Robert Gale Woolbert

october 1935 Feudal Ethiopia and Her Army Robert Gale Woolbert Volume 14 • Number 1 The contents of Foreign Affairs are copyrighted.©1935 Council on Foreign Relations, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction and distribution of this material is permitted only with the express written consent of Foreign Affairs. Visit www.foreignaffairs.com/permissions for more information. FEUDAL ETHIOPIA AND HER ARMY By Robert Gale Woolbert an \YWHAT right does Ethiopia call herself empire? How can a country where illiteracy is almost universal, where there are no roads, and whose annual virtually ? foreign trade is worth less than $25,000,000 how can such a land presume to arrogate to itself the most exalted of all titles? One an attribute of empire is that it holds alien peoples in subjection. to we It might be objected that according this definition could or speak of Zulu Cherokee imperialism. This would perhaps be use stretching the point. We nevertheless the expressions "Turk ish imperialism" and "Arabian imperialism" without much dif ficulty, and accept the custom by which the crowned heads of Morocco and Annam call themselves emperors. case can no a In the of Ethiopia there be question that single over not more people rules various subject peoples. Probably than the to one-third of inhabitants belong the ancient Ethiopian rest nor stock. The neither profess Christianity speak the Am are race haric tongue and consequently regarded by the ruling as The true on its inferiors. Ethiopian resides the central plateau, races while the subject inhabit the peripheral lowlands. Even the approximate number of total inhabitants ismuch in doubt. Esti mates vary from five million to twenty million. Those who have traveled extensively in the country and have made careful ob at seven or servations usually place the figure eight million. But statistics of sort in to are any regard Ethiopia few and thoroughly unreliable. There are various for criteria classifying the heterogeneous population of the Ethiopian Empire. That of physical charac teristics the true is probably least satisfactory. The Ethiopian of as the highlands regards himself of the white race, for he quite rightly traces his racial ancestry to the Hamitic invaders of North contact Africa. But thousands of years of with the negro peoples of Central and East have to a Africa darkened his complexion au or even a caf? lait to dark chocolate. a Language provides much surer gauge. The third of the on a population which dwells the plateau speaks Semitic tongue. In south-central Ethiopia live the Gallas, Negroid tribes speaking a language of their own, who have been coming into the coun Council on Foreign Relations is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve, and extend access to Foreign Affairs ® www.jstor.org 72 FOREIGN AFFAIRS try from the south since early modern times. They account for another third of the population. The remaining third is divided on among the lesser ethnic groups the periphery: Danakil, so Somali, Sidama, and forth. Keeping these linguistic divisions we in mind, might say that the upper (Semitic) third rules the lower (non-Semitic) two-thirds. true as Another classification is by religions. The Ethiopian, already said, is Christian. But some of the Gallas have been at least nominally converted to Christianity. In all, the Christians account probably for nearly one-half of the population. Three are east eighths Moslems, residing in the and southeast. In addi are ? ? tion there the Falasha the Jews of Ethiopia estimated to number between one and two hundred thousand; their Judaism are ismuch corrupted and they ignorant of the Hebrew language. rest are The of the population pagans. to are con The Christians belong the Coptic Church and sequently of the monophysite faith. Ethiopia's isolation from the to a rest of the Christian world has naturally led considerable barbarization of dogma and ritual. At the head of the church is the Aboona who is appointed by the Coptic Patriarch of Alex an andria and is always Egyptian. The Emperor would very much like to have a native in this post, but traditions are hard to break to in Ethiopia and the best that he has been able obtain is the to serve as to creation of several native bishops, coadjutors the Aboona. The monastic orders are under the particular supervision an of the Etchegh?, who unlike the Aboona is Ethiopian and thus to to likely stand closer the Emperor than his Egyptian rival. The are some writers so far as to clergy very numerous, going at un place them one-third of the adult population. This is an must doubtedly exaggeration. Nevertheless, it be remembered that in stagnant societies (e.g. in Tibet) the number of persons out to seeking refuge in the ecclesiastical life is of all proportion to the needs of the church. The Ethiopian clergy have managed a to get into their possession large part of the land. Add this the are we can fact that they ignorant and superstitious, and under stand what an enormous conservative force they represent. can A strong emperor dictate ecclesiastical policy if he wishes, but if he is wise he will cultivate the favor of the high church of can on ficials. In the event of war, he rely the support of the true church from the Aboona down. This would prove especially in an Italian invasion. It is no secret that the Vatican would like FEUDAL ETHIOPIA AND HER ARMY 73 to true to bring the schismatic Copts back the faith, and the one of an Ethiopians strongly suspect that this would be result one Italian conquest. Their religion is the force that has kept are not them together through fifteen centuries, and they going to surrender it lightly. ii us The empire of Haile Selassie affords the best contemporary state. on a example of the feudal Society in Ethiopia is based own rigid stratification of classes, each with its traditional economic and political functions. The basis for the social organ re ization is essentially military, with the positions of honor served for the men who lead the army in time of war. These same men govern the country in time of peace. With little alteration, the system has prevailed for centuries. Until the last was cut quarter of the nineteenth century, Ethiopia off from the as civilized world, except for such brief interludes the Portuguese invasion in the sixteenth century. It was only inMenelik's time (he died in 1913) that western civilization again penetrated to Ethiopia. To this day its influence has been limited the to entourage of the Emperor and the few Ethiopians who have mass traveled abroad. The great of the people, despite the strenu ous efforts put forth by the present ruler, remain loyal to the ancient of their ancestors. folk-ways most One of the reforms which Haile Selassie has valiantly to striven impose is the concentration of the supreme power in his own hands. In the past, except when overawed by the power and a prestige of strong ruler like Menelik, the overlords of the vari ous to effective control from their provinces managed escape any nominal for distances were the was sovereign; great, country mountainous, and local jealousies could be depended upon to abet the particularism of each petty chieftain. Notwithstanding to secure these obstacles, Haile Selassie's efforts absolute power success. have achieved considerable Several of the hereditary to regional overlords have been brought heel, and either have to or been forced accept close supervision from Addis Ababa have been replaced by imperial nominees. The process of rehabilitating the imperial authority, which had disintegrated after the death of Menelik, received its first real on te impetus in 1926 the death of Fituarari Hap Ghiorghis, who for thirty years had commanded the imperial army. At that time, 74 FOREIGN AFFAIRS Ras Tafari Makonnen, the present emperor, was heir to the throne and Vicar for the Empress Zauditu, daughter of Menelik. Ras Tafari seized the extensive feudal holdings of Hapte Ghiorghis over and took the control of the imperial army. By adding these troops to those which he already commanded as hereditary own governor of his province of Harrar he became the strongest soon prince in Ethiopia. He made it plain to his rival overlords, some as a to as of whom had legitimate claim the succession he, meant as as to that he far possible monopolize the supreme state. to power of the In 1928, the Empress raised him the rank of negus (king). After her death in 1930, he became Negus Neghesti or name (king of kings), Emperor, under the of Haile Selassie ("the power of the Trinity"). Thereafter, he redoubled his an energies toward the establishment of autocracy. In 1932, he a crushed revolt headed by Ras Hailu of Godjam, until then the most independent of the ancient provinces. By substituting his own appointee for the rebellious chieftain he brought under direct a imperial control rich and important region, that lying within as the semicircle formed by the Blue Nile it flows from Lake Tana to the Sudan. But in general the hereditary rulers of the old not Ethiopian provinces have been deprived of their fiefs. The progress of centralization has rather been directed towards the to east outlying provinces the and south, where the population is or were not con either Moslem pagan. Most of these regions quered until Menelik's reign, and consequently there has been little time for their assimilation. a The historian will immediately detect in these events great to similarity the anti-feudal, centralizing activities of the Valois and the Tudors.

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