African Entrepreneurship Records

  Chapter 377 Progress in Italy

   While discussing the war against the Boers in East Africa, the Italians took the lead and completed the first phase of the Abyssinian Empire's aggression. The Italian expeditionary force led by Samuel conquered Desai, an important city in the eastern part of the Abyssinian Empire.

  The flag of the Kingdom of Italy fluttered over the city of Desai, causing a new round of turmoil in the Abyssinian Empire. The princes and ministers in the capital of the Abyssinian Empire attacked each other.

  Kingdom of Shaoa: "It was because of the stupidity of the central government that European white skins invaded the territory of the empire. They must be responsible for this humiliating act of humiliating the country."

  Tigray Monarch and Minister: "Bastards, it is obvious that you are against us everywhere, and you have violated the central government's decision-making, so that the enemy has found an opportunity to take advantage of it. Desai's fall is inseparable from you."

   The most important feudal kingdoms in Abyssinia are Tigray in the north and Shoa in the south. In addition, several important provinces such as Gojam, Wolo, and Simeon are also completely independent.

   Later, Theodore II unified these areas and re-centralized the Abyssinian Empire, but the good times didn't last long, and Theodore II was wiped out by the British.

  The above-mentioned areas re-formed separatist forces. Prince Kasa of Tigray first ascended the throne of God and was crowned as Johannes IV in the ancient city of Axum.

  But the current emperor Johannes IV has a very false name. He stabbed Theodore II in the back to curry favor with the British. Even if he is a descendant of the Solomon royal family, he cannot convince the public.

   Moreover, he has made enemies everywhere, and has conflicts with various forces at home and abroad. Among them, the opposition forces headed by the Kingdom of Shaoa in the south are at odds with him. At the same time, he had serious conflicts with Egypt and often fought violently.

  In fact, Johannes IV's ability is still good, especially his military ability is very strong. At this time in history, he should have defeated the Kingdom of Shaoa and subdued all the forces in the country.

  But it happened that East Africa, a shit-stirring stick, changed history. Before leaving, the British supported Johannes IV with a batch of guns and ammunition.

  However, because the East African Kingdom exported arms to various forces in the Abyssinian Empire, his advantage in weapons was offset.

  Especially in the southern tribal areas, they are now directly listening to the instructions and not listening to the propaganda. Although they still support the central government on the surface, they remain unchanged from any orders of the central government.

  The main competitor of Johannes IV, the Kingdom of Shaoa, has also re-supported, singing against himself everywhere.

  When the Italian Expeditionary Force attacked the city of Desai, all forces in the Abyssinian Empire demanded a counterattack against Italy, but no force sent troops.

  Among them, only the warlords in the northeast and the Kingdom of Shaoa were able to support Desai City nearby, but they were afraid that if they sent troops to the front, Johannes IV would attack their base camp in the rear, so everyone chose to stand by and watch.

  The victory of the Kingdom of Italy this time can be said to have taken advantage of the right time, place and people. First of all, under the contact of Rubatino Company, cheap rice from East Africa directly entered the port of Assab through the Red Sea.

  Although the rice did not suit the tastes of Italian soldiers, but the price was cheap, and the originally insufficient military expenditure was instantly surplus.

   Compared with flour, rice is easier to process and easier to carry. Every soldier can carry a little bit of it, and it will not directly turn into paste like flour when it encounters rain.    After having sufficient rations, Samuel, who had planned for a long time, immediately organized an army to attack the Abyssinian Empire.

Through the intelligence analysis of the Abyssinian Empire, Samuel concluded that if the Kingdom of Italy wants to capture the Abyssinian Empire at the lowest cost, it should avoid its edge and try not to move the northern part of its economic center of gravity. should start in southeast Ethiopia.

Desai is the Italian attack on the north-south dividing line node of the Abyssinian Empire that Samuel envisioned. The city of Desai goes south to Addis Abbey, and the vast area is the weakest of the entire Abyssinian Empire. Place.

  Desai is located in the river valley in the eastern part of the Ethiopian plateau. The terrain restrictions make it a strategic location from the northeastern part of Ethiopia to the south.

  Controlling Desai can block the main force of Ethiopia in the north with a small number of troops. This is very important for Samuel with limited troops.

After occupying Desai, whether it is possible to hold Desai, Samuel thinks it should be feasible, because the Abyssinian Empire is still in the split, and Egypt in the north is pulling the energy of the warlords in northern Abyssinia. Abyssinia is bound to be unable to concentrate its forces on attacking its own troops.

At the same time, there is another important factor in Samuel's plan, that is, the distribution of ethnic groups in the Abyssinian Empire. The Abyssinian Empire can be roughly divided into three parts, one is the Orthodox area in the north, and the other is the Orthodox Church area in the north. It is the Arab area in the east, and finally the southern tribal area next to the Turkana Province in East Africa.

The area Samuel pointed at was mainly the Arab area, and the Arabic area has always been at odds with the Orthodox area. It has been fighting against the Arabs in the thousand-year history of the Abyssinian Empire. When it was strong, it controlled the coast of the Red Sea. , and even extended their hands to the Arabian Peninsula. When they were weak, they were driven back to the plateau by the Arabs. Now is the time when the Abyssinian Empire is in a weak state.

As for the southern tribal area, it has always been a vassal of the Abyssinian Empire, which is equivalent to the existence of barbarians. After the black indigenous forces in the southern part of the Ethiopian plateau were cleaned up in East Africa, no fresh blood was injected into the southern tribes, which was greatly weakened. , the blacks here have always been an important slave acquisition site for the Abyssinian Empire.

  The loss of a large number of slaves means that the southern tribes have lost an important source of income, and their right to speak in the empire has been further lost. However, East Africa supported the southern tribes in the arms trade, which made no one dare to underestimate the southern tribes.

  Compared with the northern forces, the biggest disadvantage of the southern tribes is that they are more dispersed and have no unified core, so the southern tribes are not too enthusiastic about participating in imperial affairs.

  Samuel's plan to take the southeastern region of Abyssinia first is quite conservative. This area has never been the focus of the Abyssinian Empire. The Abyssinian Empire has been actively developing to the north and northeast.

The north is Egypt, and the northeast is the Red Sea. The origin of Abyssinia and Egypt can be traced back to the Nubian Empire. In the era of the Eastern Roman Empire, the predecessor of the Abyssinian Empire was the Axum Empire. At the same time, the Orthodox Church also flowed into the Abyssinian Empire and became its mainstream religion. In this way, Ethiopia in the previous life was actually one of the successors of the Roman Empire. If it hadn’t been for its long history and cultural lack of self-confidence like the Slavs, Western Europe, and Turkey, it would have been able to strive to be a “hero”.

The coast of the Red Sea has always been the place that the Abyssinian Empire has been thinking about. Every time the Abyssinian Empire becomes stronger, it will try to take back the Red Sea from the Arabs. Only with the Red Sea in hand can the Abyssinian Empire become the regional hegemony. The competition between the Abyssinian Empire and the Arabs has never ceased.

The area that Samuel was trying to seize was not considered the core area of ​​the Abyssinian Empire before Menelik II moved the capital to Addis Ababa. It was sparsely populated and arable land was relatively sufficient, which was very in line with the needs of the kingdom to settle immigrants. .

  (end of this chapter)