Fascinating! I am particularly interested in Ethiopia as my sister-in-law adopted an infant boy from an orphanage in Ethiopia. My nephew, Endale, is now 16!
Excellent brief on Ethiopia and the link to Russia. I have always noted the stark contrast between North African people and those sub Saharan ones. Much more than just physical appearance it is the intellect and the mindset.
--Russia had a short failed colonial attempt in Somalia, and took from this the knowledge that it simply couldnt hold African turf.
--Russia has been defeated in the Crimean war by a coalition of the French, the Ottomans, the British and the Italians (at that time Sardinia-Piemont). Who was most likely to colonize Ethiopia? The French, The Italians or the British. Supporting Ethiopia was a way to inflict costs on whichever European Empire opted to insert its genitals into the Ethiopian hornets nest. The Russians didnt magically turn up the moment the Italians invaded, they already were present and have laid the groundwork.
--Czarist Russia, while Imperialist, was not particularly racist (It typically integrated tartar or polish nobility rather then crushing them). They had a black pilot in WW1, Pushkins partly black heritage was widely known (although his grand uncle was likely from the West Africa rather then from Ethiopia as was believed at that time).
--The religious links were icing on the cake, as was joint hostility to the Ottomans, although one should add that Ethiopean Christianity has sizeable differences from Russian christianity, including doctrinal ones.
--I should also add that the Ethiopean emperor was... someone likely to beat Tywin Lannister in a game of poker. He became King of Shewa in 1866.
As a short biography:
--Born 1844, as a bastard to the King (Negus) of Shewa
--Captured by the Ethiopean Emperor Tweodoros, used as a hostage
--Succesfully intrigued his way into becoming king of shewa again
--Won a short civil war in Shewa against the guy Tweodoros put in charge of it (who however also rebelled against Tweodoros), becoming king of shewa in 1860
--Spend 10-20 years building his power base
--Beat his rival Kasai in yet another civil war, only to make peace and recognice him as Emperor
--And then basically annex his realm after Kasai died in battle against the Madhists at the battle of Galabat.
--which he then rougly tripled in size in a series of military campaigns, some of which were insanely brutal.
At the time Menelik faced the Italians at Adwa, he has been fighting and ruling for 30ish years, winning more then losing, and always knowing when to fold. He spoke 3 foreign, and about 7-8 different regional languages. Betting on him against an Italian army that underestimated the size of the Ethiopian host by a factor of 4, its quality by a factor of 3, and the size of Ethiopia itself by a factor of 6 (resulting in being massively undersupplied) was a fairly sane bet.
Completely disagree. No credible evidence that Russia tried to colonize any African country. That is just a myth straight from the realm of legends and fantasies.
As for the great-grand father of Aleksander Pushkin, he is from Cameroon as I wrote in my article:
There were attempts by adventurers in Sagallo, from which the Russian Empire distanced itself after it failed due to French intervention. It was however informal, and the expansion of Russia was frequently "bottom up", some ambitious cossacks taking something, holding it, and it later becoming a more formal part of Russia.
This model was tried by a semi scammer in Djibouti, and failed rather comically.
Several members of various missions to Ethiopia of course sought a "diplomatic vasallization" of it, but the Ethiopeans prudently and wisely smiled, nodded, took a fair bit of resources and rewarded this with a certain degree of influence. But they never got anywhere close to making decisions, or seriously penetrate into Ethiopean nobility, non withstanding that the Ethiopeans ennobled some adventurous Russians.
At the time of Adua, most Russians regarded Ethiopea as the origin of Pushkin.
Fascinating and all new to me.
Also thank you! So much to learn about Africa!
Thank you sir for this wonderful piece!
Fascinating! I am particularly interested in Ethiopia as my sister-in-law adopted an infant boy from an orphanage in Ethiopia. My nephew, Endale, is now 16!
Excellent article 👏
Excellent brief on Ethiopia and the link to Russia. I have always noted the stark contrast between North African people and those sub Saharan ones. Much more than just physical appearance it is the intellect and the mindset.
There are some other aspects here:
--Russia had a short failed colonial attempt in Somalia, and took from this the knowledge that it simply couldnt hold African turf.
--Russia has been defeated in the Crimean war by a coalition of the French, the Ottomans, the British and the Italians (at that time Sardinia-Piemont). Who was most likely to colonize Ethiopia? The French, The Italians or the British. Supporting Ethiopia was a way to inflict costs on whichever European Empire opted to insert its genitals into the Ethiopian hornets nest. The Russians didnt magically turn up the moment the Italians invaded, they already were present and have laid the groundwork.
--Czarist Russia, while Imperialist, was not particularly racist (It typically integrated tartar or polish nobility rather then crushing them). They had a black pilot in WW1, Pushkins partly black heritage was widely known (although his grand uncle was likely from the West Africa rather then from Ethiopia as was believed at that time).
--The religious links were icing on the cake, as was joint hostility to the Ottomans, although one should add that Ethiopean Christianity has sizeable differences from Russian christianity, including doctrinal ones.
--I should also add that the Ethiopean emperor was... someone likely to beat Tywin Lannister in a game of poker. He became King of Shewa in 1866.
As a short biography:
--Born 1844, as a bastard to the King (Negus) of Shewa
--Captured by the Ethiopean Emperor Tweodoros, used as a hostage
--Succesfully intrigued his way into becoming king of shewa again
--Won a short civil war in Shewa against the guy Tweodoros put in charge of it (who however also rebelled against Tweodoros), becoming king of shewa in 1860
--Spend 10-20 years building his power base
--Beat his rival Kasai in yet another civil war, only to make peace and recognice him as Emperor
--And then basically annex his realm after Kasai died in battle against the Madhists at the battle of Galabat.
--which he then rougly tripled in size in a series of military campaigns, some of which were insanely brutal.
At the time Menelik faced the Italians at Adwa, he has been fighting and ruling for 30ish years, winning more then losing, and always knowing when to fold. He spoke 3 foreign, and about 7-8 different regional languages. Betting on him against an Italian army that underestimated the size of the Ethiopian host by a factor of 4, its quality by a factor of 3, and the size of Ethiopia itself by a factor of 6 (resulting in being massively undersupplied) was a fairly sane bet.
Completely disagree. No credible evidence that Russia tried to colonize any African country. That is just a myth straight from the realm of legends and fantasies.
As for the great-grand father of Aleksander Pushkin, he is from Cameroon as I wrote in my article:
https://sharpfocusafrica.substack.com/p/the-afro-russian-army-general-abram
There were attempts by adventurers in Sagallo, from which the Russian Empire distanced itself after it failed due to French intervention. It was however informal, and the expansion of Russia was frequently "bottom up", some ambitious cossacks taking something, holding it, and it later becoming a more formal part of Russia.
This model was tried by a semi scammer in Djibouti, and failed rather comically.
Several members of various missions to Ethiopia of course sought a "diplomatic vasallization" of it, but the Ethiopeans prudently and wisely smiled, nodded, took a fair bit of resources and rewarded this with a certain degree of influence. But they never got anywhere close to making decisions, or seriously penetrate into Ethiopean nobility, non withstanding that the Ethiopeans ennobled some adventurous Russians.
At the time of Adua, most Russians regarded Ethiopea as the origin of Pushkin.