From Apathetic to Amiable: The British Empire and Haile Selassie’s Ethiopia, 1916-1974
Date
2023-08
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Abstract
Imperial Ethiopia was one of only two African states to retain its independence during the Scramble for Africa in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The most famous leader of Ethiopia was Emperor Haile Selassie, who ruled from 1930 to 1974. However, his involvement in international affairs date to 1916 when he was the Heir Apparent. The British Empire, which controlled colonies neighbouring Ethiopia, was the largest polity that the emperor conducted diplomacy with. This project examines how the British government’s attitude towards Ethiopia evolved between 1916 and 1974. The central change that happened was that Britain became friendlier to Ethiopia, having shifted from being apathetic and dismissive to more collaborative and respectful. From 1916 to 1935, Britain was dismissive of Ethiopia, although they were interested in keeping Lake Tana, one of the main reservoirs of the Nile River, flowing freely. During the diplomatic crisis leading up to the Second Italo-Ethiopian War (1935-1937), Britain tried to use Ethiopia as a bargaining chip with Fascist Italy. Nonetheless, Selassie spent his exile in the United Kingdom. When Italy joined the Axis side of the Second World War in 1940, Britain worked with both Selassie and Ethiopian patriot fighters to help liberate the country. For the remainder of the 1940s, Britain helped stabilize the war-torn country via the British Military Administration. While Selassie leaned more heavily on American military funding in the 1950s and 1960s, Britain shifted to a Soft Power approach towards Ethiopia. Despite crises like the abortive coup attempt of 1960 and the outbreak of the Eritrean War of Liberation, Britain remained a close ally of Selassie up until the Derg coup of 1974. This dissertation represents the most comprehensive analysis of British-Ethiopian relations between 1916 and 1974.
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Keywords
Ethiopia, Britain, Haile Selassie, Imperial, International Relations, Diplomacy, Twentieth Century
Citation
Holbert, Q. C. (2023). From apathetic to amiable: the British Empire and Haile Selassie’s Ethiopia, 1916-1974 (Doctoral thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca.