Lincoln de Castro. Nella terra dei negus, I and II. Milan, 1915, Fratelli Treves: 2.10, 2.13, 3.9, 3.20
Otto Bieber. Geheimnisvolles Kaffa. Im Reich der Kaiser-Goetter. Vienna, 1948, Universum Verlagsgesellschaft: 2.12, 3.2
Das ist Abessinien. Berne, Leipzig, Vienna, 1935, Wilhelm Goldmann Verlag, GmbH: 2.14, 3.5, 3.7, 3.14, 3.21, 3.34
Leopoldo Traversi. Let Marefià. Milan, 1931, Edizioni ‘Alpes’: 3.1
Kabbada Tasamma. Ya Tarik Mastawasha. Addis Ababa, 1963 Ethiopian calendar, copyright YMCA Ethiopia: 3.3, 3.25, 3.27, 3.28, 3.31
Carlo Annaratone. In Abissinia. Rome, 1914, Enrico Voghera: 3.8, 3.22, 3.33
Max Gruehl. Abyssinia at Bay. London, 1935, Hurst & Blackett: 3.12
Merab. Impressions d’Ethiopie, III. Paris, 1929, Editions Ernest Leroux: 3.13
Courtesy of Ato Kabbada Bogala: 3.15, 5.8
Courtesy of Hakim Warqenah family: 4.10
Courtesy of Tsahafe T’ezaz Walda-Giyorgis family: 5.3
Courtesy of Denis Gérard:6.2
Felix Rosen. Eine deutsche Gesandtschaft in Abessinien. Leipzig, 1907, Verlag von Veit & Comp: 3.16
Arnold Holtz. Im Auto zu Kaiser Menelik. Berlin, 1908, Vita: 3 18
National Geographic Magazine: June 1925, 3.24: August 1928, 3.32: June 1931, 4.2
G.K. Rein. Abessinien Berlin, 1920, Dietrich Reimer (Ernst Vohsen) A-G: 3.26
Luigi Goglia. Storia fotografica del Impero fascista 1935-1941. Rome-Bari, 1985, Giuseppe Laterza & Figli, SpA: 4.3, 4.5, 4 6, 4 7, 4.8
John H Spencer. Ethiopia at Bay A Personal Account of the Haile Sellassie Years. Algonac, 1984, Reference Publications: 5.1
Bringing Africa Together: The Story of Ethiopian Airlines. Addis Ababa, 1988, copyright Ethiopian Airlines: 5.2
Hezbawi Wayana Harenat Tegray (Tegray People’s Liberation Front), Ya Hewahat Hezbawi Tegel (‘The Popular Struggle of TPLF’) (Addis Ababa, 1992 Ethiopian Calendar): 6.8
Acronyms
| CADU | Chilalo Agricultural Development Unit |
| CELU | Confederation of Ethiopian Labour Unions |
| COPWE | Commission for Organizing the Workers’ Party of Ethiopia |
| EAL | Ethiopian Airlines |
| EDU | Ethiopian Democratic Union |
| ELF | Eritrean Liberation Front |
| EPLF | Eritrean Popular Liberation Forces (Front) |
| EPRDF | Ethiopian Peoples’ Revolutionary Democratic Front |
| EPRP | Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Party |
| ESUE | Ethiopian Students Union in Europe |
| ESUNA | Ethiopian Students Union in North America |
| HVA | Handelsvereenging Amsterdam |
| IBRD | International Bank for Reconstruction and Development |
| IHA | Imperial Highway Authority |
| Ich’at | Amharic acronym of Ethiopian Oppressed Peoples’ Revolutionary Struggle |
| Imaledeh | Amharic acronym of Union of Ethiopian Marxist-Leninist Organizations |
| Ma’ison | Amharic acronym of All Ethiopia Socialist Movement (AESM) |
| Malerid | Amharic acronym of Marxist-Leninist Revolutionary Organization |
| NDR | National Democratic Revolution |
| OLF | Oromo Liberation Front |
| PDRE | People’s Democratic Republic of Ethiopia |
| PMAC | Provisional Military Administrative Council |
| POMOA | Provisional Office for Mass Organizational Affairs |
| PPG | Provisional People’s Government |
| TPLF | Tigray People’s Liberation Front |
| WPE | Workers’ Party of Ethiopia |
Preface
For far too long, the absence of a general history of Ethiopia has been acutely felt by specialists engaged in Ethiopian studies, by educators in institutions of higher learning, and by many readers interested in Ethiopia. Yet few historians have turned their attention to the writing of such a general history, although Ethiopian historiography has made remarkable advances in the last two and a half decades. The dramatic changes that Ethiopia has been going through, particularly in the last two of those decades, have made the need for a background history leading up to those events more urgent.
The genesis of this present book is to be sought in considerations of the above nature. The book addresses itself to what historians of Ethiopia have come to regard as the modern period of the country’s history, the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. No attempt has been made to go to earlier periods, except in the brief remarks in the Introduction, nor do the events of the post-1974 period find coverage here, because the time for a dispassionate and documented historical analysis of those occurrences has not yet arrived.
The pitfalls of writing a general history are obvious. As one tremendous exercise in precis-writing, it glosses over too many intricate processes. To dispense with the detailed acknowledgements that a general history would entail leaves me with a sense of guilt. Yet no one is more aware than I myself of the great value of the lists of books, articles and theses appended to the chapters as sources for the writing of this book. I would like to draw special attention to the sound scholarship embodied in Sven Rubenson’s The Survival of Ethiopian Independence, and to the BA and MA theses which have made possible a much fuller reconstruction of the recent Ethiopian past than could have been hoped for in previous decades.
To the Department of History of Addis Ababa University, which initiated me into the basic canons of historical investigation, I owe almost everything in my training as a historian. Here I have found an ambience combining warm co-operation and academic stimulation that has sustained me through the years, some of them difficult. The Institute of Ethiopian Studies has been my second academic home, and the rich collection of Ethiopiana in its Library has provided a vast basis of sustenance. The Research and Publications Office of the University has been an unfailing source of financial support for my research endeavours, and the preparation of this manuscript for offering for publication was made possible by a grant from that office.
A number of colleagues at Addis Ababa University read the manuscript in full or in part, and made many useful suggestions for its improvement. In this respect, I would like to thank Daniel Ayana, Daniel Gamachu, Eshetu Chole, Hussein Ahmed, Merid Wolde Aregay, Shiferaw Bekele, Shumet Sishagn, Taddesse Tamrat, and Tekalign Wolde Mariam. I am also indebted to Donald Crummey of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign for his comments, and to Terence Ranger of St Antony’s College, Oxford, for encouragement in the initial stages of the manuscript’s preparation. I record with gratitude the generous assistance of Denis Gérard, who devoted a great deal of his time and his financial resources to preparing some of the illustrations. Thanks are also due to Kabbada Bogala for processing the remaining illustrations, to Metasebia Demessie for drawing the maps, and to Manna Zacharias for typing the manuscript.
Finally, I am very grateful to the General Editor of Addis Ababa University Press, the person next to myself who is most closely associated with this book, for dedicated application to editing the manuscript.
Preface to the Second Edition
Since its publication in 1991, A History of Modern Ethiopia (1855–1974) has had a gratifyingly favourable reception. It has managed to capture a wide readership and its impact both inside and outside Ethiopia has far exceeded my expectations. The academic reviews have also been generally encouraging. A recurrent source of disappointment has been, however, the fact that the story stops in 1974. This new edition, which brings the narrative to 1991, has been prepared primarily to address that concern.
‘Contemporary history’