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| His Imperial Majesty, The Emperor of Ethiopia, delivering his speech before the League of Nations. Geneva, Switzerland. June 30, 1936. |
By: Samuel M. Gebru
Thursday, June 30, 2011
On this day, 75 years ago, His Imperial Majesty Haile Selassie I, Emperor of Ethiopia, delivered a speech in Geneva, Switzerland before the League of Nations that shall forever go down in history as one of the greatest speeches of the 20th Century.
The June 30, 1936 speech was an appeal to the League of Nations after the Empire of Ethiopia was invaded by the Kingdom of Italy. Emperor Haile Selassie I fled Addis Ababa, his capital city, on May 5, 1936. The Emperor, highly regarded for his international statesmanship, heavily emphasized one of the core tenants of the League of Nations’ establishment, Article 10, the principle of collective security, saying that:
It is collective security: it is the very existence of the League of Nations. It is the confidence that each State is to place in international treaties. It is the value of promises made to small States that their integrity and their independence shall be respected and ensured.
The Empire of Ethiopia, known as Abyssinia, was modernizing under the Emperor’s leadership. Unfortunately, its military was poorly managed, and aside from the Imperial Guard, poorly trained. The lack of resources, for instance, meant that Ethiopia’s Imperial Air Force in 1936 only had three active warplanes.
In 1934 and 1935, Italy had made various aggressions into Abyssinian territory. Notably, however, was the construction of an Italian fort in Walwal, Ethiopia. This incident in 1930 was a violation of the Treaty of Friendship both Ethiopia and Italy signed in 1928 and began the gradual encroachment into Ethiopian territory that eventually led to the second Italo-Abyssinian War in 1935.
Emperor Haile Selassie’s appeal to the League of Nations was not only a direct message to the United Kingdom and France but also it served as a reminder of the League’s inability to address world conflict as a unified body. Italy, a 1919 founding member of the League, and Ethiopia, joining in 1923, were bound by Article 10 from aggression.
Stressing collective security, the Emperor eluded to Articles 10 and 15 of the Covenant of the League of Nations, sharing that an attack on one League member state meant an attack on all members. The Emperor rightfully asked, “Has each of the States Members, as it was its duty to do in virtue of its signature appended to Article 15 of the Covenant, considered the aggressor as having committed an act of war personally directed against itself?”
Despite the membership of Ethiopia and Italy in the League of Nations and the two 1928 treaties signed, the Treaty of Friendship and the Kellogg-Briand Pact, the ultimate invasion of Ethiopia was Italian fascist dictator Benito Mussolini’s goal. Branded as Africa Orientale Italiana, the Kingdom of Italy’s possessions included Italian Eritrea and Italian Somaliland with the mission of including Ethiopia.
The Emperor’s speech sent a strong message to the League’s 52 members. Not only did the Emperor focus on the plight of Ethiopia, he also shared the common issue facing small states that were “exposed to the greed of a powerful neighbour [sic].” The Emperor challenged the League of Nations to carry out its Covenant without reservation:
I have heard it asserted that the inadequate sanctions already applied have not achieved their object. At no time, and under no circumstances could sanctions that were intentionally inadequate, intentionally badly applied, stop an aggressor. This is not a case of the impossibility of stopping an aggressor but of the refusal to stop an aggressor.
Emperor Haile Selassie I’s work to secure the necessary support to curb Italian ambitions in Ethiopia ultimately paid off, albeit late. After weighing its own national interests in defeating the unholy alliance between Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany, the United Kingdom worked with Emperor Haile Selassie to form the special military unit, the Gideon Force. The Gideon Force, led by British Major General Orde Charles Wingate, ultimately paved the road for Ethiopia’s victory in 1941.
On May 5, 1941, exactly five years to his exile, Emperor Haile Selassie returned to Addis Ababa. Much can be said about the Emperor’s speech on June 30, 1936, appealing for help at Ethiopia’s most vulnerable time. That same year TIME Magazine named Emperor Haile Selassie as “Man of the Year.”
The admonishing words of the King of Kings of Ethiopia will forever dawn over the history of the League of Nations: “God and history will remember your judgment.”
Well put!
ReplyDeleteI always remember as my father and his friends, who have participated in the liberation of Ethiopia talked about those days. Thank you for bringing back to the new generation, who do not have any idea or inkling about the past.
ReplyDeleteHow do you feel that the anti-Ethiopian Meles, who is your kinsman oppostion to having Haileselassie's statue infront of the Afrinan Union? What do you think the history books will say about Meles?
ReplyDelete