Ethiopia

Question 1

Richard Pankhurst

Answer 1

argues term decolonisatio masks the continued exploitation and domination of underdeveloped nations by imperial powers, faciliated by complicit local elites.

Question 2

Pankhurst 4 points

Answer 2

1. Anglo-Ethiopian Agreement 1942: first diplomatic recognition of restored independence, only really gained in 1954
2. 1944 Agreement still allowed British to maintain control of Ogaden and Reserved area
3. Britain strategically used WW2 to advance their own conception of Ethiopian diplomacy aiming to maintain significant influence after liberation from Italy
4. Established Occupied Enemy Territory administration: allowed them to control Ethiopia under the guise of military necessity during wartime.

Question 3

Key Primary Source

Answer 3

Selassie at the League of Nations 1936

Question 4

Selassie key from LON 1936

Answer 4

highlights moral failings of the League.

“what, then, in practice in the meaning of Article 16 and of collective security”.

Question 5

What are Sven Rubenson’s 3 reasons Ethiopia survived the Scramble for Africa?

Answer 5

1. conditions on the European side
2. political and military conditions in Ethiopia
3. miscalculations of Ethiopia’s strength

also European and Christian memory, biblical history, own Orthodox Church, referenced in the New Testament

Question 6

Battle of Adwa

Answer 6

1895-96

Question 7

Ethiopianism

Answer 7

preservation of independence, spawned interntional Black people phenomenon

Manifest Black christian religion, rise of Ethiopian Episcopal Churches

Question 8

Dominik Fruhwirth on Ethiopianism

Answer 8

argues it was a forerunner for Pan-Africanism

Question 9

Italian occupation

Answer 9

revenge for Adwa, influenced by fascist ideologies

highlighted weakness of League of Nations.

failed collective security

groundwork for WW2?

Question 10

May 1936 New York

Answer 10

American League Against War and Fascism

diverse coalition, protested against Italian aggression and league’s inaction.

early moment of anti-fascist transnational solidarity.

Question 11

Tripartite Treaty 1906

Answer 11

divided Ethiopia into British, French, and Italian spheres of influence

adaptation: modernised institutions, looked to Japan for inspiration

Question 12

Lake Tana Agreement

Answer 12

betrayal - signed by British and Italian without Ethiopia. sovereignty undermined

Question 13

Ian S. Spears on Ethiopia and British

Answer 13

survival depended on external recognition not just historical legitimacy

British only restored independence because it benefitted British colonial interests in Africa.

Question 14

Marcus garvey

Answer 14

Black diaspora, formed Universal Negro Improvement Association 1914

Ethiopia mentioned as land of fathers, favourite land of the God’s.

Africa for Africans, racial pride and self-determination on their own effort, not aid. must have knowledge of their past.

Question 15

C. Brown and R. Hill on Garvey

Answer 15

Garvey helped invent a “racial internationalism” linking African struggles to those in the Caribbean and Americas

Question 16

B.H. Edwards on Garvey

Answer 16

transnational activism

‘The Negro World’ newspaper

underground newspaper in Africa, subverting colonial censorship.

Question 17

Hakim Adi on Garvey

Answer 17

he gave black people a vision of dignity and pride.

Question 18

Michael Collins

Answer 18

early historiography focuses on states and elites negotiation

UN either facilitated or hindered decolonisation process

Question 19

R. Robinson and J. Gallagher

Answer 19

‘periphery’ important in influencing the ‘official mind’ in the metropole

bought them into the narrative, yet agency muted

Question 20

John Darwin

Answer 20

decolonisation ‘systematic’ process occured within an ‘imperial system’ sees ‘reconfiguration’ of empire.

1942 collapse of Singapore, ‘geopolitical shifts’ as decline, gaze not on the colonised.

Question 21

Henri Grimal

Answer 21

decolonisation driven by the agency of the colonised - not top down - efforts and resistance of indigenous.

formerly compliant and began to resist colonial rule

world wars and bodies influenced decolonisation and international opinion, geopolitical shifts accelerated the end of empire

Question 22

Grimal quote about indigenous resistance

Answer 22

“Complex interplay of indigenous resistance and international pressures”

Question 23

British Military Administration 1941-44

Answer 23

while haile selassie returned to Addis Ababa in 1941, real control remained with the British military in many regions

(Ogaden, western, the reserves)

British authorities cited infrastructure collapse, ethnic unrest, and security concerns as justification for continued control

“liberated” not sovereign.

Question 24

Anglo-Ethiopian Agreement 1942

Answer 24

Defined British and Ethiopian zones of control but favoured British

britain had control over: currency and trade, military reorganisation, customs and borders

humiliating compromise

Question 25

Why was Ethiopia strategic for Britain?

Answer 25

maintain buffer zone in the horn of Africa protect interests in Sudan, Egypt, and Somaliland use Ethiopia as part of its wartime and postwar logistics netowkr form of informal empire - indirect control without outright colonisation

Question 26

Pankhurst on British re-occupation

Answer 26

delayed recovery by withholding territory and controlling economic aid and trade emphasises contrast between British and anti-fascist rhetoric and imperial reality

Question 27

Bahru Zewde on British control in Ethiopia

Answer 27

argues that British control represented a "subtle form of recolonisation" after fascist occupation Haile Selassie faced "semi-sovereignty" in practice Points to Ethiopian resistance and diplomacy in slowly regaining full control

Question 28

Why is Ethiopia important?

Answer 28

challenges simplistic narratives of decolonisation as linear or complete shows how imperial powers adapted after WWII to maintain influence without direct rule reflects the complex position of non-colonised states in the broader decolonisation story.