Show rr L YAND i AND Story of a Long Brewing 1 I Co Conflict fl 4 i cl i NO a No 3 i 1 t. t T f q t r Tho rho colorful coronation o of i Halle Halie I Selassie inaugurated an era of ot mode modernization in the l e ancient realm of EU Ethiopia But In districts remote from froni Addis Ab Ababa ba th the tribes tue-tribes tribes either did dil not cor comprehend or take kindly to the innovations and amI the old centuries ld cu custom tom of raiding the cattle cattle- Rn slaves and sla es of foreign tribes c continued In September 1934 1931 Italy began to extend and reinforce her frontier posts In Italian and arid Eritrea e especially in districts where the boundary W was 5 Ill defined or disputed d. d The Thc situation flared Info into flame ame on Dec December r 5 1931 1934 at a desert station in the disputed disputed dis dis- dis- dis region between Italian Soma Soma- I and Ethiopia A surveying ing guarded by some me of Italic Halle Selassie's Selassie's Se Se- lassies lassie's trained ft troops r ops approached the place and found It Italian Uan llan forces In P possession Ethiopian machine e c guns gulls and artillery bark barked d answered d dby by Italian rifles rines and the machine JunS guns 01 of airplanes The Ethl Ethiopians lost killed I and wounded Italian casualties J numbered b r S 30 30 Both na na na- I blamed the other for the clash lahi Repercussions ss ns of th the thC clash echoed through Africa and and Europe Europ and the League ue of of Nations was zip appealed ap pealed to by Halle Selassie But Premier declared red that the safety ty of ot his country's position was ai threatened asserted d that that Ethiopia was WU at t best a a barbarian country unfit to hold membership In Jn the League and that h t Italy would would no longer countenance Invasion of her rights S So 50 he lie started tl the e. e steady teady armed forces force toward East Africa A the first troops sailing OD on M March 2 19 1933 5 W War r clo clouds b thickened d over oyer Halle Haile Selassie's realm as Ita Italian tr troop troopships p I ships poured men and munitions s ac across ou the tho l Mediterranean through tI the Suez canal and down the fhe Red Bed sea t to Eritrea and Italian Soi land Gi Gr n n a Fr France i viewed the developments with alarm an and Halle Balle Sel Selassie called p pen pen- pleto to rall rally Addressing III p. p parliament parlia parlia- U ment the Ethiopian ru ruler er 0 oi J S told old would lly lead his warriors to battle tattle and nd ha he added It were better to lie die n to tove live ve without liberty i F Finding e o ts o check eck diplomatic means futile Halle HaUe SeIan Selassie Selassie Se Se- Ian lassie Ie r resigned himself to the tho In in- of war He lie knew his capE capE- tat tal al was wu vulnerable to air attacks so 80 soOIL soon on OIL August 25 1935 he ordered civilians to evacuate the city Within Within With With- in three days day the sodden Bodden roads leadIng load lead Ing from Addis Ababa were filled with white-clad white barefooted women and children b bearing arine meagre meagre possessions pos POI sessions on on- their backs just as French peasants peasants- streamed west westward westward ward before o tJ the o German hosts host of 1914 18 E D |