Being one of two African nations to have avoid being colonized during the scramble for Africa and being the only African nation to successfully fend of a European invasion Ethiopia had the best shot in Africa of becoming an industrial power. Your challenge is to have Ethiopia industrialize and modernize during in 19th century ideally to a similar degree as Japan.
AHC: Have Ethiopia industralize
- Thread starter Billy the Goat
- Start date
Hard disagree. The reasons that allowed Ethiopia to survive the Scramble for Africa (being a Christian nation of longstanding National tradition, out of the way of most interests and with a low access to Industrial Revolution key commodities) mostly also go against Ethiopia becoming a major industrial Power.
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This, if the Ethiopians by some miracle manage to unite themselves and get a miraculous victory against the Ottomans/Egyptians to get sea access, they can start trading with the outside world and learning of it's evolution, Russia probably being the best bet given shared Orthodox faith as well as desire for ally against Ottomans, although French might also be interested given it would be a good naval station in the Red Sea. From there, Ethiopia would need to have capable who knew enough of certain trades as well as capital to invest into industries and even then it would be pretty limited, so not full on Meiji but easily the most industrial nation in Africa that can sustain itself and use that as leverage when it comes to treaty so free trade doesn't wreck it's industry due to the flood of superior European goods, also best to not rock the boat too much when it comes to borders, ideally expanding before the Europeans are really serious in carving up Africa and negotiating the lease of certain harbors to placate the likes of Britain and France while someone like the Italians can be resisted better.
I'd say the best way to have a stronger Ethiopia is to avoid the Age of the Princes and have the Solomonic emperors maintain their authority and not just turn into puppets of whichever local warlord was strongest. The path of the least resistance to that end would be the restoration of imperial authority carried out by Emperor Bakaffa being successfully continued by his grandson Iyoas II. This would also mean a more thorough integration of the Oromo people into the aristocracy of Ethiopia as Iyoas regent and grandmother Menthaweb was an Oromo and the process was already ongoing since the reign of Emperor Fassilidae. As the Oromo dominated southern regions have always been the region of Ethiopia which the state has always had the hardest time keeping control off this is going to strengthen Ethiopia significantly
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Grey Wolf
Donor
Industralisation comes from a need within - so yes, gun foundries, all the weapons infrastructure would be important
Railways? Well, useful of course but hard to do without an external sponsor
Egypt did some industrialisation on big loans, especially in modernising their naval arsenals, and things like street lamps etc
Railways? Well, useful of course but hard to do without an external sponsor
Egypt did some industrialisation on big loans, especially in modernising their naval arsenals, and things like street lamps etc
Okay, so you need to incentivize free trade and business friendly policies in order for companies to move into Ethiopia. I guess Ethiopia could conquer Eritrea at some point and thereby have a choke point on the Red Sea (unless Eritrea was always a part of Ethiopia and only recently gained independence).
In most cases, industrialization by non-Western European powers is a top-down affair, meaning that industrialization must be achieved by the elite (Ottomans, 18th-19th century Egypt, Japan, Ataturk Turkey, Yugoslavia).
Religion and elite ties to traditionalism would also hinder industrialization too. Thailand was only industrialized to the point of it's capital being a colonial port, equivalent to Dutch Batavia or Spanish Manila instead of competiting with the European capitals for industrial output (Paris, London). So, you really need your rulers to be super ambitious and super tactile politically (i.e. Mehmed II), with the approval of the aristocracy and the religious leaders, plus free trade, plus getting access to the Red Sea via Eritrea.
Also, what kind of natural resources are there in Ethiopia? Ethiopia needs to take advantage of that as well. Myanmar, for instance, has one of the most biggest amount of natural resources in the world, but it hasn't really exploited them to ensure a strong economy or a strong democracy in modern times. The Europeans would have easily exploited a country's natural resource if its rulers did not pay enough attention to utilizing it.
Also Ethiopia should improve its ports like Modern Singapore did, initiate mandatory education, hire foreign advisors, send the sons of the elite to European schools, write a Constitution, promote freedom of the press, implement a Western understanding of the rule of law, free and democratic elections, separation of church and state, the separation of powers, and increase railroad and road coverage throughout the country.
In most cases, industrialization by non-Western European powers is a top-down affair, meaning that industrialization must be achieved by the elite (Ottomans, 18th-19th century Egypt, Japan, Ataturk Turkey, Yugoslavia).
Religion and elite ties to traditionalism would also hinder industrialization too. Thailand was only industrialized to the point of it's capital being a colonial port, equivalent to Dutch Batavia or Spanish Manila instead of competiting with the European capitals for industrial output (Paris, London). So, you really need your rulers to be super ambitious and super tactile politically (i.e. Mehmed II), with the approval of the aristocracy and the religious leaders, plus free trade, plus getting access to the Red Sea via Eritrea.
Also, what kind of natural resources are there in Ethiopia? Ethiopia needs to take advantage of that as well. Myanmar, for instance, has one of the most biggest amount of natural resources in the world, but it hasn't really exploited them to ensure a strong economy or a strong democracy in modern times. The Europeans would have easily exploited a country's natural resource if its rulers did not pay enough attention to utilizing it.
Also Ethiopia should improve its ports like Modern Singapore did, initiate mandatory education, hire foreign advisors, send the sons of the elite to European schools, write a Constitution, promote freedom of the press, implement a Western understanding of the rule of law, free and democratic elections, separation of church and state, the separation of powers, and increase railroad and road coverage throughout the country.
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