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158-496: European contact with the Ethiopians in the 1500s brought the first firearms to the country although attempts to arm the imperial army with gunpowder weapons did not happen until the early 1800s. The Ethiopians attempted to develop modern weapons internally, but after a British expedition to the country resulted in the death of an emperor and an Ethiopian defeat, the empire increased its importation of weaponry. The method of raising

316-645: A NCO . In 1919, veterans of the East African campaign from World War I were assigned to serve in the unit. In 1924, the unit was issued grand uniforms after Selassie's tour throughout Europe and the unit was reorganized as the Imperial Bodyguard in 1928, with 5,000 guards. During the 1920s Selassie sent military officers to be trained by the French at Saint-Cyr and had the members of his imperial bodyguard trained by Belgian military officers. During

474-665: A Potez 25 -A2 was delivered to Addis Ababa and a Junkers W 33c was delivered on 5 September. In 1928, around 2,000 unemployed German and Austrian men traveled to Ethiopia under the leadership of Herr Wodosch with the promise of receiving three acres of land and a cow after joining the Ethiopian army. In 1931, Emperor Selassie asked the Japanese to accept an ambassador extraordinary delegation to be sent to Japan. The delegation, consisting of Teferi Gebre Mariam, Araya Abeba, and Daba Birrou, left Addis Ababa on September 30, 1931, with

632-717: A terror regime on the colonized people, including mass killings and forced labour, that Belgium, under pressure from the Congo Reform Association , ended Leopold II's rule and annexed it on 20 August 1908 as a colony of Belgium, known as the Belgian Congo . The brutality of King Leopold II in his former colony of the Congo Free State was well documented; up to 8 million of the estimated 16 million native inhabitants died between 1885 and 1908. According to Roger Casement , an Irish diplomat of

790-453: A war with Austria in 1859 , Sardinia, under the leadership of Victor Emmanuel II and Giuseppe Garibaldi , was able to unify most of the peninsula by 1861, establishing the Kingdom of Italy . Following unification, Italy sought to expand its territory and become a great power, taking possession of parts of Eritrea in 1870 and 1882. In 1889–90, it occupied territory on the south side of

948-614: A Japanese diplomat and left Djibouti on October 5, to sail to Japan. The delegation toured Japan to inspect the Japanese Army and to learn how Ethiopia could modernize its country in a way similar to the Japanese . The Ethiopian delegation left Japan on December 28, and arrived in Addis Ababa on January 29, 1932. On 5 December 1934, a border skirmish between the Ethiopians and Italians occurred at Welwel where 107 Ethiopians and 21 Italians were killed. The Ethiopians asked for

1106-920: A base for the subjugation of neighbouring African states and the Dutch Afrikaner settlers who had left the Cape to avoid the British and then founded their republics. Theophilus Shepstone annexed the South African Republic in 1877 for the British Empire, after it had been independent for twenty years. In 1879, after the Anglo-Zulu War , Britain consolidated its control of most of the territories of South Africa. The Boers protested, and in December 1880 they revolted, leading to

1264-662: A colony in Mashonaland . Tippu Tip , a Zanzibari Arab based in the Sultanate of Zanzibar , also played a major role as a "protector of European explorers", ivory trader and slave trader. Having established a trading empire within Zanzibar and neighbouring areas in East Africa, Tippu Tip would shift his alignment towards the rising colonial powers in the region and at the proposal of Henry Morton Stanley, Tippu Tip became

1422-637: A full protectorate over Morocco on 30 March 1912, ending what remained of the country's formal independence. Furthermore, British backing for France during the two Moroccan crises reinforced the Entente between the two countries and added to Anglo-German estrangement, deepening the divisions that would culminate in the First World War. Following the Berlin Conference, the British, Italians, and Ethiopians sought to claim lands inhabited by

1580-650: A governor of the " Stanley Falls District " ( Boyoma Falls ) in Leopold's Congo Free State, before being involved in the Congo–Arab War against Leopold II's colonial state. To the west, in the land where their expansions would meet, was Katanga , the site of the Yeke Kingdom of Msiri . Msiri was the most militarily powerful ruler in the area and traded large quantities of copper, ivory and slaves—and rumours of gold reached European ears. The scramble for Katanga

1738-566: A massive mortar created at the Gafat foundry, was a prized weapon, but when it was used against the British it misfired and was unable to be used. In 1864, Tewodros II imprisoned British consul Charles Duncan Cameron and multiple missionaries and ignored British ultimatums sent ordering his release. The British sent an army , equipped with modern military supplies and artillery, under the leadership of Robert Napier to free Cameron. On 10 April 1868, Ethiopian infantry armed with rifles and spears met

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1896-416: A national army was also altered in the 1800s with a centralized permanent field army being established. Unlike the majority of non-European armies, the Ethiopian army was able to successfully modernize in the late 19th century and saved the country from European colonialism until another Italian invasion in the 1930s. After regaining independence in 1941, the military saw massive modernization programs under

2054-744: A naval base on the Atlantic. The German move was aimed at reinforcing claims for compensation for acceptance of effective French control of the North African kingdom, where France's pre-eminence had been upheld by the 1906 Algeciras Conference. In November 1911, a compromise was reached under which Germany accepted France's position in Morocco in return for a slice of territory in the French Equatorial African colony of Middle Congo . France and Spain subsequently established

2212-499: A problem in wet weather, when damp match cord was difficult to light and to keep burning. Another drawback was the burning match itself. At night, the match would glow in the darkness, possibly revealing the carrier's position. The distinctive smell of burning match-cord was also a giveaway of a musketeer's position. It was also quite dangerous when soldiers were carelessly handling large quantities of gunpowder (for example, while refilling their powder horns ) with lit matches present. This

2370-522: A proletarian nation. The Second Italo-Abyssinian War (1935–1936), ordered by the fascist dictator Benito Mussolini , was the last colonial war (that is, intended to colonise a country, as opposed to wars of national liberation ), occupying Ethiopia —which had remained the last independent African territory, apart from Liberia. Italian Ethiopia was occupied by fascist Italian forces in World War II as part of Italian East Africa though much of

2528-669: A result of the war and ensuring Italian occupation. In addition to the Italian war crimes in violation of the Geneva Protocol and civilian massacres the Ethiopians engaged in war crimes. Some captured Italian soldiers and Eritrean Ascari were castrated as per Ethiopian military tradition. The Ethiopian army also utilized expanding bullets which had been prohibited by the 1899 Hague Convention . On 20 January 1941, Selassie entered Gojjam returning to Ethiopia after five years in exile. On 5 May 1941, Selassie entered Addis Ababa, and

2686-442: A source of military power; Britain and France used large numbers of British Indian and North African soldiers, respectively, in many of their colonial wars (and would do so again in the coming World Wars). In the age of nationalism there was pressure for a nation to acquire an empire as a status symbol; the idea of "greatness" became linked with the " White Man's Burden ", or sense of duty, underlying many nations' strategies. In

2844-591: A span of sixteen month classes, but the first class was unable to graduate before the Italian invasion. Nazi Germany gave material support to the Ethiopians with 16,000 rifles, 600 machine guns, 3 airplanes, and 10 million rounds of ammunition as Führer Adolf Hitler wanted the Italians to be weakened before he attempted the Anschluss with the Federal State of Austria . Fifty foreign mercenaries joined

3002-618: A sprawling African empire. Britain had sought to extend its East African empire contiguously from Cairo to the Cape of Good Hope , while France had sought to extend its holdings from Dakar to the Sudan, which would enable its empire to span the entire continent from the Atlantic Ocean to the Red Sea . If one draws a line from Cape Town to Cairo (Rhodes's dream), and one from Dakar to

3160-463: A trade surplus: a market that bought more from the colonial power than it sold overall. Surplus capital was often more profitably invested overseas, where cheap materials, limited competition, and abundant raw materials made a greater premium possible. Another inducement for imperialism arose from the demand for raw materials, especially ivory , rubber , palm oil , cocoa , diamonds , tea , and tin . Additionally, Britain wanted control of areas of

3318-700: A transition from " informal imperialism " – military influence and economic dominance – to direct rule. With the decline of the European colonial empires in the wake of the two world wars, most African colonies gained independence during the Cold War , and decided to keep their colonial borders in the Organisation of African Unity conference of 1964 due to fears of civil wars and regional instability, placing emphasis on pan-Africanism . By 1841, businessmen from Europe had established small trading posts along

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3476-416: A treaty of friendship and alliance where both nations declared themselves allies, and the Italians promised to give weapons to the Ethiopians and to not annex more of their territory. The Treaty of Wuchale was signed on 2 May 1889, and another convention was held on 1 October 1889. The Treaty of Wuchale further expanded diplomatic relations between the countries, but despite the Italians recognizing Menelik as

3634-406: A trigger, or even pulling a short string passing into the mechanism. As the match was often extinguished after its collision with the flash pan, this type was not used by soldiers but was often used in fine target weapons where the precision of the shot was more important than the repetition. An inherent weakness of the matchlock was the necessity of keeping the match constantly lit. This was chiefly

3792-767: A year, the matter would be brought to the United Nations General Assembly . On 15 September 1948, the Allies brought the fate of Italy's three colonies in Somalia, Libya, and Eritrea to the General Assembly and on 21 November 1949, it was decided that Eritrea would be given to Ethiopia. On 15 September 1952, the United Nations voted forty six to ten, with four abstaining, in favor of a federation between Ethiopia and Eritrea. In 1955,

3950-416: Is not so clearly linked to capitalism and the free markets... historically there has been a closer link between colonialism/imperialism and state-led approaches to development." While tropical Africa was not a large zone of investment, other overseas regions were. The vast interior between Egypt and the gold and diamond-rich Southern Africa had strategic value in securing the flow of overseas trade. Britain

4108-513: Is unclear whether these were arquebuses or small cannons as late as 1444, but according to Gábor Ágoston the fact that they were listed separately from cannons in mid-15th century inventories suggest they were handheld firearms, though he admits this is disputable. Godfrey Goodwin dates the first use of the matchlock arquebus by the Janissaries to no earlier than 1465. The idea of a serpentine later appeared in an Austrian manuscript dated to

4266-777: The 1900 World's Fair presented the famous diorama "living" in Madagascar, while the Colonial Exhibitions in Marseilles (1906 and 1922) and in Paris (1907 and 1931)displayed human beings in cages, often nudes or quasi-nudes. Nomadic "Senegalese villages" were also created, thus displaying the power of the colonial empire to all the population. In the U.S., Madison Grant , head of the New York Zoological Society, exposed Pygmy Ota Benga in

4424-459: The Bronx Zoo alongside the apes and others in 1906. At the behest of Grant, a scientific racist and eugenicist , zoo director William Temple Hornaday placed Ota Benga in a cage with an orangutan and labeled him "The Missing Link " in an attempt to illustrate Darwinism , and in particular that Africans like Ota Benga are closer to apes than were Europeans. Other colonial exhibitions included

4582-672: The Cape Colony contributed to a preoccupation over securing the source of the Nile River. Egypt was taken over by the British in 1882, leaving the Ottoman Empire in a nominal role until 1914, when London made it a protectorate. Egypt was never an actual British colony. Sudan, Nigeria, Kenya, and Uganda were subjugated in the 1890s and early 20th century; and in the south, the Cape Colony (first acquired in 1795) provided

4740-856: The First Boer War . British Prime Minister William Gladstone signed a peace treaty on 23 March 1881, giving self-government to the Boers in the Transvaal . The Jameson Raid of 1895 was a failed attempt by the British South Africa Company and the Johannesburg Reform Committee to overthrow the Boer government in the Transvaal. The Second Boer War , fought between 1899 and 1902, was about control of

4898-516: The First Italo-Ethiopian War broke out in 1895; Italian troops were defeated as the Ethiopians had numerical superiority, better organization, and support from Russia and France. In 1911, Italy engaged in a war with the Ottoman Empire , in which it acquired Tripolitania and Cyrenaica , that together formed what became known as Italian Libya . In 1919 Enrico Corradini developed the concept of Proletarian Nationalism , which

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5056-855: The Hakka on Taiwan owned matchlock muskets. Han people traded and sold matchlock muskets to the Taiwanese aborigines . During the Sino-French War , the Hakka and Aboriginals used their matchlock muskets against the French in the Keelung Campaign and Battle of Tamsui . The Hakka used their matchlock muskets to resist the Japanese invasion of Taiwan (1895) and Han Taiwanese and Aboriginals conducted an insurgency against Japanese rule. Arabian Bedouin families continued using matchlocks well into

5214-660: The Hewett Treaty was signed between Britain, Egypt and Ethiopia that allowed the Ethiopians to occupy parts of Eritrea and allowed the Ethiopian goods to pass in and out of Massawa duty-free. From the British viewpoint, it was highly undesirable for the French to replace the Egyptians in Eritrea as that would increase the amount of French naval bases on the Red Sea that could interfere with British shipping heading through

5372-561: The Horn of Africa (the French ambition), these two lines intersect somewhere in eastern Sudan near Fashoda , explaining its strategic importance. A French force under Jean-Baptiste Marchand arrived first at the strategically located fort at Fashoda, soon followed by a British force under Lord Kitchener , commander in chief of the British Army since 1892. The French withdrew after a standoff and continued to press claims to other posts in

5530-693: The Interwar period the majority of the world started disarmament projects, but Ethiopia did not and at one point held the fourth largest army in the world with over 500,000 soldiers behind the Soviet Union , China , and France . In November 1922, Haile Selasssie watched an air show of the British Royal Air Force in the Aden Province . After watching the show Selassie made attempts to create an air force and on 18 August 1929,

5688-514: The Jardin d'Acclimatation , decided in 1877 to organise two "ethnological spectacles", presenting Nubians and Inuit . Ticket sales at the Jardin d'Acclimatation doubled, with a million paying entrances that year, a huge success for these times. Between 1877 and 1912, approximately thirty "ethnological exhibitions" were presented at the zoo. "Negro villages" were presented in Paris' 1878 World's Fair ;

5846-495: The Kingdom of Prussia , and through a series of wars with both Austria in 1866 and France in 1870 was able to unify all of Germany under Prussian rule. The German Empire was formally proclaimed on 18 January 1871. At first, Bismarck disliked colonies but gave in to popular and elite pressure in the 1880s. He sponsored the 1884–85 Berlin Conference , which set the rules of effective control of African territories and reduced

6004-790: The Niger River to the Nile, thus controlling all trade to and from the Sahel region by their existing control over the caravan routes through the Sahara. The British, on the other hand, wanted to link their possessions in Southern Africa with their territories in East Africa and these two areas with the Nile basin. The Sudan (which included most of present-day Uganda) was the key to the fulfilment of these ambitions, especially since Egypt

6162-736: The Oromo . During the 1860s, he used European missionaries to work in road construction and on building a siege weapon. Tewodros II also centralized the military by creating a permanent standing army from its historical practice of temporarily raising regional armies to create a national army. He also created a military hierarchy with titles going upward from commanders of ten, fifty, one thousand, and larger amounts of soldiers. Tewodros II also created an arsenal of modern weaponry in Magdala with 11,063 rifles, 875 pistols, 481 bayonets, 83,563 bullets, 15 cannons, 7 mortars, and 55 cannon shells. The Sebastopol ,

6320-559: The Ovambo kingdoms , most of which were later conquered. The 1884 Berlin Conference regulated European colonisation and trade in Africa, and is seen as emblematic of the "scramble". In the last quarter of the 19th century, there were considerable political rivalries between the European empires , which provided the impetus for the colonisation. The later years of the 19th century saw

6478-417: The Second Industrial Revolution during the era of " New Imperialism " (1833–1914): Belgium , France , Germany , United Kingdom , Italy , Portugal and Spain . In 1870, 10% of the continent was formally under European control. By 1914, this figure had risen to almost 90%; the only states retaining sovereignty were Liberia , Ethiopia , Egba , Aussa , Senusiyya , Mbunda , the Dervish State , and

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6636-433: The United Nations forces during the Congo Crisis , but they saw no action. On May 22, 1953, a U.S.-Ethiopian Mutual Defense Assistance Agreement was signed. A U.S. Military Assistance Advisory Group was dispatched to Ethiopia and began its work by reorganizing the army into three divisions. On 25 September 1953, Selassie created the Imperial Ministry of National Defense that unified the Army, Air Force, and Navy. By 1956,

6794-465: The United States . Technological advances facilitated European expansion overseas. Industrialization brought about rapid advancements in transportation and communication, especially in the forms of steamships, railways and telegraphs. Medical advances also played an important role, especially medicines for tropical diseases, which helped control their adverse effects. The development of quinine , an effective treatment for malaria, made vast expanses of

6952-532: The 1870s, European initiatives against the slave trade caused an economic crisis in northern Sudan, precipitating the rise of Mahdist forces. In 1881, the Mahdist revolt erupted in Sudan under Muhammad Ahmad , severing Tewfik's authority in Sudan. The same year, Tewfik suffered an even more perilous rebellion by his Egyptian army in the form of the Urabi revolt . In 1882, Tewfik appealed for direct British military assistance, commencing Britain's administration of Egypt. A joint British-Egyptian military force entered

7110-404: The 1924 British Empire Exhibition and the 1931 Paris "Exposition coloniale". Matchlock A matchlock or firelock is a historical type of firearm wherein the gunpowder is ignited by a burning piece of flammable cord or twine that is in contact with the gunpowder through a mechanism that the musketeer activates by pulling a lever or trigger with their finger. This firing mechanism

7268-420: The 19th century. There is evidence that matchlock rifles may have been in use among some peoples in Christian Abyssinia in the late Middle Ages. Although modern rifles were imported into Ethiopia during the 19th century, contemporary British historians noted that, along with slingshots , matchlock rifle weapons were used by the elderly for self-defense and by the militaries of the Ras . Under Qing rule ,

7426-456: The 20th century, and matchlocks were often passed down as family heirlooms within Bedouin families. The reliability of the matchlock made it the weapon of choice for Bedouins, who sometimes chose to convert flintlocks into matchlocks. Tibetans have used matchlocks from as early as the sixteenth century until very recently. The early 20th century explorer Sven Hedin also encountered Tibetan tribesmen on horseback armed with matchlock rifles along

7584-445: The African continent, with all their territories located near the coasts. The most important holdings were Angola and Mozambique , held by Portugal ; the Cape Colony , held by the United Kingdom ; and Algeria , held by France . By 1914, only Ethiopia and Liberia remained outside European control, with the former eventually being occupied by Italy in 1936 while the latter having strong connections with its historical colonizer,

7742-483: The Americans although the United States could only sell a fraction of the requested supplies. In 1947, the sale of 10,000 outdated rifles was easily approved by the British War Office due to their being over 290,000 tons of them being stored in Egypt . After the Ethiopian-American Mutual Defense Agreement was signed in 1953 the United States sent $ 3,800,000 worth of small arms, field artillery, and military vehicles to Ethiopia. The budget for defense and internal security

7900-418: The Atlantic. By 1890 the Congo Free State had consolidated control of its territory between Leopoldville and Stanleyville and was looking to push south down the Lualaba River from Stanleyville. At the same time, the British South Africa Company of Cecil Rhodes was expanding north from the Limpopo River , sending the Pioneer Column (guided by Frederick Selous ) through Matabeleland , and starting

8058-407: The British Empire recognized France's claim to Madagascar as well as their sphere of influence in North Africa stretching down to the border region of Sokoto. However, finely demarcating this border was difficult to do without a large map. Although the Berlin Conference had set the rules for the Scramble for Africa, it had not weakened the rival imperialists. As a result of the Entente Cordiale ,

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8216-402: The British and Harar was conquered by Menelik II in 1886. In 1887, the Sudanese Mahdist State invaded the Gojjam and Begemder provinces as a part of the Mahdist War . From 9 to 10 March 1889, Emperor Yohannes IV met the Mahdists at the Battle of Gallabat where the Mahdists were defeated, but Yohannes IV was fatally wounded and died on 10 March. Due to the instability of the region from

8374-413: The British at the Battle of Magdala and were easily defeated. Tewodros II later committed suicide after negotiations with the British had failed, but the British left after freeing Cameron and the missionaries having no intention of conquering Ethiopia. During the latter half of the 19th century the size of the Ethiopian field army rose dramatically. The largest army raised by Tewodros II during his reign

8532-404: The British to exercise control over the country's main cities and police the capital. Selassie also organized a Territorial Army that would serve to defeat the guerrilla organizations throughout the country, but the army never advanced past policing local areas. The British Military Mission to Ethiopia (BMME) under the leadership of General Stephen Butler aided in the training and rearmament of

8690-454: The Cameroons and South West Africa to be under its protection; and France occupied Guinea. French West Africa was founded in 1895 and French Equatorial Africa in 1910. In French Somaliland , a short-lived Russian colony in the Egyptian fort of Sagallo was briefly proclaimed by Terek Cossacks in 1889. Germany, divided into small states , was not initially a colonial power. In 1862, Otto von Bismarck became Minister-President of

8848-452: The Cameroons, and Tanganyika. Germany tried to isolate France in 1905 with the First Moroccan Crisis . This led to the 1905 Algeciras Conference , in which France's influence on Morocco was compensated by the exchange of other territories, and then to the Agadir Crisis in 1911. After fighting alongside France during the Crimean War (1853–1856), the Kingdom of Sardinia sought to unify the Italian peninsula, with French support. Following

9006-437: The Emperor established the Imperial Territorial Army as a reserve force that provided military training to civil servants. In 1960 the U.S. Army Area Handbook for Ethiopia described the very personalized command arrangements then used by the Emperor: The Emperor is by constitutional provision Commander-in-Chief, and to him are reserved all rights respecting the size of the forces and their organization and command, together with

9164-476: The Emperor of Ethiopia in the treaty the Foreign Affairs ministry sent telegrams to thirteen other countries describing Ethiopia as an Italian protectorate on 11 October 1889. The Ethiopians criticized the Italians as the Amharic and Italian versions of the treaty were not proper translations. The Kingdom of Italy attempted to enforce their version of treaty onto the Ethiopians during the First Italo-Ethiopian War , but were defeated due to military support given by

9322-412: The Ethiopian Empire remained neutral, but made attempts to side with the Entente Powers which were stopped by the Italians. Kaiser Wilhelm II attempted to convince the Ethiopians to join the Central Powers . Leo Frobenius and Salomon Hall were sent in attempts to enter Ethiopia, but were arrested in Italian Eritrea. Frederick Wilhelm von Syburg, the German ambassador to Ethiopia, attempted to convince

9480-450: The Ethiopian cause. Fifty mercenaries fought in the Ethiopian army and another fifty people were active in the Ethiopian Red Cross or non-military activities. The Italians later attributed most of the relative success achieved by the Ethiopians to foreigners or ferenghi and the Italian propaganda machine magnified the number to thousands, to explain away the Ethiopian Christmas Offensive of late 1935. On 3 October 1935, 100,000 soldiers of

9638-429: The Ethiopian forces, including Trinidadian pilot Hubert Julian , an official Swedish military mission under Captain Viking Tamm , the White Russian Feodor Konovalov and the Czechoslovak writer Adolf Parlesak. Several Austrian Nazis, a team of Belgian Fascists and Cuban mercenary Alejandro del Valle also fought for Haile Selassie. Many of these officers and volunteers were military advisers, pilots, doctors or supporters of

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9796-558: The Ethiopians into joining the war through promises of access to the Red Sea, but was unsuccessful. In 1915, Enderase Haile Selassie offered to give the Entente Powers 200,000 soldiers to aid in the defense of Egypt or to participate in the Middle Eastern theatre against the Ottoman Empire . At the time the Ethiopian army was in possession of 800,000–1,000,000 rifles produced in Germany and Belgium after 1911. In 1918, French Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau asked Italian Prime Minister Vittorio Emanuele Orlando on Selassie's behalf over

9954-400: The Ethiopians signed a weapons treaty with the German Empire and Austria-Hungary . On July 27, 1914, the Ethiopians and Austro-Hungarians made an agreement and paid for the transfer of 120 cannons from the Austrians to Ethiopians. However, the following day the Austro-Hungarians declared war on Serbia starting World War I and preventing the full transfer of the cannons. During World War I

10112-652: The Ethiopians. By 1942, the reorganized Ethiopian army was in possession of 250 horses, 2,100 mules, two artillery batteries, an armored car regiment of 205 soldiers, and 148 officers were trained in methods similar to those at the Royal Military College. By 1958, the army was in possession of rifles from the British, Czechoslovak, Italians, and Americans, 500 carbines , 590 machine guns, 432 mortars, 20 old Czechoslovak light tanks and 5 M24 Chaffees , 28 armored cars, 90 field artillery, 12 old antitank weapons, and 120 heavy mortars. The Imperial Bodyguard had 3,100 soldiers spread across seven battalions by 1946, and would continue to be

10270-541: The European powers as they divided the continent among themselves. More importantly, the diplomats in Berlin laid down the rules of competition by which the great powers were to be guided in seeking colonies. They also agreed that the area along the Congo River was to be administered by Leopold II as a neutral area in which trade and navigation were to be free. No nation was to stake claims in Africa without notifying other powers of its intentions. No territory could be formally claimed before being effectively occupied. However,

10428-418: The First Division had its headquarters at Addis Ababa (First, Second, Third Brigades, 5,300 strong); the Second Division was headquartered at Asmara , with the Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, and Twelfth Brigades (4,500 strong); and Third Division Harar (የ3ኛ ክፍለ ጦር, with the Fourth, Ninth, Tenth, and Eleventh Brigades, 6,890 strong) respectively. The three divisions had a total of 16,832 troops. In May 1959,

10586-400: The French arrived in modern-day Djibouti and established a protectorate although the border between the French colony and Ethiopia would not be formalized until 1897. On 13 December 1906, the British, French, and Italians signed a Tripartite Treaty regarding economic activities in Ethiopia and also regulated the sale of weapons to the Ethiopians, which had before lacked any, with patrols in

10744-416: The French colonial project in the late 19th century and early 20th century was the civilizing mission ( mission civilisatrice ), the principle that it was Europe's duty to bring civilisation to benighted peoples. As such, colonial officials undertook a policy of Franco-Europeanisation in French colonies, most notably French West Africa and Madagascar . During the 19th century, French citizenship along with

10902-462: The French conquest of Timbuktu (visited by René Caillié , disguised as a Muslim, in 1828, thereby winning the prize offered by the French Société de Géographie ); Malagasy after the occupation of Madagascar; Amazons of Abomey after Behanzin 's mediatic defeat against the French in 1894. Not used to the climatic conditions, some of the indigenous died from exposure, such as some Galibis in Paris in 1892. Geoffroy de Saint-Hilaire, director of

11060-417: The French foreign minister, Théophile Delcassé , took a defiant line. The crisis peaked in mid-June 1905 when Delcassé was forced out of the ministry by the more conciliation-minded premier Maurice Rouvier . But by July 1905 Germany was becoming isolated, and the French agreed to a conference to solve the crisis. The 1906 Algeciras Conference was called to settle the dispute. Of the thirteen nations present,

11218-418: The German Kaiser decided to test the solidity of such influence, using the contested territory of Morocco as a battlefield. Kaiser Wilhelm II visited Tangier on 31 March 1905 and made a speech in favour of Moroccan independence, challenging French influence in Morocco. France's presence had been reaffirmed by Britain and Spain in 1904. The Kaiser's speech bolstered French nationalism, and with British support,

11376-550: The German representatives found their only supporter was Austria-Hungary , which had no interest in Africa. France had firm support from Britain, the U.S., Russia, Italy, and Spain. The Germans eventually accepted an agreement, signed on 31 May 1906, whereby France yielded certain domestic changes in Morocco but retained control of key areas. However, five years later the Second Moroccan Crisis (or Agadir Crisis )

11534-649: The Governor of the Egypt Eyalet and declared a Khedivate that was later recognized in 1867. By 1875, Isma'il had expanded his control to Berbera and Harar during the Ethiopian–Egyptian War , but following his deposition by the British and the Ethiopian victory in the war the areas were returned to their control. In 1884, the Bogos in Eritrea were returned to the Ethiopians through liquidations of Egypt by

11692-578: The Horn of Africa, forming what would become Italian Somaliland . In the disorder that followed the 1889 death of Emperor Yohannes IV , General  Oreste Baratieri occupied the Ethiopian Highlands along the Eritrean coast, and Italy proclaimed the establishment of a new colony of Eritrea, with its capital moved from Massawa to Asmara . When relations between Italy and Ethiopia deteriorated,

11850-660: The Imperial Ethiopian Navy was formed as the country now had access to the Red Sea via Eritrea. On 25 June 1950, North Korea invaded South Korea starting the Korean War . In 1951, three battalions of Ethiopian soldiers were sent, under the leadership of Lieutenant Colonels Täshomä Ergtäu, Asfaw Andargé and Woldä Yohannes Sheta, to aid the South Koreans. Following the armistice two more battalions were sent. In 1960, four battalions were sent to join

12008-570: The Islamic historian al-Maqrizi , hired a group of Mamluks led by al-Tabingha to train his army in gunnery and sword fighting. This is the earliest reference to firearms (Arabic naft ) in Ethiopia. On 9 April 1520, a Portuguese embassy led by Ambassadors Dom Rodrigo de Lima and Mateus , and included missionary Francisco Álvares , arrived in Massawa to negotiate with Emperor Dawit II over

12166-508: The Italian Army commanded by Marshal Emilio De Bono attacked from Eritrea without prior declaration of war. The Italians used chemical weapons , in violation of the 1925 Geneva Protocol , effectively against the Ethiopian army, whose uniform consisted of light desert clothing and mostly barefoot soldiers. Chemical weapons were used in multiple battles and against thirteen towns from 22 December 1935 to 7 April 1936. In 1936, Addis Ababa

12324-657: The Italian states used the arquebus in the 15th century, but this may be a type of hand cannon , not matchlocks with trigger mechanism. He agreed that the matchlock first appeared in Western Europe during the 1470s in Germany. Improved versions of the Ottoman arquebus were transported to India by Babur in 1526. The matchlock was claimed to have been introduced to China by the Portuguese . The Chinese obtained

12482-518: The Japanese island Tanegashima Tokitaka (1528–1579) purchased two matchlock rifles from the Portuguese and put a swordsmith to work copying the matchlock barrel and firing mechanism. Within a few years, the use of the tanegashima in battle forever changed the way war was fought in Japan. Despite the appearance of more advanced ignition systems, such as that of the wheellock and the snaphance ,

12640-471: The King of Shewa, imported several cannons and was later given a mill to manufacture gunpowder by the French in 1840. In 1855, Tewodros II became the emperor and had the goal of unifying the Ethiopians into a centralized state in order to establish the country as a regional power. In 1856, he defeated Negus Haile Melekot , who ruled over the semi-autonomous Shewa region , and started military campaigns against

12798-709: The Mahdist War. Additionally the Egyptian province of Equatoria (located in South Sudan) led by Emin Pasha was also subject to an ostensible relief expedition of Emin Pasha against Mahdist forces. The British-Egyptian force ultimately defeated the Mahdist forces in Sudan in 1898. Thereafter, Britain seized effective control of Sudan, which was nominally called Anglo-Egyptian Sudan . The occupation of Egypt and

12956-433: The Mahdist invasions the Ethiopians were unable to do anything to prevent the Italian colonization of Eritrea which took access to the Red Sea away from them. The first firearms arrived in Ethiopia arrived during Yeshaq I 's reign, but were not put to use. In the 1520s Dawit II purchased a small amount of Portuguese and Turkish firearms but large scale usage of them by both lay folk and nobility would not come until after

13114-561: The Ottoman Empire by 1425. This early arquebus was a hand cannon with a serpentine lever to hold matches. However this early arquebus did not have the matchlock mechanism traditionally associated with the weapon. The exact dating of the matchlock addition is disputed. The first references to the use of what may have been matchlock arquebuses ( tüfek ) by the Janissary corps of the Ottoman Army date them from 1394 to 1465. However it

13272-470: The Red Sea to enforce the weapon regulations. In 1920, the French attempted to have the weapons embargo lifted, but the Italians and British refused although the French would smuggle outdated weaponry through French Somaliland . In 1911, around 60,000 stands of arms and 6,000,000 cartridges taken by the Japanese from Port Arthur during the Russo-Japanese War were sold to Ethiopia. In 1905,

13430-618: The Russian and French through modern weaponry and supplies. In 1895, Nikolay Leontiev organized the delivery of 5,000,000 cartridges, 30,000 rifles, 5,000 sabers, and a few cannons from the Russians to the Ethiopian army. Leontiev later served as a military adviser at the Battle of Adwa and later organized the first modernized army battalion of the Ethiopian army in February 1899. In 1883,

13588-766: The Somali nation, and the Germans promised to officially recognise any territories the Dervishes were to acquire. After a quarter of a century of holding the British at bay, the Dervishes were finally defeated in 1920 as a direct consequence of Britain's use of aircraft. Between 1904 and 1908, Germany's colonies in German South West Africa and German East Africa were rocked by separate, contemporaneous native revolts against their rule. In both territories

13746-568: The Somalis. The Dervish movement , led by Sayid Muhammed Abdullah Hassan , existed for 21 years, from 1899 until 1920. The Dervish movement successfully repulsed the British Empire four times and forced it to retreat to the coastal region. Because of these successful expeditions, the Dervish movement was recognized as an ally by the Ottoman and German empires. The Turks named Hassan Emir of

13904-663: The Suez Canal, but the British did not want the financial burden of ruling Eritrea so they looked for another country to replace the Egyptians. The Hewett treaty seemed to suggest that the land in Eritrea would be given to the Ethiopians as the Egyptians pulled out. After initially encouraging the Emperor Yohannes IV to move into Eritrea to replace the Egyptians, London decided to have the Italians move into Eritrea. In his history of Ethiopia, Augustus Wylde wrote: "England made use of King John Emperor Yohannes as long as he

14062-555: The Suez Canal. The shares were snapped up by Britain, under Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli , who sought to give his country practical control in the management of this strategic waterway. When Isma'il repudiated Egypt's foreign debt in 1879, Britain and France seized joint financial control over the country, forcing the Egyptian ruler to abdicate and installing his eldest son Tewfik Pasha in his place. The Egyptian and Sudanese ruling classes did not relish foreign intervention. During

14220-662: The United States Senate in 1970 uncovered the military agreements between Ethiopia and the United States. However, by 1973, the Ethiopians were no longer prioritized by the United States, which decreased its military aid and presence at military bases throughout the country. On 13 December 1960, the Imperial Bodyguard attempted a coup d'état while Selassie was outside of the country. Prince Amha Selassie and twenty cabinet ministers were captured by

14378-484: The United States to apply the Kellogg–Briand Pact against the Italians, but they refused. The Ethiopian army was in possession of outdated infantry weapons, 10–11 million rifle cartridges, four tanks, and thirteen planes against the more numerous and technologically advanced Italian Army and air force . The army consisted of 40,000 regular soldiers and 500,000 irregular soldiers all with poor equipment with

14536-657: The acceptance of 2,000 Ethiopian soldiers to fight in the war, but Orlando rejected the offer. Following the Russian Revolution and collapse of the Russian Empire , former Imperial Russian Army officers came to Ethiopia to train the Ethiopians. In 1917, Selassie established the Machine Gun Guards under the leadership of Gäbrä Yohannes Woldä Mädhen, who had served in the British army in Kenya as

14694-560: The acquisition of military and naval bases, for strategic purposes and the exercise of power. The growing navies, and new ships driven by steam power, required coaling stations and ports for maintenance. Defence bases were also needed for the protection of sea routes and communication lines, particularly of expensive and vital international waterways such as the Suez Canal. Colonies were seen as assets in balance of power negotiations, useful as items of exchange at times of international bargaining. Colonies with large native populations were also

14852-529: The acquisition of the Congo were the first major moves in what came to be a precipitous scramble for African territory. In 1884, Otto von Bismarck convened the 1884–1885 Berlin Conference to discuss the African problem. While diplomatic discussions were held regarding ending the remaining slave trade as well as the reach of missionary activities, the primary concern of those in attendance was preventing war between

15010-480: The armory of Goa in Portuguese India , which was captured by the Portuguese in 1510 . While the Japanese were technically able to produce tempered steel (e.g. sword blades), they preferred to use work-hardened brass springs in their matchlocks. The name tanegashima came from the island where a Chinese junk (a type of ship) with Portuguese adventurers on board was driven to anchor by a storm. The lord of

15168-518: The bush of civilians in German South West Africa resulted in a genocide of the population. In total, as many as 65,000 Herero (80% of the total Herero population), and 10,000 Namaqua (50% of the total Namaqua population) either starved, died of thirst, or were worked to death in camps such as Shark Island concentration camp between 1904 and 1908. Between 24,000 and 100,000 Hereros, 10,000 Nama , and an unknown number of San died in

15326-447: The coasts of Africa, but they seldom moved inland, preferring to stay near the sea. They primarily traded with locals. Large parts of the continent were essentially uninhabitable for Europeans because of their high mortality rates from tropical diseases such as malaria . In the middle of the 19th century, European explorers mapped much of East Africa and Central Africa . As late as the 1870s, Europeans controlled approximately 10% of

15484-693: The colonial administration when left to itself; as described in Joseph Conrad 's Heart of Darkness (1899)—published around the same time as Kipling 's The White Man's Burden —or in Louis-Ferdinand Céline 's Journey to the End of the Night (1932). Colonial lobbies emerged to legitimise the Scramble for Africa and other expensive overseas adventures. In Germany, France, and Britain,

15642-522: The colonial empires had become very popular almost everywhere in Europe: public opinion had been convinced of the needs of a colonial empire, although most of the metropolitans would never see a piece of it. Colonial exhibitions were instrumental in this change of popular mentalities brought about by the colonial propaganda, supported by the colonial lobby and by various scientists. Thus, conquests of territories were inevitably followed by public displays of

15800-481: The colonial lobby in his cabinet and thus did not execute his electoral promise to disengage from Egypt. Although Gladstone was personally opposed to imperialism, the social tensions caused by the Long Depression pushed him to favour jingoism : the imperialists had become the "parasites of patriotism." In France , Radical politician Georges Clemenceau was adamantly opposed to it: he thought colonization

15958-588: The competitors ignored the rules when convenient, and on several occasions war was only narrowly avoided (see Fashoda Incident ). The Swahili coast territories of the Sultanate of Zanzibar were partitioned between Germany and Britain, initially leaving the archipelago of Zanzibar independent until 1890, when that remnant of the Sultanate was made into a British protectorate with the Heligoland–Zanzibar Treaty . Britain's administration of Egypt and

16116-408: The coup members, but the main army remained loyal to the emperor. When Selassie returned to Addis Ababa on 17 December, the army defeated the coup. Following the 1960 coup by the Imperial Bodyguard and the threat of an independent Somalia the army was enlarged to over 28,000 soldiers by 1962, and over 30,000 the next year. In 1966, the army had been expanded to over 38,000 soldiers and a five-year plan

16274-589: The early 1880s, Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza was exploring the region along the Congo River for France, at the same time Henry Morton Stanley explored it on behalf of the Committee for Studies of the Upper Congo , backed by Leopold II of Belgium , who would have it as his personal Congo Free State . Leopold had earlier hoped to recruit Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza, but turned to Henry Morton Stanley when

16432-456: The first census did not take place until 1924, it is difficult to quantify the population loss of the period. The Casement Report set it at three million. William Rubinstein writes: "More basically, it appears almost certain that the population figures given by Hochschild are inaccurate. There is, of course, no way of ascertaining the population of the Congo before the twentieth century, and estimates like 20 million are purely guesses. Most of

16590-666: The founding of Gonder . In 1828, Ras Sabagardis, the chief of the Tigray Province , sent his English servant to Bombay , Egypt, and England with requests for firearms and one hundred light cavalry. In India the servant found a surplus of outdated matchlocks belonging to the East India Company and Foreign Secretary Henry John Temple and the directors of the East India Company approved the transfer of 3,000 matchlocks in 1831. In 1839, Sahle Selassie ,

16748-681: The genocide. Characteristic of this genocide was death from starvation, thirst, and possibly the poisoning of the population's wells, whilst they were trapped in the Namib Desert . In its earlier stages, imperialism was generally the act of individual explorers as well as some adventurous merchantmen. The colonial powers were a long way from approving without any dissent the expensive adventures carried out abroad. Various important political leaders, such as William Gladstone , opposed colonization in its first years. However, during his second premiership between 1880 and 1885, he could not resist

16906-682: The gold and diamond industries; the independent Boer republics of the Orange Free State and the South African Republic were this time defeated and absorbed into the British Empire. The French thrust into the African interior was mainly from the coasts of West Africa (present-day Senegal) eastward, through the Sahel along the southern border of the Sahara . Their ultimate aim was to have an uninterrupted colonial empire from

17064-634: The government of Prime Minister Aklilu Habte-Wold . In April, the army arrested twenty five officials on corruption charges and attempted to detain fifty other officials. On 21 June 1974, the Derg , a committee of low-ranking military officers and enlisted men, was formed. On 28 June, the Derg seized the radio station in Addis Ababa and the Ethiopian Army arrested more officials who had been members of

17222-752: The guidance of the British and Americans and served minor roles in international conflicts until internal conflicts diverted Ethiopia's foreign policy. In 1306, diplomatic envoys from Ethiopia arrived in Rome seeking diplomatic relations. In 1488, Bartolomeu Dias completed the first circumvention of the African continent reaching India and opening relations between the Portuguese and multiple African countries, including Ethiopia. In 1488, Ethiopian diplomats arrived in Lisbon, Portugal and Jesuit missionaries came to Ethiopia where they remained until their expulsion by Emperor Fasilides in 1632. Emperor Yeshaq I , according to

17380-411: The gun was the rifled barrel. This made the gun much more accurate at longer distances but did have drawbacks, the main one being that it took much longer to reload because the bullet had to be pounded down into the barrel. A type of matchlock was developed called the snap matchlock , in which the serpentine was brought to firing position by a weak spring, and activated by pressing a button, pulling

17538-705: The indigenous people for scientific and leisure purposes. Carl Hagenbeck , a German merchant in wild animals and a future entrepreneur of most Europeans zoos, decided in 1874 to exhibit Samoa and Sami people as "purely natural" populations. In 1876, he sent one of his collaborators to the newly conquered Egyptian Sudan to bring back some wild beasts and Nubians . Presented in Paris, London, and Berlin these Nubians were very successful. Such " human zoos " could be found in Hamburg, Antwerp, Barcelona, London, Milan, New York City, Paris, etc., with 200,000 to 300,000 visitors attending each exhibition. Tuaregs were exhibited after

17696-450: The interior of the Congo was literally unexplored if not inaccessible." A similar situation occurred in the neighbouring French Congo , where most of the resource extraction was run by concession companies, whose brutal methods, along with the introduction of disease, resulted in the loss of up to 50% of the indigenous population according to Hochschild. The French government appointed a commission headed by de Brazza in 1905 to investigate

17854-687: The latter was recruited by the French government. France occupied Tunisia in May 1881, which may have convinced Italy to join the German-Austrian Dual Alliance in 1882, thus forming the Triple Alliance . The same year, Britain occupied Egypt (hitherto an autonomous state owing nominal fealty to the Ottoman Empire ), which ruled over Sudan and parts of Chad, Eritrea, and Somalia. In 1884, Germany declared Togoland ,

18012-416: The low cost of production, simplicity, and high availability of the matchlock kept it in use in European armies. It left service around 1750. It was eventually completely replaced by the flintlock as the foot soldier's main armament. In Japan, matchlocks continued to see military use up to the mid-19th century. In China, matchlock guns were still being used by imperial army soldiers in the middle decades of

18170-503: The main focus of the Ethiopian army until an attempt coup by the organization against Selassie in 1960. After the Italian armies were defeated in North and East Africa the British started selling the captured Italian weapons to the Ethiopians, but at high prices resulting in the army limiting its purchases to small arms. In 1944, the Ethiopians rejected arm sales from the British due to price gouging and started buying military supplies from

18328-587: The majority being equipped with modern weapons. In 1879, Alfred Ilg arrived in the court of Menelik, seeking employment similar to Werner Munzinger who had helped Khedive Isma'il Pasha with the modernization of the Khedivate of Egypt , and aided in the modernization of Ethiopia's infrastructure and military. In 1887, the Ethiopian army was estimated to consist of over 145,000 soldiers with 88,000 infantry and 57,000 cavalry. The soldiers were armed with 71,000 firearms and 28,000 breechloaders . On 3 June 1884,

18486-561: The matchlock arquebus technology from the Portuguese in the 16th century and matchlock firearms were used by the Chinese into the 19th century. The Chinese used the term "bird-gun" to refer to muskets and Turkish muskets may have reached China before Portuguese ones. In Japan , the first documented introduction of the matchlock, which became known as the tanegashima , was through the Portuguese in 1543. The tanegashima seems to have been based on snap matchlocks that were produced in

18644-404: The mid-15th century. The first dated illustration of a matchlock mechanism dates to 1475, and by the 16th century they were universally used. During this time the latest tactic in using the matchlock was to line up and send off a volley of musket balls at the enemy. This volley would be much more effective than single soldiers trying to hit individual targets. Robert Elgood theorizes the armies of

18802-446: The middle class often sought strong overseas policies to ensure the market's growth. Even in lesser powers, voices like Enrico Corradini claimed a "place in the sun" for so-called "proletarian nations", bolstering nationalism and militarism in an early prototype of fascism. A plethora of colonialist propaganda pamphlets, ideas, and imagery played on the colonial powers' psychology of popular jingoism and proud nationalism. A hallmark of

18960-528: The mountainous countryside had remained out of Italian control due to resistance from the Arbegnoch . The occupation is an example of the expansionist policy that characterized the Axis powers as opposed to the Scramble for Africa. David Livingstone 's explorations, carried on by Henry Morton Stanley , excited imaginations with Stanley's grandiose ideas for colonisation; but these found little support owing to

19118-461: The nucleus of the army being the 7,000 royal guardsmen trained by Belgian officials. The weapons regulations and embargo that had been applied to Ethiopia since 1906 had hurt the Ethiopians with their army lacking munitions and supplies. Orders were placed for aircraft from Czechoslovakia , Switzerland , and Germany , but were not delivered before the war started. Shortly before the war started military officials from Belgium and Sweden came to aid in

19276-401: The occupation from 1936 to 1941, 17,800 women and children killed by the Italian bombings, 30,000 were killed in the reprisal massacre in Addis Ababa in mid-February 1937, 35,000 died in concentration camps, 24,000 people were killed in obedience to orders from summary courts, 30,000 people died after their villages had been destroyed, for a grand total of 760,300 civilian and military deaths as

19434-430: The pan. For obvious safety reasons, the match would be removed before reloading of the gun. Both ends of the match were usually kept alight in case one end should be accidentally extinguished. Earlier types had only an S-shaped serpentine pinned to the stock either behind or in front of the flash pan (the so-called "serpentine lock"), one end of which was manipulated to bring the match into the pan. A later addition to

19592-471: The possibility of an alliance against Muslim countries. On 21 February 1543, the Portuguese aided the Ethiopians defeat the Adal Sultanate at the Battle of Wayna Daga ending the fourteen year Ethiopian–Adal war . In 1557, the Ottoman Empire invaded Ethiopia and conquered Massawa and other areas along the Red Sea coast. The Ottomans would remain in the area until 1863, when Isma'il Pasha became

19750-459: The power to appoint, promote, transfer and dismiss military officers. He seeks the advice and consent of Parliament in declaring war. Traditionally, he assumes personal command of the forces in time of war.' Ethiopia's participation in peacekeeping efforts ended in the 1960s, as the army had to focus on the Eritrean revolts and Somali border skirmishes. In February 1974, the military overthrew

19908-470: The previous government for attempting to prevent reform attempts by Prime Minister Endelkachew Makonnen . The leadership of the military stated that they had no plans to overthrow either Emperor Selassie or Prime Minister Makonnen. However, on 22 July, Makonnen was arrested by the orders of the military. Scramble for Africa The Scramble for Africa was the conquest and colonisation of most of Africa by seven Western European powers driven by

20066-605: The problems and scale of action required, except from Leopold II of Belgium, who in 1876 had organised the International African Association . From 1869 to 1874, Stanley was secretly sent by Leopold II to the Congo region, where he made treaties with several African chiefs along the Congo River and by 1882 had sufficient territory to form the basis of the Congo Free State . While Stanley

20224-528: The problems of low prices and overproduction caused by shrinking continental markets. John A. Hobson argued in Imperialism that this shrinking of continental markets was a key factor of the global "New Imperialism" period. William Easterly , however, disagrees with the link made between capitalism and imperialism , arguing that colonialism is used mostly to promote state-led development rather than corporate development. He has said that "imperialism

20382-450: The pull of a lever (or in later models a trigger) protruding from the bottom of the gun and connected to the serpentine, the clamp dropped down, lowering the smoldering match into the flash pan and igniting the priming powder. The flash from the primer traveled through the touch hole , igniting the main charge of propellant in the gun barrel . On the release of the lever or trigger, the spring-loaded serpentine would move in reverse to clear

20540-454: The region. The Fashoda Incident ultimately led to the signature of the Entente Cordiale of 1904, which guaranteed peace between the two. In 1890, both the United Kingdom and France were able to reach a diplomatic solution over a colonial dispute that would guarantee freedom of trade for the British Empire while allowing France to expand their influence in North Africa. In exchange for France recognizing Britain's protectorate over Zanzibar,

20698-539: The remaining Italian soldiers in the country surrendered by January 1942. Following the liberation of Ethiopia in 1941, Selassie started a campaign to transform the country into a more centralized monarchical state and modernization of the country's military with the ancient military hierarchy being abolished. In 1942, a military treaty was signed between Ethiopia and Britain where the British would provide military missions to assist in training and organizing an Ethiopian army that would be effective at restoring order and for

20856-402: The right to elect a deputy to the French Chamber of Deputies was granted to the four old colonies of Guadeloupe, Martinique, Guyane and Réunion as well as to the residents of the " Four Communes " in Senegal. In most cases, the elected deputies were white Frenchmen, although there were some black deputies, such as the Senegalese Blaise Diagne , who was elected in 1914. By the end of World War I

21014-445: The risk of conflict between colonial powers. Bismarck used private companies to set up small colonial operations in Africa and the Pacific. Pan-Germanism became linked to the young nation's new imperialist drives. In the beginning of the 1880s, the Deutscher Kolonialverein was created, and published the Kolonialzeitung . This colonial lobby was also relayed by the nationalist Alldeutscher Verband . Weltpolitik (world policy)

21172-457: The rumoured abuses in the colony. However, de Brazza died on the return trip, and his "searingly critical" report was neither acted upon nor released to the public. In the 1920s, about 20,000 forced labourers died building a railroad through the French territory. To construct the Suez Canal , French diplomat Ferdinand de Lesseps had obtained many concessions from Isma'il Pasha , the Khedive of Egypt and Sudan in 1854–56. Some sources estimate

21330-431: The southern and eastern coasts of Africa for stopover ports on the route to Asia and its empire in India . But, excluding the area that became the Union of South Africa in 1910, European nations invested relatively limited amounts of capital in Africa. Pro-imperialist colonial lobbyists such as the Alldeutscher Verband , Francesco Crispi and Jules Ferry , argued that sheltered overseas markets in Africa would solve

21488-405: The threat to German rule was quickly defeated once large-scale reinforcements from Germany arrived, with the Herero rebels in German South West Africa being defeated at the Battle of Waterberg and the Maji-Maji rebels in German East Africa being steadily crushed by German forces slowly advancing through the countryside, with the natives resorting to guerrilla warfare . German efforts to clear

21646-428: The time, this depopulation had four main causes: "indiscriminate war", starvation, reduction of births and diseases. Sleeping sickness ravaged the country and must also be taken into account for the dramatic decrease in population; it has been estimated that sleeping sickness and smallpox killed nearly half the population in the areas surrounding the lower Congo River. Estimates of the death toll vary considerably. As

21804-401: The training of the Ethiopian army. Swedish Major General Eric Virgin helped to train Ethiopian infantry and artillery until he was sent back to Sweden on 1 October 1935, two days before the Italian invasion. In January 1935, a modern military school in Holeta Genet was created with the assistance of the Swedish with the intention of training military officers in modern military techniques over

21962-474: The tropics more accessible for Europeans. Sub-Saharan Africa , one of the last regions of the world largely untouched by "informal imperialism", was attractive to business entrepreneurs. During a time when Britain's balance of trade showed a growing deficit, with shrinking and increasingly protectionist continental markets during the Long Depression (1873–1896), Africa offered Britain, Germany, France, and other countries an open market that would garner them

22120-404: The unity of the nation state which provided citizenship to its population. Thus, a tension between the universalist will respect human rights of the colonized people, as they may be considered as "citizens" of the nation-state, and the imperialist drive to cynically exploit populations deemed inferior began to surface. Some, in colonizing countries, opposed what they saw as unnecessary evils of

22278-399: The workforce at 30,000, but others estimate that 120,000 workers died over the ten years of construction from malnutrition, fatigue, and disease, especially cholera . Shortly before its completion in 1869, Khedive Isma'il borrowed enormous sums from British and French bankers at high rates of interest. By 1875, he was facing financial difficulties and was forced to sell his block of shares in

22436-413: Was 15,000. In 1873, Emperor Yohannes IV raised an army of 32,000 soldiers, by 1876, he raised an army of 64,000 soldiers, and by 1880, he raised an army of 140,000 soldiers with 40,000 armed with rifles. While serving as the King of Shewa, Menelik II raised 80,000 soldiers in 1878, although only 4,000 had rifles, but by the time of the first war with the Italians he raised an army of 150,000 soldiers with

22594-458: Was a diversion from the "blue line of the Vosges " mountains, that is revanchism and the patriotic urge to reclaim the Alsace-Lorraine region which had been annexed by the German Empire with the 1871 Treaty of Frankfurt . Clemenceau made Jules Ferry 's cabinet fall after the 1885 Tonkin disaster . According to Hannah Arendt in The Origins of Totalitarianism (1951), this expansion of national sovereignty on overseas territories contradicted

22752-440: Was a prime example of the period. Rhodes sent two expeditions to Msiri in 1890 led by Alfred Sharpe , who was rebuffed, and Joseph Thomson , who failed to reach Katanga. Leopold sent four expeditions. First, the Le Marinel expedition could only extract a vaguely worded letter. The Delcommune expedition was rebuffed. The well-armed Stairs expedition was given orders to take Katanga with or without Msiri's consent. Msiri refused,

22910-421: Was already under British control. This "red line" through Africa is made most famous by Cecil Rhodes. Along with Lord Milner , the British colonial minister in South Africa, Rhodes advocated such a "Cape to Cairo" empire, linking the Suez Canal to the mineral-rich South Africa by rail. Though hampered by the German occupation of Tanganyika until the end of World War I, Rhodes successfully lobbied on behalf of such

23068-401: Was an improvement over the hand cannon , which lacked a trigger and required the musketeer or an assistant to apply a match directly to the gunpowder by hand. The matchlock mechanism allowed the musketeer to apply the match himself without losing his concentration. The classic matchlock gun held a burning slow match in a clamp at the end of a small curved lever known as the serpentine . Upon

23226-457: Was expanded by forty percent. The air force was trained by Swedish officers, a small coastal navy was organized under the supervision of Norwegian naval officers, Israeli advisers trained paratroopers, Indian officers staffed a military school in Harer, and officers in the Ethiopian army were sent to attend schools in the United States, Britain, and Yugoslavia . From 1953 to 1970, the United States gave Ethiopia $ 147 million in military aid and

23384-441: Was exploring the Congo on behalf of Leopold II of Belgium, the Franco-Italian marine officer Pierre de Brazza travelled into the western Congo Basin and raised the French flag over the newly founded Brazzaville in 1881, thus occupying today's Republic of the Congo . Portugal, which also claimed the area because of old treaties with the Kingdom of Kongo, made a treaty with Britain on 26 February 1884 to block off Leopold's access to

23542-407: Was of any service and then threw him over to the tender mercies of Italy...It is one of our worst bits of business out of the many we have been guilty of in Africa...one of the vilest bites of treachery". In 1885, the Italians took over Massawa and Beilul and despite protests made by Menelik to Queen Victoria the Italians remained in the area. On 20 October 1887, the Italians and Ethiopians signed

23700-401: Was one reason why soldiers in charge of transporting and guarding ammunition were amongst the first to be issued self-igniting guns like the wheellock and snaphance . The matchlock was also uneconomical to keep ready for long periods of time, as keeping both ends of a match lit every night for a year required a mile of match. The earliest form of matchlock in Europe appeared by 1411 and in

23858-460: Was shot, and his head was cut off and stuck on a pole as a "barbaric lesson" to the people. The Bia River expedition finished the job of establishing an administration of sorts and a "police presence" in Katanga. Thus, the half million square kilometres of Katanga came into Leopold's possession and brought his African realm up to 2,300,000 square kilometres (890,000 sq mi), about 75 times larger than Belgium. The Congo Free State imposed such

24016-406: Was sparked by the deployment of the German gunboat Panther to the port of Agadir in July 1911. Germany had started to attempt to match Britain's naval supremacy —the British navy had a policy of remaining larger than the next two rival fleets in the world combined. When the British heard of the Panther ' s arrival in Morocco, they wrongly believed that the Germans meant to turn Agadir into

24174-412: Was started in 1968 to further expand the army to over 46,000 soldiers. In 1941, the British occupied Italian East Africa and placed Eritrea under British Military Administration . In 1947, the treaty officially declaring peace between Italy and the Allies was ratified. It included a clause stating that if the Allies were unable to find a solution on what to do with the former Italian colonies within

24332-430: Was supposed to legitimise Italy's imperialism by a mixture of socialism with nationalism: We must start by recognizing the fact that there are proletarian nations as well as proletarian classes; that is to say, there are nations whose living conditions are subject...to the way of life of other nations, just as classes are. Once this is realised, nationalism must insist firmly on this truth: Italy is, materially and morally,

24490-454: Was taken by the Italians and the last battle between the Italians and Ethiopians occurred on 19 February 1937. Shortly before the fall of Addis Ababa to the Italians Haile Selassie had fled from Ethiopia on board the British light cruiser HMS Enterprise (D52) . In a memorandum submitted to the Paris Peace Conference in 1946, the Ethiopian government stated that 275,000 soldiers had been killed in action, 78,500 were killed in hostilities during

24648-419: Was the foreign policy adopted by Kaiser Wilhelm II in 1890, intending to transform Germany into a global power through aggressive diplomacy, and the development of a large navy. Germany became the third-largest colonial power in Africa, the location of most of its 2.6 million square kilometres of colonial territory and 14 million colonial subjects in 1914. The African possessions were Southwest Africa, Togoland,

24806-430: Was the main receipt of all American military aid to Africa. In 1960, the United States made a secret agreement with Ethiopian to help train and equip an army of 40,000 soldiers to fight against the Somali Republic and rebels in Eritrea . The United States was given the Kagnew Station in 1953, where over 3,000 Americans were later sent to staff the naval communications and satellite systems base there. An investigation by

24964-531: Was under political pressure to build up lucrative markets in India, Malaya , Australia and New Zealand. Thus, it wanted to secure the key waterway between East and West – the Suez Canal , completed in 1869. However, a theory that Britain sought to annex East Africa during 1880 onwards, out of geo-strategic concerns connected to Egypt (especially the Suez Canal), has been challenged by historians such as John Darwin (1997) and Jonas F. Gjersø (2015). The scramble for African territory also reflected concern for

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