Ethiopian empire
Printed From: History Community ~ All Empires
Category: Regional History or Period History
Forum Name: African History
Forum Discription: Talk about African History
URL: http://www.allempires.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=28528
Printed Date: 13-May-2024 at 00:01
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Topic: Ethiopian empire
Posted By: Kanas_Krumesis
Subject: Ethiopian empire
Date Posted: 29-Jun-2010 at 09:33
I`d like to open this topic about one of the greatest Sub-Saharan empire- the Ethiopian. Land with very old culture and traditions, marked from ancient Egypt influence and Christianity of late Roman empire, but substantive at all. Once every year Ethiopian emperor sent an ambassador to the court of Eastern Roman Emperor in Constantinople. They shared information, books and ideas. Also goods. This practice continued until Ottoman conques. Ethiopian church is represent in Jerusalem with it`s own temple. Ethiopia manage to create own unique civilization and defend their freedom first from Arab expansion, and secondly from Italian aggression in 1896. This was one of the few instances where army armed mostly with spears and bows defeat a modern army in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Adowa - Battle of Adowa . On top of it`s power Ethiopian empire control region of all African Horn, with ports on both Indian Ocean and Red Sea.
 Ethiopian emperor Menelik ІІ ruled 1889-1913
 Ethiopian coat of arms
 Rocky church in Lalibela
 Ethiopian art
   Ethiopian architecture
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Replies:
Posted By: ConradWeiser
Date Posted: 30-Jun-2010 at 16:17
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There needs to be a lot more research done in this area. Unfortunately I myself seem to be drifting more towards the more western Sub-Saharan empires, but I would love to do some research at some point on Ethiopia. For now though, I'd settle for light reading. Any suggestions? ------------- Another year! Another deadly blow! Another mighty empire overthrown! And we are left, or shall be left, alone. -William Wordsworth |
Posted By: Nick1986
Date Posted: 22-May-2011 at 20:52
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There's a theory the modern-day Ethiopians are descended from Jews who left the Holy Land either when Solomon lapsed into idolatry or when the Temple was destroyed. ------------- Me Grimlock not nice Dino! Me bash brains! |
Posted By: balochii
Date Posted: 02-Jun-2011 at 23:40
| They also controled arabia at one point |
Posted By: Arab
Date Posted: 03-Jun-2011 at 20:48
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Not the whole thing though, just the southern tip. ------------- "Prayer is when you talk to God. Insanity is when you talk to God and he answers back." |
Posted By: Baal Melqart
Date Posted: 03-Jun-2011 at 22:22
and then they magically turned black, African magic! ------------- Timidi mater non flet |
Posted By: Nick1986
Date Posted: 26-Jul-2011 at 11:22
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No magic Baal. Just conversion and intermarriage with the locals. Having suffered heavy losses from the various conflicts in the Middle East the Jewish refugees needed to replenish their numbers ------------- Me Grimlock not nice Dino! Me bash brains! |
Posted By: Bulldog69
Date Posted: 30-Aug-2011 at 06:23
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To be fair, if you follow your own link about the Battle of Adowa, you'll see that the Ethiopian Army had 80,000 men with firearms (and another 20,000 with spears) plus 40 field pieces.
The Italian army was just over 14000 men strong.
Hardly a surprising result, when you think about it. |
Posted By: Nick1986
Date Posted: 03-Sep-2011 at 20:09
Weren't most of the Ethiopians' weapons obsolete? Only half of their small arms were modern bolt-action magazine rifles and their cannons were muzzle-loaders ------------- Me Grimlock not nice Dino! Me bash brains! |
Posted By: Bulldog69
Date Posted: 07-Sep-2011 at 09:21
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Even if we accept your figures, that gives the Ethiopians 40,000 men armed with modern bolt-action rifles (plus another 40,000 with older firearms, 20,000 spearmen and 40 artillery pieces) - against an Italian army of only about 14,000 men.
As far as the Ethiopian artillery being muzzle-loaders: this is hardly a big deal. The Royal Artillery briefly flirted with breach-loaders before returning to muzzle-loading weapons in 1871 and therefore were equiped with muzzle-loaders for the vast majority of the colonial era. The RA was issued with a brand new, 13-lb muzzle-loader as late as 1878 and only withdrew their 9-lb muzzle-loaders from front line service in 1895, so it's not as though we are talking ancient technology here.
So why is the result of any surprise to anyone? It strikes me as almost patronising to talk about it being some sort of spectacular result or 'humiliation' or whatever, when what really happened was that an enormous army beat a much smaller one. |
Posted By: Nick1986
Date Posted: 09-Sep-2011 at 20:19
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Good point. However, you can't deny that the Italians underestimated the Ethiopians. The defeat at Adowa put the brakes on Italian expansionism until Mussolini became dictator ------------- Me Grimlock not nice Dino! Me bash brains! |
Posted By: Bulldog69
Date Posted: 12-Sep-2011 at 14:51
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No - I don't deny that.
But that is a different issue.
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