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Mark Gagnon
Meet Haile Selassie. It is good that you are here. This is the story of how a simple man went from a governor to an emperor, to a God. A young Ethiopian noble who would rise through the royal courts, play politics, crown himself King of kings, and eventually be worshiped by millions as the living God of the Rastafarian movement. He stood toe to toe with Mussolini. He took his country back from European colonists, addressed the League of Nations in defiance of fascism, helped fight the Nazis, and ruled a country that became both a symbol of African independence and the playground for Cold War superpowers. But behind the divine image was a complicated ruler. Modernizer to some, autocrat to others. This is the unlikely story of the man who went from flesh and blood to a messiah. So sit back, relax, and welcome to camp. This message is sponsored by Greenlight. With school out, summer is the perfect time to teach our kids real world money skills they'll use forever. Greenlight is a debit card and the number one family finance and safety app used by millions of families, helping kids learn how to save, invest and spend wisely. Parents can send their kids money and track their spending and savings while kids build money, confidence and skills in fun ways. Start your risk free Greenlight trial today@greenlight.com Spotify that's greenlight.com Spotify what's up, people, and welcome back to camp. My name is Mark Gagnon and thank you for joining me on my tent where every single week we explore the most interesting, fascinating, controversial stories from around the world. From all history, from all time. Thanks. I'm also here with my buddy Gabe. As always, Gabe, how are you? All right, all right, enough of that. Because, guys, not only do we have a fascinating topic, I also have a fascinating guest and friend of the show, my good friend, Joe Averman. Big up. Great to be here. I'm fired up. This is gonna be a fun one. Joey, I asked you, I was like, would you. Would you be interested in coming on and doing an episode, hang with me? And you were like, absolutely. But I only will do it if we can talk about the great man. Yeah. The emperor and the reggae icon. Yes. Hali Selassie. Yeah. I mean, it's an interesting story and there's a lot of holes in my wisdom, so I thought, what better way to learn about it would be. Come here. I know he was a ruler, I believe of Ethiopia and. And I believe there was a coup of some kind. And then I know from listening to reggae that they big up him all the time. And I believe the Rosters view him, as, I believe, as a coming of Christ, if not his own sort of prophet. But my, my. Like, that's how I would tell that story at a bar. And I feel like that doesn't work. So today we can go through it all. I can. I can get my story straight. Good news for you. We're going to get to all the details. And you insisted that we wear these offensive wigs. It was. I did pitch it. It was my idea. It was my idea. And then we were about to film and I was like, you know, I don't know if I need to ask Chat GPT if this is okay, but I. I kind of look like, Like a. Like a little, like, hate street gutter rat white boy from San Francisco. So I think it's fine. Yeah, yours is fine. Mine, I feel like yours is a little naughty dread. You do look a little. You do. But. But it's fun. Fun. It's. You know, it is. It's extremely pop. And what I want is to get a really good clip out of this where we don't explain why we're wearing them and nothing to do with the topic. Yeah, that's. That's my goal for today, is generate a healthy amount of Internet disdain. Yes. For myself. Well, we're doing it. And I be honest with you, I feel like Chief Keef. It's good. I do feel like. Yeah, love. So, like, I feel it right now, dude. I feel like I should be licking a blunt that we're about to smoke right now, which would be vibes as hell. I mean, with all get absolutely blasted in this tent. Don't get mad at me. This is so. You're done with it. So itchy. But keep yours because I like yours. Yours is actually. You look sick as hell. You look like. For a bit. You look like just a dude in San Diego. Yeah, just. Just a dude. Just a guy who's like, I'm not homeless, dude. I have a van. What are you talking about, dude? My van is my home. It's a Chrysler. Yeah, dude. I grew up in a race car bed, and it was my dream to live in a car. Yeah. I've done it. Here I am. Dreams come true. This guy's absolutely fascinating. I'm glad you put me onto him. You had read a book on the Emperor Haile Selassie. I had, yes. And he is a. He's an interesting guy that has lived many different facets of life and looks extremely dapper in his uniform. I shall say fine uniform. It is a shame you have to do so much military service to get to wear such a bedazzled coat. I mean, it looks wonderful. Yeah, it does. And the Ethiopians, as they will let you know, have had a sort of a brilliant, brilliant military record. I didn't know that. Oh, yeah. Every Ethiopian person I ever met, they will remind you we're the only African country that never got colonized and invaded by the Europeans. I bet that ties into the story in a large way. Absolutely. Which let the record show there. I mean, you know, there was an invasion by the Italians in, like, the 40s, I think, but mamma mia, neither here nor there. The Ethiopians have stood strong. So. Shout out to y', all, dude. Shout out to y'. All. Yes. Good job. And yeah, sorry, you know, I'm not going to bring up Eritrea right now. Okay. That's a whole other. Wouldn't wanna. It's a whole other thing. Why sour the movie? Sounds like an sti. You're gonna have to take that up with Joey Retrians. All right. I have nothing to do with that. I apologize. It's just first thought so. Emperor Haile Selassie the First was born in 1892 on July 23rd birthday coming up. Shout out. In a small town known as a Jarsa Goro in Ethiopia. Love it there. When he was a young child, his name was Lij Tafari Makkanen. Lij just means child of and Tafari means someone who is respected or feared. Makkanen was his dad's name. So growing up, people called him the child of Makkinen, who's highly respected. That's cool. His father, Ras Makkanen, was the governor of an old walled city called Harar in eastern Ethiopia. And he's, you know, he was also an important advisor to Emperor Menelik ii, who was the emperor at that time and happened to be related to their family. So what does that mean for our boy Lij Tafari Makinan. He's born into a nice little position. He's vibing. He's born into an important noble family that was connected to the royal family. And through his grandmother, he becomes. Tafari comes from the Solomonic line of kings, literally from King Solomon. These are the kings who had ruled this part of Africa since the 1200s. This is an ancient lineage that he takes on. He is of the most noble blood of all the people. The most high, truly. Yeah, big up, big up. And, yeah. His mother was a wonderful woman whose father was also a ruling chief from a nearby province. So he's got that kind of, you know, that classic royal inbred vibes. I'm not saying that that's there. I just most royal families. But I wonder, I wonder if. I feel like Africa has a more diverse genetic pool, you know what I mean? I feel like probably inbreeding in Europe, doing it the longest. That's what I'm saying. That's where humanity came from. That's right. So if anyone's gonna do it, I mean, I think they're the best. Yeah, I believe that. So in order to understand his life, we need to understand Ethiopian society in the late 1800s. Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa region, as it's known, is a fascinating, unique place. And I hope you have some time because this goes about, you know, 1700 years back. Okay, turn back the clock here. Yeah. What's up, guys? We're going to take a break really quick because you own a small business or maybe you work for a small business. And I am about to make your life so much easier. Let's say hypothetically, you own a little, you know, furniture business, right? And you're struggling to keep track of the raw materials, the production schedule, invoicing clients, all that stuff. Well, that's why I want to tell you about Odoo. Okay. Because with Odoo, it's an all in one business platform that streamlines everything. Now you have inventory management, you have manufacturing, you have accounting apps that will make everything so simple. So now if you have a small business, you can monitor the inventory in real time, schedule productions calls more effectively, and you can send invoices automatically, all from one platform. Plus, you get a customized CRM to track sales leads and follow up with potential clients, boosting your closing rates. Back in the day, you'd probably have to get, you know, some, you know, Ivy League operator, business person that's, you know, able to make everything happen for you. But now with Odoo, it cuts it all out. And I'm sure you're thinking, okay, if this is going to make my life easier, give me more free time to spend with my friends, family and playing softball and make me more money. It must be crazy expensive. This is the good news. Listeners of this program are going to get a 14 day free trial. That's right. You get two weeks with Odoo completely for free when you go to odoo.com camp. That's right, odoo.com use the promo code camp and you will get 14 days for free just to try it out, see if you like it. If it's not for you, you don't need it. All right? But Odoo is going to make your life so much easier. Everything you need, all in one place. Save time, make more money. Now let's get back to the show. On WhatsApp, no one can see or hear your personal messages. 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Yes, when the Roman Empire was controlled by North Africa and Christianity starts spreading from Roman Egypt into parts of Eastern Mediterranean region. So these, you know, this new sort of cult that then becomes a religion is quickly moving south past the Roman Empire's borders, going down the Nile along the Red Sea. And many people in now what is known as Ethiopia become Christians. And the country in this time becomes basically a Christian nation. Okay, let the record show there's also many Ethiopian Jews. Really? Yeah. Another fascinating little, little subset. You'll see, like, Ethiopian guys doing, like, Teflon and they're like, yeah, we are ethnic Jews from the line of Solomon all the way back, like, to King David. That's crazy. We are all, like, sometimes doing stand up comedy. Very funny. But, yeah, they're like. I think people have referred to them as, like, the 13th tribe. Wow. So interesting. I mean, Ethiopia is a fascinating country with its own. Yeah, real distinct deep history and good food. Yeah, it is good food. I like it. So basically, you know, you have this religion spreading everywhere. And so when Arab armies conquer the Middle east in North Africa in 600 AD, Ethiopia got cut off from the rest of the Christian world, Because if you can imagine the geography, there's basically a split where you have, like, this whole Christian region. Islam kind of comes through the middle. And so even though Ethiopia didn't convert to Islam like many other places did, because of the isolation, it developed its own kind of unique version of Christianity. So I'm pretty sure the Ethiopian Christian church to this day, like, still doesn't eat pork. Like, they follow the old Jewish law. They never got the update. Okay. They were just like, yeah, so just no pork. Do they have pigs out there? I mean, probably not a big market. I mean, probably not now. I mean, they probably have a ton of pigs. You know, they're eating them. And so this Ethiopian Christianity kept many of the practices and ceremonies that were common around this time, like, in three hundreds, you know, Rome, that eventually kind of changed. Ethiopia kind of kept it consistent. Yeah. And so starting the 1200s, you have these rulers that are now claiming that they are the descendants of the biblical king Solomon, which is why the family is known as this, you know, long dynasty. And it gets even deeper. So eventually, as time goes on, between 1200 and 1800s, they begin, you know, sort of taking some more territory and, like, forming this country. And then eventually they control what is now, you know, modern Ethiopia. And so this happens throughout, like, 500 years, where, like, the country actually becomes a country. So as it grows, there are. You know, Ethiopia is a vast, diverse nation with many different ethnic groups and religious groups living under the emperor's rule. The two biggest groups are the Oromo and the Amhara, who together make up more than half of the empire's entire population. And then other groups that are in here, you know, include Somalis as well as Tigrayans, which, if you're familiar with the Tigrayan people, they will be important later. Tigris river or something. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Okay. And so these are different ethnic groups that kind of speak different languages and that look somewhat different from each other. So, for example, the. The Oromo are cushitic people who are basically. They control, like, the northwestern part, and then they're more open to Islam as it kind of comes into the country. And then the Amhara are a Semitic people who lived in Ethiopia who are much more devoted to Ethiopian orthodox Christianity. So this is a vast country of all sorts of different ethnic and religious makeups. So by the mid-1800s, the Ethiopian Empire had become one of the strongest countries in all of Africa. They have a sort of, like, an organized ruling class. They have an ancient history of, like, cultures and customs. And they are basically able to, you know, operate more or less homogenously where they're, you know, basically able to build up a strong economic power. And they needed to be strong because around this time, Europe has a scramble for Africa. Yep. As I'm sure you've heard, which to me, calling it a scramble happen. I think calling it a scramble seems, you know, maybe a little. A little. A mad dash. Gratuitous. Yeah, well, yeah, I mean, it makes it seem like more fun and playful. Yeah. You know, King Leopold. Yeah. Scrambling out there. He was scrambling in the Belgian Congo. They were just like, dude, did you know Africa's there? Yeah, there's there that we could have. Let's skedaddle down there. Yeah, they did. Did that. So basically, to the north, you have Egypt, who gets controlled by Britain. And the British were kind of expanding the rule down the Nile into Sudan and then eventually into Uganda and Kenya. And so to the east of Ethiopia, you know, along the horn of Africa, a bunch of these European countries take control of the lands through treaties and military force and basically anything else you need to do. Basically, right before our great leader Tafari was born, the most important of these is Italy, which took over the colonies of Italian Somaliland and eritrea in the 1880s. These areas make up most of what now, you know, the countries Verit and Somalia are in Britain. Do they still have, like, Italian culture there? Like, do they have, like, bread and olive oil or in Eritrea. I actually don't know. That's interesting. I should just wondering. Yeah, a little spaghetti, meatball. I mean, that's the thing. Good. Like a bison or something. Yeah, yeah, good parts of kind of get in there, you know. You know, ideally, what, like, the. The lasting effects, like Italian. African food could probably be awesome. Probably slap. Right. So, yeah, I mean, in Asmar, the capital of Eritrea, you have a little Rome. You can find Italian influences in Eritrean food, including pizza, pasta, and gelato shops. Dude, let's go to Eritrea. I think we should go. Sorry, Ethiopians, we're getting off track. Okay. Yeah, sorry. And so they are basically kind of like stepping into the region. And then obviously France is grabbing other pieces around the region. So in the end, almost all of Africa is basically taken over by Europe. Yeah. Right. But Ethiopia avoids this fate mostly because of Emperor Menelik ii. So he's men. I look. Nothing sacred. Well, I'm here trying to honor African rulers, and I am, too. But I had to get one in one little lick. Yeah, one lick, dude. Yeah, dude. So he starts A program to basically modernize the country. He builds up the capital, addis ababa, and he, you know, makes it the center of the empire. And they actually start an alliance with the Russians in 1893. So through this partnership, the Russians are kind of like, sending some scientists and economists to help modernize the country and basically build up their military. And the goal is to basically make Ethiopia strong enough to resist the takeover from Europe. So by 1892, when Tafari is born, you can understand the layout of Africa at this time. So since he's born into this important Ethiopian noble family, he receives special honors from a young age. So by the time he's 13, he's given the title of basically, he's like the kind of administrative ruler of, like, a city near harar. And so he's the keeper of the door is what they call it. Nickname. It's kind of sick. Yeah, yeah. I wouldn't. You know, doorman is the colloquial term. Yeah, 100%. But, you know, love them. If you're a New York city doorman, use that from now. Yeah, I'm the keeper of the door. Right. And so it kind of indicates, like, his role. He's kind of like the protector of a region, but he's still barely a teenager. Right. Like, he's, like, 13 years old and has to, like, take on this. This job is like, you know, kind of like a diplomat in a way. Yeah, you should just be an unpaid intern at that age. Yeah, exactly. Right. You should be a child soldier or something, you know? Yeah. You shouldn't be a ruler. Yes, of course. But he takes on the duty with much honor and does a pretty good job. So by this time, there's, you know, little sign that he would ever become, like, emperor. Right. Like, he's sort of tacitly related to the royal family, but it seems like emperor menelik II already has a clear path for who's going to rule. He has two daughters, and these two daughters have several grandsons. And, you know, they're eventually going to be chosen by menelik to then become the emperor. Yeah. So during his youth, Italy is trying hard to connect its two colonies in Eritrea and somaliland. And what is in the way? Ethiopia. So what do they try to do, 1895, the Italians, with the keeper of the door? That's what I'm saying, dude. You're about to find out. I am the one who knocks. Yeah. Facts, dude. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, you want. I'm gonna knock from the inside. Yeah, yeah. Who is it? Me. Me. So by the Italians, knock. Who's there? You think this is a joke, bitch? Yeah, that's what he does. He pulls up on him. The Italians invade Ethiopia, and menelik, you know, in his efforts to modernize the country, pays off. So this is where we get the Italio Ethiopian war. And, you know, basically, they've been trying to invade very many times, and so this victory basically keeps Ethiopia independent for the next generation. So as a teenager, he's understanding where he's at in the important position that he has within the empire. So by 1907, for example, he was made governor of the province of Sadamo in southern Ethiopia. During this time, he ends up having a daughter who becomes the princess. Her name is princess Roman work. Princess Roman work. Roman work. Dude, that is her. Huh? Her. That's a sick name, to be honest. Roman work, right? I mean, let's. I wonder if I'm pronouncing that correctly. It's a sick name. When I was reading it, I was like, roman work. It's a great name. Right? Think about that. If you have a baby. He's a girl dad. Right. I wonder if he got the hat. So by 1911, he marries Manan As. Asa Asphal, man. An as. And she's also part of this sort of. This. This sort of family. Okay. Yeah, I can tell. So now we have an issue. Okay. This is where things get interesting. So, you know, by the time Emperor Menelik II, who's almost 70, he's getting older and older. He's had a couple of strokes. He finally dies in 1913. Like having a couple of strokes after a couple of men. You looked. This is maybe the most fun way to learn about Ethiopia. Yeah, dude. How do we make it gay? Yeah. I mean, it's not my fault. So he dies. Yep. Who's in charge? 18 year old grandson. As we mentioned, he's the next emperor in line. It makes sense. Yep. The problem is this grandson that he puts in charge. His name is Lyj Iyasu. Iyasu had already been acting as the real emperor for some time by 1913 because his grandfather's kind of sick, and. And you would think that this would basically secure him and just make him a lock before he dies. Right. You would think the opposite happens. Iyasu found himself facing more and more opposition from the council of ministers that his grandfather set up and even from his own aunt. Like, literally, like his own aunt. Princess Zuditu was literally like, yeah, I don't think this guy's Going to be able to do it. R2Z2, R2Zuditu. Dude, I feel like this is a tale as old as time. This is kind of like in like in Gladiator 2, it's kind of like there's always like the young kid and everyone's like, the kid can't really. And then the power structures of the palace kind of, kind of, you know, fight that and literally that classic. They basically try to like, they try to keep like the emperor's death a secret and they don't want to make him the emperor. And people had issues with it. It's like Biden. Yeah, exactly. Dude, you got a fake emperor up there. He's too old. And so this is some of the issues. So during the last years of Menelik's reign, the prince, this guy Ieyasu had shown that he wasn't really interested in like day to day management and admin. That the ruler, he's an ideas guy. Yeah, he doesn't want to get bogged down in the details. I'm saying, dude, picture guy. Exactly. He's jobs, you know, respected. But you need a Wozniak country that's getting modernized and trying to get invaded by the Italians. Yeah, he's guineas every other day. Hey, come on, give you some pizza, you know, light their olive oil on fire. Exactly. Yeah. You're trying to stop these guys from getting in there and you need someone that's going to be locked in. And secondly, and maybe more importantly, people were worried that Iyasu preferred Islam over the Christian faith, which is extremely important to the Ethiopian political class. So the second issue is a big deal, you know, and the council ministers are basically like, yeah, we think Iyasu might have converted to Islam. And so they're like, what do we do? So they decide to remove him from power in the fall of 1916 and he's arrested and would basically spend the rest of his life in prison until the mid-1930s. 30s. Damn tough. Look, it's a tough game. A lot of people got really close to ruling and then they just go to jail. That's basically I can't handle you. It's like high risk, high reward. Let me make a startup or something. Just try. This isn't gonna work. I can't just try a different career, something else. Insurance. Like, I can't just live like. And chill. You can do real estate easy. So what happens now? Right, we have this guy that was the clear success, the successor, the heir apparent, you know, the grandson of the great emperor that Did a great job. He's out. And so now Zuditu, the person we've mentioned before, is the Empress of Ethiopia. But since the succession is now not really sure what that is, that's what they're trying to find out. Where is RC3PO? Yeah. So Tafari is working as like a governor. Right. And he's doing a good job. And people, people like him, and he handles the political drama of his, you know, this guy Ieyasu's reign pretty well. And so this sets him up to eventually take over from the empress, who, you know, was in her 40s when she becomes the empress and didn't have another obvious successor. So here we go. In the years that follow, you have this split in the Ethiopian government between the empress and, you know, kind of Tafari, this guy that's eventually going to take over, she's a traditionalist, a conservative. And Tafari kind of wanted to follow in the same path as Emperor Menelik who started to modernize Ethiopia. So in theory, the empress should have been much more powerful, but her position is actually weaker than any previous ruler in Ethiopia simply because she's a woman. Yeah. So they're like, we need a dude to take over. So because of this, he's able to gain a ton of influence than any other, you know, like incumbent or regent should have in the situation. So they both had their kind of their supporters, the Ethiopian church kind of favored the Empress because she's more conservative family values. While Tafari has a lot of the interest of the council ministers, who basically are like, this guy's going to take our country into the future. Yep. So what do we do? What happens by 1920? He becomes the more powerful figure and basically steps through to reign throughout the 20s. So now he's in charge. Let's go. Like just this, this young boy from a noble family that didn't have a clearest path, all of a sudden is now sitting in the hot seat. Keeper of the door. The keeper of the door is now the keeper of the kingdom. Yeah. And he's got to modernize the whole program because that's what this deal was. He was like, yo, if you guys get me in, I'm going to fix this whole around. Don't even worry. And he does a pretty good job. He's focused on trying to, you know, make Ethiopia's government and like their admin stuff kind of like Europe and, you know, there's already example of, like, how to do it successfully. Right. Like, Japan was a non European country. Who in this same time modernized pretty effectively. And Japan basically just kind of copied a lot of the European methods in order to do that. So he's looking at this and he's like, all right, let's just follow what Japan did. Yep, pretty smart. Yeah. They're going to copy, we're going to copy. It all comes full circle now. Europeans are copying off Japanese kids in school. Exactly. Yeah. You know what I mean? It's. And then China's copy and it's a whole. Yeah, it just goes round and round and round. So he sets up this western style government with ministers who have their different areas of governing and gives everyone a gun. No. All right. He's an interesting way to do it. So they're kind of moving. I'll bring this back, but I need a break from that. So hot. Yeah, right? Yeah, that's. You wonder in Jamaica why they're all just like, man, it's so. I'm burning in here. Yeah. It's like, yeah, dude, your dreads are heavy and there's fire in your mouth. I had an old soccer coach that was a Jamaican guy and he had long dreads. So cool. Never cut him. I think it was Rastafari. Yeah. And he would put them in. In a sick hat. Like a big one. Yeah, yeah, a big one. A big one. Yeah. That's what I mean. That's what I would do. Right? That is what I would do. You tuck it in somewhere, you know, it's bumbleclot wig. That's right. So he sets up this government. They're moving away from kind of like the old feudal system where like your family kind of determines your job to like a meritocratic, like skills based system where, you know, people can kind of move up in rank based off how well they're doing. Which is crazy because that's like a pretty modern idea. Like, hey, if you're good at something, you should continue to do it. Like that is in the. That's like a hundred year old idea. Yeah. Which is crazy because it's how everything works now. But it used to be like, no, dude, you're a blacksmith. You were born into that family. It's crazy. Like, I was actually talking to a wonderful comedian that was telling me a story about Italy and that like the Roman church in like like 1200 was basically trying to like organize Italy. And because they had so many like different warring clans, they had to make it like more meritocratic and get away from nepotism. Because nepotism is just the way it Was it was just like, yeah, of course my kid's going to take over the thing. They can start teaching it when it's a child. And also because like, you needed your kids to help you, you had your kids so that it could help you. Yeah. So it's automatically learning. Yeah. And it also helped whatever the parent pathology is where you're, you know, my kids. Yeah, exactly. So at this point, Ethiopia is doing pretty good. Military is improving and they're building on Menelic's reforms. And Ethiopia actually joins the League of Nations, which is basically like the OG, like UN. Yeah. And they become a member in 1923, making it one of the few non Western countries to ever join the League of Nations. And maybe more importantly, the economic and societal changes under, under Tafari are basically like expanding the country rapidly. So electricity is brought to Addis ababa in the 1910s, and at the same time, Ethiopia starts building roads and connecting cities and there's railways and they got telegraph machines and they're popping. Life is good. Yeah. So the national bank of Ethiopia is made in 1927 to strengthen the economy. And unfair lending rates. Say they had them there, like, thank goodness we got some of them. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, who. Who better to start a bank? You know? I mean, these people know what they're doing, so they start a bank and they stop like predatory lending rates and like debt systems and they basically like revitalize the entire economy. And then they also changed like the entire legal system. So they had what was known as the Fetha Negast legal code, which had been used in Ethiopia for centuries, which basically had like, it was kind of like corporal punishment for like, minor crimes. It's like what you'd imagine. Yeah. In like, you know, some far off distant land, like, you steal something and like, you get your hand cut off and they replace it with a Western legal system where, you know, you get tried and like, there's proportionality to your crimes, etc. But there was one major problem in Ethiopia that stayed the same. Slavery still widespread, even though it had been banned in most of the Western world at that point. Again, this is 1900s and there's an effort to end slavery. In the 1920s when the Western country started to criticize Ethiopia and they're like, yo, you're in the League of Nations. Like, you're a modern country. Like, what are we doing? And he wasn't exactly sure how to deal with this and how to eliminate it from society at the time. Like, you can imagine America, we fought A whole war over it. It's like you have this huge economic interest, but also it is a depraved moral action that's going to destroy your whole society. What do you do? What do we do? So at the same time, he's again the ruler. And his reputation around the world is growing. So by the 1920s, people see him as, like, this representative of Ethiopia on the world stage. Like, he is, like, this is, like, the shining face of, like, African democracy. Or maybe not democracy, African, like, economics, modernization. Yes. Yeah, exactly. So, you know, he basically, like, overshadows the Empress and, like, is really kind of crushing it. So. And he's taken, like, a ton of trips abroad, and he's, like, doing, like, a whole press tour. You know, he's doing a pod run and. And he's sat with Rogan. Legit dude. Like, he was, like. He was running the circuit for 1924. He goes on a tour of, like, foreign capitals. And not only is he, like, showing face for being like, this is what Africa is, and this is, like, who we are, he's also learning. So he's going on these missions to, like, learn about, you know, what they're doing and how their societies operate and, like, you know, social justice, all that stuff. Yeah. And so, as a result, the Ethiopian delegation makes a huge impression on London and Paris with their sort of displays of wealth and their court ceremonies. And so he meets with King George V and the French Prime Minister, Raymond Poncair. And another important goal of this foreign tour is to basically convince the British and the French to give Ethiopia access to the Red Sea by giving up a little bit of territory in the Somaliland. Okay. So it's kind of like a little diplomatic mission as well. Cause, you know, you gotta politic a little bit. Again, Tafari. Smart. Smart. So in other places, like in the Middle east and North Africa, he's welcomed warmly as basically, like, the leader of the only African nation that successfully resisted European colonization. They're like, yo, this is the dude. Yeah, this is the keeper of the door. And so all of this, you know, sort of pomp and circumstance made sure that, you know, even before, like, he was like, you know, known as, like, the crown jewel, as, like, the emperor, you know what I mean? Because keep in mind, at this point, like, the Empress is still in the. In the fray, and so he's still kind of, like, working against her legacy, and, like, she still has, like, a political position in the country. He's already well known and respected on, like, an international stage. Yeah. So at this point, he's not even necessarily like full on emperor. He's just the ruling guy that's kind of running shit. Because the empress is a woman. Right. They're just like, oh, he's a guy. So, you know, well, can we talk to the man of the house? Exactly. Is essentially what he's the Tim Waltz. Yeah, yeah. And so by 1928, he becomes so powerful that Ethiopia and the Empress basically had no choice but to give him more authority. So by that time, he had taken control of the council and the loyalty of the heads of the military and the political forces. So by October 7, he's crowned as the Ethiopian King, a title that I don't feel comfortable pronouncing. What is it? Have you ever seen that spelling bee video where the white kid has to spell a word? Yeah. Do you remember when he says, can I have a definition, please? Yeah. They say the Ethiopian title that it's basically like being a king. Uh huh. Would you spell it? Maybe we just pull it up on the screen here. Gabe, can you search Ethiopian word for king? Yep. I have an idea. Yeah. You already know what it rhymes with? Yes. Okay. You've seen, I think you can, you've seen the video. Can you pull up a kid's spelling bee of this word? Because this. Yeah. This will help the. This will help. It could be neus. That's okay. It's an incorrect pronunciation. Is it? No. That's fine. Okay. Negus. Negus. What is the language of origin? Ethiopian to Amharic. What is the definition? A king. It's used as a title of the sovereign of Ethiopia. Negus. Could you use it in a sense? Minutes. The Nikas ruled Ethiopia until the coup of 1974. He's on ESPN NUS. He's looking around. Oh my God. Could you. You repeat the definition? A king. It's used as a title of the sovereign of Ethiopia. Negus. This is a real momentus. Andrew, would you say the word loudly for the judges? Negus. One more time. Time. Negus. What are they doing? What are they doing to him? Negus. N E G U S. Oh my God. Absolutely stunned. Pulls it out. Oh, what a save. Right? I. I didn't know how that video was gonna end. What's up guys? We're gonna take a break really quick because I want you to know that there are still good people in the world and there are still people out there fighting for you. So here's a story. There's a guy riding a. Riding a water slide, right? He's at this amazing water park. He's about to go down the slide. All of a sudden as he's going down, flies into the air, lands on his back and has permanent life changing injuries. He's still dealing with him four or five years later and he's having a hard time getting paid, you know what I mean? He gets injured at this massive, massive water park owned by Disney of all people and can't even get a cent out of their attorneys. So that's why he called Morgan and Morgan. He called Morgan and Morgan and quickly they represented him in his lawsuit against Disney for damages, citing what they called lax safety measures. The lawsuit alleges that Disney either failed to warn him properly or failed to make the ride safe. And they argue that the design itself created a dangerous condition. And thankfully for this guy, because he called Morgan and Morgan, he will get justice in his case. Just like the 500,000 other clients that got the compensation that they deserved over Morgan and Morgan's 35 year career. 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So give it a try@mintmobile.com Switch upfront payment of 45 dollars for 3 month plan equivalent to 15 dollars per month required new customer offer for first 3 months only. Speed slow. After 35 gigabytes of network's busy, taxes and fees extra. See mint mobile.com this message is brought to you by Abercrombie and Fitch. I've been ready for summer for a while and now it's finally time for summer outfits. With a trip coming up, the A and F vacation shop has me covered. Abercrombie really knows how to do a lightweight outfit. Their tees, sweater, polos and linen blend shorts never miss. I wear Abercrombie denim year round. Their shorts are no different and have the comfort I need. For summer prep for your next trip with the A and F vacation shop, get their newest arrival rivals in store online and in the app. So now we've connected everything all together. Yes. A video from your childhood that you love. Yes. And an emperor from even farther back that you didn't know. Yep. And so here we are. Safari is officially the king. Yes. And so this new title replaces the earlier time of like, the Ross, which is, you know, like your position within the royal family. Now he is the king and the sovereign ruler of Ethiopia. So in the months that follow, tensions start to build between the empress's supporters and his supporters. And then finally this explodes in 1930, where there's almost a civil war between Tafari and the empress's husband. So the husband, Gugsa, well, not only wanted to restore his wife's power to the empire, but he also wanted to replace Tafari as the head of the government and save himself basically as the emperor outright. So, right. If he's the husband of the empress, then he can kind of, you know, basically be the emperor. So his rebellion reaches a peak at the battle of Ansham in March 31, 1930, where his forces face off against Afari supporters. But his side had more westernized weapons and fighting methods, including modern aircraft, and so they're able to defeat Gugsa Wells army. So he himself is killed in the fighting. Gugsa then pursuit husband. Sorry. And so no more gooks. He's out of here. Yeah. And so now you have like a battle for power within Ethiopia in the 1930s. Like World War II is basically still is going on. Yeah, like, just about. I'm like, no one in America knew this was happening. Crazy, right? Yeah, just a full on, like, fight for power in Africa. And I was like, what? And so, you know, what seemed like an unrelated event. The empress dies of natural causes two days later. Seems interesting. And so this officially clears the way for Tafari to then take complete control of Ethiopia as the king. So there's like a period of mourning for six months that requires, you know, that's mandated after the empress dies. But finally, on November 2, he is the new emperor and is able to basically, you know, take full control. He's able to do basically whatever he wants. He's now no longer just a representative, he's the guy. Yep. So he has the ceremony and very many Western countries show up, they pull up full dashiki and they're like, what's good? That part I don't know. But just fold the chic. Yeah, like Nancy Pelosi. Exactly, dude. Yeah. Just ally. Hello. My insert word for king. And he's on the COVID of Time magazine that November. Yep. So my boy's pop. Yeah, he was. He was a guy. And so he is, you know, he's the king. And so then what happens is he takes on a new name and a new title and the imperial name becomes Haile Selassie. Haile mean, so he went from Rastafari, Right? He's a Ross. Ross Tafari. Exactly. I didn't even know that. I didn't know. I. Again, I just hear it over bass and drums. I didn't know that's where it came from. So Rastafari being your title and then Rastafarian safari. Yeah, that makes sense. And so he takes on this new title of Hyli, meaning the power of, and Celesti, meaning Trinity. So literally, his name is the power of the Trinity, which again, gives more credence to the Christian, the Christianity of the nation. So as we will see later, his old name from the 1920s, Rastafari, becomes famous again, as we will know just down the line. So by the 1930s, after becoming emperor Haile Selassie I, the new ruler of Ethiopia, introduces the First Modern Constitution, 1931. This creates a two part legislator with the parliament and the upper house of lords that would basically share power with the Emperor. And a new constitution that would finally end the Fetha Nagast legal system where you just get beat with a stick if you stole some bread. Yeah. And the first years of his time as Emperor were focused on continuing to expand the modernization. But then the Italians are back and they. They're back with vengeance. Mamma mia. Yeah, you're about to sleep with the fishes. 1922. What do you know about the Italian government in the 20s? You know, well, it's pre moose. Right. Or it is mid moose, dead center of moose, dead center of Mussolini. So the Italian government gets taken over by Linguini Mussolini. Yes. Benito is what most people call them. I like Linguine. Linguini Mussolini is, you know, he is the leader of the Fascist party. That's right. Which tough name. Well, it's literally what they were. Yes. I think they weren't ashamed of it at the time. I think they were like, that's most of it. Yeah. And he takes over and basically Has a famous march on Rome by 30,000 Paramilitary fascist Black shirts. And one of his biggest dreams was to make Italy great again. We're gonna make it great again. The biggest meatballs you've ever seen. Four per plate. None of this too. And he literally has this idea of being like, yo, let's make Rome great again. And we're going to bring back the Roman Empire. So how do you do that? 1920s, he takes a series of aggressive actions. He starts a war to conquer Libya, which, you know, had been Italy's colony since 1912. He also bombed a Greek. He's just been going through it for a long time. No, they're between Iraq and a hard place. There you go. And literally he's like. He's just going off. He's like, let's make Rome again. Yeah. So they bomb the Greek island of Corfu in a battle with the Greeks. They take over the city of Fuemi, which is now Croatia, and establish control of Albania through a bunch of treaties in the 1920s. And after making all these gains, Mussolini is looking around in the 1930s and he's like, ah, there's something missing. There's something going on here that I feel like we overlooked. Ethiopia. So what does he do? He sees Ethiopia as an embarrassment for Italy. It's defeat. The first, you know, basically African country to ward off Europe. Yeah. Everyone else in Europe is like, I'll take this. I'll take this. Yeah. And Ethiopia's like, back the up. And so, like, what the. They look. They're embarrassed in these Italian. Ethiopian wars by the end of the 1800s. So if Italy can conquer Ethiopia, it would connect the Italian colonies once again and make Italy the dominant colonial power in the Horn of Africa. It's pretty easy, right? You'd think, because there's one guy in the way. The most high. 1934 tensions start to rise between Selassie's government and the Italian colonial governments in Eritrea. And the problem is this, you know, long running border dispute caused by Italy's plan to build a railway connecting the two colonies right in the middle of Ethiopia. So this leads to Italy building a military wall in eastern Ethiopia. So by 1934, in December, Selassie's government challenged the Italian presence by sending troops to the wall. And what's funny is that Game of Thrones shit, this military fort is in a town known as Wall, Wall, Wall, Wall Wal W A L the wall and Wall, Wall. The wall and wall. Wall is a real. They're like, can we change it? They're like, what's wrong with the wall and wall wall? Yeah, they should put a wall wall there. Yeah, put a wall wall at the wall and wall wall. Yo, go Birds, dude. Go birds. They put a wall wall in the wall wall and wall wall. The wall and wall wall. It might be worth going over to Ethiopia. Just get some. Get a sub. So December 5th, there's a violent fight between the Italians and Ethiopians with lots of death on either side. And there's an international diplomatic crisis that follows. And so by 1935, Selassie's government basically goes to League of Nations. They're like, yo, you're our boys. What's good? And there's a bunch of back and forth that follows. Basically, the British and the French who were in positions to help, were unwilling to stop the Italian aggression. They maybe had their hands full, as you could say they were trying to win over Mussolini as an ally in Europe since Hitler had taken over Germany in 1933. A lot was happening in this time. That's what I'm saying, dude. The world's popping off. Yeah. And as you can imagine, this part of Ethiopian history probably gets overshadowed because old hitty boy was, whatever happened, yeah, off hit dog. So as a result, these negotiations continued on for a long time and eventually became clear to Selesi and his government that the Italians planned to use the wawa incident in 1934 as an excuse to declare war on Ethiopia. It also became clear to the League of Nations that, you know, is they were not going to do anything to stop Mussolini. Right. So what does this lead us to? The Second Italio Ethiopian War. October 3, 1935. The Italian General Emilio Dan Bono crossed the border from Italy's colony in Eritrea into Ethiopia with tens of thousands of troops. Italy didn't even declare war. They just went in. A heads up would have been nice. Yeah. And so Italy's last colony of Eritrea, they basically just go right into Ethiopia and it would become one of the most important conflicts worldwide. During the time basically between World War I and World War II officially breaking out, which eventually, you know, involved hundreds of thousands of troops and people on both sides unfortunately perishing. And this goes on for six months. However, the two sides were very unevenly matched. While the Ethiopians had many soldiers, despite their best efforts to modernize their army, their forces were still mainly foot soldiers. Yeah. So, for example, Selassie's government only had a few tanks, and the Ethiopian air force had barely a dozen planes. In contrast, Mussolini and his government were able to send hundreds of tanks to east Africa, along with massive artillery attacks and, you know, a significant air force presence. It makes it tough. So while the Italian army would later be shown to be pretty weak when fighting in Europe, these fucking gabagouls got fucking. They were cooking out there. Yeah, but they, in Europe, they didn't really put up a, you know, that much of a great fight. They didn't really contribute massively to the war effort. So the war that basically started in 1935 was clearly a David versus Goliath. So basically, in response to Italy's invasion of Ethiopia, the league of nations sanctions Italy. And four days after debono's troops crossed the border. And the two main countries in the league were supposed to challenge these actions. This is Britain and France and they're also the biggest colonial powers in Africa. They don't exactly have the moral high ground here. Exactly. They have a. There's a conflict politically that's going on. So even though the conservative led government of Britain campaigned for and won an election in November by promising to support the levy nations in its mission, Baldwin's government immediately gave in to Italy's aggression. So within days of taking office, the new British foreign secretary was having talks with his French counterpart about how to quickly end the war. And here the main goal was to basically appease Italy and prevent it from getting closer with Nazi Germany because they have to protect the relationship with Italy because they want Mussolini to go with them and not against Hitler, but they don't want to stop and they also have interest in the relationship. Hitler made a lot of enemies. Friends. Oh yeah. I mean the, the u. S. And old Stalin. Exactly. You know, I mean, he was like the, like the, the, like the mean on the playground. Yes. Caused a lot of other girls to have to unite. Literally. Yeah. So it's basically mean girls. World War II is like. It's basically mean girls. I think. I mean, there's one thing that I've learned that people always say that is unfortunately completely true, that everything's high school. Yeah. And like it is. It's just more weapons and guns and brutality. Yeah. And more justification. Well, nowadays maybe the same amount of guns. I don't know. Exactly. I haven't been in high school for a while, but. Yeah. That seems a little brutal, you know. Yeah. So what's interesting is that the Italians and the French and the British sign a pact and the details are then leaked by the British press and they basically outline a plan where Ethiopia would lose half of its territory to Italy, allowing the Italians to collect their colonies. They're going to connect them through this little rail line. They're going to lose that part of Ethiopia. And the Ethiopians in Selassie's government are pissed. Yeah. As you can imagine, this is a. Dude. We were in the League of Nations. We're your boys. Yeah. Where's the backup? Right. This is a massive betrayal. And so there's this huge outrage. The British basically resigned their foreign minister, and ultimately this pact and the details of it, you know, basically end any effort for, like, a diplomatic solution. Yep. So this pact, you know, and, you know, the wider Ethiopian crisis is generally seen as the beginning of the end for the League of Nations, because what purpose of the League of Nations. Right. You got. It's like, with the un, it's like, we got to protect our squad. If you're in the. If you're in the group, we're going to. We're going to fight for you. Right. And then immediately they do nothing. Yeah. And people would say that's kind of how the UN works a little bit, too, because at some point, it ends up being a power game where it's like, yeah, you're in, but, you know, I mean, you ain't at a table that, you know, positions, and we're in the same class, but you're not at the lunch table with the. That's what I'm saying, dude. It's like the problems change names, but they always stay the same. Yeah. And I mean, as we'll see with, like, Poland and, you know, the German invasion of, you know, the Cedarlands and Czechoslovakia and the British kind of futility in that regard. It's just kind of the same old thing. Yeah. You know, you also got to think Europe just got out of World War I. Massive casualties on all sides. It's like, we don't want another world war. Let's just try to appease Hitler. Let's try to appease Mussolini. Like, we, you know, let's just play nice because we don't want to start a whole nother thing. Yeah. Unfortunately. How did that end up going? I haven't read the rest of this book. I'm going on, but it seems like the foreshadowing is pretty bad. Seems a little tough. So diplomatic negotiations end 1935, and the fighting gets worse. So by now, the Ethiopian government is preparing its own counterattack against the Italian invasion. And this is led by Selessi himself and was supposed to cut off Italian communication lines and basically launch a counter invasion into Eritrea. And at first it's quite successful. So, you know, the A few things happen in this kind of. In this sort of conflict. So what happens in the conflict is fascinating because at the time, you know, things are going pretty good for the Ethiopians, but then the Italians change out their general, Pietro Badoglio. Bad dog. Yeah, Old Bad dog. Bad Dog. He previously was, you know, running the Italian campaign in Libya, and he's appointed as the governor of Eritrea and now the military of the. The leader of the military effort. So now old Bad Doglio is replacing Debauno, and he's handling the invasion and is kind of going full force. Yep. So they were afraid that the first guy, the Bono, was going to be a little too cautious. They wanted a. They wanted a bad dog. Yeah. So they put Bad Dog in there, and he starts a campaign and basically starts using poison gas against the Ethiopian armies. And he quickly wins a bunch of victories because they're just going, you know, committing war crimes, going legit. Crazy. And so in a final effort by Celeste, he's so, like, out of step with how I envision modern Italian. Italians, you know what I mean? Like, I'm just envisioning a guy wearing, like, capris, like, smoking a vape, hanging off of Vespa, eating a gelato. And then I see the bad dog here, and he's got, you know, the. The. And the logo was tight back then, but it's, you know, the eagle's very kind of in line with the Hitler sort of vibes. Yeah. And so. Which makes it not tight, but just from a design principle standpoint. But they just look. I mean, they just look. Look different. Yeah. You know, I mean, don't even get me started with the Japanese. Oh, my God. Yeah. Them boys were crazy. They were. They were a lot more hardcore. Now they're. There's a whole. I read this whole thing on hello Kitty. It's. It's a genuine, like, design principle. I forget what it's called, but there's a word for it in Japanese, and it's like, it's to make something cutesy. Kawaii. Kawaii. Yeah, exactly. And it was specifically designed to help change their image post World War II and become a cultural export. And it has worked. And it is cute. I mean, that works. Dude. I love it. 100. She's adorable. And they got. They. They became so chill that they made Italians more chill by making Mario and Luigi. Oh. You know what I mean? No, that is a good point. 100 Italian, dude. Japanese guys were like, yo, let's give these Italians a little pr. We gotta help them out. A little bit too. Janitors, the plumbers. And they're like, we can't do drink German. So, so basically, old bad dog wins a bunch of, you know, battles, and then he launches what he calls the march of the Iron Will. And this is a drive. Sound fun? No, this is not fun. This is a drive south from the northern front all the way towards the capital, 200 kilometers. And the campaign was a coming January 6th. Basically, dude, they j6 the whole. Yeah. And they're accompanied with some fanfare and some propaganda. And, you know, this is going all the way back to the fascist, you know, media back in Italy. And basically they have this, like, mechanized column of tanks and cars and trucks going directly down and just like, creating a warpath in its way. I mean, Mad Max style. Legit, dude. Just going down into Ethiopia just like, yo, let's fucking get into it. And this transports basically 1200 Italian troops towards Selassie's capital. Selassie is like, golly, like, what the fuck? Can we get a break? Yeah, right. Like. Like Ethiopia was popping. Trying to up and listen to some reggae. Yeah. Yeah, dude. Fuck. So by now, the Ethiopian armies are getting destroyed and the Italians are getting close to Addis Ababa. And the emperor and his family flee the capital and made their way towards the border of French Somaliland. And, you know, sommelier. Oh, that's what that is. Yeah. Sommelier. Yeah. A wine expert. Yes. That's nice. And so crossing over as Selassie went into, you know, basically it was exile from his own country. He flees the capital to survive. So three days later, at 4pm, the afternoon of May 5, 1936, the Italians arrive in Addis Ababa and they. They pull in. And the hours that follow, the Italian troops basically just kind of like, you know, they have, like, a parade. It's like, more than. It's like. It doesn't look like your typical siege, you know, I mean. And so they basically start taking over and move into the capitol building, and the war is basically done. So this second Italio Ethiopian war ends in 1936. The, you know, capital falls, and the emperor had to flee from Ethiopia. But there are still pockets of resistance, especially in the south and the west, where the Italian forces hadn't actually showed up. So the fighting continues for months and years. And there's just, like, rebel groups still in the country, obviously. In fact, Italy never actually brought all of Ethiopia under complete control. But starting in 1936, the Italian government claimed that they had decisively won the war. So because of this, Mussolini now declared the colony of Italian Ethiopia and says that this is our spot. We've finally got back what is ours, quote, unquote. Is that what he called it or did he try to rename. I understand it to be the. You know, I'm sure they call it some fun and Italian. Yeah. Italiothea. Yeah, Italiopia. Yeah. But, yeah, basically, this was. Now they have. They. They did what they wanted to do. The Italians were able to connect their whole shit. And they have Ethiopia and Eritrea and Italian Somaliland and this whole thing. And now they have united the Horn of Africa and they achieve Italy's goal of having this continuous colony in the region. So in this new territory, the Italians have a brutal form of colonial rule, and they use the same genocidal policies that they had done in Libya in the 1920s. And so this is. People are in camps and they're using this divide and rule strategy where they're putting the different ethnic groups against each other. And now with. Which is a tale as old as time. I mean, that's. Yeah. We really use the word camp so broadly because, you know, camp can be camping, it can be summer camp, it can be camp. We're in camp right now. Exactly. But then you do those types of camps. It's literally the opposite thing. Aside from the, you know, getting to sleep under the stars. Yeah. You know. Yeah. I guess it's just if you can leave or not. Right. If you're allowed to leave. It's a fun camp. It's a fun camp. You can't leave. Set up camp. It's not. No, you don't want to be welcome to that camp. No, no. Not a good one. It feels like there should be different words. Yeah, yeah. So what do we do? What happens now? Emperor Celeste is now out. Yes. He goes straight to Geneva and he's going to present Ethiopia's case to the League of Nations. Like, guys, what the. Yeah. But his timing is bad because in Europe, Nazi Germany started an aggressive military buildup. And by spring 1936, while Selassie was fighting in northern Ethiopia, Hitler ordered his troops into the Rhineland of West Germany. German troops had been banned from entering this area under the Treaty of Versailles. But that treaty, you know, has basically been Moose treaties. You know, they come, they go. Yeah, yeah. So Hitler breaks it. And as a result, the governments of Britain and France are, you know, they're no more willing to take a tough stance against Italy because, you know, they had things. Things have gotten away from them for things. They're kind of off Road right now. Yeah. So he's trying to get help. And he's famous for giving a speech at the League of Nations on May 12, 1936, where he condemns the rise of fascism and Italy's use of poison gas. And he was later named Time magazine's Man of the Year. But unfortunately, the result in Ethiopia is the same. The League is unwilling to take serious action against Italy, which ended up leaving the organization by 1937. Anyway, so Celeste goes to England, where he would basically live in exile throughout the late 1930s, like his country had, you know, been raised. He's in London. Oi. Haven't taken crumpets in it, man. From the ends. There he is, the Ross Tafari himself. What'll it be? A pint. So now he's in England, just kind of posted up. And as you can imagine, England during World War II is, you know, the politics of the time are pretty mercurial. So, I mean, by that, I mean, basically, you're just living in a city that is getting, you know, bombed. Like, you know, there's warfare going on and you're dealing with your own war in your own country that you're trying to, like, chat politics with people. But it's like, they're like, do we kind of got our own cooking right now? Yeah, you're in Ukraine being like, hey, we need some help in Sudan. And Ukraine's like, yeah, we got our own issues in Ukraine. Like, people are going to get kicked off Medicaid if this bill passes the Senate. They're like, duh. So when the Nazis invade Poland that following September, Britain and France declare war, which officially World War II now starts. And Mussolini was careful and, you know, he didn't want to enter the war. But when the Germans launched, you know, their blitzkrieg campaign in the summer of 1940, basically there's a now full continental Western European, you know, war. And German control is continuing to grow. So the Italians basically choose up with old Hitty. Yeah. And so they declare war on Britain and France and they invade southern France and try to grab some territory. So that meant that the Italians and the British would now fight each other in East Africa. Ah, fascinating couple, front war. Because now you have these proxies, you have Somalilands and Eritrea and all these other places that everyone has colonies. So by 1940, Italy launches an air raid on British Kenya in the first action of the East Africa campaign. This is a part of World War II history that I feel like no one talks about. It's not covered, which is not Surprising. African history in general is not really well covered in our school system. I don't think. So they hit you with like Lion King and they're like, you basically get it. You basically get it. That Hakuna matata. It means whatever. Yeah. And that is an interesting war. Yeah. But I guess, you know, Scar and Simba and you know. Yeah, the wildebeest. It's. It's important, but it's not actually African history. I guess not. Yeah. Just kind of realizing that, no, not to bring this up, but like you. That you learn about slavery in the context of the United States. That is literally, I think it. Yeah. I don't remember talking about like African geopolitics or any of this. Like even the fact that this is happening, you know, that this was part of World War II. Yeah. I mean, matter of fact, Lion King, I think is just Hamlet. So it's really everything. It's really British history. Yeah, it's true. Well, yeah, yeah, definitely. So now there's a full on battle with these proxy colonies in Africa. And so the, again, the Italian plan here is that they're going to conquer British colonies in Egypt and Sudan and they're going to connect all of Italian East Africa and they're going to have basically, you know, this whole chunk of land. Yep. And these campaigns go pretty well. So by 1941, things then take a turn. So initially the, like Mussolini is like, oh, we're kind of popping. But the Italian military has some weaknesses. So they have an operation work ethic, folks. They have an operation that is known as the. The Sahara Desert operation and starts to fail and he asks Hitler for help. And with a German expeditionary force, the famous Africa Corps, led by this guy Erwin Rommel, was sent to North Africa. And, you know, no major military support really was given outside of that. So 1941, the British gradually turned things around and began to push back the Italians back in Ethiopia and Eritrea. And by this time Celeste had left Britain and returned to the Horn of Africa to oversee parts of the campaign and try to take back his homeland from the Italians. Yeah, I mean, like, I couldn't imagine what he's going through back. Right. Like, at a certain point, this is how I know I'm. Dude must hate Italians. You know, like just at like the highest level. Like every stereotype, he sees a tracksuit, he pukes. Oh, that's kind of New Jersey Italian. But, you know, he sees a cup of gelato and he's like, you metrosexual, dude. His daughter's eating spaghetti, he's like, spit that out. Spit that out. And he goes, actually, don't spit like that. So I didn't like that. More and more battles go on, and as a result, by 1941, Italian defenses are falling apart on all fronts as the troops in East Africa find themselves basically, you know, cut off from major reinforcements from Mussolini. And so as a result, you know, this event that was carefully planned five years ago when they had gone through Ethiopia, the Italian forces in Addis Ababa start to break down. And Selassie re enters Ethiopia and re enters the capital and announces the liberation of the country from Italy. Wow. Wow. Now he's back. He's the chosen one. Legit dude. He rolled. Emperor strikes back. He rolls back in. And now, like, you got to think, like, cosmically, like the. The dynasty of Solomon is now back in control. Yeah. And Emperor highly. The power trinity. The power of the understanding this sort of prophet nature. He brought it back. Like, who wins it back? Take backsies in Africa rare Jesus. Yeah. You know, Jesus himself. And so they basically restore power in Ethiopia. And the British, who had, you know, helped bring the emperor back, made a condition. And here's the condition. Slavery had to be banned in Ethiopia. Pretty good on the British. Yeah. We're basically. They, you know, it was the one thing they had to do anyway. Right. It's a nice touch while we're at it. Yeah. And there had been some efforts to do this going back all the way to the 1850s when Britain was using its power and trying to stop the slave trade. And these efforts had increased. They had an awakening. Yeah, exactly. They're like, all right, we already did it, so cut it out. I legit think that's part of it. Like, the British were basically like, okay, we kind of use this. We got some money off it. We're not doing it. You really need to stop. We're not going to give you an unfair advantage. Correct. So it is the moral high ground, but there's also like, a political nature to it. Like, we always do this. I was reading the thing recently. People not. I don't know if this is true. Yeah. I mean, what do you mean by we? No, the human race. Oh, yeah. People. Humanity. Yeah. Yeah. But like, Walmart apparently is trying to raise the minimum wage. Yeah. And it's like, wow, look at these guys. That's great. They're trying to knock out competitors who don't have the margins. That's what I'm saying, dude. So still good, though. Sometimes you take a good action even if it's undertaken For a vindictive purpose. Exactly. So this is basically what's going on. Celeste is now back. Slavery is now getting banned. And, yeah, after conquering, you know, Ethiopia, the Italians, you know, kind of came in and they were like, yeah, the slavery stuff, maybe we don't do that. Yeah. Which is kind of ironic that, like, a colonial power that comes in to take over a country that's committing genocide against their people is like, well, you know, this is. It's called human rights. Yeah. I said, what about the right to not destroy our whole country? What about that? And they're like, just shut up. Yeah. Yeah. Literally. What's up, guys? We're gonna take a break really quick because you need to rebrand your crotch. That's right. You need a full rebrand on your dong. And you're gonna do it with Bluechew. Because Bluechew, their tablets aren't just for better sex. No, they are. Like, if Tony Robbins give a motivational speech rate to your race, your wiener, you know, I mean, you're going to feel amazing. Look, I just took one of Bluetooth tablets today, and suddenly, I mean, look at me. I'm glowing. This table, absolutely getting crushed underneath it. Right. My penis is given a press conference. Okay, Feeling great. Never been better. 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Summer of cinema is here, and Pluto TV is exploding with thousands of free movies. Feel the explosive action all summer long with movies like Gladiator, Beverly Hills Cop, Mission Impossible, Ghost Protocol, Good Burger, Stealth, Four Brothers, and Star Trek. Bring the action with you and stream for free on all your favorite devices. Pluto tv. Stream now. Pay Never. Stream now at Pluto tv. So the British government make it clear to Celeste that this abolition had to continue once he's back in power. And, like, they would actually end it. So he declares a decree in 1942, which is basically to say that slavery was finally abolished in Ethiopia. There you go. So there you go. So although the East Africa sterling reputation for this guy, so far. Right. He's done nothing wrong. Yeah. And like, for a historical leader, typically it'd be like, well, there was this one thing. Yeah. Seems to have a pretty solid track record. So basically, now, you know, you have East Africa. Check his old tweets. Yeah, the old tweets are probably. Yeah. Dalliance. Most Italian. Yeah, exactly. Sauce, monkeys, Guineas. Yeah, that's what he's saying. And so now you have World War II still blowing up. Right. And there's four more years in World War II until the defeat of the Nazis. But eventually, when the Nazis fall, you know, the League of Nations then replaced with the United nations and Ethiopia becomes a founding member in 1948. Selassie also got favorable treatment for his country when it came to, you know, East African, you know, sort of reunification. It was a vibe. They were a little bit like, hey, sorry about that whole thing. We kind of. We goofed. Yeah. So there was like, some disputed land that they were like, Ethiopia. You got it. Yeah. And Celesti's main focus during the years was basically, I'm going to continue to modernize and the progress continues. So he goes on. There's still powerful groups in the country, including the church and some nobility that didn't really want too much change. But he's determined to speed it up and eventually they revisit the constitution, which, you know, originally he had the first one 1931. By 1955, he has a new one that includes a lot of elements from the U.S. constitution. And in practice, the election of the parliamentary representatives remained in the hands of the nobility and some other. Other. Other powerful groups. Yep. And so it wasn't like a perfect Western democracy, but it was a step in the right direction. He's got to have a lot of political capital at this point, considering he got Ethiopia back. Right. Yeah. But the issues don't end for a leader of a country like such. No. So one of these is involving Eritrea, the former Italian colony. So the country north of Ethiopia had been under the British control, under the East Africa thing that ended in 1941. So after the war, the Allied Powers supported Ethiopia's claim to Eritrea, though, you know, a small western section of the colony was supposed to be joined by British Sudan. It's a whole thing. After World War II, they cut up Africa, Right? Yeah. So when the British rule of Eritrea ends in the 1950s, the country was joined with Ethiopia. But this was supposed to be a federal union where Eritrea kept its own identity and had its powers with its own government. However, Celestia was determined to bring Eritrea, which gave Ethiopia access to the Red Sea, under his control again. It's like, all right, well, remember when you guys. Me before, like, can you, like, help me out here? Yep. So to do this, in 1962, he dissolved the independent Eritrean Parliament and basically took over the country. So a little local colonialism. They're basically us. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, they're basically us. And better us than them. Right. And we need some merger. You need access to the sea. Yeah. So that's all it was. It was just a little merger. Yeah. So now you have a little thing called the Eritrean Liberation Front. The elf. Yeah, the Elves. The Elves. And this is basically an independence movement which starts, like, an armed fight against the Ethiopians. And the Eritrean War of independence continues for the next 30 years. And the conflict now becomes a part of the Cold War. Jesus Christ. Because the elves. The, you know, Eritrean Liberation Movement and all these other independence movements, they're fighting the dwarves. Better. Yeah. They're fighting basically, like, America. Oh. Because they get military aid from the Soviets. Okay, so think about this, right? You have Ethiopia. Yeah. Selassie takes it over. He's good. He wants the Red Sea. We're not really sure who's controlling stuff. The British lead the region. He's like, look, let me just take Eritrea. Yeah. Now, just like with every conflict, I don't mean to be an ape here, but could we get a map going? Let's get a map. I think a map would be a nice visual here. Now, after World War II, you have the Soviets and America, you have the West. Capitalist, democratic. Yep. And you have this socialist Soviet Union. Yep. And they were boys when they were first going at it. But now, after World War II, the tensions have fired off. Yep. And the USSR is now expanding their region, and they're putting up and deposing leaders in the eastern block. Their hockey team loses. Their hockey team's getting crushed. Yeah. So now you have this battle. And so, of course, like, with every conflict around the world, the Soviets are like, who can. How can we put in leaders? How can we support People to now exert our Soviet influence. And they see this conflict with like, a British supported Ethiopia and this sort of, you know, independence movement. And the Soviets are like, let's do that. Let's support. So now they're getting a classic build for a war. Once again. This is the. Can I get a more regional map? Like just do the whole globe and zoom in or something? Yeah, I just want to see kind of, you know, where everyone's coming from, the vibes. Yeah. So what's fascinating with all this is that the Cold War, in my opinion, never really ended. Yep. Like, it's still going right there. You got the Middle east popping. There's Ethiopia. You can kind of zoom in a little more. So you can see Somalia. At the time it was chopped up. You had French Somalia. You had, you know, English Somalia. They get. They at this point have been screwed out of any. And you can see any. Any beachfront prop, which is absolutely essential for any nation. You need to have access to deep water ports. You need be able to. I. When we did do. I remember we did study Africa once. The way that we did it is everyone just got to pick a nation. Can you guess what I picked? Knowing me? Djibouti. Yeah, I did. Yeah, I did. I was dining off that for an entire semester. Yeah. I was like, yeah, I got Djibouti. Do you know the capital of Djibouti, Dad? Ass. Your butthole. Okay. Damn it. That's just a little cute one for the boys back at home. That's good. That is strong. All respect to the Djiboutins again, Djibouti controlling that. A very, very influential canal. Yes. You know what I'm saying? I do. They put the anal in. I do know what you're saying. So you need it. You need access to the water. Yes. So what does Celeste try to do? He tries to get some water. Try to get some water. So the Eritreans are not having it, and there is now a war of independence. And it's not the only conflict that he's facing. There's ethnic tensions within the country that are getting worse. So Ethiopia, as we said, is a nation of many, many different ethnic groups. 80 some people, 80 plus. And the empire had basically been formed through centuries and centuries of kind of like expansion and conquest that had left a lot of different ethnic groups. And as a result, many of them are kind of unhappy. Yes. Because they're seeing the Italians come in and then they lose the Italians. And now they're like, what about us? Yeah, right. Like, okay, we're back to the old regime. But what about my. What about our separatist thing? Yeah. Which is. This is a thing that happens everywhere. Spain still has separatist movements. Canada has separatist movements. You know, you have. Canada does. French Canadians have been trying get away for a while. America separatist movement. So, like, you always have these groups that are like, fuck you. And the clicky thing. Yeah. I'm not a part of this whole party. And Ethiopia is no different. So they now have these people. Remember the people we talked about before, the Oromo and the Amhara? Yes. They make up a big chunk of the population. They're not super happy about it. Now, what's interesting is that Selassie himself is of Oromo descent. So the solution that Selassie and the Ethiopian government preferred in the post war was to promote a ethnic federalism. So literally, Ethiopia was divided into, like, different provinces with different ethnic groups being the majority in each. And you kind of just create, like, a federation of ethnic groups. So instead of fixing the ethnic. Basically, yes. So you're like, let's just do states. But instead of states with different things, every state is its own ethnic group. Yep. So Florida is Spanish. Okay. You know, I mean, Georgia is black, you know. Yep. South Carolina's white. Is. It? Should be. Yeah. In my ethnic federal. Yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I was like, south Carolina's interesting. I would go Connecticut. Sure. Connecticut. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But what do you think that does. That's an interesting. Some more tensions. It's like, hey, you all have your own thing. But now everybody's all fired up because it's like, you know, we got to fight for our people even harder now. You have. I think that is what works with the US Is that, like, we have our states, but most states are like, yeah, yeah. It's not like you can't care too much. You can't. It's weird. Yeah. If you're like, dude, yeah. Although I am from Cali. And it's like, vibes. It's vibes. But you're not. Are you gonna go to war for California? Shouldn't ask you that. For NorCal. For NorCal, dude. I don't claim those. SoCal. Dude, for the bay. Dude, for the bay. I would. That's the thing. That's where once you start boiling it down, you start getting more. It's like, dude, for the bay. Dude, ride for the bay. Che has a great joke where he's. Black people don't like America, but they like specific parts. Yeah. You'll never Meet a black. That's like America. But you will meet and be like, I with Brooklyn. Yeah. I also think. I think that's a good description of la. Everyone goes like, I don't really like la. And they go, but I love my neighborhood, dude. Sam Fur, dude. I'll buck for the valley, dude. Yeah. So as it happens, the Aromo, the Amhara, the Tigrayans, the Somalis, and a bunch of others basically continue to think of themselves mainly by their ethnic identity, rather than being like, we're Ethiopian. Right. Because you just reinforce the ethnic nature of, you know, who they actually are. Right. And so as a result, this causes more unrest in the country. This guy can't catch a break. The Tigrayans. Yeah. Of all the ethnic groups in Ethiopia, the Tigrayans were the most hostile towards the government. And they make up a significant portion of the overall population, 7 or 8%. And they were the main people in the Tigray province in the north of the country. So Lessi's government seemed to take a dislike of the Tigrayans, and it was kind of obvious to the people in the 50s, the government was constantly kind of ignoring them. And there was evidence that the resources were under pressure and that there was a potential famine that could happen because there was drought and diseases, and they weren't exactly getting the most support from the boys in the capital. Yeah. So when Tigray did have a famine in 1958, the central government in Addis Ababa didn't do much in. What year was this? 1958. Okay. I wonder if this is, like, why. Because south park would make jokes about, like, Ethiopians being starving. Yeah. Was it the kind of. The Tigray famine is where that came from? I imagine. I imagine that was part of it. Yeah. And this was like, a massive humanitarian crisis that, like, got a lot of attention in the United States. And it's kind of similar to, like, you know, you could say, like, America's policy with AIDS and hiv, where it's like, this is a massive issue. It's epidemic. People are dying in the streets. But the government at the time was like, you're being a little gay about it. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. So as a result, Emperor fucking Men, I, like, thousands of people die, which is not good. Which is not good. So after that, there is an effort made in 1959 in basically this deal with the Selessie government and aid from Dwight Eisenhower to kind of end the famine. But by the time the worst of the famine ended in 1961, it's estimated that 100,000 people died in the Tigray region in the surrounding areas. And then another famine hit Ethiopia again in the mid-1960s. You can see this guy, you know, has had an interesting go of things. Yes. But we're about to get way more interesting. And the whole reason that we had those sick wigs. Yeah. So mine will come back on when we are. When we're there for sure. Well, the time is coming soon. Okay. The rain. I'll do it. Right now, Celesti's reign is being damaged by all these controversies. Right. Like, at once he was like this golden child. Like, he had no issues at all. Everything was great. But then, you know, you have the Eritrean sort of military movement, you have the famine in Tigray, and you have ethnic tensions within the country that are kind of bubbling up. So Selessi and Ethiopia continue to have a lot of international respect in spite of this. Log one. I mean, this is sick. So as one of the world's longest serving heads of state, he was usually given, you know, positions of importance at big events. So, like the funeral of JFK in D.C. and the former French president Charles de Gaulle. He's kind of seen as like, this motherfucker lived through, like, so many, what an insane life things. Truly. I'm surprised he wasn't like, at 9 11. This guy's literally been like, every significant thing that has happened. I mean, maybe again, American education. Underrated historical figure. Right. Like, and like most historical figures has done some amazing things, but also some not great things. Yeah. But, you know, abolishing slavery and, you know, getting his country back from the Italian colonialists. These are. These are good things. These are great. Great. Yeah. So Ethiopia also sent peacekeeping forces to a lot of conflicting. A lot of conflicts in the region. So, like, Congo in the 60s and they, you know, this. They basically joined a group that kind of oversaw a lot of stuff that was happening in the region. And perhaps most important of all, in terms of, like, international diplomacy, was Selesi's leading role in creating the Organization of African unity in 1963, which later became the African Union. You know, the headquarters of the organization happen to be Addis Ababa. It doesn't matter though. Right. You know what I mean? And it remained there for many years under celestial. I get the Addis Ababa skyline. I like to just see, you know, kind of what we're. What we're discussing. I've heard it's a beautiful city. I. Yeah, I. I bet it's awesome. I would actually Love to go. I want to go to Nairobi. I would go in Kenya. I've heard it's wonderful. I would love to go to Kenya. I've only been to. I've been to South Africa, Zambia, Botswana. Did it look like this, though? I mean, this is fire. Well, Cape Town is. Is a bustling metropolis, but I didn't see this in Botswana. That looks fun. Nice, right? We could rip it up out there, I bet. You know what I mean? Have a night with the boys. Night with the boys. And the. Bob. Bagging up. And Bob. Bob. Come on now. It's like building a wall and wall. Come on now. Yeah. So he's now, you know, still in this sort of respected international position, and he's still in the international stage during, you know, the second part of his reign after, you know, he gets it back. But many people viewed him as more than just a political leader. That's right. Many saw him as a messianic figure. Yeah. So by the 1930s, there's a new quasi religion and social movement that's emerging in parts of Africa and the Caribbean. And this movement mixed elements of the sort of like, Back to Africa movement, which is what they call it. Yeah. Which said that not your title. I didn't say that. No, no, no. And this basically says that people of African descent in the Americas would want to return to the African continent now that slavery is over. And Ethiopianism, a branch of Christian worship that had developed in the late 1800s amongst a lot of African Christians, kind of was. Was taking shape. So Ethiopianism looked to the Ethiopian church as native, like the native Christian church within Africa. Rather than have having African Christians take their orders from Rome or from the Americas, it's like, no, no, no. This is the heart of. Why would you take it from Rome? Look what they've done. Exactly. We resist Rome. We want our own thing. We've deserved it. This person has delivered it to us. He's given us a place that we need to be the center of something to have hope. We've got to know he is a messiah in his own right. So this new movement combined with different parts of the Bible and biblical theology, you know, basically takes shape. And it takes its name from Selassie's sort of regent title in the 1920s. Ross. Ross Tafari. So a new religion is born. Rastafari. Rastafari. Geller and its followers see Selesi as a messiah, potentially even the second coming of Christ. That's right. I mean, this guy. Yeah. Has had maybe one of the Most insane lives. It's a fucking generational run. I mean, going from, like, the keeper of the door to being God, truly. And it's not like he did the cult. It's not like he was like, no, I'm God. It was. It was. The cult was starting to take shape while he was alive, I believe. Yes. And I think he was kind of weird. Was very weirded out by it, as you should be, unless you're a sociopath. And it seems like he's just, like, a good leader. Yeah. If you're kind of like, whoa, hey, thank you. Yeah. No. Great emperor, but I. Yeah. I don't even know. Steel drums. Like, what is weed? Yeah. Yeah. Heck is that? And so this is also. Do you know where the weed comes in? Because that's a huge part of the Rastafari culture. We're gonna find out. Okay. All right. Coming from the earth. All right. It's from the earth. So in order to understand, like, why he's, like, so messianic. It's all things we said, but also, it's like, Ethiopia is the only nation to resist this European colonization. Like, they kept their culture in spite of all of this, you know, scramble for Africa and all the violence that occurred from Europe. And so he didn't openly seek to be recognized as a messianic figure, but comes with some perks. He didn't try to stop it. Yeah. Why would you? So as Rastafarianism became popular in the 1950s, like in Jamaica, Selassie took on this sort of unusual importance for many people that had never been seen anywhere else, really, at the time. Yeah. Many people that had never even been to Ethiopia or maybe even met an Ethiopian. Yeah. Yeah. We're now revering the sovereign and the game of telephone is a dangerous game. I've never been to Ethiopia. You haven't met one. You're just like, I heard a tale and that, though. That the Chosen One is running a land out there. Let the record show there's a lot of people, you know, should have done a birthright trip. Send every Jamaican Ethiopia. That's fire, dude. That is fire, right? Yeah, they would love that. That sounds sick as. But, like, a lot of people, religious people, will be like, oh, this is so crazy. Right? You're just gonna, like, find a guy and worship him. Yeah. They'll be like, yeah, dude. They're like, dude, messiahs are over. Yeah. They have to be dead. There was already one that came, and that's it. Right. So I would just implore religious folks listening to this and be like, all right, well, my religion has some things that are interesting, you know. Are you saying that in a self deprecating manner? I'm just saying it in like a sort of not real politic, but like real religion, so to say. Okay, real religion. Exactly. You know what I mean? It's like, like, you know, my religion, I believe by faith and faith alone. It's like, you know, there's some things in there that you're like, all right, I can't prove this. Yeah. But I believe. But I choose to believe. Choose to. And so you can look at some guy being appointed as a messiah, being like, that's crazy. But it's also like, you know, different religions have different customs. Just because it's modern doesn't make it crazy. There's also. Would you say there's an element of suspension of disbelief? A little bit the better. Because I was just watching the F1 movie and I was like, there's no way, like a 60 year old Brad Pitt would drive that car. Yeah. But I was like, I do believe in Brad Pitt and I'll watch him drive that car. Yeah. Literally. And there's, you know, I'm just, I guess I'm suggesting, you know, like back in the day, people would look at Galilee and be like, what? You're saying the, like, Jesus came from Galilee. There's even a part in the Bible where they go, what good comes from Galilee? Is Galilee a shithole at the time? Because it sounds sick, right? It's on the sea. It's kind of nice. Galilee on the sea. Yeah. They love their little rhyming words in English. Yeah, yeah. It's like they did it for us. Yeah. Now you have the Rastafaris that are kind of seeing him as like this quasi messianic figure. Haile Selassie was kind of taking a turn in Ethiopia. Yeah. The last 20 or so years of his reign saw a development of some authoritarianism within his country. And there were some reasons that Selassie had to be concerned about security of his position. So in the 1960s, while the emperor was on a state visit to Brazil, members of a different group, the Imperial Bodyguard, tried to stage a coup in Ethiopia. So there are these two brothers that basically tried to say that Selassie's son was now the heir. And they tried to crown him as the new emperor while he was in Brazil for like a weekend, really. And he was pissed. Yeah. So the prince seems to have been held captive and he was kidnapped and. But you know, he's how involved he was with the coup is still unclear to this day. Right. Was he just forced by these imperial bodyguards to be like, you're the fucking emperor or we're going to kill you? Or was he like, fire? Was he like, yo, put me in? Either way. After four days of violence in and around Addis Ababa, which resulted in hundreds of deaths and an attempt to basically depose the leader, in the 1960s, this coup was, you know, stopped. But it's important to the development of this authoritarian government that Selesi kind of pushed forward, where he's like, oh, you guys are going to try to come from my spot now. Yeah. So along with fucked up. Yeah. So along with this development of, you know, the more authoritarian approach, the politics in the region. Region seem to have kind of taken a turn as far as human rights go. So in the 60s, there's a student protest that emerges as communism becomes popular. He had died at the right time. Oh, you know, full on legend live. Yeah. You live long enough to become the villain in the hearts of all those in Kingston, you know. Yeah, yeah. But unfortunately, it seems like, you know, due to some issues in the region, things kind of take a turn. So there's like these communist, like, student protests that pop up and his government kind of of uses mass arrests and some political disappearances here and there. Okay, okay. And the press was kind of censored on what exactly happened. Some of the groups were intimidated. And to make things even worse, there's now Eritrea back in the fold. Oh, so the Ethiopian army was committing atrocities against the civilians in the 1960s. So, for example, and you know this, by the 70s, 800 civilians were killed by Selassie's forces when they attacked the village of. Oh, and moreover, at Hazemo in July, over 170 men were killed by Ethiopian soldiers. And while some of these atrocities may not have been directly ordered by the government, the war in Eritrea was obviously Selassie's kind of responsibility. Yeah. So not surprisingly, by the 1970s, despite, you know, the view of Selassie, internationally, civil rights groups were kind of declaring Ethiopia as becoming this authoritarian regime where human rights were being violated. So into the 70s. I mean, again, this dude saw the 70s. How old Old is he at this point? At this point, he's pushing 80. What a run. Insane, right? And so his rule and the government is becoming unpopular with large parts of Ethiopia. And he still had some support from traditional groups like the church, which is hilarious because the church at one point was like, yo, this guy's way too Radical. Yeah. You live long enough for the church to be like, yo, keep this guy's. Yeah, you're killing it. Yeah. So there's now unhappiness within, you know, the region, and there's some famines that are now propping up again by the 70s, and this time it's centered on the Wallow province in the north of the country, just right near Tigra. Yeah. And the famine is caused by a drought, which made. Which was worse by the government response and the failure to import more food. And it's estimated that 40 to 80,000 people died in Willow and the surrounding regions in the 70s. Jesus. So while the competition for resources made the ethnic tensions worse because all these different ethnic groups are now trying to protect. Were all the famines caused by drought? Is that just like an issue that they have? Yep. Yeah. Again, they're. They're landlocked. They're landlocked. Yeah, you got some rivers coming through, but we need some wa. Yeah, with some Wawa and Wawa. So now the news is spreading that there's a famine. And, you know, it's. It's growing. And people are now looking at Selassie's regime. And as a result, the anger at Selassie began to explode, which, you know, isn't surprising. So by 1972, as famine was devastating, the emperor had turned 80 years old. And he. He had been now in power in one form or another for over 50 years, from a regent as just a young kid to now an 80 year old man. And in 1974, we have Revolution. So trouble starts when there's a garrison of soldiers in a nearby town that sort of are rebelling because they don't have clean drinking water and the pay and all the things that make someone rebel. And in this sort of symbolic gesture, they arrest one of their commanding officers and they force him to drink the same water that they were forced to drink. Fair. So this rebel group's like, nah, you're drinking our shit. And this strikes a chord with many people across Ethiopia who were angry at this, you know, the structure in the city and like the. The structure of the government. Like, they're like, what is going on? Like, we're having our military being kidnapped by rebels. Like, there's now disarray and chaos that's bubbling up and there's this perception that there's like an elite group that's connected to the government and then there's everyone else. So by February, this news of mutiny spreads and there's more and more protests and more and More revolution that's going on. Yeah, that happens. That's a nice touch. It is. So now there's like more unrest and people within the military and the police start to join in the protests. And as, you know, as any type of ruler, this is a bad look. Yeah. You lose the military, you're as. You know, he's trying to keep the military close to him. He's starting to lose some power. So he's trying to be diplomatic and like, keep the, you know, government in power. So as a result, he's trying to do compromises with different ethnic groups and keep them and maybe be like, hey, hey, let's re examine the constitution and we can bring you guys into the parliament, but it doesn't really work. The labor unions then call for strikes across the country. And by April, there is a significant Muslim minority in the country that starts demanding religious freedom. So now you got a war on all fronts. You got the ethnic part, you got the religious party, you got the political part. And by that time, the military, bro, like, misses the Italians at this point. Oh, my. I couldn't imagine. Common enemy. He's 80 and he's like, dude, I'm like, done. Why can't you guys be like the Jamaicans? Yeah, I am a. I. Yeah. In a different part of the world, he's literally the Messiah. Yeah. He's being worshiped. He's still alive in his. In his country, they're like, you're a ruler now. Yeah. And Celeste is now losing control. But then it was June that the infamous Durg was set up. Derg. Yes. So this was officially called the provincial military administrative Council and consisted of these low ranking army officers and officials who took power in the summer of 1974. And that summer, they began a campaign of arresting prominent political figures and issued a manifesto of reforms. And then finally, In September of 1974, 44 years after he became the emperor, and nearly six decades since, he rose to a position of importance in Ethiopian politics, the Derg removed Emperor Haile Selassie from power. Derg Sounds like Star wars. The Derg. Yeah. Right. Well, he had a hell of a run, dude. At some point, if you run a country for 50 years, people are going to be like, enough. Yeah. And there's problems. And also he's 80. He's like, just right, you know? I mean, how do you think people feel about him now? Do you know modern Ethiopia, we're about to get to it. Okay. So after being removed from power, Celeste's put under house arrest, and his son, the Asfa. You remember him with the. The whole. The. Remember the whole coup that he was planning. He was declared emperor in the failed coup, and he was now declared emperor again by the Dirg, his son. Yeah. What a crazy re. Revolution. You're out of here. We want your. Your son. All right? And I think their thought with that is like, okay, if we can put. He must not have had a great relation. If we put in the son, it still will have this sort of. This bloodline of Solomon, this royal heir. Like, this obviously is supposed to be the guy, but we can utilize him and basically have him do our bidding. You can't just take it over outright because then you might have some factions of the country, like, no, no, we have an emperor. We had a good thing going. You guys ruined it. What's interesting is that he's not in Ethiopia at the time and stated that his father's removed from power. Basically that, like, the actions that his father taken in declaring him emperor was illegal. So as a result, in 1975, the DIRG completely abolished the Ethiopian monarchy and brought the empire to an end and created a new Ethiopian. Ethiopian state. And is that who we have today? I mean, more or less. More or less. So they have this new military government that, you know, spends a lot of 74 and 75 overseeing the execution of, you know, hundreds of people that were connected to the old imperial government. You got to get rid of them. And this includes a lot of people of the imperial family. Like, you know, celestial monarchies fall pretty hard. Oh, yeah, they. They burn bright and fast. Yeah. And Celesti's grandson, who. He was taken out, out. And damn, dude. Grandson just getting murked because he might be like, yo, I'm the heir. Like, I need the power. You know what I mean? Like, that never dies. Like, as long as the bloodline is there, like, there's someone that's going to contest you, drop them. So the signs for the, you know, former emperor threatening. And several months later, the state media announced that Selessie had died the previous day on August 27th. And the official cause of death at 83 was respiratory failure. But. Rip in the Banker. Yeah, dude just getting hit in the grav bong. The rgb. He joined his people. He was like, maybe day. Right. Some people believe that Celeste had been strangled to death by Dirk soldiers. Oh. His remains were buried under a concrete slab on the grounds of the imperial palace. And they were removed in 1992 and placed in the Holy Trinity Cathedral in Addis Ababa near those of his illustrious Predecessor Emperor Menelik ii. That's right. So what happens now to Ethiopia? Right. By the time that Selassie dies, Ethiopia is already deep in a civil war that would last basically up until the 1990s. And so in the mid-70s, the Derg turned Ethiopia into a communist country that, you know, the Soviets kind of got their foothold in there, and they followed these Soviet and Marxist ideals. And then other revolutionary groups come in and fight them, including the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Party and the Tigray People's Liberation Front. And the situation gets even more complicated because Eritrea is now fighting for independence in the 70s. And Ethiopia also went to war with Somalia because they wanted control of this province. And as you can imagine, it's fraught with issues. Yes. So as you have all these different political fights happening and violence spreading throughout the country, the Derg kills tens of thousands of people during what they call the Red terror of the 1970s. And by the 80s, you know, the Ethiopian civil war was even worse because now you have more famine on top of that. And I think this is where a lot of the American idea of Ethiopian famine happens, where by 83 and 85, there's half a million people killed by famine. And the war ends in 1991 when the Soviet Union collapses and stops sending weapons to the Horn of Africa. And when everything is over, almost 1.5 million people die because of the fighting and the disease and the starvation. Tough time. So when the Ethiopia. When the. Basically the civil war in Ethiopia ends at the fall of the Soviet Union, the country gets a short break. The leaders write up a new constitution in the 90s, and Eritrea becomes. Becomes its own country after fighting for 30 years. And the government tried to create a federal system where the, you know, different ethnic groups control the areas where people leave, where the people live. But as you can imagine, like we've seen before, this creates more problems again. So Ethiopia and Eritrea go to war again in 1998. I was alive for this one. They're just. Just scrapping. And the fighting stops in 2000. But they still have a border dispute. And there's still occasional fighting in northern Ethiopia to this day. I mean, yeah, the tensions are. They want that water are hot. Yeah. So inside Ethiopia, the plan to solve these ethnic problems with these federalized states didn't work again. And the government's. The government's hatred again for the Tigray people all the way back to Selesi has now gotten attention from other countries. So by 2020, Ethiopia's federal government basically started a War against Tigray. And this is happening as of late 2022, too. Jesus. So there's still disputes happening with the Tigrayan people in Ethiopia, and the ethnic issues have not subsided, and it hasn't crossed my desk. Crazy. Like, I had no idea until right now. Yeah. And so you have war crimes and starvation. And, you know, many international observers are saying that there's genocide happening. So even though people in Ethiopia, you know, they. They feel like there's a major and economic political force that's pushing. Pushing the country forward, there's still a lot of deep systemic ethnic issues that persist in Ethiopia to this day. A lot of problems that Selassie himself couldn't solve and in some ways potentially have made worse. And that is ultimately the life of Emperor Haile Selassie the first. Wow. Crazy, right? It is crazy. And now it's gotten all the way that you have, like, white boy reggae bands with dreads who will just throw his name into songs like. You ever listen to Soja? Yeah, yeah, they're great. But there's some. There's some. There's some salaci in there every once in a while. Like the early stuff, I believe. Yeah. You know, throwing it in. That's what I'm saying, dude. And the. And the Rastafarians are still. There's still a real thing, I believe. Yeah. That is, you know, growing. And they believe he was the Messiah, even though the people in the country are like, no. Yeah. Essentially. Yeah. I'm actually curious. Some of the people as. As we understand, I don't think we can speak about Ethiopian politics as a monolithic bloc block. That is true. Yeah. But they say that. That the ganja is a holy herb that's referenced in the Bible. That's right. That is used as a meditative conduit to reach a higher power. And that is. It also helps. You play video games sometimes. Sure. Did you walk in on some people? Yeah, dude. And they also see it as a form of protest against the biblical Babylonians, who they see as, like, the modern oppressive system, kind of. Yeah. Colonialist sort of of. Yeah. And then, of course, it's a healing plant that comes from the earth as God intended. The earth. Yeah. Big up. Big up. The Highly Selassie. So how much of this rang true from the. The book that you read? Woof. I think I didn't know a lot of that. My. The book that I read. I forget what it was called. It was, like, specifically about it, like, was a little bit of his rise and then a Lot about, like, the coup at the end and kind of like the palace intrigue surrounding the coup and, like, documenting, like, his days as the coup was going down. And I have no idea what it was called. How did he look at the end? Do we have photos of him before he passed away? I guess that's every photo of him. But yeah, I mean, he's got to be the most recent, you know, profit to some group aside from, like, you know, there's like, like, ongoing figures. Jared Leto. That's right. Yeah. But no, as far as, like a. Like a guy that you'd be like. Yeah, I guess. You know, I guess he's a prophet. Like. Yeah. You wouldn't balk at. At it. He's probably the. The most modern one that really started. Yeah, they got that got. The dude lived a life. His life is. I mean, and this is true for a lot of people, but he is a living history book. Yeah. Truly, the dude has been through absolutely everything and like, every historical figure, he did some great things and he did some bad things. And, you know, no man is without, you know, no man is without his. His sins. So here we are. Job bless. Job, bless. Shout out to. Shout out to the Ethiopians. Yeah. To all y' all that are great coffee. Birthplace of coffee. I believe, if I'm not mistaken. Mistaken. That's what they say. That is what they say. If you ever. I went to an Ethiopian restaurant in South Africa, so not, you know, but like, closer than here. And that you. They did a coffee ceremony. They serve it with popcorn. Oh, it was lovely. That sounds sick. It was great. It's like post dinner, people order the espresso, which is what the Italians would have wanted, you know, if they had had their way. Yeah. But no, they'd bring out, like, a whole pot, and you drink coffee and you eat popcorn at the end. It was this lovely. I did a bastardized version of that one time when I saw Black Adam Feel featuring the Rock. Oh, yeah. I went to the IMAX studio where the chair shake and I was tired, so I was like, give me some popcorn and also throw, like a. Throw a hot coffee in there. You did that? And I put it in the chair, and the whole chair shook. Yeah. So Black Adam, like, punched a bad guy and then coffee flew everywhere. Really? Yeah. Popcorn launched in there. I was like, you should have given me a heads up that the chairs move. Well, the ceremony. Black Adam was the right movie for that ceremony. That is a good point. You know, that is an excellent point. Yeah. Anyway, Gabe, what'd you think? All right, all right, all right. Come on, dude. What are we even talking about here? Guys, this has been another episode of Camp. Thank you so much for joining me on my quest to understand everything that's ever happened in the world, ever. And today we got to the deep parts of East African history. So shout out to all people in the region, the Kenyans, Ethiopians, the Somalis, the Eritreans, all y'. All. And I hope one day we can find harmony and live in a peace, dude. Shout out to his family. Shout out to his family. Thanks so much for having me. Mark, Joey Avery, follow me on all sorts of stuff. Joey show podcast, always a pleasure. Dig up and jobless. What's up, people? Quick announcement. If you are a fan of Camp Gagnon or Religion Camp, I have great news because we're dropping History Camp. That's right. This is the channel. We're going to be exploring the most interesting, fascinating, controversial topics from all time throughout all history. Right. You probably know about Benjamin Franklin. I don't know, Thomas Jefferson, Nikola Tesla. Interesting figures from history and you probably learned about in school when they were pretty boring. Boring. But not here. No. As you know, I was raised by a conspiracy theorist. So I'm going to be diving deep into all of the interesting, strange, occult and secretive societal relationships that all of these famous, influential men from our shared past have. So if you're interested, please go ahead and subscribe to the YouTube channel. It will be pinned in the description as well as the comments. And if you're on Spotify, this doesn't really apply to you, but these episodes will be dropping as well. Just go ahead and give them us a high rating because it really helps the show.