Haile Selassie Quotes
We have decided to bring to an end the most unequal, most unjust, most barbarous war of our age, and have chosen the road to exile in order that our people will not be exterminated and in order to consecrate ourselves wholly and in peace to the preservation of our empire's independence ... we now demand that the League of Nations should continue its efforts to secure respect for the covenant, and that it should decide not to recognize territorial extensions, or the exercise of an assumed sovereignty, resulting from the illegal recourse to armed force and to numerous other violations of international agreements.
Haile Selassie, 1891-1975, Ethiopian Emperor, Telegram to the League of Nations on the Second Italo-Abyssinian War, May 10, 1936
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
There were some anti-war forces in Germany in World War I.
The treaty that the Secretary had been negotiating had the signing countries renounce war except to defend themselves. The senator had a real concern as to who determines whether a war is offensive of defensive.
In 1936, Fascist Italy invaded Ethiopia in an effort to obtain an African colony like other European Countries had. Over 50 nations had promised aid to Ethiopia if attacked but then the Italian attacks came, it was not just soldiers with some small artillery and vehicles. Instead it was a full modern army with not only heavy artillery and tanks, but extensive use of air power against villages and towns which generally hardly had rifles. The airplane carnage of civilian populations was a shock to the world. However, the tactics were studied by the Italian German Fascist allies who further developed air power use against unarmed towns and cities in the Spanish Civil war. The aid promised to Christian Ethiopia never materialized because there was a worldwide depression and the great powers would have had to commit to major war—not just send some arms and ammunition. The Ethiopians mostly fought with spears and knives. The Fascists were thus emboldened for the invasion of Europe a few years later.
When the United Nations partitioned Palestine into separate Jewish and Muslim states, the armies of all the Arab countries attacked the new nation which did not even have a formal Army. The Israelis were able to win the war.
The Japanese diplomats of the day maintained that in addition to the special needs of Japan {616181} and {616183}, the “white” powers had colonies and if they left Korea, white nations would simply come in and annex it as a colony. The Japanese saw this as a double standard—white nations could have colonies but Asian nations, no. In reality, Colonialism was fading even in the white nations but Japan was coming to it anew. Their timing was on the wrong cusp of history. The example of Ireland transformed to an independent republic shortly thereafter. For colonialism, the handwriting was on the wall but the Japanese preferred not to look at the trend but the then status quo.
Despite the fact that there were no formal political polls at the time, public opinion was very influential in curtailing what might be a tendency to use of the American military. Starting with the Cold War later, Presidents tended to use American military force regardless of public opinion or would exaggerate or lie (Vietnam and Iraq wars for example) to temporally gain some public support.
Haile Selassie I was the Emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974. Prior to his coronation, he had been the Regent Plenipotentiary of Ethiopia from 1916. He is a defining figure in modern Ethiopian history. He was a member of the Solomonic dynasty who traced his lineage to Emperor Menelik I.
