say, but they also just were not allowing themselves
Speaker 1: to be checked by anyone, So I get it. Unlimited's
Speaker 1: gonna read some CD movement. A huge justification for British
Speaker 1: land grabs in Africa throughout the entire period where they're
Speaker 1: taking Africa is we're ending slavery. That's why we have
Speaker 1: to go into these different countries and because we have
Speaker 1: to stop slavery, you know, like they justify a lot
Speaker 1: of fucked up ship that way. There are no different
Speaker 1: from the North of America. So I get it. No,
Speaker 1: everybody's everybody's terrible. I mean everyone's always terrible. That's history, baby.
Speaker 1: So anyway, the cause of Ethiopian membership in the League
Speaker 1: of Nations seemed hopeless by this point. But then when
Speaker 1: all seemed lost, a hero appeared. Do you want to
Speaker 1: guess who this hero's name is? This? This this good
Speaker 1: man who went to bat for Ethiopia joining the League
Speaker 1: of Nations. I'm afraid but is it Hitler? No? But
Speaker 1: it is Mussolini. Yeah, uh yeah. So in Mussolini's Italy
Speaker 1: officially sponsored Ethiopia's request for membership in the League of Nations.
Speaker 1: Now this seems baffling because number one, Mussolini definitely wants
Speaker 1: to beat Ethiopia in a war. Um. He hates Ethiopia
Speaker 1: because they embarrassed his country um. And he was on
Speaker 1: record as having said Ethiopia absolutely should not be a
Speaker 1: member of the League. However, he changes his mind because
Speaker 1: Britain and France are split on the matter of Ethiopian membership.
Speaker 1: The French supported Ethiopia joining the League of Nations, which
Speaker 1: good for France, you know, I'll give them, give it
Speaker 1: to them. The British opposed Ethiopia joining the League of Nations,
Speaker 1: and Mussolini backed Ethiopia because he assumed the British would
Speaker 1: keep resisting their membership and then he could win a
Speaker 1: diplomatic victory without letting black people into the League. It
Speaker 1: was all just a bunch of stupid in fighting. But
Speaker 1: as soon as Mussolini backs Ethiopian membership, the British decide
Speaker 1: it's not worth fighting anymore and they withdraw their opposition. So,
Speaker 1: because of a diplomatic fluke, but fluke, Ethiopia joins the
Speaker 1: League of Nations, even though like Mussoli didn't actually want
Speaker 1: them to like But why because now you've given essentially
Speaker 1: the land you want to take over protection. Yes, yes, yes,
Speaker 1: one would assume. Now Rastafari may have, um, you know,
Speaker 1: suspected that Mussolini was not doing this out of the
Speaker 1: goodness of his heart, but publicly, right, you have what
Speaker 1: you suspect. If you're a smart regent, and and Ross
Speaker 1: Stafari is a very smart man, probably knows Mussolini was
Speaker 1: trying some facor he didn't really want Ethiopia in the League,
Speaker 1: but publicly Mussolini backed the League's the Ethiopia's membership, and
Speaker 1: so publicly he has to go thank Mussolini. So Rastafari
Speaker 1: is yeah, as region of Ethiopia. Rastafari travels to Rome
Speaker 1: to meet with Il Duce and give him thanks. The
Speaker 1: two sit down face to face for the first and
Speaker 1: last time, and Tafari would later write that he was
Speaker 1: immediately impressed by Benito's quote powerful face, his enormous eyes,
Speaker 1: his projecting jaw. Ross asked for an outlet to the
Speaker 1: sea through Italian territory, and Mussolini said sure, and in fact,
Speaker 1: I already have a treaty that includes that ready, and
Speaker 1: I'll you would just sign it now. Now, it couldn't
Speaker 1: possibly be a bad treaty with translations, could it. Rastafari
Speaker 1: is not an idiot. He knows what Italian treaties are worth.
Speaker 1: So he says, oh, cool, a treaty, sweet, Oh, this
Speaker 1: is just what I wanted. I'm gonna take this back
Speaker 1: home and I'm gonna think real hard about it. Now.
Speaker 1: The treaty was of course filled with the same kind
Speaker 1: of bullshit or the last treaty had been filled with,
Speaker 1: and Tafari rejected it. You might think this would have
Speaker 1: made him anti Mussolini, but at this point the Italian
Speaker 1: leader was still Rastafari's favorite European leader, because Benito had
Speaker 1: at least sat down face to face with him, which
Speaker 1: meant he showed the region of Ethiopia more respect than
Speaker 1: anyone else in Europe did so. Ross had also visited
Speaker 1: France during this time, and the French gave him a
Speaker 1: tour of Paris, but they wouldn't let him meet with
Speaker 1: anybody or talk about in an national business. The British
Speaker 1: were even worse. Before he crossed the English Channel. An
Speaker 1: article in The Manchester Guardian wrote that on the continent,
Speaker 1: Ross had received a kiss on the cheek from a
Speaker 1: little girl. The Guardian wrote, quote, a kiss for a
Speaker 1: Negro king is more than all the wealth of England
Speaker 1: can afford. Yeah, what the fuck? High grade racism from
Speaker 1: the Guarden. Knew white people were really into, you know,
Speaker 1: the purity of white women and and the benevolence of them.
Speaker 1: But the idea that worth an entire at that point
Speaker 1: in time, particularly England's entire treasury. The funk out of here,
Speaker 1: I am. I understand why he has to do all
Speaker 1: things he's about to do. Disrespect is insane. He goes
Speaker 1: to England and King George the Fifth refuses to allow
Speaker 1: Rastafari and his wife to stay at Buckingham Palace. He
Speaker 1: wouldn't even greet the regent at the train station. Um.
Speaker 1: And so it's worth noting that, in spite of all
Speaker 1: of the horrible things Mussolini was about to do to Ethiopia,
Speaker 1: he showed more respect to their leader than any other
Speaker 1: European had did. I don't know what message you should
Speaker 1: take from that, because I don't think there is a message.
Speaker 1: But it's a thing that happened. Um, there we are.
Speaker 1: It's a sad message. It's not a great, mass devastating now,
Speaker 1: of course Banino Mussolini was a racist piece of ship.
Speaker 1: He just wasn't above meeting with somebody he thought was
Speaker 1: subhuman to try to trick them into a treaty. It's
Speaker 1: more that he's like a pragmatist, right, Like, if you're
Speaker 1: the King of England, you don't have to be pragmatic.
Speaker 1: You can just be a racist asshole. Mussolini's you know,
Speaker 1: he's gotta do. He's gotta do what he's gotta do
Speaker 1: to make ship happen um, and so he's willing to
Speaker 1: do this. While Ross was still in Europe, Duce was
Speaker 1: exchanging messages with the British ambassador, wherein he promised to
Speaker 1: back London's plan to get land on Ethiopia's Lake Tanah
Speaker 1: and let the British build a road to that land
Speaker 1: through Italian territory if the British would help Italy get
Speaker 1: rights to build a railroad through Ethiopia to connect It's
Speaker 1: to call leanness. So while Mussolini's meeting with Rastafari, he's
Speaker 1: secretly carving up Ethiopia with the British while it's still
Speaker 1: an independent nation that's just joined the legal nation. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that means they're all motherfucker's. But you know who's not
Speaker 1: a motherfucker? Joe the products and services that support this podcast. Perfect.
Speaker 1: I'm so glad. Yeah, not not motherfucker's. Ah. We're back,
Speaker 1: um and having a great time just talking about Ethiopia.
Speaker 1: So um yeah, what you say, Oh my gosh, okay, sorry,
Speaker 1: let's go. I don't know. I thought you want to
Speaker 1: say evil. I thought it was a very exaggerated evil.
Speaker 1: And then I was like, what we are really talking
Speaker 1: about Ethiopia, so that makes sense we should Actually, I
Speaker 1: thought you were going to say evil too, I was
Speaker 1: just Ethiopia. So Ethiopia's you know, Ross does this tour
Speaker 1: of Europe and the leaders of your like, he meets
Speaker 1: with Mussolini. WHI Mussolini's planning to cut up Ethiopia with
Speaker 1: England um and uh yeah um. So when you know,
Speaker 1: Ross gets back to Ethiopia via the British, and the
Speaker 1: Italians sent him a letter that basically said, hey, here's
Speaker 1: what we agreed to do with your land. Um. And
Speaker 1: Rastafari was really angry at this, uh, and he used
Speaker 1: his new found membership in the League of Nations to
Speaker 1: go before the international community. He made a big speech
Speaker 1: about how fucked up this was, and people smiled and nodded,
Speaker 1: and the Italians gave him an award, and then they
Speaker 1: started offering arms and money to one of his rivals
Speaker 1: back home in Ethiopia. So he says, I'm not going
Speaker 1: to let you come into my country and build these
Speaker 1: roads and ship and take this lake. Uh. And they're like, oh,
Speaker 1: you're so brave. Here's an award. And also we're going
Speaker 1: to give guns to the guy somebody who wants to
Speaker 1: kill you. Now, this culminated in orderable against Rastafari's government
Speaker 1: in nineteen thirty, which he brutally put down with the
Speaker 1: help of a French biplane and a lot of explosives.
Speaker 1: That same year, the Empress died and Rastafari the regent,
Speaker 1: became highly Selassie the Emperor of Ethiopia. And I think
Speaker 1: that more or less brings us up to speed to
Speaker 1: nineteen thirty two ninety three, with everyone getting anxious over
Speaker 1: Japan and Benito putting plans in emotion to get Britain
Speaker 1: and France on board with his invade Ethiopius scheme. There's
Speaker 1: a lot of detail to get into here. I know
Speaker 1: they've been jumping back and forth and stuff. There's a
Speaker 1: lot you have to set up because this is a
Speaker 1: year's long process. But the short of it is, and
Speaker 1: like there's a whole you could read a whole book
Speaker 1: on all of the different negotiations between France and England
Speaker 1: and Italy that lead to him Mussolini invading Ethiopia. The
Speaker 1: short of it is that France and Britain were both
Speaker 1: willing to let Italy invade Ethiopia if they got something
Speaker 1: out of it in response, and the thing that they
Speaker 1: really wanted was an ally against Nazi Germany. So thirty three,
Speaker 1: Hitler's taken power right, and obviously France and England are
Speaker 1: worried because World War One wasn't that long ago. Um
Speaker 1: Hitler has been talking for a long time before he
Speaker 1: came to power about annexing Austria, which was crucial to
Speaker 1: his ambitions of greater European dominance. Italy or France and
Speaker 1: England don't want Hitler to annex Australia or Austria, but
Speaker 1: Francin Englian don't want Hitler to annex Austria. Now, Mussolini
Speaker 1: was the first Fascist leader, and Hitler looked up to
Speaker 1: him in a lot of ways. But the two men
Speaker 1: were not friends and they did not particularly like each other.
Speaker 1: So Britain and France tell Italy we're not going to
Speaker 1: complain about if you do whatever you want with your
Speaker 1: military to to to Ethiopia, as long as you stop
Speaker 1: Hitler from taking Austria, because obviously Italy right, Austria's right
Speaker 1: above it. Right. Um, So this reasoning is why the
Speaker 1: Soviet Union, who you might expect to have supported Ethiopia
Speaker 1: against a fascist oppressor, also backed Italian ambitions in Ethiopia.
Speaker 1: So the Soviets support the fascists in Ethiopia initially because
Speaker 1: they think these fascists will stop other fascists from gaining
Speaker 1: more territory in Europe. You cannot kill something really bad. Bet.
Speaker 1: Everybody makes a terrible fucking bet here. Why would you
Speaker 1: just gonna get a hold in northern Africa anyway? Like,
Speaker 1: it's just it don't make no sense. Yeah, it's it's
Speaker 1: it's not I mean it makes sense in that Italy
Speaker 1: has the geographical position to oppose Germany. But yes, like
Speaker 1: looking back at it with hindsight, clearly, backing the Italians
Speaker 1: against the Nazis was not a good move for anyone um.
Speaker 1: And it's interesting to me that both England and France
Speaker 1: and the Soviets make the same mistake at the same time.
Speaker 1: And I'm gonna quote from a write up on the
Speaker 1: website libcom dot org. Giving force to Italy's new role
Speaker 1: as a defender of the status quo against Germany, Mussolini
Speaker 1: promised a million bayonets. By the end of June, Roman
Speaker 1: Paris had signed a pact of general military cooperation over Austria,
Speaker 1: and these good relations permitted the French army to plan
Speaker 1: for withdrawing seventeen Divisi from Southeast France and North Africa
Speaker 1: to reposition them above the magine O line. All this
Speaker 1: drew favorable comment from Moscow, and the Kremlin had good
Speaker 1: reason to hope that collective security could continue to work,
Speaker 1: as in the summer of nineteen thirty four, when Italy
Speaker 1: had moved its troops to the Brenner Pass and forced
Speaker 1: Germany to back down over Austria. So November of nineteen
Speaker 1: thirty four, everyone's committed, like, oh, Italy is gonna back there,
Speaker 1: gonna stop the Nazis from taking Austria for us great
Speaker 1: and because everyone is so grateful to Italy for forcing
Speaker 1: the Germans to back down over the Brenner Pass. Mussolini
Speaker 1: feels comfortable that he can get away with provoking a
Speaker 1: war in Ethiopia. Now the actual causus belly, right, the
Speaker 1: cause for war, the legal justification. This is another like
Speaker 1: in Manchuria, it's a false flag. Right. It starts in
Speaker 1: a place called wal Wall, an oasis in the Ogaden Desert. Um. Now,
Speaker 1: this was about sixty miles inside Ethiopian territory according to
Speaker 1: treaties they'd signed with Italy. You'll hear some debate about that.
Speaker 1: The treaties are never quite the same, right, because Italians um,
Speaker 1: but it's inside Ethiopian territory. Um. And the Italians, though,
Speaker 1: have maps to say it's in their territory. And three
Speaker 1: they start occupying it with soldiers. The Ethiopians eventually march
Speaker 1: at an attachment of soldiers into Walwall, and there's a gunfight,
Speaker 1: and by the end of it, a hundred and fifty Ethiopians,
Speaker 1: two Italians, and several dozen local Italian auxiliaries are dead.
Speaker 1: Emperor highly Selassie goes to the League of Nations after this,
Speaker 1: and it's like the fun guys. The League courageously ruled
Speaker 1: that yeah, courageously ruled that no one was at fault
Speaker 1: and exonerated both nations. They're like, you know, there was
Speaker 1: some violence on both sides. One side was being invaded, sure,
Speaker 1: but there was violence on both sides. It's great, and
Speaker 1: this is what happens when you try to do business
Speaker 1: with the oppressor, which obviously highly learns later. But wow, yeah, so,
Speaker 1: I mean, he doesn't have a lot of options, right,
Speaker 1: He's doing what he can. Um. Now, at this point,
Speaker 1: highly Selassie realizes what's about to happen, that this is
Speaker 1: the pretext for a war. Italy is going to invade,
Speaker 1: so he's got to get ready. So he mobile lizes
Speaker 1: his army, which is about half a million men, and
Speaker 1: they are not well armed. Most of his army has
Speaker 1: bows and arrows and spears. Um. They do have firearms.
Speaker 1: They have divisions with firearms, but a lot of most
Speaker 1: of those guns are obsolete. They have very few modern weapons.
Speaker 1: They have barely any artillery, anti aircraft or um or
Speaker 1: aircraft for that matter. Italy meanwhile had assembled twelve infantry
Speaker 1: divisions somewhere around six hundred thousand troops with rifles and
Speaker 1: machine guns, heavy artillery, ground vehicles and airplanes. Um. And
Speaker 1: as the war drums beat, the League of Nations took
Speaker 1: another action to try to stop war. They announced an
Speaker 1: arms embargo on both sides. Now, this is a problem
Speaker 1: because Italy already had a huge army with plenty of guns.
Speaker 1: The Ethiopians did not. We're gonna stop both of you
Speaker 1: from buying guns. The guy with all the guns, the
Speaker 1: guy with none of the guns. Neither of you can
Speaker 1: buy guns anymore. This is this is what equality looks like,
Speaker 1: and not equity. Yeah. Um, So this makes it impossible
Speaker 1: for Ethiopia to have any chance of arming herself to
Speaker 1: an equivalent degree, although they don't really have the money,
Speaker 1: so it's kind of debatable as to whether they'd have
Speaker 1: been able to if there hadn't have been this embargo. UM.
Speaker 1: One of the things that's happening internationally at this time
Speaker 1: is there there becomes this big again because the Battle
Speaker 1: of Ottawa was such a thing for like the Black
Speaker 1: liberation movement worldwide, there's this there's this big racial conflict
Speaker 1: with between the Italians, and it's kind of embodied by
Speaker 1: a boxing match that happens around this time. There's this um,
Speaker 1: there's this massive Italian boxer called his nickname is the
Speaker 1: Ambling Alp because he's like as big as American and
Speaker 1: he has a very I think it's in thirty four
Speaker 1: this happens. He's a very famous boxing match with a
Speaker 1: with a guy named Joe Lewis and probably the best
Speaker 1: boxer there's ever been. No, that's only the Rumble in
Speaker 1: the Jungle was decades later. So Joe Louis is the
Speaker 1: longest running heavyweight champion of the world, which means for
Speaker 1: twenty five straight years, no one could beat him in
Speaker 1: a fight in the world. Like, Joe Louis is fucking incredible.
Speaker 1: He also beats Um Max Schmelling, who was the Nazi
Speaker 1: the best Nazi boxer. I think in six he beat
Speaker 1: smelling Um. And these are in this big fight he
Speaker 1: has with the Ambling Alp takes on these big dimensions
Speaker 1: of like there's this massive conflict between the Italians and
Speaker 1: the Ethiopians and like this fight embodied by Joe Lewis
Speaker 1: fighting the Ambling Alp is a big deal for a
Speaker 1: lot of people. Um. There's actually a really good song
Speaker 1: about Joe Lewis by the Sayers called Ambling Out that
Speaker 1: I recommend. But one of the things That's interesting is that, um,
Speaker 1: like you know, this is framed as like, you know,
Speaker 1: the fascistist embodied by the Ambling Alp, or you know,
Speaker 1: the free people colonized people's of the world's embodied by
Speaker 1: Joe Louis. But actually number one, the Ambling Alp was
Speaker 1: not a fascist. Um, he was a mob guy, but
Speaker 1: he and Joe Lewis got along really well. It's the
Speaker 1: same thing with Max Schmelling, right. Max Schmelling was not
Speaker 1: a member of the Nazi Party. He refused to join,
Speaker 1: and he and Joe Louis were very good friends their
Speaker 1: whole lives. In fact, when Joe Louis died poor and
Speaker 1: Max Schmelling paid for his funeral decades later. So another
Speaker 1: interesting to mention that, like the even though these guys
Speaker 1: embodied these conflicts of nations, they actually got along as
Speaker 1: human beings, even though they were like punching each other
Speaker 1: in the face of lunch. I mean, they're probably they're
Speaker 1: they're commiserated around the same sport and probably felt in
Speaker 1: a lot of ways the same outcast nature I think,
Speaker 1: which tends to run deep in the boxing community. One
Speaker 1: thing I have to mention about the ambling out uh
Speaker 1: name deserved he would have definitely been recruited as a
Speaker 1: linebacker because he's like six ft six, he's huge, sixty
Speaker 1: five pounds and I'm looking at him at that's muscle
Speaker 1: that is in the thirties, which just because in the
Speaker 1: thirties I always think of those like barrel chested like
Speaker 1: kind of like not potbell lead. But you know, they're
Speaker 1: they're just not as defined as what we like a
Speaker 1: lot of our bundlers fighters are today. Yeah, and Joe
Speaker 1: Louis was to fourteen, so you know, he's not a
Speaker 1: he's not a small guy, but he is a significantly
Speaker 1: smaller than the definitely had him stand on as incredible fighter. Yeah,
Speaker 1: Like he's an amazing fighter. Again for twenty five years,
Speaker 1: no one on earth could beat him in a fist fight.
Speaker 1: You don't, yeh No? So um yeah, So okay, back
Speaker 1: to the what's happening in Ethiopia? So, right, the League
Speaker 1: of Nations puts this arms embargo and they make it
Speaker 1: impossible for Ethiopia arm herself. Now, the USSR is not
Speaker 1: in the League of Nations and they could have sent
Speaker 1: guns in to help Ethiopia resist fascist aggression, but they
Speaker 1: were too busy sending a shipload of resources to Fascist Italy.
Speaker 1: See the USSR had conducted economic negotiations which concluded in
Speaker 1: June of n right before Italy started to mobilize for war.
Speaker 1: To keep Mussolini happy, uh and to keep blocking Austria
Speaker 1: for the Nazis, Russia sent forty freighters of wheat, oats, barley,
Speaker 1: cold timber, coltar, and gasoline. So when Mussolini's war machine
Speaker 1: rolled into Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, his armored
Speaker 1: cars would be filled with Soviet fuel. Um. Which is
Speaker 1: fun and it's made funner because the Ethiopian army did
Speaker 1: receive some last minute help, a crucial shipment of thousands
Speaker 1: of guns, dozens of artillery pieces, and a shiplet of
Speaker 1: ammunition from an unlikely benefactor, Nazi Germany. Here it is here.
Speaker 1: So the Soviets are backing fascist Italy and the Nazis
Speaker 1: are backing Ethiopia. It's it's it's a weird war. World
Speaker 1: wars make weird bedfellows. Obviously, Hitler thinks black people are subhuman.
Speaker 1: He's a racist, um, but he hated not owning Austria.
Speaker 1: More in his thinking was every dead Italian and Ethiopia
Speaker 1: is one less Italian blocking the passes into Austria from
Speaker 1: my army. Right, that's why Hitler does this, you know,
Speaker 1: um Now. Matters were incensed a bit more in mid
Speaker 1: July when Japanese Foreign Minister Kobe Hirota undermined the efforts
Speaker 1: of Japan's ambassador, a guy named Sugimura, to reach some
Speaker 1: sort of public reproache ma with the Italians. Italy's press
Speaker 1: went ape shot over this and accused Japan of trying
Speaker 1: to start a race war and quote using Africa as
Speaker 1: a bridge over which the Yellow race would attack Europe. Um.
Speaker 1: We would never do something. We would never do now. Obviously.
Speaker 1: A few years after this, Roman Tokyo wind up allied,
Speaker 1: but according to a write up in lipcom dot org
Speaker 1: quote for the moment. However, a Talo Japanese tensions continued
Speaker 1: well into August and September. For example, Japan's acting Minister
Speaker 1: to the League of Nations insisted that in a Talo
Speaker 1: Ethiopian war would mean a conflict between the white and
Speaker 1: black races, although he added war could be prevented with
Speaker 1: great hopes for assistance and to grand public fanfare, and
Speaker 1: Ethiopian representative visited Japan many Japanese nationalists asserted that a
Speaker 1: racial unity bonded Japan with Ethiopia. Although these were mostly
Speaker 1: private citizens who embarrassed the government, their blandishments lent credence
Speaker 1: to Italy's racial alarm. So did Japan's newspapers. The Cocumen
Speaker 1: of July ninety editorialized that Italy, guided by racial prejudices
Speaker 1: towards Ethiopia, had even criticized Japan from that warped racial viewpoint.
Speaker 1: The paper added that even if they settled the immediate issue,
Speaker 1: the racial problem would remain in Italy was responsible. The
Speaker 1: Niici Nichi added that Italy's attempt to wrap the Ethiopian
Speaker 1: issue in racial cloth would fail. The Hucci on Alga
Speaker 1: seventh wrote that Italy intended to make Ethiopia it's protectorate.
Speaker 1: The imperialism and sense of racial superiority common among right
Speaker 1: whites had led Italy to take such an ambitious policy.
Speaker 1: The paper concluded that the Japanese had to make the
Speaker 1: white race see its injustice and errors. That same day,
Speaker 1: the Osaka Sahi wrote that the Italo Ethiopian dispute had
Speaker 1: aroused the colored peoples against Italy and whites. If racial
Speaker 1: reconciliation proved difficult, Mussolini Italian papers and their use of
Speaker 1: the Yellow Peril would have to bear the consequences. So
Speaker 1: Japan is trying to stir up like if you do this,
Speaker 1: it's gonna you're gonna you're starting a race war, right
Speaker 1: Like That's how a lot of the Japanese media does it. Now.
Speaker 1: They drum all this up and they make a big
Speaker 1: stink about it before the war. But when the war comes,
Speaker 1: Japan does nothing to defend Oh no, no, why would they?
Speaker 1: So the question is like, why would they make a
Speaker 1: big deal about this um because their whole policy, the
Speaker 1: reason they were saying all this ship had nothing to
Speaker 1: do with stopping Italy from fucking with Ethiopia. They wanted
Speaker 1: a better diplomatic relationship with Italy and they were kind
Speaker 1: of playing hardball, right they were like this was you know,
Speaker 1: they're kind of like doing bad cop good cop ship here,
Speaker 1: like but diplomatically, and that's why they're like drumming all
Speaker 1: this ship up. They want to make the Italians concerns
Speaker 1: that the Italians like, hey, no, let's let's let's make
Speaker 1: a deal and be friends. You know, That's what they're
Speaker 1: trying to work out here. I feel like that might
Speaker 1: have worked on Britain, but would not work on like
Speaker 1: why are you coming at me like this? And it
Speaker 1: does so because of like Japan doing all this, they
Speaker 1: wind up in negotiations with Italy, and the negotiations that
Speaker 1: start here kind of eventually lead to the alliance between
Speaker 1: the two countries. Um And there were observers at the
Speaker 1: time who because again, fascist Italy, fascist Japan, they're on
Speaker 1: the same side of World War two, right, um So,
Speaker 1: and there were there were observers at the time who
Speaker 1: recognized what was going on. Right. There were a lot
Speaker 1: of people kind of more casual observers who were like,
Speaker 1: especially like amongst sort of the black diasphor community, who
Speaker 1: are like, oh, Japan has our back in this. But
Speaker 1: there were people who recognized none and other Japanese whore
Speaker 1: just playing a political game. And one of them was
Speaker 1: a guy named George Padmore. George was an American communist
Speaker 1: and editor of The Negro Worker, which was a black
Speaker 1: communist newspaper, and he wrote quote, it is to be
Speaker 1: hoped that the Ethiopians have no illusions about the Japanese imperialists, who,
Speaker 1: in their internal and external policies are quite as ruthless
Speaker 1: as the white imperialist nations. The Japanese ruling class, like
Speaker 1: all other capitalists, are no respectors of race, color, or creed,
Speaker 1: although it might suit their present needs to pose as
Speaker 1: the defenders and champions of the darker races. Their record, however,
Speaker 1: has been too dramatically written in the out of millions
Speaker 1: of Koreans and Chinese for us to have any doubts
Speaker 1: about their true character. I think it's important because you
Speaker 1: have here kind of the USS are backing very much
Speaker 1: the wrong side in this um, but you have American,
Speaker 1: particularly American black communists realizing like these people are just
Speaker 1: playing a fucking game with us. Japan doesn't give a
Speaker 1: shit about Ethiopia. Japan doesn't give a shit about fighting imperialism.
Speaker 1: They're imperialists too. We're getting you're getting played right. You
Speaker 1: gotta always be vigilant as a black person, people just
Speaker 1: use you as chess pieces in a board game. Yeah.
Speaker 1: And George pad More rites eloquently about that um, and
Speaker 1: that is, broadly speaking, kind of the story of every
Speaker 1: country but Ethiopia and this mess. Anyone who actually came
Speaker 1: in on on Ethiopia side, like Nazi Germany was just
Speaker 1: pursuing a political end of their own right. Nobody, nobody
Speaker 1: gives a shit other than how it can affect their
Speaker 1: bottom line. Um well, on a national scale, nobody gives
Speaker 1: a shit. So as the Battle of Adwa had become
Speaker 1: an international symbol of black resistance, the looming war between
Speaker 1: Ussolini and Ethiopia also became symbolic. It was, in its
Speaker 1: own way, an international anti fascist event, not dissimilar from
Speaker 1: the Spanish Civil War. W. E. B. Dubois and Paul
Speaker 1: Robeson addressed a Harlem Lee a Harlem League against War
Speaker 1: and Fascism rally. One speaker tied Mussolini's invasion to quote
Speaker 1: the terrible repression of black people in the United States.
Speaker 1: People's March for Ethiopia and Harlem drew twenty five thousand people,
Speaker 1: a mix of Black Americans and anti fascist Italian Americans
Speaker 1: who showed up in an admirable gesture of solidarity, and
Speaker 1: as in the Spanish Civil War, men volunteered to fight.
Speaker 1: In Chicago. Eight thousand black men started drilling for battle,
Speaker 1: five thousand in Detroit, two thousand in Kansas City. Most
Speaker 1: of these men never made it over to Ethiopia, right,
Speaker 1: because it's illegal to do this, right, Um, And the
Speaker 1: law was in you know, the law was more willing
Speaker 1: to enforce this law against black people than it would
Speaker 1: against white people trying to fight and say the Spanish
Speaker 1: Civil War, right, not that that was even Um. Yeah.
Speaker 1: There were, however, some black Americans who made it over,
Speaker 1: including a black American pilot and engineer who helped Ethiopia
Speaker 1: build and train a small air force. Um. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: so there are some some guys who come over. And
Speaker 1: the most significant gesture of support from Black America probably
Speaker 1: came from the Harlem Hospital, which collected enough money to
Speaker 1: send a seventy bed hospital and two tons of badly
Speaker 1: needed medical supplies to Ethiopia. That said, none of this
Speaker 1: stops the Italian war machine from amassing on Ethiopia's borders, right. Um.
Speaker 1: As the war drums are beating, as things are getting
Speaker 1: ready to start, Emperor highly Selassie takes the unprecedented step
Speaker 1: of speaking before the League of Nations. He is the
Speaker 1: first head of state to speak in the Assembly, which
Speaker 1: was not how they the League was supposed to work.
Speaker 1: So this is like a really significant gesture. He tells
Speaker 1: the heads of Europe quote. There is no precedent for
Speaker 1: a head of state himself speaking in this assembly. But
Speaker 1: there is also no precedent for a people being victim
Speaker 1: of such injustice and being at present threatened by abandonment
Speaker 1: to its aggressor. Also, there has never before been an
Speaker 1: example of any government proceeding to the systematic extern nation
Speaker 1: of a nation by barbarous means and violation of the
Speaker 1: most solemn promises made by the nations of the Earth,
Speaker 1: that they should not be used against innocent human beings
Speaker 1: the terrible poison of harmful gases. It is to defend
Speaker 1: the people struggling for its age old independence that the
Speaker 1: head of the Ethiopian Empire has come to Geneva to
Speaker 1: fulfill this supreme duty, after having himself fought at the
Speaker 1: head of his armies. What reply shall I have to
Speaker 1: take back to my people? The reply came on October third,
Speaker 1: nineteen thirty five, when Italian General Emilio de Bono marched
Speaker 1: his troops over the Mareb River. This is not a
Speaker 1: military history podcast. I'm not going to give you a
Speaker 1: blow by blow. The Ethiopians fought hard, and they won
Speaker 1: several battles, but the Italian military was a twentieth century army.
Speaker 1: Even the Ethiopians with rifles tended to carry shields to
Speaker 1: They had no armored vehicles, they had almost no air force,
Speaker 1: and they were beaten in due time. On May five,
Speaker 1: nineteen thirty six, the Italians took Adis Ababa. Emperor Selassie
Speaker 1: had fled to Palestine and then to England ahead of
Speaker 1: his advancing foes. Selassie took again to the internet sational
Speaker 1: stage to condemn Italy before the League, but as this
Speaker 1: right up from the International Relations makes clear, the outrage
Speaker 1: he stirred up generated nothing but token objections, despite the
Speaker 1: fact that Italy's actions in Ethiopia were in clear violation
Speaker 1: of international rules. Ethiopia's appeal to the League of Nations
Speaker 1: did not work. Britain and France, concerned about the nascent
Speaker 1: power of Germany, did not want to alienate Italy by
Speaker 1: strictly following League rules and formed the biggest obstacle to arbitration.
Speaker 1: After some shrewd politicking with the Ethiopian delegation, the League
Speaker 1: considered Ethiopia's requests, but the Italians deflected the issue to
Speaker 1: bilateral arbitration, allowing themselves to simply ignore Ethiopian demands and
Speaker 1: continue preparations for war they knew was imminent. Further lead
Speaker 1: action on Ethiopia was subordinated to German treaty violations, which
Speaker 1: were of much greater concern to France and Britain. France
Speaker 1: would even go so far as to offer its approval
Speaker 1: for an Italian invasion in the Mussolinia of all the
Speaker 1: Chords of ninety five, As Strang writes, quote, no important
Speaker 1: power outside of Ethiopia saw preservation of Ethiopian sovereignty as
Speaker 1: a vital interest, and thus the conflict was largely ignored.
Speaker 1: We sanctions, which failed to embargo oil and coal, were
Speaker 1: applied eventually, but only after the Italians committed acts of brutality.
Speaker 1: Mussolini predicted this in action, saying that until there is
Speaker 1: proof to the contrary, I refuse to believe that the
Speaker 1: authentic people of Britain will want to spill blood and
Speaker 1: send Europe to its catastrophe for the sake of a
Speaker 1: barbarian country unworthy of ranking among civilized nations. Damn, Wow, wow,
Speaker 1: insult to injury, Jesus curing and it's this, it's this get,
Speaker 1: it's this bet that a lot of authoritarians around the
Speaker 1: world have made recently. I can kill however many people
Speaker 1: I want, because nobody wants to have another war. So
Speaker 1: who's gonna stop me? Um, It's the authoritarian bet, and
Speaker 1: they usually win. So during the invasion, despite the fact
Speaker 1: that it was banned by international law, Italy dropped poison
Speaker 1: gas on Ethiopian soldiers and civilians. Whole villages were obliterated
Speaker 1: with chemical happens to clear the way for the Italian advance.
Speaker 1: One woman, yet a Mingu, passed on her experience of
Speaker 1: surviving one of these bombings to her granddaughter, quote, the
Speaker 1: town had emptied of people, and then one day, finally
Speaker 1: an answer. Six specs in the sky, specks moving faster
Speaker 1: and faster and straighter than any bird, growing bigger and bigger,
Speaker 1: until she could hear the roar. The streets ran with women, children, clergy,
Speaker 1: the infirm. As the thundering drew near, they threw themselves
Speaker 1: into ditches, huddled against walls behind trees. A dark rain
Speaker 1: fell from them, a hail of metal that exploded with
Speaker 1: a terrible noise as had hit the ground. How many
Speaker 1: huts caught fire, and the women and children inside them
Speaker 1: now aerial bombing was a primitive science at this point.
Speaker 1: Italian strategy was to fill up giant barrels with poison,
Speaker 1: which would airess alize upon breaking open on the ground
Speaker 1: and contact. One Ethiopian officer at the time recalled, a
Speaker 1: few hundred of my men were hit, their feet, their hands,
Speaker 1: their faces were covered with blisters. I did not know
Speaker 1: how to fight this rain that burned and killed. Despite
Speaker 1: the fact that Ethiopia was functionally unable to is this
Speaker 1: the Italian army in any comprehensive way. Mussolini declared total
Speaker 1: war upon them. Gas was not just used on soldiers
Speaker 1: or even civilian populations, but on pasture, cattles, lakes, and rivers.
Speaker 1: They poison gas rivers in order to deny people food.
Speaker 1: The ability of the country to support its people was
Speaker 1: systematically gasped by the Italian air Force. At least three
Speaker 1: hundred and eighty two thousand Ethiopians were massacred during eight
Speaker 1: months of war, and the high count you'll here is
Speaker 1: more like seven and fifty thousand. Jesus, because a lot
Speaker 1: of these people die a year or two later from starvation,
Speaker 1: you know, yeah, wow, uh wow wow. Yeah. And that's
Speaker 1: not the end of it, because though they were defeated
Speaker 1: by nineteen thirty six, Ethiopia continued to resist. There were
Speaker 1: guerilla bands that were insurgent strikes on convoys, and women
Speaker 1: again played a major role in fighting the Fascist occupier.
Speaker 1: From historian Bahuswetti quote, not only were their Ethiopian women warriors,
Speaker 1: but they played a major role in the very strong
Speaker 1: resistance movement after the Italians took over government. By reason
Speaker 1: of their capacity to arouse less suspicion, they played a
Speaker 1: predominant role inside the enemy's organizational network, passing on crucial
Speaker 1: information about enemy strength, troop movements, and planned operations. Now,
Speaker 1: once they were in command, Mussolini appointed a colonial dictator,
Speaker 1: a fellow named Graziana, to rule Italy's new possessions. Graziani
Speaker 1: something like that, Grazia Graziani, that spisy mete the bald
Speaker 1: man whatever, and Italians um. In February of seven, a
Speaker 1: resistance cell carried out an assassination attempt on Graziani. The
Speaker 1: Fascist retribution was horrific, and I'm going to quote from
Speaker 1: a write up in The Economist here led by the
Speaker 1: local black shirts, Mussolini's paramilitaries officially granted carte blanche regular
Speaker 1: soldiers carabinieri, which are like their elite, and perhaps more
Speaker 1: than half of Adisa Baba's Italian civilians took part in
Speaker 1: this ghoulish massacre. Witnesses reported crushed babies, disemboweled pregnant women,
Speaker 1: and the burning of entire families. Mr. Campbell, who's the
Speaker 1: historian who studies this particular active massacre, argues that this
Speaker 1: was a methodical effort to wipe out Ethiopian resistance to
Speaker 1: Italian rule, more like later Nazi war crimes than early
Speaker 1: colonial massacres. He charges both Graziani and the local Fascist
Speaker 1: party leader Guido Cortesi with personal responsibility the unconscious. When
Speaker 1: the killing began, Graziani took control of the subsequent reprisal executions,
Speaker 1: aimed in particular at eliminating the Ethiopian nobility and intelligencia.
Speaker 1: Between twenty and thirty thousand civilians were massacred in a
Speaker 1: matter of days. Graziani was never prosecuted for his crimes
Speaker 1: after the war ended. Um Yeah, and one of the
Speaker 1: long term consequences this is they massacre all of or
Speaker 1: not all, but most of the Ethiopians who know how
Speaker 1: to run a government who know how to do like
Speaker 1: the like the functional thing you're like, people wonder like
Speaker 1: why was Ethio white, like all that starvation and ship
Speaker 1: that was had, Like you know, the latter part of
Speaker 1: the twentieth century, there were a lot of calamities ethiop Well,
Speaker 1: some of it goes back to the fact that all
Speaker 1: of the people who knew how to run a country
Speaker 1: get fucking massacred by the Italians, and that makes it
Speaker 1: hard to have a country afterworks Jesus, I'm trying to
Speaker 1: It's obviously impossible to imagine this because I don't think
Speaker 1: the human brain can eve. I forget what the limit is,
Speaker 1: but after so many numbers, you can't conceive of it
Speaker 1: in your mind, right, But twenty people in a couple
Speaker 1: of days just got my hometown blowing up with people
Speaker 1: and the whole town just dead in like three days.
Speaker 1: Who Yeah, the architect of this um is not prosecuted
Speaker 1: for anything he does in Ethiopia. He was briefly imprisoned
Speaker 1: for working with the Nazis after the war, but the
Speaker 1: British didn't want to prosecute him for killing thirty people
Speaker 1: because if they prosecuted him from murdering colonial subjects that
Speaker 1: would have said a brad precedent, because the British did
Speaker 1: that ship too. We can't prosecute this guy. He did
Speaker 1: the same ship we do. You know, Please, God, of
Speaker 1: your mass murders. I promise your society will be okay
Speaker 1: without and probably more importantly, other people's societies will also
Speaker 1: be okay without them. There's a couple of benefits, a
Speaker 1: couple of benefits of getting read of your mass murders,
Speaker 1: you might say, God, damn. The only good news, if
Speaker 1: there can be good news in a story like this,
Speaker 1: is that Ethiopia played a major role in changing the
Speaker 1: Western world's mind about fascist Italy before the invasion. Mussolini
Speaker 1: was like a celebrity. He was seen as an economic
Speaker 1: miracle worker, which is not true. The Italian economy was
Speaker 1: a disaster, and that's part of like like in heart.
Speaker 1: But they were able to lie right like their fascists
Speaker 1: they get we just wanted to do something similar here. Yeah,
Speaker 1: um so. But he was very popular. There were a
Speaker 1: lot of Americans are like, that's what we need is
Speaker 1: a guy like Mussolini. He could whip this country into shape,
Speaker 1: you know, deal with these lay about socialists, all that
Speaker 1: kind of ship and people loved Mussolini. He was extremely popular,
Speaker 1: especially in the United States. That's great. That's how all Americans,
Speaker 1: that's how we that's how we talked in the nineteen thirties.
Speaker 1: This is the voice. This is the only way white
Speaker 1: people's sounded. Um. So Mussolini celebrity in the United States
Speaker 1: and like the late twenties and thirties, and he's part
Speaker 1: of why a lot of Americans were fascism curious in
Speaker 1: the early thirties because Musolini seem to be so good
Speaker 1: at what he was doing. Why don't we try that?
Speaker 1: We just need our Mussolini. Um. Italy's massacre in Addis
Speaker 1: Ababa carried out, which was, you know, the story of
Speaker 1: this massacre was carried over the wire by courageous journalists
Speaker 1: on the ground and broadcast put throughout through a newspaper
Speaker 1: owned by a former suffragette, Sylvia Pankhurst Um And as
Speaker 1: a result of outrage over the killings, Time magazine declared
Speaker 1: highly Selassie their Man of the Year in nineteen thirties.
Speaker 1: Six previously, Time had swooned over Mussolini. So Time Magazine
Speaker 1: big fans of Mussolini. They get horrified by this massacre.
Speaker 1: They make highly Selassie Man of the Year in thirty six,
Speaker 1: right because speech after his country fall. Then immediately I
Speaker 1: was like yeah, I mean yeah, yeah. But it's also
Speaker 1: worth it that following the Italian invasion of Ethiopia, the
Speaker 1: far right foreign editor of Time magazine, who had been
Speaker 1: such a fan of Mussolini is fired. He gets forced
Speaker 1: out of the magazine. Um, and he actually was. He doesn't,
Speaker 1: he gives the fire. He leaves because he loses a
Speaker 1: fight to nominate Mussolini for a Nobel Peace Price. Um, sir, yeah,
Speaker 1: I know, real douche bag. What the hell you know,
Speaker 1: who deserves the Nobel Peace Price? This man who killed
Speaker 1: that a thousand people. Nothing's more peaceful than the dead.
Speaker 1: Make better choices, is all I have to say to that.
Speaker 1: What the I mean in fairness, they did, They made
Speaker 1: highly Selastine Man of the Year. They got they got
Speaker 1: their head on straighter. Um. And kind of you can
Speaker 1: see what happens to Time Magazine after as a result
Speaker 1: of the invasion is kind of emblematic of more broadly
Speaker 1: what's happening in American culture. Right. The shift against fascism
Speaker 1: against fascist Italy is where it starts, because how brutal.
Speaker 1: This is I'm gonna quote now from a write up
Speaker 1: by Jacobin Magazine. As James Dugan and Lawrence lafore point
Speaker 1: out in Days of Emperor and Clown, the old liberal
Speaker 1: tradition of sympathy for fascism still lingered towards the end
Speaker 1: of nineteen thirty five, but it had begun to change.
Speaker 1: In November of that year, the New Republic proposed a
Speaker 1: more sophisticated explanation of the war, one that showed a
Speaker 1: much clearer and more hostile understanding of the nature of fascism,
Speaker 1: and by January of nineteen thirty six it gave great
Speaker 1: prominence to an article by Salvimini and Maxiscoli excoriating Mussolini.
Speaker 1: The strange destiny of Ethiopia had begun to realize itself,
Speaker 1: ad Dugan and Lafour. It was paradoxically creating the Rome
Speaker 1: Berlin axis, making it terrifying and therefore strong. But it
Speaker 1: was also commencing the work that would eventually invoke the
Speaker 1: conscience of the West and bring it into fascism. So
Speaker 1: Italy wins this battle, but they lose the war in
Speaker 1: part because this starts galvanizing people against fascism. This is
Speaker 1: really the first mass scale fascist crime against humanity. People.
Speaker 1: We've already said I was saying here about people. So
Speaker 1: it was it just the numbers that were horrifying, Like
Speaker 1: that's just what. Yeah, it was the numbers, and it
Speaker 1: was the you know, even a lot of racists they
Speaker 1: might not want they might be pro segregation, but there's
Speaker 1: a line between being pro segregation and wanting to see
Speaker 1: babies beaten to death in the street, right like, and
Speaker 1: not be cool with mass murder. Like, not that that
Speaker 1: exonerates like, but I think a lot of Americans who
Speaker 1: were still pretty racist were like, oh, fuck, that's too far.
Speaker 1: You know, that's okay, Yeah, weld not be ripping babies
Speaker 1: from pregnant mothers. That's yeah, freaking weird. Yeah, oh my goodness. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Um and now of course, um yeah. I should note
Speaker 1: that once the war actually got going and Italian atrocities
Speaker 1: the poison gassing of civilians was obvious to everyone, the
Speaker 1: USSR and the rest of the international community registered token
Speaker 1: complaints about the violence. They stopped dealing with Italy after this.
Speaker 1: The Soviets do most of all. The Italian invasion of
Speaker 1: Ethiopias spells the final end of the League of Nations.
Speaker 1: What Italy did was so blatant, and the uselessness of
Speaker 1: the body to stop it was so apparent that no
Speaker 1: one could take the League seriously anymore. This is what
Speaker 1: kills the League of Nations. Is Ethiopia really more than
Speaker 1: any other single factor? How could we trust you after
Speaker 1: that ship? Yeah? Of course, Like what is your what
Speaker 1: are you even doing if you can't stop this ship?
Speaker 1: Your members? Yeah? Yeah for a member nation. UM. One
Speaker 1: cartoon in Punch magazine which kind of visualized Brittain and
Speaker 1: France as characters in a musical singing to Mussolini read,
Speaker 1: we don't want you to fight, but by Jingo, if
Speaker 1: you do, we will probably issue a joint member random
Speaker 1: suggesting a mild disapproval of you. Not to catchiest song,
Speaker 1: but it's right. Yeah. In nineteen sixties six, historian A. J. P.
Speaker 1: Taylor wrote, the League died in nineteen thirty five. One
Speaker 1: day it was a powerful body imposing sanctions. The next
Speaker 1: day it was a useless fraud. Everybody running away from
Speaker 1: it as quickly as possible. Hitler watched. Eleven years later,
Speaker 1: historian A. P. Adam Thwaite added, Manchuria demonstrated that the
Speaker 1: League was toothless. However, the blow to the League was
Speaker 1: not a mortal one, and the decisive test came two
Speaker 1: years later in the Abyssinian Crisis. The Abyssinian Crisis delivered
Speaker 1: a death blow to the League. It was already weakened
Speaker 1: by the departure of Japan in March nineteen thirty three
Speaker 1: and Germany in October. Italy left in nineteen thirty seven.
Speaker 1: While Britain and France were distracted, Hitler made his first
Speaker 1: major territorial move, sending a force of men into the
Speaker 1: demilitarized Rhineland. Dictators are watching, they test the waters. They
Speaker 1: know you don't want war. They know they can get
Speaker 1: away with a bunch, and if they get away with enough,
Speaker 1: they'll get away with everything. That's why they keep pushing. UM.
Speaker 1: That's the story that keeps getting repeated throughout history. It's
Speaker 1: the thing that people don't ever learn from or deal
Speaker 1: with effectively. UM. It just keeps happening over and over
Speaker 1: and over again. And it happened. You know, you could
Speaker 1: draw directly and it's not just you know, Hitler is
Speaker 1: looking at the League's failure with Ethiopian by the way
Speaker 1: Abyssinia is with the Europeans called Ethiopia during this period.
Speaker 1: I call it Ethiopia because that's the term. Yeah. Um,
Speaker 1: But there's there's other dimensions of this. Right. So Hitler's watching,
Speaker 1: Oh they didn't you know. Mussolini watches, Oh, the Japanese
Speaker 1: took me in Cherry and nobody stopped them. I'm going
Speaker 1: to take Ethiopia. Hitler watches that and he's like, Okay,
Speaker 1: well I'm gonna go take the fucking Rhineland. And like
Speaker 1: everything that happens in World War two, a lot of
Speaker 1: it comes out of that. Um. And you could draw
Speaker 1: in a similar way, um, the the Armenian genocide which
Speaker 1: takes place during World War One, which is the Turkish
Speaker 1: golferent massacring about a million Armenians. Um. The international community
Speaker 1: does nothing about it. And when Hitler was talking with
Speaker 1: his guys, with his other leaders of Germany about what
Speaker 1: they were going to do the Jewish population, there was
Speaker 1: a lot of worry that like, well, if we actually
Speaker 1: go all the way with this genocide thing, like that's
Speaker 1: gonna be a problem. People are going to try to
Speaker 1: stop us, Like they're not gonna let us do this.
Speaker 1: This is going to make because an issue and Hitler's
Speaker 1: response to that was, who now remembers the Armenians. You
Speaker 1: don't even want talking about Armenia. Nobody gives a ship.
Speaker 1: I can kill whoever the funk I want. They're not
Speaker 1: going to do anything. They don't want another war. Well, uh,
Speaker 1: he wasn't wrong until he was. Eventually, he was eventually,
Speaker 1: but it was it was probably still was not so
Speaker 1: much about the murderer and death. You know, it wasn't
Speaker 1: so much about who was being murdered. But you know,
Speaker 1: you're sucking up traditional lines of things, and people didn't
Speaker 1: like that. Like, yeah, if Hitler had stuck to just
Speaker 1: murdering all of the Jews in Germany, he probably would
Speaker 1: have been able to do it. But we don't know
Speaker 1: what's going on in Germany. That's crazy the Germans. So
Speaker 1: you can manage him. We're over here in Britain. We're fine. War, no, sir, Yeah, no, no,
Speaker 1: not at all. Oh my gosh, humanity is it is
Speaker 1: a disease unto itself, and it's it's also bad. It's
Speaker 1: a real dilly of a pickle. Oh it's come here.
Speaker 1: And I tried to understand the pickle we're in and
Speaker 1: just end up more miss if I more troubled by
Speaker 1: it all. That's that's what learning history teaches you. It's
Speaker 1: kind of like the lesson of like, the only person
Speaker 1: who wasn't racist too highly Selassie was Mussolini. What does
Speaker 1: that teach us? I don't fucking know. It's just a
Speaker 1: thing that happened. Judan's archaeotic and awful beings. Chaotic and awful. Yeah, yep,
Speaker 1: ship just happens anyway, we disturbed. Here's some ship that happened.
Speaker 1: That was the story today. Joel, you got any pluggable
Speaker 1: as you want to plug? Oh man, you guys, you
Speaker 1: make your pay me all over the internet. Actual Monique,
Speaker 1: it's j O E L E M O N I
Speaker 1: q U e UM. I'm pretty sure there is a
Speaker 1: hun Day video out where myself, Zach Brafft, Donald phase
Speaker 1: on uh DJ Dannel who I know this fan base
Speaker 1: is prominently aware of. Uh. We're in a Hunday and
Speaker 1: we get a tour of l A with Zack and Donald.
Speaker 1: It is stupid, funny, ridic u list. We reenact a
Speaker 1: scene from Clueless, which was obviously my favorite part. And
Speaker 1: if you would enjoy watching such things, you can do that.
Speaker 1: I believe it's gonna be on Zack's YouTube page, but
Speaker 1: I'll definitely have a link posted by now, so try that. Yeah. Um, alright, well,
Speaker 1: I'm Robert Evans. I have a book, After the Revolution.
Speaker 1: It's a novel. You can find it in podcast form
Speaker 1: if you want to listen to the audio presentation of
Speaker 1: it at After the Revolution wherever you find podcasts. There's
Speaker 1: also the text of the book uploaded as e pubs
Speaker 1: to a t r book dot com. So check out
Speaker 1: a t r book dot com, check out the reddit
Speaker 1: at r slash after the Revolution and listen to the podcast. Um,
Speaker 1: and you know, um fuck Italy. Sure, I'll go on
Speaker 1: a funk Italy with you. Funk everybody really funk like everybody. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm just kind of fun everybody, Okay, that message of
Speaker 1: the story fun everybody except for Joe Lewis. Okay, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm Louis. You're fine. You're fine. I didn't say anything
Speaker 1: about you, or you don't want to start ship with
Speaker 1: Joe Louis