WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.080 Welcome back to the Deep Dive. Today we want 00:00:02.080 --> 00:00:04.719 you to visualize a map with us. Picture the continent 00:00:04.719 --> 00:00:07.960 of Africa, but in the late 19th century. Right 00:00:07.960 --> 00:00:10.900 around, say, 1890. Exactly. And if you look at 00:00:10.900 --> 00:00:13.439 a historical atlas from that time, it's just 00:00:13.439 --> 00:00:15.939 this patchwork quilt of European colors. You've 00:00:15.939 --> 00:00:18.679 got British pink stretching from Cairo to Cape 00:00:18.679 --> 00:00:21.199 Town. You've got the French blue all over West 00:00:21.199 --> 00:00:25.239 Africa. German, Portuguese. Belgian territories, 00:00:25.500 --> 00:00:27.579 they are everywhere. The entire continent is 00:00:27.579 --> 00:00:30.039 being carved out. It's like a pie at a dinner 00:00:30.039 --> 00:00:32.840 table where the only guests are European empires. 00:00:32.840 --> 00:00:34.920 The scramble for Africa, it's one of the most 00:00:34.920 --> 00:00:38.280 aggressive just... incredibly rapid periods of 00:00:38.280 --> 00:00:40.719 colonization in all of human history. In just 00:00:40.719 --> 00:00:42.799 a few decades, an entire continent basically 00:00:42.799 --> 00:00:45.100 lost its sovereignty. Almost. Almost an entire 00:00:45.100 --> 00:00:47.240 continent. Because if you zoom in on the Horn 00:00:47.240 --> 00:00:49.780 of Africa, on that eastern side, there is this 00:00:49.780 --> 00:00:53.500 one stubborn, distinct shape that stays independent. 00:00:53.840 --> 00:00:56.039 Ethiopia. Ethiopia. And the reason that shape 00:00:56.039 --> 00:00:57.939 exists on the map today, the reason it wasn't 00:00:57.939 --> 00:00:59.820 just swallowed up by European power like all 00:00:59.820 --> 00:01:01.840 of its neighbors, it really comes down to one 00:01:01.840 --> 00:01:04.590 man. A man who is, well, he's arguably one of 00:01:04.590 --> 00:01:07.069 the most complex, heavy hitting figures in African 00:01:07.069 --> 00:01:10.090 history. We were talking about Emperor Menelik 00:01:10.090 --> 00:01:12.290 II. And when we were going through the source 00:01:12.290 --> 00:01:14.810 material for this, what just immediately struck 00:01:14.810 --> 00:01:17.549 me was the sheer scale of the contradiction. 00:01:18.349 --> 00:01:20.909 This is not a simple story at all. No. Depending 00:01:20.909 --> 00:01:23.290 on which source you read, Menelik is either the 00:01:23.290 --> 00:01:26.909 architect of modern Ethiopia, this brilliant 00:01:26.909 --> 00:01:29.569 strategist who humiliated a European superpower. 00:01:29.909 --> 00:01:32.870 Or he's a brutal conqueror who presided over, 00:01:32.930 --> 00:01:36.439 I mean, large scale atrocities and famine. It's 00:01:36.439 --> 00:01:38.980 a massive duality to hold in your head. And our 00:01:38.980 --> 00:01:41.239 mission today is to try and unpack that. We're 00:01:41.239 --> 00:01:43.519 not here to pick a side, but to look at the historical 00:01:43.519 --> 00:01:45.739 records, the treaties, the letters, the accounts 00:01:45.739 --> 00:01:49.599 from his reign, which was roughly 1889 to 1913. 00:01:49.599 --> 00:01:51.519 We really need to understand how one man can 00:01:51.519 --> 00:01:54.239 be both an anti -colonial hero and, you know, 00:01:54.239 --> 00:01:56.340 an imperialist in his own right. So let's rewind 00:01:56.340 --> 00:01:58.459 the clock. Before he was an emperor, before the 00:01:58.459 --> 00:02:00.420 great battles, he was just a boy. And his start 00:02:00.420 --> 00:02:02.939 in life was, well, it was anything but secure. 00:02:03.310 --> 00:02:06.590 That's right. He was born in 1844 in Shewa, which 00:02:06.590 --> 00:02:09.689 is a region in central Ethiopia. And names are 00:02:09.689 --> 00:02:12.310 really important here. He wasn't born Menelik. 00:02:12.370 --> 00:02:14.889 What was his birth name? His birth name was Saleh 00:02:14.889 --> 00:02:18.280 Meriam. That name, Menelik, came later. It was 00:02:18.280 --> 00:02:21.020 given to him by his grandfather, King Salih Selassie. 00:02:21.439 --> 00:02:23.599 And it wasn't, you know, a random choice. It's 00:02:23.599 --> 00:02:25.979 all back, right? A very specific, very heavy 00:02:25.979 --> 00:02:29.120 historical reference. Incredibly heavy. It references 00:02:29.120 --> 00:02:31.939 Menelik I, who was the legendary son of King 00:02:31.939 --> 00:02:34.800 Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. In Ethiopian 00:02:34.800 --> 00:02:36.639 tradition, that is the beginning of the entire 00:02:36.639 --> 00:02:39.379 Solomonic dynasty. So by giving him that name. 00:02:39.659 --> 00:02:41.900 His grandfather was basically prophesying. He 00:02:41.900 --> 00:02:44.379 was saying, this child is going to restore the 00:02:44.379 --> 00:02:47.039 ancient glory of the empire. He was signaling 00:02:47.039 --> 00:02:49.479 a destiny for power. I mean, he was essentially 00:02:49.479 --> 00:02:51.699 putting a target on the kids back from day one. 00:02:51.780 --> 00:02:53.639 And that target brought trouble pretty quickly. 00:02:53.740 --> 00:02:56.520 The sources describe his childhood less like 00:02:56.520 --> 00:02:59.099 a royal fairy tale and more like a political 00:02:59.099 --> 00:03:03.439 thriller. At just 11, his father dies, and then 00:03:03.439 --> 00:03:06.000 suddenly the region is invaded. Invaded by Emperor 00:03:06.000 --> 00:03:09.020 Teodros II. Now Teodros is a whole other deep 00:03:09.020 --> 00:03:11.259 dive, but for our purposes, he was a unifier, 00:03:11.379 --> 00:03:14.360 but a very violent one. He conquered Shura and 00:03:14.360 --> 00:03:17.580 he captured the young prince, Salimarium, hauled 00:03:17.580 --> 00:03:19.500 him off to the mountain fortress of Magdala. 00:03:19.639 --> 00:03:22.020 You know, when I hear imprisoned in a fortress, 00:03:22.159 --> 00:03:25.460 I'm picturing a dungeon, bread and water, iron 00:03:25.460 --> 00:03:28.569 bars, that whole thing. But that's not what happened 00:03:28.569 --> 00:03:31.449 here, is it? Not at all. This was a golden cage 00:03:31.449 --> 00:03:34.610 kind of scenario. Teodros was smart. He knew 00:03:34.610 --> 00:03:37.129 that to control Shoah, he needed the air under 00:03:37.129 --> 00:03:39.389 his thumb. But he didn't want to break the boy. 00:03:39.550 --> 00:03:42.289 He wanted to mold him. So what did he do? So 00:03:42.289 --> 00:03:44.349 Salimarian was raised in the royal household. 00:03:44.490 --> 00:03:47.550 He was educated in statecraft, in warfare, in 00:03:47.550 --> 00:03:50.050 court etiquette. He basically had the run of 00:03:50.050 --> 00:03:52.169 the place. Teodros even married him off to his 00:03:52.169 --> 00:03:54.830 own daughter, Altash. Wow. Talk about keeping 00:03:54.830 --> 00:03:57.590 your enemies close. He literally made his prisoner 00:03:57.590 --> 00:03:59.870 his son -in -law. It's such a bizarre dynamic, 00:04:00.110 --> 00:04:03.090 isn't it? You conquered my people, but pass the 00:04:03.090 --> 00:04:05.710 salt, Dad. It's a classic move in feudal politics, 00:04:05.849 --> 00:04:08.129 though. Bind them to you by blood and marriage. 00:04:08.469 --> 00:04:10.990 It is. But here's the thing about Menelik, and 00:04:10.990 --> 00:04:12.669 we see this trait throughout his entire life. 00:04:12.870 --> 00:04:16.470 He is incredibly patient. But he never, ever 00:04:16.470 --> 00:04:19.629 loses sight of the long game. He enjoyed the 00:04:19.629 --> 00:04:21.750 comfort. He played the role of the loyal son 00:04:21.750 --> 00:04:24.089 -in -law. But he never forgot he was a prisoner. 00:04:24.209 --> 00:04:28.050 He just waited for 10 years. 10 years is a long 00:04:28.050 --> 00:04:30.250 time for a young man to wait, especially when 00:04:30.250 --> 00:04:32.029 you have a kingdom that's technically yours. 00:04:32.250 --> 00:04:35.250 Right. But in 1865, the moment finally comes. 00:04:35.470 --> 00:04:38.149 Right. Emperor Teodorus's power was starting 00:04:38.149 --> 00:04:40.569 to fracture. He was becoming more and more erratic, 00:04:40.670 --> 00:04:44.189 losing support. Menelik saw his opening. On the 00:04:44.189 --> 00:04:47.170 night of July 1st, 1865, with the help of a queen 00:04:47.170 --> 00:04:50.009 named Warkitu of the Walla Oromo. Who is an enemy 00:04:50.009 --> 00:04:52.589 of Teodros. Exactly. With her help, he slipped 00:04:52.589 --> 00:04:55.110 out of Magdala. And this is the first really 00:04:55.110 --> 00:04:57.870 cool blooded moment we see from him. He leaves, 00:04:58.009 --> 00:05:00.930 but he doesn't take his wife. No. He abandons 00:05:00.930 --> 00:05:03.509 Altash. It was a completely clean break. He rode 00:05:03.509 --> 00:05:05.569 back to Shewa to reclaim his father's throne. 00:05:05.790 --> 00:05:08.149 And the fallout was horrific. Oh, it was. When 00:05:08.149 --> 00:05:10.529 Teredros found out, he just went into a rage. 00:05:10.790 --> 00:05:14.370 The sources recount that he took 29 Oromo hostages 00:05:14.370 --> 00:05:16.569 people connected to Queen Workudin and had them 00:05:16.569 --> 00:05:20.209 slaughtered. He also beat 12 Amhara notables 00:05:20.209 --> 00:05:23.589 to death with bamboo rods. That's just brutal. 00:05:23.769 --> 00:05:26.350 It really sets the stakes for this era. Power 00:05:26.350 --> 00:05:28.990 wasn't theoretical. It was visceral and incredibly 00:05:28.990 --> 00:05:31.930 violent. It was. So Menelik gets back to Shua 00:05:31.930 --> 00:05:35.069 and the people welcome him. He's crowned king 00:05:35.069 --> 00:05:38.939 or niggas of Shua. But you'd think most people 00:05:38.939 --> 00:05:41.660 in his position, having just escaped and with 00:05:41.660 --> 00:05:44.139 an army behind them, they might march right back 00:05:44.139 --> 00:05:46.860 to Magdala to take the imperial throne, you know, 00:05:46.860 --> 00:05:48.819 get revenge. You would think so. But Menelik 00:05:48.819 --> 00:05:51.139 doesn't do that. And this is so crucial for understanding 00:05:51.139 --> 00:05:53.500 his success later against the Italians. He knew 00:05:53.500 --> 00:05:55.540 he wasn't strong enough yet. OK, why not? The 00:05:55.540 --> 00:05:57.959 northern regions, Tigray and Gondar, they were 00:05:57.959 --> 00:06:00.720 the traditional centers of power. Shua was considered 00:06:00.720 --> 00:06:03.439 a bit of a backwater at the time. If he had marched 00:06:03.439 --> 00:06:05.779 north then, he would have been crushed. So he 00:06:05.779 --> 00:06:08.639 just waits. Again. He turned his back on the 00:06:08.639 --> 00:06:10.920 throne for the moment. He focused on consolidation. 00:06:11.459 --> 00:06:14.939 He started building. And interestingly, he started 00:06:14.939 --> 00:06:17.420 shopping. He really did. I was reading these 00:06:17.420 --> 00:06:19.920 accounts from Italian travelers who met him during 00:06:19.920 --> 00:06:23.199 this period. They described him as a fanatic 00:06:23.199 --> 00:06:26.019 for weapons. One observer said he had the curiosity 00:06:26.019 --> 00:06:28.959 of a boy whenever he saw a new piece of machinery. 00:06:29.339 --> 00:06:31.949 He was obsessed. But it wasn't just a hobby. 00:06:32.029 --> 00:06:34.189 You have to remember the context. Ethiopia was 00:06:34.189 --> 00:06:36.829 surrounded. The Ottoman Empire was active. The 00:06:36.829 --> 00:06:39.430 modists were rising in Sudan and the Europeans 00:06:39.430 --> 00:06:41.389 were circling. You could see the writing on the 00:06:41.389 --> 00:06:43.910 wall. Menelik realized earlier than almost anyone 00:06:43.910 --> 00:06:46.589 else that if he wanted to survive, tradition 00:06:46.589 --> 00:06:49.319 was not enough. He needed breach loading rifles. 00:06:49.500 --> 00:06:52.139 He needed cannons. He needed the industrial capacity 00:06:52.139 --> 00:06:54.519 of violence. He recognized that the game had 00:06:54.519 --> 00:06:57.040 completely changed. Swords and shields weren't 00:06:57.040 --> 00:06:59.819 going to cut it anymore. Exactly. And this fascination 00:06:59.819 --> 00:07:02.240 with technology wasn't just, you know, admiring 00:07:02.240 --> 00:07:04.379 the engineering. It was a survival strategy. 00:07:04.579 --> 00:07:08.100 He began courting Europeans, specifically the 00:07:08.100 --> 00:07:11.480 Italians initially, to get access to these arms 00:07:11.480 --> 00:07:13.879 markets. And this need for resources, for money 00:07:13.879 --> 00:07:16.660 to buy these guns, it tries us right into the 00:07:16.660 --> 00:07:19.319 most controversial. chapter of his life. It does. 00:07:19.540 --> 00:07:23.779 To buy guns, you need gold, ivory, coffee, and 00:07:23.779 --> 00:07:26.600 slaves. And to get those things, you need land. 00:07:26.779 --> 00:07:29.300 This is the era of the Agar -Makant. Right, the 00:07:29.300 --> 00:07:32.019 Agar -Makant. It translates roughly to the cultivation 00:07:32.019 --> 00:07:34.139 of land. But I mean, let's be honest, that's 00:07:34.139 --> 00:07:36.779 a euphemism. This was conquest. A huge expansion. 00:07:37.389 --> 00:07:39.910 From his base in Shewa, Menelik looked south, 00:07:40.029 --> 00:07:42.569 east, and west. He began a series of military 00:07:42.569 --> 00:07:45.149 campaigns to expand the borders of his kingdom. 00:07:45.350 --> 00:07:47.430 And to be clear, this is where the map of modern 00:07:47.430 --> 00:07:49.839 Ethiopia is literally drawn. That's correct. 00:07:50.060 --> 00:07:52.620 Without these campaigns, Ethiopia, as we know 00:07:52.620 --> 00:07:55.319 it, geographically would not exist. He tripled 00:07:55.319 --> 00:07:58.199 the size of the empire. He incorporated the Oromo 00:07:58.199 --> 00:08:01.519 lands, the Saddam, the Somali regions. But the 00:08:01.519 --> 00:08:04.459 methods. Well, the methods are why this is still 00:08:04.459 --> 00:08:06.720 such a heated debate today. OK, let's dig into 00:08:06.720 --> 00:08:08.860 that, because the experience of this expansion 00:08:08.860 --> 00:08:10.800 wasn't the same for everyone, was it? It wasn't 00:08:10.800 --> 00:08:13.540 some uniform welcome to the empire party. Not 00:08:13.540 --> 00:08:16.709 at all. It varied wildly. In some kingdoms, like 00:08:16.709 --> 00:08:19.209 Jemma or Laika in the West, the local rulers 00:08:19.209 --> 00:08:21.550 were pragmatic. They saw Menelik's army coming, 00:08:21.730 --> 00:08:23.970 an army that was increasingly well -armed, and 00:08:23.970 --> 00:08:26.410 they realized fighting was suicide. So they made 00:08:26.410 --> 00:08:28.430 a deal. They struck a deal. They submitted peacefully. 00:08:29.110 --> 00:08:32.250 And Menelik allowed them to keep their religion, 00:08:32.389 --> 00:08:35.070 their local administration, even their own armies, 00:08:35.169 --> 00:08:37.129 as long as they paid tribute and acknowledged 00:08:37.129 --> 00:08:40.240 his sovereignty. So in those cases, it was more 00:08:40.240 --> 00:08:43.019 of a feudal absorption. Yeah. Pay the boss, keep 00:08:43.019 --> 00:08:46.100 your house. Exactly. But in other areas, Arcee, 00:08:46.179 --> 00:08:48.080 the kingdom of Kaffa, will lie to the resistance, 00:08:48.259 --> 00:08:51.799 was incredibly fierce. These were independent 00:08:51.799 --> 00:08:54.500 peoples who had no desire to be part of a Christian 00:08:54.500 --> 00:08:57.559 highland empire. And Menelik's response to resistance 00:08:57.559 --> 00:09:01.039 was brutality. The sources here are very difficult 00:09:01.039 --> 00:09:02.860 to read. We're talking about massacres. We are. 00:09:03.360 --> 00:09:06.360 In Arsi, for example, the war dragged on for 00:09:06.360 --> 00:09:08.620 years. When the resistance was finally broken, 00:09:08.840 --> 00:09:11.639 the retribution was severe. We have credible 00:09:11.639 --> 00:09:13.879 accounts of mutilation, the severing of hands 00:09:13.879 --> 00:09:16.600 and breasts, as a way to terrorize the population 00:09:16.600 --> 00:09:18.559 into submission. And this is where that term 00:09:18.559 --> 00:09:20.460 neftenia comes from, right? Yes. I heard that 00:09:20.460 --> 00:09:22.480 word used in modern political debates in Ethiopia. 00:09:22.480 --> 00:09:24.639 It's a really charged term. What does it actually 00:09:24.639 --> 00:09:28.019 mean historically? Literally, it means gun carrier 00:09:28.019 --> 00:09:30.820 or rifleman. You have to understand Menelik's 00:09:30.820 --> 00:09:34.299 constraint. He didn't have the money to pay a 00:09:34.299 --> 00:09:37.179 standing army to occupy these vast new territories, 00:09:37.440 --> 00:09:40.120 so he used a system where he gave his soldiers 00:09:40.120 --> 00:09:42.799 land in the conquered territories as payment. 00:09:43.080 --> 00:09:45.320 And the local people. The local farmers were 00:09:45.320 --> 00:09:48.399 turned into gabbers, or serfs. They were forced 00:09:48.399 --> 00:09:50.480 to work the land for these new armed settlers, 00:09:50.879 --> 00:09:53.740 the Niftinya. So it was essentially a settler 00:09:53.740 --> 00:09:57.139 colonial system, but an internal one. The soldiers 00:09:57.139 --> 00:09:59.639 from the north settle on the land, and the locals 00:09:59.639 --> 00:10:02.000 in the south work for them. It fits many of the 00:10:02.000 --> 00:10:04.840 definitions, yes. You had a cultural, linguistic, 00:10:05.159 --> 00:10:07.419 and religious imposition from the north on to 00:10:07.419 --> 00:10:09.720 the south. And this was all compounded by an 00:10:09.720 --> 00:10:11.940 absolute catastrophe that hit right in the middle 00:10:11.940 --> 00:10:14.220 of these wars. The Great Famine. The Great Famine. 00:10:14.259 --> 00:10:17.200 It started with the Rinderpest outbreak of 1888. 00:10:17.399 --> 00:10:19.440 This is something out of a disaster movie. It's 00:10:19.440 --> 00:10:21.710 cattle disease, right? It's a viral cattle disease. 00:10:21.990 --> 00:10:24.549 It was accidentally introduced to Africa by Italian 00:10:24.549 --> 00:10:27.110 cattle that were imported to Eritrea to feed 00:10:27.110 --> 00:10:29.490 their troops. It swept down the continent like 00:10:29.490 --> 00:10:32.610 a wildfire. In Ethiopia, it killed an estimated 00:10:32.610 --> 00:10:36.870 90 % of the cattle. 90%. I can't even wrap my 00:10:36.870 --> 00:10:38.570 head around that number. Just think about what 00:10:38.570 --> 00:10:42.120 that means. In an agrarian society... Cattle 00:10:42.120 --> 00:10:44.919 aren't just food. They are the engine. They plow 00:10:44.919 --> 00:10:46.779 the fields. They're your savings account. They're 00:10:46.779 --> 00:10:49.720 your transport. When 90 % of them die, the society 00:10:49.720 --> 00:10:52.159 just collapses. So how many people died? It's 00:10:52.159 --> 00:10:54.659 estimated that one third of the entire Ethiopian 00:10:54.659 --> 00:10:58.600 population died between 1888 and 1892. A third? 00:10:59.120 --> 00:11:01.860 That's apocalyptic. It was. Menelik himself was 00:11:01.860 --> 00:11:04.120 reportedly eating beef from cattle that had died 00:11:04.120 --> 00:11:06.039 of the disease just to show solidarity, but there 00:11:06.039 --> 00:11:08.500 is little he could do. And the timing is so tragic 00:11:08.500 --> 00:11:11.279 because it coincided with his expansion. So for 00:11:11.279 --> 00:11:13.440 many people in the South, the arrival of Menelik's 00:11:13.440 --> 00:11:15.759 armies wasn't just a military defeat. It was 00:11:15.759 --> 00:11:17.919 the end of their world combined with starvation 00:11:17.919 --> 00:11:20.759 and disease. That trauma is intergenerational. 00:11:20.759 --> 00:11:23.120 It hasn't just gone away. It really helps explain 00:11:23.120 --> 00:11:26.230 why his legacy is so split. For some, he's the 00:11:26.230 --> 00:11:29.090 glorious emperor. For others, he represents displacement 00:11:29.090 --> 00:11:31.990 and immense suffering. Absolutely. But here's 00:11:31.990 --> 00:11:35.250 the paradox. At the exact same time he is doing 00:11:35.250 --> 00:11:37.929 this internal conquering, he's the only one who 00:11:37.929 --> 00:11:41.110 seems to see the external threat clearly. He 00:11:41.110 --> 00:11:43.789 is playing this high -stakes poker game with 00:11:43.789 --> 00:11:47.100 Italy. The diplomatic chess match. This brings 00:11:47.100 --> 00:11:50.259 us to the Treaty of Bucol in 1889. Okay, set 00:11:50.259 --> 00:11:52.620 the scene for this. Menelik has just become emperor 00:11:52.620 --> 00:11:55.879 after his predecessor, Johannes IV, died in battle. 00:11:56.120 --> 00:11:58.679 So he needs international recognition to secure 00:11:58.679 --> 00:12:00.940 his throne, and he still needs a steady supply 00:12:00.940 --> 00:12:03.440 of those wepe we talked about. And Italy is eager 00:12:03.440 --> 00:12:05.559 to expand its foothold from the coast. Exactly. 00:12:05.639 --> 00:12:08.200 So they sign a treaty of friendship and trade. 00:12:08.539 --> 00:12:11.080 But friendship is a pretty loose term in 19th 00:12:11.080 --> 00:12:13.799 century diplomacy, isn't it? Very loose. This 00:12:13.799 --> 00:12:16.480 treaty contains one of the most... famous lost 00:12:16.480 --> 00:12:20.279 in translation moments in history. Or maybe lost 00:12:20.279 --> 00:12:22.720 in deception is a better way to put it. Deception 00:12:22.720 --> 00:12:25.259 is the right word. It all comes down to Article 00:12:25.259 --> 00:12:28.600 17. The treaty was written in two languages, 00:12:29.000 --> 00:12:32.539 Amharic and Italian. And the Italian negotiators 00:12:32.539 --> 00:12:34.820 assured Menelik that the texts were identical. 00:12:35.000 --> 00:12:37.080 They were not. What was the difference? It was 00:12:37.080 --> 00:12:41.820 so subtle, but so significant. The Amharic version 00:12:41.820 --> 00:12:44.379 said that Ethiopia could use the Italian government 00:12:44.379 --> 00:12:46.799 to conduct its diplomacy with other European 00:12:46.799 --> 00:12:50.100 powers. It was an option, a convenience offered 00:12:50.100 --> 00:12:52.230 to a friend. You know, if you need help sending 00:12:52.230 --> 00:12:54.230 a letter to England, we can help you out. No, 00:12:54.230 --> 00:12:55.990 the Italian version. The Italian version said 00:12:55.990 --> 00:12:58.730 Ethiopia must use the Italian government. That 00:12:58.730 --> 00:13:01.750 simple change from could to must changed everything. 00:13:02.049 --> 00:13:04.889 It legally turned Ethiopia into a protectorate. 00:13:04.889 --> 00:13:07.009 It completely stripped away their sovereignty. 00:13:07.289 --> 00:13:09.230 And Italy immediately started acting on that. 00:13:09.309 --> 00:13:11.269 Immediately. They sent word to Britain, France, 00:13:11.470 --> 00:13:14.169 and Germany saying, Ethiopia is ours now. If 00:13:14.169 --> 00:13:15.929 you want to talk to Menelik, you have to talk 00:13:15.929 --> 00:13:18.169 to us first. That is just incredibly sneaky. 00:13:18.470 --> 00:13:21.659 Did Menelik realize he'd been duped? Not until 00:13:21.659 --> 00:13:24.639 he tried to send letters directly to Queen Victoria 00:13:24.639 --> 00:13:27.039 and Kaiser Wilhelm. And they wrote back saying, 00:13:27.200 --> 00:13:30.019 effectively, why are you writing to us directly? 00:13:30.200 --> 00:13:32.360 You're an Italian protectorate. He must have 00:13:32.360 --> 00:13:34.919 been furious. He was beyond furious. He realized 00:13:34.919 --> 00:13:36.799 the Italians were trying to conquer him with 00:13:36.799 --> 00:13:40.019 a pen before they even used a sword. He confronted 00:13:40.019 --> 00:13:42.559 them. And this is where I really admire his backbone. 00:13:43.519 --> 00:13:45.659 Italy tried to buy him off, didn't they? They 00:13:45.659 --> 00:13:48.379 did. They realized the jig was up, so they tried 00:13:48.379 --> 00:13:51.600 bribery. They offered him two million cartridges, 00:13:51.840 --> 00:13:54.240 two million rounds of ammunition if he would 00:13:54.240 --> 00:13:56.179 just accept the protectorate status. That's a 00:13:56.179 --> 00:13:58.840 massive bribe for a leader who desperately needs 00:13:58.840 --> 00:14:01.990 ammo. It is. But Menelik refused. He essentially 00:14:01.990 --> 00:14:04.210 said, I am not selling my kingdom for bullets. 00:14:04.549 --> 00:14:08.370 He formally rejected the treaty in 1893. So Italy 00:14:08.370 --> 00:14:10.950 moves to Plan B subversion. They look at the 00:14:10.950 --> 00:14:13.870 political map of Ethiopia and they see Raz Mengesha 00:14:13.870 --> 00:14:16.870 in Tigray Menelik's rival. And they think, great, 00:14:16.990 --> 00:14:18.789 we'll just pay this guy to start a civil war 00:14:18.789 --> 00:14:21.070 and we can walk in and pick up the pieces. It's 00:14:21.070 --> 00:14:23.490 the standard colonial playbook, divide and rule. 00:14:23.629 --> 00:14:26.340 They had done it all over Africa. But this is 00:14:26.340 --> 00:14:28.320 where the Italians fundamentally misunderstood 00:14:28.320 --> 00:14:31.620 Ethiopian culture. What did they miss? Ras Mengesha 00:14:31.620 --> 00:14:34.600 and Menelik were rivals. Yes, they had fought. 00:14:34.860 --> 00:14:37.220 But when the Italians approached Mengesha, he 00:14:37.220 --> 00:14:40.440 realized something critical. The Italians weren't 00:14:40.440 --> 00:14:42.779 there to help him become emperor. They were there 00:14:42.779 --> 00:14:45.220 to take the land for themselves. So the rival 00:14:45.220 --> 00:14:47.559 becomes an ally. Rosman Geisha famously came 00:14:47.559 --> 00:14:50.159 to Menelik carrying a rock on his neck as a traditional 00:14:50.159 --> 00:14:53.080 sign of submission and repentance. And he pledged 00:14:53.080 --> 00:14:55.320 his loyalty against the invaders. He essentially 00:14:55.320 --> 00:14:57.500 said, we can fight each other later. Right now, 00:14:57.539 --> 00:15:00.360 we fight them. This was the absolute nightmare 00:15:00.360 --> 00:15:04.129 scenario for Italy, a unified Ethiopia. And Menelik 00:15:04.129 --> 00:15:06.350 then issues his mobilization proclamation. I 00:15:06.350 --> 00:15:07.909 have the text here and it still gives me chills. 00:15:08.070 --> 00:15:11.210 An enemy has come across the sea to destroy our 00:15:11.210 --> 00:15:13.889 fatherland and our faith. Let every man who has 00:15:13.889 --> 00:15:16.690 sufficient strength accompany me. And the response 00:15:16.690 --> 00:15:18.990 was just overwhelming. This wasn't just a professional 00:15:18.990 --> 00:15:22.549 army. It was a levee en masse. Farmers dropped 00:15:22.549 --> 00:15:25.149 their plows. Lords brought their personal retinues. 00:15:25.250 --> 00:15:27.570 And crucially, they brought their wives and sisters. 00:15:27.850 --> 00:15:29.570 That's a detail we often miss, isn't it? The 00:15:29.570 --> 00:15:31.769 logistics. We usually just picture men with guns. 00:15:32.009 --> 00:15:35.070 Exactly. But an army of 100 ,000 men can't feed 00:15:35.070 --> 00:15:38.230 itself in the mountains. The Ethiopian army didn't 00:15:38.230 --> 00:15:40.549 have a supply corps with trucks and canned food. 00:15:40.909 --> 00:15:44.159 The supply line was the women. Tens of thousands 00:15:44.159 --> 00:15:46.279 of women marched with the army, managing the 00:15:46.279 --> 00:15:48.419 food, the water, grinding the grain, and the 00:15:48.419 --> 00:15:51.059 medical care. Without them, the army would have 00:15:51.059 --> 00:15:53.200 starved long before it ever reached the battlefield. 00:15:53.440 --> 00:15:56.820 It was an entire nation on the move. So the stage 00:15:56.820 --> 00:15:59.600 is set. The Italians, led by General Baratieri, 00:15:59.799 --> 00:16:02.299 are marching south from Eritrea. And they're 00:16:02.299 --> 00:16:04.809 confident. Maybe a little too confident. General 00:16:04.809 --> 00:16:07.750 Berettiere was operating on pure racism. He assumed 00:16:07.750 --> 00:16:09.789 he was marching to discipline a disorganized 00:16:09.789 --> 00:16:12.929 mob of savages. He estimated Menelik could maybe 00:16:12.929 --> 00:16:15.570 field 30 ,000 men, most of them with spears. 00:16:15.830 --> 00:16:18.570 He wrote back to Rome, speaking about the Ethiopians 00:16:18.570 --> 00:16:20.889 with just utter contempt. And what was the reality 00:16:20.889 --> 00:16:23.669 he walked into? The reality was an army of over 00:16:23.669 --> 00:16:26.929 100 ,000. And thanks to Menelik's years of buying 00:16:26.929 --> 00:16:29.210 weapons, many of them were armed with modern 00:16:29.210 --> 00:16:31.950 Remington and Mosin -Nagant rifles. And this 00:16:31.950 --> 00:16:34.740 is The Real Kicker. Menelik had Hotchkiss guns. 00:16:34.940 --> 00:16:37.480 Break that down for us. What is a Hotchkiss gun? 00:16:37.740 --> 00:16:39.759 It's an early form of rapid -fire mountain gun. 00:16:39.879 --> 00:16:42.740 It's light, it's portable, and it's deadly. It 00:16:42.740 --> 00:16:45.700 fires explosive shells. In terms of artillery 00:16:45.700 --> 00:16:48.860 support, the Ethiopians, in some sectors of the 00:16:48.860 --> 00:16:51.559 battle, actually outgunned the Italians. So it's 00:16:51.559 --> 00:16:54.500 David versus Goliath, but David brought a machine 00:16:54.500 --> 00:16:56.820 gun. That's a perfect way to put it. Before the 00:16:56.820 --> 00:16:59.320 big showdown at Adwa, there was the siege at 00:16:59.320 --> 00:17:02.070 Meikele. And this feels like a masterclass in 00:17:02.070 --> 00:17:04.410 psychological warfare for Menelik. It really 00:17:04.410 --> 00:17:06.890 was. The Italians were holed up in a fort at 00:17:06.890 --> 00:17:09.990 Michele. Menelik's forces, and this was specifically 00:17:09.990 --> 00:17:12.410 under the guidance of Empress Tatu, whom we definitely 00:17:12.410 --> 00:17:14.630 need to talk more about, they cut off the water 00:17:14.630 --> 00:17:17.230 supply. The Italians were literally dying of 00:17:17.230 --> 00:17:19.130 thirst. They had no choice but to surrender. 00:17:19.650 --> 00:17:22.750 Now, standard procedure in colonial wars of that 00:17:22.750 --> 00:17:25.309 time, or any war, really, would be to take them 00:17:25.309 --> 00:17:27.809 prisoner or, you know, kill them. Right. But 00:17:27.809 --> 00:17:29.910 Menelik let them go. He allowed them to march 00:17:29.910 --> 00:17:32.029 out of the fort with their rifles and return 00:17:32.029 --> 00:17:34.529 to the main Italian lines. He even gave them 00:17:34.529 --> 00:17:38.109 mules to carry their wounded. Why? That seems 00:17:38.109 --> 00:17:40.089 incredibly risky. You're just giving the enemy 00:17:40.089 --> 00:17:42.569 their soldiers back. It was a cold, brilliant 00:17:42.569 --> 00:17:45.049 calculation. The Italian government was telling 00:17:45.049 --> 00:17:47.789 its own soldiers that the Ethiopians were barbarians 00:17:47.789 --> 00:17:50.769 who would torture and kill them. By showing chivalry? 00:17:51.069 --> 00:17:54.529 By acting more civilized than the invaders, Menelik 00:17:54.529 --> 00:17:57.410 completely destroyed the Italian morale. The 00:17:57.410 --> 00:17:59.490 Italian soldiers were confused. They started 00:17:59.490 --> 00:18:01.529 questioning why they were even fighting these 00:18:01.529 --> 00:18:04.309 people who treated them with mercy. It's so doubt 00:18:04.309 --> 00:18:07.089 in the ranks right before the decisive battle. 00:18:07.309 --> 00:18:11.529 So we get to March 1st, 1896, Adwa. The terrain 00:18:11.529 --> 00:18:14.170 here is rugged mountains, deep valleys. It's 00:18:14.170 --> 00:18:16.049 a nightmare for coordination. And the Italians 00:18:16.049 --> 00:18:18.930 had bad maps. Baratieri was under immense pressure 00:18:18.930 --> 00:18:20.950 from Rome to get a quick victory because there 00:18:20.950 --> 00:18:22.789 were elections coming up in Italy. So he ordered 00:18:22.789 --> 00:18:25.150 a night march, hoping to surprise the Ethiopians 00:18:25.150 --> 00:18:27.849 at dawn. But his columns got separated in the 00:18:27.849 --> 00:18:30.049 dark. They got completely lost in the ravines. 00:18:30.250 --> 00:18:32.650 So instead of hitting the Ethiopians as one solid 00:18:32.650 --> 00:18:35.349 fist, they just arrived one by one. Exactly. 00:18:35.450 --> 00:18:37.710 They were fed into the meat grinder piecemeal. 00:18:37.890 --> 00:18:40.009 The Ethiopian forces, who were positioned... 00:18:40.009 --> 00:18:42.869 on the high ground just swarmed them. Menelik, 00:18:43.009 --> 00:18:45.609 Empress Tetu, and the key generals like Ras Alula 00:18:45.609 --> 00:18:48.329 and Ras Makonnen directed these waves of attack. 00:18:48.529 --> 00:18:50.509 It wasn't just a skirmish. It was a slaughter. 00:18:50.670 --> 00:18:53.690 And the outcome was total. Complete and utter 00:18:53.690 --> 00:18:56.730 destruction of the colonial army. Two Italian 00:18:56.730 --> 00:18:59.809 generals died. One was captured. Thousands of 00:18:59.809 --> 00:19:01.690 Italian soldiers were killed or taken prisoner. 00:19:01.910 --> 00:19:04.950 The rest just fled in panic back towards Eritrea. 00:19:05.130 --> 00:19:07.630 The news hits Rome and the government collapses. 00:19:08.250 --> 00:19:10.369 It was a global shockwave. You have to understand 00:19:10.369 --> 00:19:12.230 the mindset of the 19th century. White supremacy 00:19:12.230 --> 00:19:15.970 wasn't just some fringe idea. It was the geopolitical 00:19:15.970 --> 00:19:18.569 assumption. The idea that an African army could 00:19:18.569 --> 00:19:21.309 defeat a European power in a pitched battle was, 00:19:21.430 --> 00:19:25.089 to the West, unthinkable. Ottawa forced the entire 00:19:25.089 --> 00:19:27.769 world to redraw its mental maps. The New York 00:19:27.769 --> 00:19:29.990 Times ran headlines about it. It was breaking 00:19:29.990 --> 00:19:32.750 news everywhere. And this brings us to the big 00:19:32.750 --> 00:19:36.740 what if. Menelik has won. The Italians are running 00:19:36.740 --> 00:19:38.680 for their lives back to the coast. He has all 00:19:38.680 --> 00:19:40.059 the momentum. He could have pushed them into 00:19:40.059 --> 00:19:43.059 the sea and taken Eritrea back. But he stops. 00:19:43.519 --> 00:19:46.380 He halts the army. Why? He had them on the run. 00:19:46.599 --> 00:19:48.839 This is one of the most debated decisions in 00:19:48.839 --> 00:19:52.640 Ethiopian history. Menelik was, above all, A 00:19:52.640 --> 00:19:56.039 pragmatist. He knew that Ottawa was a huge humiliation 00:19:56.039 --> 00:19:58.660 for Italy, but he also knew his logistics were 00:19:58.660 --> 00:20:02.519 stretching thin. His army was hungry. More importantly, 00:20:02.539 --> 00:20:04.819 he calculated that if he pushed further, if he 00:20:04.819 --> 00:20:07.160 tried to take the colony of Eritrea, he risked 00:20:07.160 --> 00:20:09.819 turning a colonial war into a racial crusade. 00:20:09.960 --> 00:20:12.240 What do you mean by that? He feared that Britain 00:20:12.240 --> 00:20:14.160 and France would see it as a threat to their 00:20:14.160 --> 00:20:16.740 own African colonies and would unite with Italy 00:20:16.740 --> 00:20:18.900 to crush him. He couldn't fight all of Europe. 00:20:19.079 --> 00:20:22.440 So he chose survival over total victory. He banked 00:20:22.440 --> 00:20:24.539 the win. He chose to quit while he was ahead. 00:20:24.839 --> 00:20:27.720 He secured the Treaty of Addis Ababa, where Italy, 00:20:27.940 --> 00:20:30.579 Britain, and France all recognized the absolute 00:20:30.579 --> 00:20:33.339 independence of Ethiopia. He secured the state. 00:20:34.279 --> 00:20:37.799 But, by leaving the Italians in Eritrea, he left 00:20:37.799 --> 00:20:39.759 a seed that would grow into the fascist invasion 00:20:39.759 --> 00:20:42.980 of 1935 and the border wars that plagued the 00:20:42.980 --> 00:20:45.559 Horn of Africa for the next century. That's a 00:20:45.559 --> 00:20:48.240 heavy trade -off. Sovereignty for the core of 00:20:48.240 --> 00:20:50.700 the empire, but leaving that door ajar in the 00:20:50.700 --> 00:20:53.160 north. Precisely. It was wisdom in the moment, 00:20:53.259 --> 00:20:55.440 but it came with a future cost. I want to circle 00:20:55.440 --> 00:20:58.480 back to Empress Taitu. You mentioned her at Mecalae 00:20:58.480 --> 00:21:00.619 in Adwa. She wasn't just sitting in the palace 00:21:00.619 --> 00:21:03.079 embroidering, was she? Oh, absolutely not. Empress 00:21:03.079 --> 00:21:05.920 Taitu Batul was a force of nature. She was Menelik's 00:21:05.920 --> 00:21:08.920 third wife from a powerful northern family, which 00:21:08.920 --> 00:21:11.079 helped shore up his legitimacy. But she was a 00:21:11.079 --> 00:21:13.900 hardliner. When Menelik was considering compromising 00:21:13.900 --> 00:21:16.299 with the Italians early on, Taitu was the one 00:21:16.299 --> 00:21:19.519 who famously said no. We fight. The bad cop to 00:21:19.519 --> 00:21:22.059 his good cop. Very much so. At Adwa, she didn't 00:21:22.059 --> 00:21:25.079 just watch. She commanded her own unit of 5 ,000 00:21:25.079 --> 00:21:27.660 soldiers. She was on the battlefield organizing 00:21:27.660 --> 00:21:30.099 the defense of the camp and reinforcing the lines. 00:21:30.400 --> 00:21:32.579 And she was also the visionary behind the capital 00:21:32.579 --> 00:21:36.539 city. Arisobaba. Yes. Menelik wanted to build 00:21:36.539 --> 00:21:38.920 his capital at Entodo, up in the high mountains. 00:21:39.240 --> 00:21:42.720 It was defensive, sure, but it was cold, windy, 00:21:42.819 --> 00:21:54.230 and miserable. There was no water. It really 00:21:54.230 --> 00:21:56.109 changes the picture of the monarchy when you 00:21:56.109 --> 00:21:59.009 realize it was a true partnership. A very effective 00:21:59.009 --> 00:22:02.250 one. Menelik was the cool, calculating diplomat. 00:22:02.329 --> 00:22:05.910 Teitu was the fiery, decisive nationalist. They 00:22:05.910 --> 00:22:09.059 balanced each other perfectly. Menelik pivots 00:22:09.059 --> 00:22:11.279 again. He puts down the sword and he picks up 00:22:11.279 --> 00:22:13.720 a telephone. He becomes the modernizer. And this 00:22:13.720 --> 00:22:15.480 is where we see that fascination with technology 00:22:15.480 --> 00:22:20.140 really take root. He opened the floodgates. With 00:22:20.140 --> 00:22:23.059 Ethiopia's independence secure, he felt safe 00:22:23.059 --> 00:22:25.720 to bring in Western tools without fearing Western 00:22:25.720 --> 00:22:28.519 domination. He introduced the telephone, the 00:22:28.519 --> 00:22:31.599 telegraph, the first motor cars. He established 00:22:31.599 --> 00:22:34.670 the first modern bank. The Bank of Abyssinia. 00:22:34.809 --> 00:22:37.250 And the railway. The railway was the game changer. 00:22:37.410 --> 00:22:40.309 It connected Addis Ababa to Djibouti to the sea. 00:22:40.849 --> 00:22:43.690 It integrated Ethiopia into the global economy 00:22:43.690 --> 00:22:46.049 in a way that had never happened before. Before 00:22:46.049 --> 00:22:49.210 the train, that journey took weeks by mule. After, 00:22:49.410 --> 00:22:52.089 it took days. There is a story I see pop up on 00:22:52.089 --> 00:22:54.730 the internet constantly about Menelik and an 00:22:54.730 --> 00:22:56.880 electric chair. We have to address it because 00:22:56.880 --> 00:22:59.299 it's so strange. The electric chair story. It's 00:22:59.299 --> 00:23:01.200 a classic urban legend. So what's the story? 00:23:01.279 --> 00:23:03.240 The story goes that Menelik heard about this 00:23:03.240 --> 00:23:06.079 new American invention for execution, the electric 00:23:06.079 --> 00:23:08.960 chair. He thought it sounded modern and humane, 00:23:08.960 --> 00:23:11.039 so he ordered three of them. When they arrived, 00:23:11.200 --> 00:23:13.920 he supposedly realized Ethiopia had no electricity 00:23:13.920 --> 00:23:16.920 grid. So the story goes he just used one of them 00:23:16.920 --> 00:23:19.940 as his imperial throne. It's such a vivid, bizarre 00:23:19.940 --> 00:23:22.839 image. Is any of it true? Almost certainly not. 00:23:23.259 --> 00:23:25.660 Historians have traced this story back to a Canadian 00:23:25.660 --> 00:23:28.420 journalist in the 1930s who likely just made 00:23:28.420 --> 00:23:30.920 it up to make the emperor look like a naive savage 00:23:30.920 --> 00:23:33.660 mimicking the West. But the fact that the story 00:23:33.660 --> 00:23:35.980 survives tells you something about his reputation. 00:23:36.619 --> 00:23:39.460 He was known globally as the man who wanted the 00:23:39.460 --> 00:23:42.220 future, even if people mocked him for it. It 00:23:42.220 --> 00:23:45.000 creates this picture. of a man straddling two 00:23:45.000 --> 00:23:47.880 worlds, the ancient Solomonic tradition and the 00:23:47.880 --> 00:23:50.900 industrial 20th century. Right. But as with all 00:23:50.900 --> 00:23:54.480 reigns, it had to end. And the end of Menelik's 00:23:54.480 --> 00:23:57.059 life was... Well, it was complicated. It was 00:23:57.059 --> 00:23:59.859 a slow, painful decline. Starting around 1906, 00:24:00.140 --> 00:24:02.180 Menelik began suffering a series of strokes. 00:24:02.700 --> 00:24:06.039 By 1909, the great line of Judah was incapacitated. 00:24:06.039 --> 00:24:08.500 He couldn't speak. He couldn't move. The empire 00:24:08.500 --> 00:24:11.299 was effectively rudderless. Empress Tatu stepped 00:24:11.299 --> 00:24:13.400 in as regent, trying to hold it all together. 00:24:13.539 --> 00:24:15.680 But the nobility resented her power and eventually 00:24:15.680 --> 00:24:17.819 sidelined her. And the succession was a complete 00:24:17.819 --> 00:24:19.880 mess because he had no living legitimate son. 00:24:20.240 --> 00:24:22.579 Right. He had daughters, but the nobility wasn't 00:24:22.579 --> 00:24:24.680 ready for a female monarch to rule in her own 00:24:24.680 --> 00:24:28.519 right, so he picked his grandson, Lijiasu. But 00:24:28.519 --> 00:24:31.880 Iyasu was young, he was volatile, and most dangerously 00:24:31.880 --> 00:24:34.200 for that time, he was flirting with Islam. Why 00:24:34.200 --> 00:24:36.740 was that such a problem in the empire? Iyasu's 00:24:36.740 --> 00:24:39.480 father was a Muslim lord from Walla who had converted 00:24:39.480 --> 00:24:42.259 to Christianity. There were rumors, and eventually 00:24:42.259 --> 00:24:45.059 evidence, that Iyasu was leaning back toward 00:24:45.059 --> 00:24:47.829 his father's faith. He started wearing turbans, 00:24:47.890 --> 00:24:50.529 building mosques, making alliances with Somali 00:24:50.529 --> 00:24:53.309 Muslim leaders. In a staunchly orthodox Christian 00:24:53.309 --> 00:24:55.630 empire, where the emperor is the defender of 00:24:55.630 --> 00:24:58.630 the faith, this was political suicide. So Menelik 00:24:58.630 --> 00:25:01.589 dies in 1913. He dies, and the political situation 00:25:01.589 --> 00:25:04.210 is so tense that initially he wasn't even buried 00:25:04.210 --> 00:25:06.490 with a public funeral. They were so afraid of 00:25:06.490 --> 00:25:08.589 a civil war breaking out that they kept his death 00:25:08.589 --> 00:25:11.710 quiet for a time. Yasu took over but was never 00:25:11.710 --> 00:25:14.210 officially crowned. He was deposed just a few 00:25:14.210 --> 00:25:16.130 years later, which led to Menelik's daughter 00:25:16.130 --> 00:25:19.089 Zuditu becoming empress and Rastafari, who we 00:25:19.089 --> 00:25:21.289 all know as Hail Selassie, rising to power as 00:25:21.289 --> 00:25:24.289 regent. So when we step back and look at the 00:25:24.289 --> 00:25:28.710 whole picture, Menelik II, architect of modern 00:25:28.710 --> 00:25:33.759 Ethiopia, brutal conqueror, victor of Adwa. How 00:25:33.759 --> 00:25:35.720 do we synthesize all of this? I think we have 00:25:35.720 --> 00:25:38.299 to accept that he disrupts our clean narratives. 00:25:38.519 --> 00:25:42.359 We like our anti -colonial heroes to be pure 00:25:42.359 --> 00:25:44.960 victims fighting back against the oppressor. 00:25:45.180 --> 00:25:47.660 Menelik was an anti -colonial hero who was also 00:25:47.660 --> 00:25:49.500 an imperialist. He played the game. He played 00:25:49.500 --> 00:25:51.680 the game better than the Europeans did. He used 00:25:51.680 --> 00:25:53.980 their technology and their diplomatic rules to 00:25:53.980 --> 00:25:56.160 beat them. But he also used their methods of 00:25:56.160 --> 00:25:58.660 conquest to build his own state. That is the 00:25:58.660 --> 00:26:00.779 key tension, isn't it? You can't have modern 00:26:00.779 --> 00:26:02.700 Ethiopia without the conquest. But that very 00:26:02.700 --> 00:26:05.180 conquest left wounds that are still bleeding 00:26:05.180 --> 00:26:08.180 today. Exactly. If you look at the ethnic tensions 00:26:08.180 --> 00:26:10.740 in Ethiopia now, the Oromo protests, the debates 00:26:10.740 --> 00:26:13.220 over land and language, they trace their roots 00:26:13.220 --> 00:26:15.720 directly back to the Neftenya system in the expansion 00:26:15.720 --> 00:26:18.200 of the 1880s. Menelik built the house, but the 00:26:18.200 --> 00:26:20.660 foundation has cracks. He created the borders, 00:26:20.779 --> 00:26:23.559 but he also created the internal divisions. But 00:26:23.559 --> 00:26:25.480 at the same time, we can't overstate the importance 00:26:25.480 --> 00:26:28.759 of Ottawa. No, we absolutely cannot. Adwa is 00:26:28.759 --> 00:26:31.339 a beacon. For the Pan -African movement, for 00:26:31.339 --> 00:26:34.240 people like Marcus Garvey, W .E .B. Dubois -Manelik 00:26:34.240 --> 00:26:36.940 was proof. He proved that Black people could 00:26:36.940 --> 00:26:40.220 unite, organize, and defeat a white superpower. 00:26:40.759 --> 00:26:43.480 He shattered the myth of European invincibility, 00:26:43.700 --> 00:26:46.160 that psychological victory is just as important 00:26:46.160 --> 00:26:49.079 as the military one. It gave hope to colonize 00:26:49.079 --> 00:26:52.180 people everywhere, from Ghana to Harlem. Here's 00:26:52.180 --> 00:26:54.299 a thought to leave our listeners with. We talked 00:26:54.299 --> 00:26:56.839 about that moment after the battle where Menelik 00:26:56.839 --> 00:27:00.079 stops and doesn't invade Eritrea. He chose stability 00:27:00.079 --> 00:27:03.140 over total victory. Was that the ultimate act 00:27:03.140 --> 00:27:05.359 of wisdom that saved his empire from certain 00:27:05.359 --> 00:27:07.900 destruction? Or was it the missed opportunity 00:27:07.900 --> 00:27:10.059 that condemned the Horn of Africa to a century 00:27:10.059 --> 00:27:12.950 of conflict? That is the great what if. If he 00:27:12.950 --> 00:27:15.210 had pushed to the sea, maybe the invasion of 00:27:15.210 --> 00:27:17.730 1935 never happens. Maybe Eritrea is never a 00:27:17.730 --> 00:27:19.809 separate issue. Or maybe Ethiopia would have 00:27:19.809 --> 00:27:22.569 been crushed by a united Europe in 1900 and there 00:27:22.569 --> 00:27:25.170 would be no independent Ethiopia today. We'll 00:27:25.170 --> 00:27:27.150 never know. History doesn't give us the alternate 00:27:27.150 --> 00:27:29.549 ending. It just gives us the complexity. And 00:27:29.549 --> 00:27:31.250 that is what makes Menelik such a fascinating 00:27:31.250 --> 00:27:33.849 figure to study. If you want to dive deeper into 00:27:33.849 --> 00:27:36.690 the treaties, the battle maps, or the diaries 00:27:36.690 --> 00:27:38.490 from the court, check out the source material 00:27:38.490 --> 00:27:41.490 we've linked. There's so much more to this story. 00:27:42.370 --> 00:27:44.890 Thanks for listening to The Deep Dive. Until 00:27:44.890 --> 00:27:46.170 next time. Stay curious.