As it says in the title, what if the Ethiopian Emperor is never deposed, and the country never goes communist?
WI Haile Selasie never deposed?
- Thread starter Tapirus Augustus
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yourworstnightmare
Banned
Yes, I know they all claimed Solomonic ancestry, so did all Amharic and Tigrean aristocrats.
yourworstnightmare
Banned
And if he wasn't deposed at that time, he would probably have been deposed later. Haile Selassie is probably the monarch of the 1900s that lived through the most assassination attempts, coup attempts and civil wars (not to mention the Italian invasion).
And while Ethiopia would have been a lot better in the 80s' without a fucked up Communist regime, we probably (or guaranteed) would not see a multi-ethnic democracy in Ethiopia if the Shoan Empire still was alive and kicking.
And while Ethiopia would have been a lot better in the 80s' without a fucked up Communist regime, we probably (or guaranteed) would not see a multi-ethnic democracy in Ethiopia if the Shoan Empire still was alive and kicking.
Well, perhaps more Western investment and trade. Not to mention Eritea would still be a part of the country. If it keeps Western backing in the cold war, perhaps we could see a South Korea type economy start to come to fruition.
Not necessarily. Eritrea viewed itself as being a separate entity from Ethopia, and as a region was rather unhappy to be given away following WWII. Given the corruption and mismanagement of Ethiopia and that ELF was established before Selasie was deposed, I imagine that Ethopia would enjoy a similarly bloody and protracted independence war.
If Haile Selasie and the Ethiopian Empire survived to present, I think things would be a lot better for most residents of East Africa today. The Derg would not get a chance to pursue their genocidal policies and collectivist policies which killed millions of Ethiopians. Siad Barre would not have dared attack the Ethiopians, and avoiding that conflict would likely save his regime. So Somali might have some sort of functioning government, rather than being a failed state as it is in the present.
Eritrea might still be fighting for independence, but an Ethiopian Empire would not have allowed that. Ethiopia would not be landlocked, and Eritreans would be living under a constitutional monarchy, rather than an indigenous dictatorship.
Eritrea might still be fighting for independence, but an Ethiopian Empire would not have allowed that. Ethiopia would not be landlocked, and Eritreans would be living under a constitutional monarchy, rather than an indigenous dictatorship.
yourworstnightmare
Banned
No Mengistu is good for everyone, but if the Shoan Empire survive we'd not see a democratic experiment in Ethiopia, as the one there is today, and most of the land would still be in the hands of the aristocracy.
Ethiopia's democracy is still very much in the experimental stage. The country has not had a clean election in over ten years, and people who choose to protest this do so at the risk of their own lives. Still a vast improvement over the Derg, which killed people as a matter of policy, but nothing to brag about. The Empire was at least moving in a Democratic direction since the 1950's, and while it might not be a full democracy by now, I don't think monarchy is a high price to pay for political stability. Zenawi is basically the PM for life in that country today, and rules like a monarch, except unbound by either law or tradition.
While land reform may be a net plus today, it was hardly worth its price in blood. It could have been accomplished much more equitably with a government buyout, it need not have involved the expulsion and murder of former owners.
Odds are good that the nation would still be able to produce it's own food supply too.
yourworstnightmare
Banned
You forget that the aristocracy was Haile Selassie's most important supporters. Would he go to far with reforms, well they could replace him just like the Derg had. They could just suddenly decide the Menelikids had a better claim on the throne, and that Haile Selassie more or less was an ursurper. Johannes Iyasu was after all still alive, and only under house arrest (a clear mistake, without a rival claimant it would have been easier to control the aristocracy).