Why Ethiopia was never colonized
Ethiopia was never colonized for the following reasons.
- Unity. By the time Italy came to colonize Ethiopia in mid 1890s, the Emperor then had just finished expanding, uniting & reigning over present day Ethiopia. Under his leadership & call he was able to mobilize an army of 100,000 people (from different parts of the country) at that time.
- Unity continued. When the Italians (like other European colonialists)attempted to implement their rather common method of ‘divide & conquer’, the Ethiopian Kings refused to fight & instead renewed their loyalties to each other . The Italians had suggested in multiple in occasions for Menelik II (King of Shoa then) to start war with Yohannes IV (King of Kings of Ethiopia based in Tigray). The two made ever lasting peace.
- Political Genius. In hope of Menelik being the gateway for Italian colonization in Ethiopia, the Italians had sold guns & ammunition to him (a lot of it). They always thought that he’d use their guns to kill/conquer Emperor Yohannes IV. Instead he used their guns to beat them.
- Military Genius. Most legendary stories of warfare & soldier were the ones from the battle of Adwa. The most qualified of generals were leading armies of anywhere between 1,000–30,000. Using the land & artistic methods of warfare to their advantage the chased the Italians out.
- National sense of defiance. Most (if not all) Ethiopians cannot think of foreign dominion/occupation over them. It’s a nation of a very proud people, humble if unprovoked.
- During the second attempt of Italian Occupation.
We were initially defeated and occupied for 5 years because we failed to invest in military advancement. The nation was stable (for about 40 years) hence the leaders didn’t prioritize military advancement. Instead, Emperor Haileselassie was invested in expanding schools. He blames ‘uneducated-ness’ for the defeat. Nonetheless we beat the enemy due to the same reasons above, with different forms/stories.