By Dr. Richard Pankhurst:-
A Conservative Period in Ethiopian History
Despite the very significant reforms, and innovations, of the reign
of Yohannes discussed last week, his years were on the whole a
conservative period. This, as we have seen, was at least partially due
to the series of invasions, by Egyptians, Italians, and Dervishes. These
made it impossible for Ethiopia to contemplate peaceful progress.
The Emperor’s conservative influence seems to have extended beyond
the lands directly under his rule, and was felt in far-off Shoa. In 1886
Yohannes thus succeeded in getting Menelik to expel the missionaries
from that province.
It has also been argued, by some authorities, that the Emperor’s
known dislike of innovation for a time delayed Menilek’s plans, both to
produce coins and to grant a concession for the construction of a
railway. Such delays, if true, were, however, probably not due to
conservatism on the part of Yohannes, but rather to the fact that
Menilek, as the Emperor’s vassal, was in no position to initiate such
projects.
The Question of Smoking
The influence of Emperor Yohannes, added to that of the priesthood,
probably caused Menilek to range himself for a time among the opponents
of smoking, though, as we shall see, he was destined later to introduce
toleration for smokers. The French traveler Paul Soleillet, writing in
1885, states that Menilek had prohibited smoking in Shoa. In explaining
this to the Frenchman the King of Shoa reportedly gave a curious, and
scarcely credible, explanation for his action. He is quoted as declaring
that a considerable number of murderers, and other criminals, had been
able to escape punishment by proving that they had acted while under the
influence of tobacco. This plea, he claims, was acceptable because
Ethiopian law excused crimes committed by persons who were either mad or
drunk, and the judges apparently considered that smoking somehow
affected the reason. Under the new law, however, criminals who escaped
punishment for their crimes could nonetheless be punished for taking
tobacco, the penalty being the confiscation of all the criminal’s
belongings.
Menilek, and the Foundation of Modern Ethiopia
The foundations of modern Ethiopia were laid by Menilek II, a
reforming sovereign, who ruled as King of Shoa from 1865 to 1889, and as
Emperor from 1889 to 1913. Despite the battle of Adwa, fought on 1
March 1896, his reign was far more peaceful than those of his
predecessors, Tewodros and Yohannes.
Apparently much influenced by Emperor Tewodros, at whose court he was
brought up, Menilek attached great importance to the question of
modernisation, and, throughout his life, displayed immense interest in
scientific inventions of all kinds. “One is sure,” wrote the Frenchman
Victor Goedorp, “that he will be particularly pleased by being brought
optical instruments or mechanical devices, all of which interest him
greatly”. Count Gleichen, a British observer of the time, recalls that
Menilek asked the British envoy, Rennell Rodd, “some very intelligent
questions on the latest discoveries in medical science,” and appeared
specially interested in the discovery of anti-venine as an antidote to
snake-bite.” Menilek, agreed the French envoy Klobukowski, “was a friend
of progress, much interested in new inventions.” The monarch’s
fascination with novelties was in fact so great that Lincoln De Castro, a
physician attached to the Italian Legation, observed in jest that, if a
foreigner arrived with the project to construct an escalator from the
earth to the moon, Menilek would tell him to proceed if only to see if
it could be done.
Foreign Technicians
From the outset of his reign Menilek, like Tewodros and Yohannes
before him, was most anxious to import foreign technicians. As early as
June 14, 1874, we find him writing to the Khedive of Egypt – a country
with which Ethiopia had long had strained relations – requesting
assistance in finding persons with a knowledge of the arts and crafts.
The request appears to have been fruitless, but a few years later, in
1877, Menilek sent a message to a Swiss trader at Aden, with whom he
had business contacts, asking him to send him some Europeans skilled in
various crafts. They were to serve as instructors to Ethiopian workers,
and be employed as Government engineers. The trader informed some of his
compatriots of the sovereign’s desire, with the result that three young
Swiss technicians arrived in 1878. They were Appenzeller, a specialist
in ironwork, Zimmermann, a specialist in woodwork, and Alfred Ilg, a
graduate of the Zurich Polytechnic. Appenzeller and Zimmermann soon
returned to Europe, but Ilg remained in Menilek’s service for many
years, and played an important role in the country’s development, in
both the technical and politico-diplomatic fields.
Alfred Ilg’s Rise in Favour
The story of llg’s rise in his master’s favour illustrates the
recurrent interest in fire-arms which, as we have seen in these
articles, were characteristic of so many rulers of Ethiopia. It is said
that soon after Ilg’s arrival Menilek asked him to make him a pair of
shoes. The Swiss replied that he was unacquainted with such work, but
the sovereign insisted that he should obey, which he did. The ruler was
enchanted by the shoes, and requested that the young engineer should
then make a rifle. Ilg again protested his ignorance, adding that it
would cost much more to manufacture the weapon than to import one from
abroad, and that the finished product would inevitably be far inferior.
Menilek brushed these arguments aside. Echoing an argument earlier put
forward by Tewodros, in his conversations with the Protestant
missionaries at the latter’s court, he remarked that the cost was a
matter of no account: It was important to know whether a rifle could be
made in the country with the resources there available. Ilg thereupon
yielded to the monarch’s entreaties. and constructed the required rifle.
Menilek was so pleased that he ordered the gun to be kept in a place of
honour in his armoury.
Interest in Weapons
Menilek’s interest in weapons was in fact not dissimilar to that of
previous rulers. The French engineer Aubry relates that Menilek asked
him whether he could make a sword, and that, when he replied in the
affirmative ,the King “manifested great pleasure.” The story, it will be
seen, was reminiscent of Sahle Sellassie half a century earlier.
Menilek and a Musical Box
Another story told about Menilek, which many travelers repeat, may be
quoted in illustration of the already referred to preoccupation of many
sovereigns with the need to obtain armament from abroad.
President Grevy of France, it is said, once sent Menilek a gift of an
old-fashioned cannon, and a musical box. Without showing his
irritation, Menilek asked the French envoy to thank the President of
France for remembering that the Emperor was a grandfather, since they
were excellent toys for his grandchildren. He then conducted his guest
past his arsenal, and, pointing to the most modern cannons and rifles in
his possession, he declared: “These are my toys ! ”
“Technical Knowledge of Weapons”
Whatever the truth of this story, which, it will be noticed, recalls
an earlier one related about Tewodros, there is abundant evidence that
Ethiopian technical knowledge was traditionally at its highest in the
military field. In 1907, for example, the British ambassador in Germany
reporting on the visit of an Ethiopian delegation to Hamburg, where it
was shown the latest military equipment, noted:
“Their hosts were much astonished at the technical knowledge
displaced by them in handling the weapons, and at their announcement
that they themselves were in possession of most of the models shown.”
It was not surprising that when the Ethiopians later came to speak of
the screw-driver they called it “yatamanja mafcha”, or instrument for
unscrewing a gun
“Should He Want to Be My Husband…”
The popular interest in fire-arms, and the widespread knowledge of
the different makes, may be illustrated by a couple of later poems
recalled by Ato Alemayehu Mogos, of Gojjam.
One, describing an attack, declares:
Attack him with a minishir (miniature gun). Attack him with a
minishir. So that he is wounded but, not dead,. With the help of a
wechefo (Wetterley) he caught him and destroyed him. With a sinider
(Snider) from where you are, sling (i.e. fire).
In the second poem, a woman declares:
A person carrying a moskob (i.e. Russian gun), should not pass by my
door. You will be destroyed in my hands like dried leaves in a fire. A
person carrying a wechefo, let him make his voice heard to me. A person
carrying a minishir, let him be my lover. Should he want to be my
husband, let him buy a mawser (Mauser).
Foreign Training of Troops
Menilek, like his predecessors, employed a number of foreigners in
training his troops. As early as 1877 he employed a Frenchman called
Pottier for this purpose. and later made use of several other foreign
experts, mainly French and Russian. A.B. Wylde records that before the
battle of Adwa, of 1 March 1896, the Emperor’s troops were instructed in
the use of the powerful Hotchkiss guns by a French officer, M. Carrere.
“Not Inferior in Experience”
Ethiopian artillery men were later trained at Addis Ababa by a
Frenchman, Clochette, and by two Russians, Zwiaguine and Leontieff.
“Their trainees”, Wylde says, “not inferior in experience to those of
the Italians who were also natives.”
A plan of the Emperor’s to obtain the services of two British
artillery specialists came to naught, apparently because the monarch was
reluctant, or unable, to pay the 6,000 Maria Theresa dollars a year
salary deemed necessary by the British Government. The Emperor’s cousin,
Ras Makonnen, later employed a Frenchman, Viscomte de la Guibougere,
popularly known as Arab Pasha, to train his troops at Harar. The Bourg
de Bozas mission considered these some of the best troops in the empire.
Source: http://www.linkethiopia.org