“War in the Modern World, 1990-2014 (Book Review)” by Jeremy Black

Review of War in the Modern World, 1990-2014 by Jeremy Blac

Chapter 2 A Forgotten Fleet

Africa, Cape of Good Hope, maritime security, naval history, piracy, Suez Cana

From Apathetic to Amiable: The British Empire and Haile Selassie’s Ethiopia, 1916-1974

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

Jasen J. Castillo, Endurance and War: The National Sources of Military Cohesion. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2014.

Since the earliest thinkers of ancient Greece and China, theorists have speculated about the nature of warfare; what drives men to war, what determines victory, and what are the implications of victory or defeat? Theorists from Sun Tzu to Carl Von Clausewitz all offered theories about the conduct of warfare with changing political and technological environments. Jasen J. Castillo offers his piece, Endurance and War: The National Sources of Military Cohesion, to the millennia-long dialogue and proposes his theories on how armies stay cohesive when facing dire situations

Chapter 2 A Forgotten Fleet

Africa, Cape of Good Hope, maritime security, naval history, piracy, Suez Cana

Regional Influences on the Italo-Ethiopian Crisis, 1934-1938

The Italo-Ethiopian Crisis (c. 1934-1938) is both a common case study for the failure of the League of Nations; and as a major event leading up to the Second World War. Much of this existing research focuses on international diplomacy, but far less on people in East Africa. Regional actors, be it colonial officers, soldiers, or civilians, had a major impact on the conduct of the Second Italo-Ethiopian War. The main conflict that led to the outbreak of war, the December 1934 Welwel Incident, was not a conspiracy, but rather a culmination of several decades of tensions that escalated into an international affair. The British colonial officers in East Africa, fearing provocation of Italy, adopted a strict neutrality during the Second Italo-Ethiopian War itself. Non-Governmental Organizations, like the Red Cross and Women’s Suffrage groups, took sides during the war and during Italy’s early colonization of Ethiopia. Religious affiliation largely indicated who Ethiopian civilians supported during the war with Ethiopian Catholics and Muslims supporting the Italians, and Orthodox Ethiopians and Protestant missionaries in opposition