'Empire des Nègres Blancs: The Hybridity of International Personality and the Abyssinia Crisis of 1935-36' (original) (raw)
Related papers
A Prelude to Total War? The Abyssinian War (1935–36) in the Eyes of Foreign Military Observers
The International Journal of Military History and Historiography, 2018
The conflict between Italy and Ethiopia in 1935–36 has been framed as a prelude to the Second World War and as a watershed towards 'Total War'. One perspective has so far been neglected: the assessments of foreign military observers. This article examines American, British, German, and Austrian views on the operations and thereby also analyses the mindset of European officers at the time. The core argument emerging from these reports is that the war was perceived as a rather 'normal' colonial conflict. Neither the use of gas, nor the employment of aircraft against civilians was seen as a taboo or created significant outrage among the military observers. Instead, they lauded the Italians' steady logistical efforts and employment of artillery and airpower to overcome nature and the enemy's resistance.
The Abyssinian War and the League of Nations: Debates in the Council
RJHIS, vol. III, no. 2, Semne, 2016, pp. 91-111.
The study will analyze how the Council of the League of Nations acted as a forum for discussions during the Abyssinian war (1935-1936). Most studies focused on the war underline the powerless of the League and of its Council. Moreover, the Council's role as a forum for discussions during the dispute is generally overlooked. However, the Council offered the parties involved or with interest in the conflict the opportunity to express their position and test the world opinion. The paper will study this issue by examining the minutes of the Council's meetings, published in the League of Nations Official Journal. Other sources used are the Italian media, and memoires and journals of Italian, French and British representatives.
State Crime, 2019
Italy's war crimes during the 1935-1936 invasion of Ethiopia have been broadly documented by different historians of Italian colonialism. However, its systematic bombardment of medical facilities operated by different Red Cross Societies is much less known. Relying on archival materials, we show how the fascist regime presented these attacks as legitimate reprisal; it was, the Italians claimed, the Ethiopian forces who had violated international law, particularly the principle of distinction, when they used medical facilities to hide. Reconstructing the debates about the Red Cross medical units, we show how Ethiopia's sovereign status rendered international law applicable, since the war was carried out between two internationally recognized countries rather than between a sovereign state and its colonial subjects. Simultaneously however, Ethiopia's status as a sovereign state was extremely precarious. The African country was successfully framed by both Italy and the Red Cross as uncivilized through the creation of an artificial link between the ostensible inability to follow the principle of distinction (i.e. hiding behind medical units) and the population's race. The move from sovereignty to race is, we claim, illuminating because it reveals how the inclusion of Ethiopia into the family of nations not only did not undermine the colonial imprint of international law, but also helped cement it. It is therefore crucial to think about the process of colonial inclusion into the liberal order of humanity against the grain, and to reveal how integration through sovereignty can be transmogrified into racist exclusion.
American Chronicle, 2010
Initially published on 31st July 2010 in American Chronicle, AfroArticles and Buzzle Excerpt: Continuing the series of articles on the insightful documentation provided by the Russian Military Officer, Explorer, and Orthodox Monk in his books about his deeds and excursions, observations and explorations in Abyssinia (undertaken over three years 1896 – 1899), I herewith republish the chapter on the Abyssinian army; this part of Bulatovich´s text is also very critical because it highlights (below in the section: ´Conduct of War´) the inhuman practices of environmental disaster spread by the criminal robbers and inhuman soldiers of the Abyssinian state, which supported by England and France, perpetrated the worst atrocities ever attested on African soil and the world´s most appalling and multifaceted genocide. This chapter testifies to the monstrous and inhuman character and nature of the genocidal Abyssinian state; taking into consideration that the text was not written by an objective academic and an impartial political philosopher but by the last tsar's envoy, who had also the task to damage the Abyssinian - English relations and increase Russia's influence in the area whereby the tiny Abyssinian state was allowed by France and England to expand criminally and colonially, one can realize through the lines of the text the extent of the inhumanity and the evil deeds perpetrated by the monsters of Abyssinia over the invaded lands. I will republish further parts of Bulatovich's book in forthcoming articles, but herewith I make first available a recapitulation of the earlier articles of the series. All the Oromos, Ogadenis, Afars, Sidamas and others, who fight for their independence, and all the neighboring countries, Somalia, Eritrea, Sudan and Egypt, which are threatened because of the evil, eschatological dreams of Greater Ethiopia, must study, understand and diffuse the insightful documentation available in this book, which was published by the Russian explorer before 110 years; in and by itself it constitutes good reason for the world to be preoccupied with the source of every regional trouble and instability: the Amhara and Tigray (Tewahedo) Monophysitic Abyssinians who rule tyrannically over the lands they invaded and the nations they subjugated.
PULP, 2023
This book emerged from the observation that in international law scholarship, few studies have been done on Africa as both object and subject of international law despite the involvement of African states and Africans in the international arena and their active participation in many debates. To fill this gap by examining, sixty years after the independence of African states, the place of Africa in international law and the way international law looks at Africa is the challenge that the contributors to this book, all internationalists of the 1980-1990 generation, have taken up. The book highlights the specificity of a particular African law and examines the African experience in this field from an international law perspective. Ce livre naît du constat que dans la littérature juridique internationaliste, en dépit de l'implication des Etats africains et des africains sur la scène internationale et leur participation active à de nombreux débats, peu d'études ont été faites sur l'Afrique à la fois comme objet et sujet du droit international. Combler ce vide en se penchant, soixante ans après les indépendances des Etats africains, sur la place de l'Afrique dans le droit international et sur le regard que le droit international porte sur l'Afrique, est le défi que se sont lancés les contributeurs à cet ouvrages, internationalistes de la génération 1980-1990. Le livre met en évidence la spécifi cité d'un droit africain particulier, et étudie également l'expérience africaine dans ce domaine sous l'angle du droit international.
The Ethiopian State: Authoritarianism, Violence and Clandestine Genocide
The Journal of Pan African Studies, 2010
“Modern” Ethiopia has been created and maintained through the achievement of external legitimacy. As the European colonial powers such as Great Britain, France, and Italy enabled the Abyssinian (Amhara-Tigray) warlords to create the modern Ethiopian Empire during the last decades of the nineteenth century, successive hegemonic world powers, namely England, the former USSR, and the United States, has maintained the existence of various Ethiopian government until now. At the same time, the successive Amhara-Tigray ...