#indepdence

Today is a day to recognize the traditional hero of America, the cowboy. Much like the knights are to much of Europe and the samurai is to Japan, the cowboy is a character of almost mythological proportions in America. He symbolizes key American values, such as grit, self-reliance, independence, freedom, and hard work.

“We celebrate the Cowboy as a symbol of the grand history of the American West. The Cowboy’s love of the land and love of the country are examples for all Americans.” - President George W. Bush

#NationalDayoftheCowboy#LongLiveCowboys

The late 19th century was the height of European colonialism.  The leading European colonial powers were the British and French due to their longstanding colonial traditions spanning since the 17th century, maritime prowess and martial ability.  By the late 19th century, two newly united European powers Germany and Italy sought to become colonial powers as well.  The primary focus of their colonialism was Africa as part of the so called Scramble for Africa with Britain and France controlling most of the continent in addition to smaller powers like Portugal and Belgium, both Germany and Italy sought colonial possessions for themselves. Germany would acquire the colonies of German East Africa, German Southwest Africa and German West Africa:  Encompassing the modern nations of Burundi, Cameroon, Namibia, Tanzania, Rwanda and Togo along with parts of various other nations.

The Kingdom of Italy was left to focus their control on modern day Somalia and Eritrea in Northeast Africa acquired in 1889.  On their border was one of two independent nations in Africa, the Ethiopian Empire also known as Abyssinia, the other nation free of colonial rule was Liberia, which was set up by resettled former slaves from the United States and had the diplomatic support of the US.  Ethiopia for its part was a land rich in history dating back to ancient times.  The united kingdom that constituted the Ethiopian Empire was formed back in the late 13th century and had existed since that date.  Ethiopia was unique not only for its unified longevity but its independence having fended off Muslim invasions from nearby Arab Sultanates and even the Ottoman Empire with its nominal control over part of North Africa.  It also was a religious anomaly among African nations, it was a Christian nation since the 4th century in union with the Egyptian Coptic Church and not imposed by European colonists though later Catholicism was introduced Catholic missionaries from Portugal initially before a civil war ousted a Catholic ruler and expelled all Catholics from the country.  The country maintained its own blend of Orthodox Christianity, known as Ethiopian Orthodox and is considered the largest of Oriental Orthodox churches in the world today.

Since the 18th century, Ethiopia though nominally unified was de-facto decentralized under several noble princes who held essentially petty kingdoms in an time called the Era of Princes or Zemene Mesafint.  Ethiopia fell into a period of relative isolation during this time, not unlike Japan during the contemporary Shogunate period and like Japan in the mid-19th century it came back into the modern world removed from isolation and through the restoration of power in the hands of a central ruler, an emperor.  In Ethiopia’s case under the reign of Tewodros II from 1855-1868.  Tewodros sought to unite Ethiopia once more under and did so through military conquest, subjugating the various princes and nobles who held regional control as basically warlords.  Tewodros eventually succeeded and his next mission was to modernize the country.  Yet he faced continual threat of rebellion and external threats in the Ottoman Empire’s control over Egypt.  Tewodros wrote to Queen Victoria hoping to appeal as one Christian ruler to another to have British assistance in defense against the Islamic threat presented by the Ottomans.  Britain however had economic and political reasons to ignore Ethiopia’s plea.  Britain had a majority stake in the Suez Canal in Egypt and considered this a vital link its colonial empire linking Europe with its prize possession, India and felt a new Christian crusade against Islam in the Middle East and North Africa would hurt the regional economy and threaten its trade routes, namely for cotton and this route became ever more important in the wake of the American Civil War and its impact on the cotton trade, the Southern US no longer exported cotton in the way it had through slave labor, now Britain relied on India for its cotton.  Secondly, the British Empire supported the Ottomans as a buffer against the expansion of the Russian Empire as part of the so called Great Game, a geopolitical struggle between Russia and Britain for control of political influence the world over.  Britain was concerned Russia would move from Central Asia into South Asia and invade India, it also feared Russian expansion into the Balkans and Mediterranean.  In the 1850′s in a dispute between the Second French Empire and Russia over rights of Christians within the Ottoman Empire, the Crimean War broke out and a coalition of Britain, France, the Ottoman Empire and Kingdom of Sardinia (precursor to the united Kingdom of Italy) defeated Russia and denied it a naval presence on the Black Sea.  For these reasons Britain refused to upset the Ottomans and instead it angered the Ethiopians, while Ethiopia never fell to the Ottomans, it did anger the British.  A group of missionaries were imprisoned by Tewodros for the lack of a British reply in a request for military assistance.  This lead to a punitive expedition of the British combining European and Indian troops of the British Empire, they invaded Ethiopia and besieged the fortress of Magdala in April 1868, defeating the Ethiopians and freeing the hostages and burning the fortress as well as confiscating some wealth and artifacts.  Tewodros killed himself during the battle having shot himself in the head with a pistol that was an earlier gift from Queen Victoria herself.

The British did not stay and conquer Ethiopia, preferring to return to the status quo, Ottoman control of Egypt was nominal at best and soon other threats to the Ottoman Empire deterred it from actively being able to invade and conquer Ethiopia.  Ethiopia may have not been conquered but Magdala had shown it was vulnerable to European power, namely in their superior military technology and the discipline of their troops.  In the coming decades Ethiopia would need to modernize its weaponry and look to Allies outside of Britain, its one major ally from Europe was in fact the great Orthodox Christian power, the Russian Empire.  Bonded by mutual Orthodox Christianity and more importantly as a counter balance to British and Ottoman interests in the region, Russia agreed to provide modern military aid and training to the Ethiopians, the French would also supply the Ethiopians during the 1870′s and 1880′s.

1889 saw Menelik II, former son in law of Tewodros II become Emperor Ethiopia.  Menelik introduced further modern reforms and created a new modern capital, Addis Ababa and he expanded the size of the country conquering the various surrounding peoples and nobility that Tewodros had only begun to take back land from.  The same year Menelik became Emperor he signed a treaty with the new imperial-colonial power from Europe that conquered land to his east, Italy and its colony of Italian Somaliland and Eritrea.  The Treaty of Wuchale essentially designated Eritrea as Italian land and in exchange they recognized Menelik as ruler of Ethiopia and neither side would harass the other militarily.  However, the treaty was in two languages and the differences in language would lead to different interpretations of a single but crucial clause.  The Italian version claimed that Menelik forfeited foreign affairs control to Italy, making Ethiopia a protectorate while the Amharic version claimed Ethiopia retained control of its foreign affairs but would or could consult with Italy for assistance.  The different interpretations was largely by Italian design, which sought to have a pretext for future annexation of Ethiopia so as to expand its colonial control.

Menelik rejected the Italian interpretation of the treaty and after years of being unable to resolve this issue war would soon break out in 1894, starting the First Italo-Abyssinian War.  Italy’s goal was to invade and annex Ethiopia, it started pressure on Ethiopia with the annexation of small territories along the border between Eritrea and Ethiopia, it also used the pretext of Eritrean rebels seeking refuge in Ethiopia as casus belli.  The war began with Italian victories that lead to expeditions of conquest deep into Ethiopian territory.  However, the Italians under Governor-General of Eritrea Oreste Baratieri ultimately would underestimate the Ethiopians resolve, army size and modern weaponry.  At the Battle of Amba Alagi in December 1895 actually saw the Italians defeated by the Ethiopians but not completely.  Nevertheless, Baratieri’s defeat led the Italian government to actually increase its spending on preventing a repeat disaster.  The Italians, like most Europeans generally tended to consider all Africans as inferior to the Europeans for racial, cultural and military reasons.  Generally speaking, European powers had advances in technology and full time professional armies that could defeat African tribal forces time and again with inferior technology and irregular military doctrine.  Ethiopia however was relatively modern in its military stockpiles, gaining some the Russians, French and even the British and Italians themselves over the course of several years.  These factors would lead to the Battle of Adwa, fought on March 1, 1896.

Baratieri resumed the campaign in 1896 and pressed toward Adwa in northern Ethiopia, Adwa was strategically vital because it controlled vital routes in that part of the country, the terrain which would a role in the upcoming battle was hilly and mountainous.  The Italian forces would consist of 4 brigades a mix of Italian conscripts and colonial troops, along with African auxiliaries known as askaris from Eritrea.  Their troops totaled 17,700 and 52 pieces of artillery all of which was antiquated by European standards.  Their gear and logistics were also subpar for the tough terrain they were trekking.  Nevertheless, the Italian leadership remained confident of victory.  Baratieri was alone in thinking that as they marched and supplies dwindled it would be better to strategically retreat and fall back to Eritrea and resupply but his subordinate commanders stated this would be bad for morale, also pressure from Rome and the knowledge that he would soon be replaced for his failures led Baratieri to commit to a battle.  Italians further frustrated their effort with poorly sketched and outdated maps of the region.

Menelik commanded an army of disputed size but ranging from 80,000-120,000 troops including infantry armed with modern rifles, cavalry and traditional sword and spear melee infantry along with Russian supplied artillery and a small number of Russian military advisers in their ranks under Nikolay Leontiev.  With these numbers, weaponry and local knowledge of the terrain, the Ethiopians felt they could win.  Though victory wasn’t a guarantee, the Italians movements weren’t exactly known and the supplies for Ethiopia’s army would soon dwindle as well forcing them to retreat or dissipate.  Baratieri was aware of this and this factored into his assessment of waiting to press battle but ultimately he gave into the external pressures surrounding him.

The Italian plan called for marching three brigades supported by a reserve to press through the various mountain passes and set up on the high ground, getting a textbook military advantage where deadly crossfire would certainly undo the Ethiopians.  The Italians marched out at dawn with the goal of pressing their attack that morning.  The biggest concern was Italians being outflanked due to their superior numbers, so many Italians actually stayed in reserve on guard duty.  Menelik was made aware of the Italian advance and he summoned his subordinates to organize their men and counter attack as soon as possible.  The Italians due to the lack of good intelligence underestimated the size of the Ethiopian army and their poor maps lead to discombobulated marches of the brigades and rather than march to the high ground they hoped for, they marched straight into the Ethiopian counterattack.  Furthermore, the rank and file had written letters home of bad morale prior to the battle and fear of disaster.  It seems their leaderships confusion and rushed decision were now playing out their worst fears, outnumbered six to one and facing a surprisingly well equipped force caught the Italians off guard.  The Ethiopians also launched their Russian mountain artillery from the very high ground the Italians had hoped would have been in their hands.  Despite their poor equipment, morale and confused plans the Italians did fight bravely in many cases and inflicted many casualties repelling many Ethiopian advances over and over.  However, the numbers became too great and many last stands took place, the reserves committed what they could but Baratieri himself panicked and left the battle, decreasing the morale of his troops.  Overwhelmed the Italians began a confused retreat, pursued for nine miles, individual stragglers were picked off by Ethiopian troops and civilians.  The defeat was resounding and Italy lost 6,000 killed, 1,500 wounded, 3,000 captured including the wounded.  Many of the dead were the Eritrean askaris, who the Ethiopians considered as traitors to Ethiopia even if they were separate countries.  The Ethiopians as punishment mutilated many Eritrean soldiers but cutting off a hand and foot as permanent punishment, heaps of these missing appendages were found at the battle site still months later.  The Italian prisoners for their part were reputed to have been relatively well treated for the remainder of the war, despite some dying of their wounded later in captivity.  Ethiopia lost nearly 4,000 killed and suffered over 8,000 wounded, meaning the battle was very bloody and costly for them as well.

The impact of the defeat would have both short term and long term consequences.  In Italy, shock of its announcement resulted in protests from the general populace and riots had be to be put down by police, the Prime Minister resigned days later and Italy argued about whether to seek revenge or end the war.  Menelik for his part could not pursue the Italians back to Eritrea due to his own losses and lack of supplies.  He also had political foresight to see that an invasion of Italian Eritrea would galvanize Italian support for continuing the war and the likelihood was that Ethiopia couldn’t repeat Adwa and probably wouldn’t be able to sustain Italian reinforcements in greater numbers with better supplies, by maintaining a purely defensive strategy he and his nation would appear more sympathetic and political demands in Italy would switch to calls to end the war rather than gain revenge, this strategy payed off and in the October 1896 Treaty of Addis Ababa.  Italy recognized the independence of Ethiopia and the Treaty of Wuchale’s repeal, meaning Ethiopia did not have to consult Italy on foreign affairs in exchange all Italian prisoners were released and Italy was actually allowed to keep some of their conquests from earlier in the war, giving the losing side some small territorial gains.  Baratieri was court martialed for his performance but ultimately acquitted though he was judged incompetent for military leadership.  In Russia, the victory was likewise celebrated and Russians viewed it as an act of solidarity with their fellow Orthodox Christians and as a small measure of revenge for Italian participation in the Crimean War 40 years earlier.

In the short term Ethiopia’s independence was assured, in the long term though both Europe and Africa reflected on Adwa’s implications.  In Italy, Adwa became a rallying cry much like “Remember the Alamo” for Americans.  In 1935, Fascist Italy was keen on expanding Italy’s colonial empire once more and under Benito Mussolini, the Italians launched a new invasion of Ethiopia, this time using modern weapons including tanks and planes, the Ethiopians stood no chance and once more their pleas for help fell to deaf ears in the League of Nations which stood powerless to stop Italy.  Ethiopia would be conquered, annexed and incorporated into the new Italian Empire, to which Mussolini would say “Adwa had been avenged.”  From 1936-1941, Ethiopia was occupied when the British in the midst of World War II defeated the Italians and liberated Ethiopia.  In African historical memory though, especially popular among the Pan-African movement, the Battle of Adwa and Ethiopian independence by extension stands as a beacon of symbolic hope, shattering the long held myth of African inferiority to foreigners and proving that given the right circumstances, they too can triumph over colonial forces and preserve their freedom...

Hello everyone,

Is there such a thing as being too independent?

This is not anything new to me. Friends and acquaintances have told me numerous times that I am a very independent person. But now I’m questioning if being independent is a good or bad thing. Can you become too independent?

We can assume that being overly dependent or co-dependent  can be unhealthy. But I think that there is also…

INDEPENDENCE GREETINGS

PRESS RELEASE

31-August-2013

On behalf of the Central Executive, General Council and general membership All Trinidad General Workers Trade Union, I wish to extend my sincerest congratulations and best wishes to the people of Trinidad and Tobago, as we celebrate fifty-one years of independence. The message is exactly as last year’s because the issues and sentiment remains the same.

  Fifty-one years of Independence have seen us, as a nation achieve much in terms of infrastructural, political, economic, social and cultural development. Our people have accomplished so many great achievements in the realm of sports, science, law, education, music, social sciences and the humanities, that Trinidad and Tobago is now a household name in many parts of the world.

  It is however quite easy, to fall into a delusional state of celebratory rhetoric and by so doing become taken up with the superficial symbolic trappings of independence celebrations, while forgetting the monumental task that was required to begin the process and continuing today, of forging a nation out of the diversity that is ours.

  We must always reflect on the struggles of the past and the sacrifices of our forefathers as they emerged out of the plantation fields to which they first came and sacrificed to carve a niche not only for themselves but also for us, in this land, that is Trinidad and Tobago. We must never do them the injustice of forgetting the battles fought, the tears shed and the victories won, to deliver unto us the land that we now enjoy.

  Let us remember that ours is a nation built on the extermination of indigenous peoples, European conquest and rivalry, economic exploitation, cultural imperialism, a deliberate creolisation process emerging out of slavery and indentureship and the emergence of a diverse society, loosely based on physical and cultural differences, co-existing to form a unique Trinidad and Tobago flavour, held together by the shared history of the plantation experience.

  Slave trade, amelioration, emancipation, indentureship, the hosay riots, the camboulay riots, the numerous strikes and demonstrations, the water riots, the dock workers strike, the 1934 upheaval in sugar, 1937 riots, the changing dynamics of the 1960’s, the revolutions in thought and acts of 1970, bloody Tuesday 1975, significance events that created the nation we know today.

  Fifty-one years after Independence let us continue to work together to construct a nation built on the principle of unity in diversity. Let us continue to strive to develop the will, the determination and the process necessary to increase the patriotism and nationalism necessary to bind us as a people and so truly to become one nation, one people that is Trinidad and Tobago.

  I thank you.

Yours sincerely,

NIRVAN MAHARAJ (ATTORNEY-AT-LAW)

PRESIDENT GENERAL,