The Italian Invasion of Ethiopia and Its Impact on Education

The Battle of Sari Bair, also known as the August Offensive, was the final attempt made by the British in August 1915 to seize control of the Gallipoli peninsula from the Ottoman Empire during the First World War.

There has been many significant events of the 20th century that helped shaped what Ethiopia is today. Through imperialism, wars about boarding issues and the death of many great ruler this nation has been standing strong.Today Ethiopia is the second most populated country in Africa, it's the home to over 80 ethnic groups. The largest being the Oromo tribe that makes up over 34% of the population. Not only are they a big ethnic group in Ethiopia but also the neighboring countries such as Kenya and Somalia. Another big ethnic group is Ahmera who are taking up most of the politics and economy in Ethiopia. The rest is the minorities and have a smaller percentage of people or are other people who are are nationally from bordering countries such as Somali and reside in ethiopia. There are around 6.7% of Somalis who live in Ethiopia and adapted to their culture as well.

terms of demography and territory in the Ethiopian state, were targeted for destruction, and instead forced to glorify the identities and cultures of the oppressive group (xxx, xxx).

Since the beginning of modern civilization, man has had a burning desire for land. European nations in particular are well known for being those of imperialists, the act of extending a nation’s power or economy through the process of acquiring land. The strive for power in Africa can be seen dating back to the late 18th century, and continued throughout the early 20th. Europeans practiced imperialism in Africa for several centuries for reasons including economic opportunities, national pride, and the interpreted moral responsibilities.

In some places the native people put up a fight against the invaders. An Ethiopian painting displaying the battle of Adowa in 1896, shows Ethiopians overpowering the Italians. Source claims “Ethiopians were victorious over Italian troops” (doc 4). This painting was done by an Ethiopian, meaning the person probably portray his fellow Ethiopians to look better than they actually were. A document from Italians point of view would help to make a fairer judgement.

All throughout the world, imperialism was spreading quickly through the nations. More land meant more power, superior nations were looking to take over smaller less powerful ones. When it came to conquering smaller countries, the superior nation had to be able to manage and control it successfully. This idea was first bought forth during the Berlin Conference during the separation of African colonies. It stated that any European country could claim land in Africa; however, they must be able to keep control of their conquered area. Managing some African colonies would prove to be a difficult task for some of the European nations. In fact, Nigeria and Ethiopia would both play a part in the African resistance. In order for the spread of imperialism to work, these European nations would have to create imperial management methods. The Europeans were able to come up with many different forms and management methods of imperialism to use in Africa.

From 1914 to the present, one of the most powerful trends of the postwar era was the importance of the developing world and their desire for independence. Nationalism was an important factor in the growing independence movements in Sub- Saharan Africa. Regardless of political changes, social conflict and tensions remained a problem. Tensions between Europeans and Africans, which had been a problem since the Europeans’ arrival and social unrest in communities didn’t change.

Battle began at 5:00am and ended at 10:50am, the allies surrendered in 5 hours. A humiliating defeat.

Right after Menelik signed the treaty with Italy in 1889, he figured out there were differences in what they believed the treaty was about due to the wording in Italian and the Ethiopian languages. Menelik declared war to protect Ethiopia from Italian forces that were going into northern Ethiopia. In 1896, one of the greatest battles in African history began, the Battle of Adowa. Ethiopian fighters defeated Italy and Ethiopia was kept independent. Menelik had successfully played Italians, French, and the British against each other, all of which wanted to bring Ethiopia into their spheres of influence. Menelik won the war and kept building up a large arsenal. An arsenal is a collection of weapons and military equipment that is stored safely. He used the arsenal to store the weapons that the French and Russians gave him. He did this in case another situation arose when a foreign power wanted Ethiopia and they would need to fight for their liberty. Thousands of resistance fighters were being killed during these battles. So Ethiopia’s win was unusual. Unsuccessful resistance attempts included military resistance and resistance through religious movements. The spiritual belief that magic water, called maji-maji, sprinkled on their bodies would turn German bullets into water. This

There was a very small group of European administrators that governed all over Africa. Due the this fact, European ruler did not want African people to gain anymore knowledge that would allow them to rise up against foreign settlers. Sir Frederick Gordon Guggisberg, a colonial governor, was among a few who supported the development of education for African people, pointed out a few reasons why European settlers were against this idea. He restated critics’ thought on why African people should not be getting a better education, “The African is not capable of exercise those qualities that will be conferred on him by higher education.” This show that European settlers did not want African people to gain any knowledge, by refusing to believe that these African people are capable of applying all the knowledge if they were given a chance to learn. Furthermore, the denial of Education for African people was away to control them from rising up in social status with their newly acquired knowledge. European settlers hoped that the African people would remain as second class citizens which make them easy targets for exploitation as well as avoided the risk of educated African tried to invoke revolutions against the White rulers. European settlers were well aware that Africa is a vast land that was the origin of many great civilizations in human history. It is necessary for

heavy German counter attacks while only a third of them were left standing at the end still able

The British colonization of Kenya destroyed the culture and economy of the native people, but it established a democratic government and left Kenya a more modernized country.[1] During the 1880’s through 1914, the start of WWI, was an age of imperialism. One place that felt victim to this imperialism was Africa. At this time Africa was a wholly unmodernized continent. The reason the Europeans went after Africa was the introduction of the idea of social Darwinism and the “white man’s burden”. Social Darwinism is the belief that only the strongest and the most cunning can make it to the top of the social ladder, and it was the White Man’s Burden to step in for these undeveloped countries

When studying history, it is important to be thorough and complete in your analysis. More specifically, when reading into the African educational system, there are many parts to focus on. These sections range from physical to social to spiritual. From studying these, we can see just what role each part played in the system. Things to consider from this are questions concerning

Though Kenya’s impoverished and underdeveloped conditions were certainly not highlighted in the film, I believe it is important to observe. These conditions are best displayed by the state of the primary school. In the film, students were forced to sit 5 students to a desk and were crammed into a tiny room. Moreover, the Kenyans were highly grateful for the concept of free education. This highly contrasts the state of American schools, which are typically well funded. Americans are used to the concept of free education, so much so, that people now desire free higher education. I believe this theme is important to note because it is the key difference between the Kenyan and American

It can be refferd to as a period whereby European powers colonised, invaded, occupied and annexed African territories in a very rapid and unprecedented manner, even though there was little interest in Africa up to the 1870's. In fact, up to 1880 Europeans ruled merely 10% of the African continent. Yet within 30 years, by 1914, European nations will have claimed all of Africa except Liberia (a small territory of freed slaves from the United States) and Abyssinia (Ethiopia), which had successfully held off Italian invaders at the battle of Adowa in 1896. The partitioning of Africa was seen as a means of easing tensions between European states which was high in the late 19th century and avoid a full blown out war in Europe