The Conquering Lion - a Fascist Ethiopia

I've been planning to do another Ethiopia TL for some time even if I'm currently working on one. So here is a Fascist Ethiopia TL that's been in the works for God knows how long.
 
An Empress dies and an Emperor rises
The influenza pandemic of 1918 touched all corners of the globe, including an independent African kingdom by the name of Ethiopia where it killed 5,000-10,000 Ethiopians in the capital city of Addis Ababa alone. A few particularly important casualties included the recently-crowned Empress Zewditu and Fitawari Habte Giyorgis as her regent, Ras Tafari Makonnen, became infected as well and fortunately survived to become the new Emperor of Ethiopia. Tafari took the name of Emperor Haile Selassie I as he promised to bring Ethiopia to glory under his reign and begun planning to implement reforms to continue Emperor Menelik II's modernization programs that years of factionalization amongst the Council of Ministers and succession struggles among the Solomonic Dynasty. Before coming to power as Emperor, Tafari had been governor of Harar where he not only implemented a series of successful reforms but he gained favor from her people as well - other reforms under modernizers such as Ras Imru had proved to be successful in the western Gojjam province.

Emperor Haile Selassie I and a team of reform-oriented Ethiopians would travel to Europe in late 1921 in the hopes of gaining more European allies and secure sources of both financial and material support, opting to travel to Italy to establish better relations with Rome after so many decades of cool tension between the two as a result of the First Italo-Ethiopian War. Haile Selassie and his team of Ethiopian reformists arrived in Italy by 1922 to meet with King Victor Emmanuel III, only to be met with what looked to be a coup d'état by Italian fascists under a man by the name of Benito Mussolini.
 
The Conquering Lion meets the Eagle of Rome, the Sidamo Campaign and the Revolt of Wollo
The Ethiopian Empire was the first country to recognize the National Fascist Party in Italy as Haile Selassie and his reformist team personally met with Benito Mussolini in Rome on October 31st to discuss establishing better relations and access to the sea. This resulted in the signing of the Italo-Ethiopian Treaty of 1922 that saw a 20-year friendship being established between Addis Ababa and Rome, providing Ethiopia with concessions at the Eritrean port of Assab and called for economic collaboration. However, it saw Rome and Addis Ababa come to crossroads as Mussolini intended for a road to be constructed from Assab to Dessie for eventual Italian expansion into Ethiopia while Haile Selassie viewed it as a threat to Ethiopia. Haile Selassie also managed to secure a shipment of surplus Carcano rifles and Fiat-Revelli 1914 machine guns which went towards arming the growing Imperial Guard as apart of the Italo-Ethiopian Treaty as Mussolini offered to send a Military Mission but the Emperor declined. Rome accepted Ethiopian students that Haile Selassie was sending abroad to gain better educations as apart of his modernization programs for Ethiopia, hundreds of young Ethiopians arriving in Italy a few weeks later. Haile Selassie would depart for other capitals in Western Europe such as Brussels, Paris, London, Amsterdam, Stockholm and Athens where he successfully established better diplomatic relations and signed contracts for a few Military Missions to be arriving in Ethiopia in the future. During his visit to Jerusalem, the Emperor adopted 40 Armenian orphans who were sent to Ethiopia after impressing him with a music performance and receiving formal musical instruction in Addis Ababa where the Armenian expatriate community flourished. To keep Paris interested in protecting Ethiopia from the other colonial powers of the Horn, Haile Selassie offered a commercial concession at Dewele to France which eagerly took it as the Franco-Ethiopian Treaty of 1922 was signed in regards to Franco-Ethiopian economic collaboration and the supplying of French arms to the Ethiopian government.

Haile Selassie focused on building up his personal forces which had previously undergone training and reorganization under White Russian officers but a Belgian Military Mission took over to train the Imperial Guard as arms were imported from all over Europe for equipping the Imperial Guardsmen. A Turkish Military Mission was placed in charge of training Harari troops to an acceptable level and to make they remained loyal to the central government instead of their local nobles while a Swiss Military Mission was to train gendarmes loyal to Haile Selassie whilst it also founded the Holetta Military Academy. A call for volunteers was made to bolster the numbers of the Imperial Guard which was only at 10,000 men and it would grow to 20,000 men who were either from Habte Giyorgis' former army or from the nobles' armies loyal to Haile Selassie. The Emperor sought to establish a professional Ethiopian Army with the current Imperial Guard as its nucleus, hoping to allow for the Imperial Guard to be around 3-4 divisions strong as it slowly grew and underwent training under Belgian advisors. More equipment of French and Czechoslovak origin were imported as the standard rifle of the Imperial Guard became the Belgian FN Mauser 1924, a light rifle that was prized by the Ethiopians for being quite light and allowing for more mobility as well as maneuver. European surplus weapons and equipments from the World War were a common choice for the Ethiopian forces under the Emperor to choose as France provided the bulk of these so as to increase its influence in Ethiopia. Soldiers of the Imperial Guard replaced the shock troop garrisons bordering the European colonial empires that encircled the Ethiopian Empire, professional troops replacing feudal ones which made the members of the Tripartite Pact of 1906 wary of any potential Ethiopian invasion. The Ethiopians reminded them that they were in no position to invade and annex any European colonies despite the modernization of the Ethiopian military, reassuring them down somewhat.

Haile Selassie was continuing to expand and consolidate his power over the Ethiopian Empire but found trouble in the form of Dejazmach Balcha Safo who was governor of Sidamo province where he was refusing to follow new regulations and remit the proper profits to the Ethiopian government. He refused to do so, testing Haile Selassie's reaction which was to send his forces to the Sidamo province to enforce the new reforms and regulations as 20,000 men from the Imperial Guard, with armored support, marched on Sidamo. The Sidamo Campaign resulted in a decisive victory for Haile Selassie' Imperial Guardsmen as it was better-trained and equipped than the peasant militas under Balcha Safo which were pummeled by artillery and horrified by the few Italian tanks that the peasant forces took for strange and otherworldly monsters. By the end of the Sidamo Campaign, only a hundred or so Imperial Guardsmen had died whereas Balcha Safo's army was neutralized as a fighting force and was further weakened when Haile Selassie appealed to the survivors that their opposition to the Emperor could be forgotten if the remaining men joined. A few thousand men would remain loyal to Balcha Safo but thousands of his men joined the Imperial Guard which was increased to 26,000 men as the Emperor now was able to consolidate his hold over Sidamo province, replacing Balcha Safo with Ras Desta Damtew as governor of the province where Haile Selassie left 5,000 Imperial Guardsmen to guard his interests and secure Ras Desta's position. With the success of the Imperial Guard in Sidamo and its growth, Haile Selassie and his closest advisors begun planning campaigns that were to be similar to the Sidamo Campaign as they were well-aware of how meager the nobles' forces were in terms of equipment and training. An Oromo revolt in the Wollo province saw Haile Selassie calling for provincial governors surrounding it to suppress the revolt as Ras Seyoum Mangasha, Ras Gugsa Araya Selassie, Dejazmach Ayalew Birru and Ras Gugsa Welle were ordered to do so. It was successfully put down but Ras Gugsa Welle's reluctance made him suspicious in the eyes of the Emperor as Gugsa planned a revolt and ultimate coup against Haile Selassie, approaching Ras Seyoum and Ras Araya for support but they refused to. Ras Gugsa found favor amongst the Oromos of Wollo province, raising an army of 35,000 men in open revolt against Haile Selassie as Gugsa announced that the new Emperor was going to sell out Ethiopia to the Europeans and marched on Addis Ababa. Haile Selassie called for conscription as Ras Imru, Ras Seyoum and Ras Mulugeta allied themselves with the central government which meant a total of 46,000 men were pro-Haile Selassie as the Army of Begemdir rallied to Ras Gugsa Welle.

The Battle of Debre Zebit was a victory for pro-Haile Selassie forces as it was quite similar to the Battle of Sidamo where superior training and arms were to the advantage of Haile Selassie and his troops, biplanes being used for the first time in Ethiopia. At first, leaflets were dropped on Ras Gugsa's armies to appeal to the more religious elements which resulted in desertion amongst the more religious and conservative Ethiopians as the biplanes came around a second time to bombard them with bombs instead of propaganda that only led to further desertions but a still significant force of 20,000 men confronted the armies of the Emperor at Debre Zebit. The Battle of Debre Zebit was a decisive defeat for Ras Gugsa and Fitawari Shumye who chose to fall back to Debre Tabor where the feudal armies were reorganized and attempted to stay intact despite repeated aerial bombardments. The Battle of Debre Tabor proved to be the end of the Wollo Campaign as the ranks of the Armies of Wollo and Begemdir were thinned by desertions and bombings as the exhausted men under Ras Gugsa Welle overthrew him before approaching the enemy and surrendering. Similarly to the Sidamo Campaign, the Emperor and Imperial Guard's leadership offered the soldiers amnesty if they joined the Imperial Guard in hopes they'd be redeemed and it swelled to roughly 31,000 men as the survivors underwent rigorous training along with a bit of indoctrination. The Sidamo and Wollo Campaigns terrified the remaining nobles that were against the rule of Haile Selassie but a determined few of them would attempt another coup anyway, forcing Lij Menelik Iyasu to become their figurehead in a direct assault on Addis Ababa. This obviously failed as 5,000 Imperial Guardsmen guarding the capital repelled their attacks before launched a counterattack that slaughtered the nobles and forced Lij Menelik Iyasu to flee into exile in French Somaliland but he would permanently settle in Italian Eritrea. These anti-Haile Selassie revolts ironically ended in the Emperor being able to further consolidate his control over the rebellious provinces and their people, his Imperial Guard growing in numbers and being spread across the Ethiopian Empire to enforce his rule.

A group of educated Ethiopians approached Emperor Haile Selassie and his Cabinet, proposing to them an ideology inspired by Italian fascism and the National Fascist Party which they had dubbed "Rastafarianism" after his title prior to becoming Emperor. Haile Selassie and his Ministers soon became interested in the Rastafarian ideology, embracing this Ethiopian-style fascist thinking as the National Royalist Party was formed in 1925 and consisted mainly of the Emperor's Council of Ministers. It received support from the more nationalist Ethiopian peoples as the ideology was spread throughout Ethiopia and especially amongst the Imperial Guard's leadership which implemented some aspects in training, Rome announcing its support of a new Fascist Party in the Ethiopian Empire. Haile Selassie announced that Rastafarianism was the path on which Ethiopia would be guided to modernization and glory on the level of the European powers whose colonial empires dominated the world, planning to further cement his rule and gain favor from the people of Ethiopia with Rastafarianism.
 
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Modernization Ensues
With the end of the Sidamo and Wollo Campaigns, Haile Selassie turned towards the rest of Ethiopia where he viewed the reactionary aristocracy following their attempt at overthrowing him and replacing him with Lij Menelik Iyasu as a puppet Emperor. The Emperor and his Cabinet begun planning to liquidate them in the future so that the more reformist government in power could successfully reform and modernize Ethiopia, targeting their support bases as reforms were implemented throughout Ethiopia. Haile Selassie planned to officially abolish slavery before 1930, hoping that this newly liberated force of peasants could back him over their former masters in the nobility which would predictably revolt against the Imperial government in the case of said reforms being instituted. The Imperial Guard had become the most modern fighting force in the entire Ethiopian Empire, having received new training from European advisors and its new equipment had been imported from multiple European countries as it underwent continued expansion. The role of the Imperial Guard was to suppress what could be a nationwide revolt against the Imperial government as a result of any reforms that abolished slavery and robbed them of their large estates. With assistance from Ethiopian and European military advisors, he wrote the "Menelik Plan" - this outlined the official plans for liquidation of the reactionary aristocracy, suppression of any nationwide revolts and Ethiopian modernization. Haile Selassie had already managed to secure loyalists in the forms of Ras Seyoum Mangesha and Ras Imru Haile Selassie who had not only become pro-Haile Selassie but were in favor of Rastafarianism as it became quite appealing to more nationalist and reformist nobles. To bolster the number of loyalists, a system of meritocracy was instituted throughout Ethiopia which weakened hereditary nobles as it allowed for non-northern Ethiopian and non-Orthodox Christian Ethiopians to rise to prominence as Haile Selassie received support from the less traditionalist Ethiopians in the southern provinces. This also allowed for these southern Ethiopian nobles to form a counterbalance of power and influence to the positions of the established northern Ethiopian nobility, the elected nobles all over Ethiopia forming a support base for Haile Selassie. The Emperor saw the importance of expanding his support base and influence from the traditional circles to avoid becoming reliant on the aforementioned traditionalists that had been the main pillars of support for Ethiopian Emperors in the past, coming to see the importance of the peasantry.

To further modernize the military, another Military Mission was invited to Ethiopia in 1926 - it was a German Military Mission headed by the famed General Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck who had fought in East Africa as a guerrilla during the World War. The German Military Mission consisted of other German veterans of the World War, accompanied by a shipment of several thousand Gewehr 98 rifles, MP18s and MG08s to arm the Ethiopian troops that were to be trained under their command. Haile Selassie had personally asked for von Lettow-Vorbeck, having heard of his feats in Eastern Africa and wanting to establish better relations with Germany, and Berlin had obliged his request by putting at the head of the GMME. The GMME was put to work in the southern provinces where pro-Haile Selassie southerners volunteered and southern nobles provided men from their own armies, Haile Selassie requesting that the GMME train the southern forces into elite men. 20,000 new Imperial Guardsmen and southern troops formed the 1st Ethiopian Stormtrooper Division, placed under the GMME's administration whilst under the overall command of the Imperial Guard which was commanded by the Emperor himself. London and Rome were alarmed at the German Military Mission in Ethiopia, suspicious and wary of German intentions in the Horn of Africa before Addis Ababa and Berlin assured them that the Germans had no harmful intentions towards the present colonial powers. Haile Selassie, having heard of the decisive Polish victory at the Battle of Komarow that had been secured by Polish cavalry, requested that Polish cavalry veterans from the said battle assist in training Ethiopian cavalry as the 3rd Imperial Cavalry Guardsmen Division was to be trained by the Polish Military Mission to Ethiopia. Warsaw agreed to this, sending the necessary Polish advisors to Ethiopia as they were put to work. As recommended by the leadership of the Imperial Guard and European military advisors, construction of fortifications in the Tigrayan mountains begun in 1926 as Haile Selassie was suspicious of an Italian invasion coming from Italian Eritrea and sought to establish a line where Ethiopian forces could stop advancing forces and eventually push them back into their northern colony. Similar defensive fortifications were being built in the western and central provinces, the defenses in the western mountains acting not only as a point to halt any advancing forces but to launch offensives from as well and the defensive works in the interior mountains served as a base where guerrilla warfare was to begin against occupying powers.

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(Soldiers of the 3rd Imperial Cavalry Guardsmen Division undergo training under Polish advisors, circa. 1925-26)

As he consolidated his power over the recently conquered provinces and expanded his influence into other ones, Haile Selassie implemented reforms in southern Ethiopia where the minority of northern nobles were outnumbered by the growing numbers of elected southern nobles. The Bale Revolt of 1926 was an uprising by the northern nobles in the southern Bale province as their sizable estates were dismantled and redistributed amongst the peasantry and nobles of the province, the Imperial government promising to compensate the nobles. Unfortunately, the northern and more reactionary nobles of Bale refused to accept this as they mobilized their peasant armies in defiance of Emperor Haile Selassie and the Imperial government. However, a good number of the peasant soldiers had heard tell of the Imperial Guard which had become legends among all of the Ethiopian Empire and the decisive defeat suffered by the armies of the rebellious Dejazmach Balcha Safo and Ras Gugsa, refusing to fight. Many of those refusing to fight were executed by the more loyal men, causing a chain reaction in which the bulk of some armies simply revolted against their noble commanders, collapsing as the Imperial Guard detachments made their way into Bale and surrendering en masse to the Imperial Guardsmen as it took hold of the entire province. On the orders of Haile Selassie, Ras Bitwoded Makonnen Endalkatchew - a reformist intellectual - was chosen as the new Governor of the Bale province as he received the backing of Haile Selassie's Imperial Guard and enforced the new reforms with his own experienced and professionally trained force. With the end of the Bale Revolt, Emperor Haile Selassie adopted a new strategy which focused on establishing a special system of reservists in every Ethiopian province that would come to the aid of any pro-Haile Selassie leader, if the Emperor himself was in trouble and when the Ethiopian Empire was being invaded. This allowed for around 1,000 Imperial Guardsmen to be concentrated in one province outside of the central Shewan province where the Imperial Guard was based, leaving roughly 18,000 men in Shewa under the personal command of the Emperor. If necessary, these reservists would form the nucleus of organized guerrilla units throughout Ethiopia in the event of invasion from the European colonial empires that completely surrounded her. Military academies headed by aforementioned reservists were opened with the assistance of European military advisors in provinces outside of Shewa to recruit local men into the Imperial Guard and/or Mahel Sefari in the event of war.

Haile Selassie ordered the construction of roads and railways to connect the major population centers to Addis Ababa, considering this as a means of being able to further spread more of his influence throughout the Ethiopian Empire. The Emperor utilized French and Italian capital to do so, the first railroad being the one that was to link Harar and Dire Dawa together before connecting to Nazret where it would ultimately be centered at Addis Ababa. To add to his transportation infrastructure projects, he wished to improve communications infrastructure in all of the Ethiopian Empire to better allow for further centralization and unification of the Ethiopian peoples at the periphery of the core provinces. Telephones, telegrams and wireless services as a whole had been introduced in 1921 in the central provinces where it expanded from as the Imperial government built up the necessary infrastructure in the particularly isolated regions of Ethiopia, mainly in the southeastern provinces. Haile Selassie ordered the construction of agricultural centers in the southern provinces on the tracts of government-owned land and what the pro-Haile Selassie southern nobles held, the latter seeing they could make quite a profit when cooperating with the Imperial government. Cash crops were to be grown in agricultural centers that dotted northern, western and southern Ethiopia in the more arable and rich lands that belonged to the Imperial government after it had confiscated rebellious nobles' estates or nobles aligned with Selassie's government. A particularly important Ethiopian export was coffee, Ethiopian coffee becoming quite popular in Western Europe and North America where there were increasing demands for Ethiopian cash crops as Haile Selassie expanded the cash crops Ethiopia grew. Other cash crops such as tobacco, tea, sugar cane and cotton were imported for the purpose of growing these on the new government-owned lands as the Ethiopian agricultural sector expanded with the new cash crops. Another sector of the Ethiopian economy included the textile and handicraft industries, the European expatriate communities dominating them as the Emperor established a government program for the purpose of teaching Ethiopians how to handle their own handicraft industries. Haile Selassie invited investment from European powers, the most interested being France and Italy who were competing for influence in Ethiopia while the Emperor continued to play them off against one another when it benefitted him the most. Whenever foreign companies became interested in investing in Ethiopia, Haile Selassie had decreed there be partial ownership on the behalf of the Ethiopians to prevent any foreign power from dominating Ethiopia through economic means. As apart of modernization, Haile Selassie recruited the Orthodox Church in a nationwide literacy campaign that was to increase literacy rates amongst the population and spread the Amharic language despite protesting of lingual minorities.

Haile Selassie's regime was becoming more authoritarian as he expanded and consolidated power over the Ethiopian Empire during his modernization programs, taking examples from the new authoritarian governments rising in Europe such as the Portuguese Estado Novo and Polish Sanation movements. Haile Selassie and his government had become attracted to the ideas of fascism as had a group of Ethiopian students who had received their educations in Rome, coming to the Selassite Imperial government with an Ethiopian-style fascist ideology that they had named Rastafarianism. The Emperor embraced it as a possible unifying factor amongst the Ethiopian people that could allow for him to properly modernize and Westernize Ethiopia to a point matching the European colonial powers encircling her. Rastafarianism's key points included:
  • Ethiopian Nationalism: Rastafarianism promoted Ethiopian nationalism that was mainly centered around the expansion of the northern highlander Amharic culture and its values into the Ethiopian Empire as well as promoting Ethiopian history and the successes of the Ethiopian people against imperialism in the past. Other vital components of Rastafarian Ethiopian nationalism included Oriental Orthodox Christianity and the establishment of a pan-Habesha/Ethiopian identity.
  • Ethiopian Monarchism: Rastafarianism promoted the Ethiopian monarchy as one of the factors that unified the Ethiopian people in the face of any danger to the Ethiopian state and her society.
  • Anti-Imperialism: Rastafarianism viewed any imperialist expansion into the Ethiopian Empire as a danger to the Ethiopian people and their livelihoods.
Rastafarianism was quickly becoming prominent amongst the Orthodox Christian highlanders in northern, western and central Ethiopia whereas the Muslim and Pagan southern lowlanders possessed a more negative view towards the expansion of northern Amharic culture into their territories which caused some unease among the elected southern nobles, many of whom were Oromos or Somalis. Haile Selassie would attempt to play the Amharic cultural expansion aspects down in favor of promoting a more pan-Ethiopian ideology throughout his empire but some anti-Haile Selassie sentiment remained amongst the southern people who continued to remain aligned with Haile Selassie as a result of being freed by his reforms. The Emperor just continued with modernization as he kept a close watch on the Ethiopian southern peoples and nobles, balancing them out with newer elected nobles and hereditary nobles that had sworn allegiance to the Emperor. These recently elected nobles underwent a bit of Rastafarian indoctrination before becoming apart of the National Royalist Party which continued to see growth in membership, albeit mainly in the traditionalist circles that were becoming more reform-oriented as a result of Haile Selassie's successful reforms. An organization similar to the National Royalist Party was established in Addis Ababa - the Organization of Young Royalists, a group of young Ethiopians who were undergoing indoctrination to provide a support base for Emperor Haile Selassie in the future generation and assist him in modernization. It started with a few hundred Ethiopians before the Selassite Imperial government encouraged it to expand, seeing a growth in a couple thousand members by the end of 1927.

However, there were still some Ethiopians who opposed Rastafarianism and the institution of such an ideology throughout Ethiopia as they convened in the city of Dire Dawa to discuss the eventual overthrow of Haile Selassie and his government. Lij Yohannes Iyasu, the son of Lij Iyasu V, was to be the unifying factor amongst these Ethiopians with different ideologies and from different backgrounds as the decision was made to establish a coalition of underground organizations that opposed the Selassite government.
 
Interesting setup. My knowledge of the period is scarce, but it sounds like we won’t get to see the famous incident where Balcha Safo’s entire army was bribed out from under his nose.

Don’t worry about the lack of comments, you’re getting a lot of likes.
 
Interesting setup. My knowledge of the period is scarce, but it sounds like we won’t get to see the famous incident where Balcha Safo’s entire army was bribed out from under his nose.
Yep, considering his army essentially collapsed in the Sidamo Campaign and many of his former men are now in the Imperial Guard being indoctrinated.
 
Reformists vs Reactionaries?
Haile Selassie would travel to the United States of America in 1927 in order to meet with President Calvin Coolidge over not only forming better relations with the US but securing another source of financial and material support outside of Europe. The Emperor found the President of the US favorable in terms of racial relations as the man supported civil rights for the African American community and sought to make lynchings a federal crime while having signed the Indian Citizenship Act in 1924, Calvin having received much support from African Americans in agreeing to meet with the Emperor of Ethiopia. The Empire of Ethiopia had become quite famous amongst the African American community since the Battle of Adwa in 1896 where Italy had suffered a decisive defeat at the hands of an African kingdom and secured its independence, in stark contrast to what was happening to the rest of the continent. Haile Selassie focused on mainly discussing economic cooperation whilst requesting shipments of supplies to provide the Imperial Guard with sizable stockpiles in the event of war with surrounding colonial powers to prevent Ethiopia from immediately suffering from lack of armaments. The American President agreed to provide Ethiopia with a few thousand Springfield rifles, along with M1895 and M1917 machine guns as Haile Selassie discussed the possibility of an American Military Mission to Ethiopia. Calvin was unwilling to send a Military Mission for fear of potential conflict with Entente member states whose colonial empires possessed varying influence in Ethiopia and as such, declined but allowed for shipments of arms and imports of Ethiopian cash crops. During his time in the US, Haile Selassie found himself becoming a minor celebrity as he was escorted by his Imperial Guardsmen to Washington and was cheered by the African American community which was bolstered by the Ethiopian Emperor's support for civil rights for African Americans. A few African Americans even volunteered to enlist in the Imperial Guard but despite the Emperor's interest in such an idea, this was prevented by Coolidge's administration before anything could truly happen.

Haile Selassie's modernization programs were still under way, constructing European-style infrastructure in the cities of Addis Ababa and Dire Dawa as both underwent rapid development in a few years, especially with European investment. Haile Selassie also begun introducing similar infrastructure and public works programs in the cities of Fiche, Debre Markos and Dessie as they were becoming connected with the city of Mekele through a railway that would begin from Addis Ababa. Transportation infrastructure in Ethiopia had been vastly improved as revenues from the booming Ethiopian economy and European investment - with the beginnings of American investment - were utilized for further development of Ethiopia. The same could be said for the communications infrastructure throughout the country as people and provinces on the fringes of the Ethiopian Empire became united with their counterparts in the core provinces as the Emperor implemented a system of assimilation. The literacy campaign had been somewhat successful as the Orthodox Church slowly spread the Amharic language throughout Ethiopia, the provinces of Shewa and Gojjam being the most successful in terms of literacy rates of roughly 91% and increasing. It proved particularly difficult in the southern provinces where southern peoples viewed Haile Selassie's literacy campaign as a means of attempting to convert them to Orthodox Christianity, leaving varying percentages of even basic literacy. A reorganization of provincial administrations was instituted as each province became nominally semi-autonomous but was ultimately subordinate to the Emperor and his central Imperial government in Addis Ababa. Haile Selassie placed different "Kings" in control of each province, these Kings often being high-ranking officials of the National Royalist Party as they worked alongside governors of their provinces to enforce the modernizing rule of Haile Selassie and his Cabinet. With the reorganization of Ethiopian provinces, it came with the success of the Swiss Military Mission in the field of establishing a force of Ethiopian gendarmes that were now the nucleus of what the Emperor called the "National Royalist Ethiopian Guard" which was soon placed under command of the Imperial Guardsmen. They were soon shifted to a final joint training program between the Imperial Guard and the GMME as Haile Selassie sought to firmly consolidate control over the NREG which was to add to furthering consolidation of control over all European-trained Ethiopian forces. Haile Selassie ultimately wanted to spread the NREG throughout Ethiopia to take over the job of the reservist Imperial Guardsmen in backing the new pro-Haile Selassie Kings and Governors to prevent any revolts from overthrowing him.

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(The Swiss-trained soldiers of the National Royalist Ethiopian Guard ready to serve the motherland, circa. 1928-29)

Haile Selassie knew he required the Imperial Guard and NREG to institute the Menelik Plan successfully as the Imperial Guard reservists were recalled to Shewa, relatively few remaining in their former positions as the Imperial Guard swelled to its peacetime size of 31,000. The new joint training program between the IG and GMME was to further indoctrinate the NREG into becoming fervent Rastafarians and loyal to him in the event of any revolt or invasion so as to crack down on any rebellious sentiment. The Emperor wished to formally abolish slavery but it would see a nationwide revolt that had the possibility of him being replaced by a puppet Emperor representing the interests of the reactionary aristocracy of which there were a sizable amount that he hadn't eliminated. The Royal Ethiopian Armed Forces needed to be prepared for what Haile Selassie viewed as an inevitable confrontation between the reformist factions and the reactionary factions as the Menelik Plan continued to undergo changes and updates with current day events in mind. The Emperor saw an Ethiopian Civil War as inevitable if he wanted to join other countries on the international stage, knowing that all groups in Ethiopia opposed to reform and modernization needed to be wiped out or else they'd simply cause more trouble during the modernization programs. Although the reactionary aristocracy had benefitted from following the Selassite government's regulations and economic boom, he sought to seize their lands in order to redistribute them amongst the recently freed peasants. On April 1st of 1929, the Imperial Selassite government decreed that slavery in all forms was outlawed as these freed peasants were to receive their own lands to work while the Imperial government would compensate these nobles with enough money as well as profits from their former serfs' lands as the central government waited for the reaction. All European-trained government forces had been mobilized in preparation for the backlash of the reactionary nobles as soon enough, the nobles revolted throughout the Ethiopian Empire on April 3rd which was to be remembered as the fateful day of the beginning of the Ethiopian Civil War.
 
The Ethiopian Civil War
The Ethiopian Civil War begun with a reactionary victory at Jimma, the capital of the autonomous Kingdom of Jimma where King Abba Jifar II aligned himself with the reactionaries and rose up in revolt against the Selassite government to attempt to secede, establishing the Kingdom of Jimma as independent. King Abba begun making overtures to the British in hopes of British forces in Sudan establishing a British protectorate over the Kingdom of Jimma against potential Ethiopian aggression as the National Army of Jimma spread itself throughout the country in hopes to rapidly overwhelm Ethiopian forces. A detachment of roughly 2,000 Imperial Guardsmen launched an invasion of the Kingdom of Jimma, using the Bale province as a base as they attempted to overwhelm NAJ positions along the border in cooperation with Ras Bitwoded Endalkatchew Makonnen's forces. On April 9th, Ethiopian forces broke through NAJ defenses as the Imperial Guard detachments overwhelmed the conscripted troops that were often poorly trained and poorly equipped men but they were in high spirits with the independence of Jimma from Ethiopian rule. In western Ethiopia, the Gojjam Offensive was launched on April 13th of 1929 as the 1st Ethiopian Stormtrooper Division carried out an offensive into Gojjam where forces of Ras Imru were engaged in battle with reactionary and rebellious elements as he managed to successfully secure Debre Markos. In Tigray, Ras Seyoum Mengesha launched his own invasion into Wollo to assist the Imperial Guard in occupying the province after successfully putting down a reactionary revolt at Mekele as his Tigrayan armies advanced far into Wollo. Wollo was completely occupied by April 18th but there was still ongoing resistance in the form of sporadic hit-and-run attacks on the Imperial Guardsmen and the Tigrayan armies as they focused on retaking other regions held by reactionary forces. In Welega, Nekemte was successfully taken by reactionary forces who possessed numerical superiority and overwhelmed loyalist forces at the capital of the Welega province with human wave attacks as the few hundred NREG troops defending the city sustained heavy casualties. The 2nd Imperial Guardsmen Division worked to secure a large depot of supplies at Gore that reactionary-aligned nobles had managed to secure in an uprising through killing all local Imperial administrators and were successful by April 14th in which some arms were distributed amongst the pro-Haile Selassie peasants who were conscripted into either the Imperial Guard or National Royalist Ethiopian Guard.

Despite the institution of meritocracy in southern and southeastern Ethiopia, there was still a relatively small number of nobles with significant estates which allowed for the Imperial Guard to quickly occupy the southern provinces and defeat any rebellious nobles. However, the lack of rebellious nobles didn't mean that there wasn't any rebellious sentiment amongst the people of certain provinces as the city of Dire Dawa saw Lij Yohannes Iyasu and followers taking advantage of the ongoing Ethiopian Civil War through revolting against the Imperial administration and overwhelming the local NREG garrisons. Lij Yohannes Iyasu proclaimed that he was the true Emperor of Ethiopia as he mobilized Iyasuists, organizing the National Ethiopian Movement which was the first properly organized force to rise amongst the anti-Selassie factions of the Ethiopian Civil War. Imperial supply deports had been seized by the National Liberation Army as its arms and equipment were distributed among the Iyasuist soldiers who soon abandoned the city, scouts observing the 2nd Imperial Guardsmen Division advancing to re-take the city and Iyasu ordering that the NLA withdraw to the countryside. A thousand Iyasuist soldiers were left in Dire Dawa to cover the retreat of the NLE, being almost wiped out to a man as Imperial Guardsmen slaughtered them in the Battle of Dire Dawa and forced the remnants to flee into the surrounding terrain of Dire Dawa. Haile Selassie was now well aware of Lij Yohannes Iyasu and his position amongst the anti-Selassie factions as the reactionary forces begun to rally around the National Ethiopian Movement and donated their men to join the NLA, allowing for it to grow to 10,000 men strong. Lij Yohannes Iyasu, or as he was becoming increasingly referred to as Emperor Iyasu VI, lead the National Liberation Army into the Arsi province where he was planning to occupy the entire province eventually and then launch an invasion of Shewa where he would take power from Haile Selassie, becoming the true Emperor. The National Liberation Movement was well aware that the poorly organized reactionary forces would eventually collapse in the face of the professionally trained and experienced Imperial Guardsmen along with the rest of the European-trained loyalist forces. The NEM's main strategy was to dominate and blend into the countryside in a guerrilla war against the government troops as they built up the necessary forces to convert to conventional warfare and campaigns, the same process was to happen in Wollo where there was the most pro-Iyasu sentiment. It continued to carry out constant guerrilla attacks on government forces in the Arsi and Wollo provinces where thousands of troops from the NREG were being held down as the Imperial Guard and feudal forces that were aligned with Haile Selassie advanced into reactionary-held territory. The Imperial Guardsmen and NREG successfully completed the Welega Campaign as the reactionary forces collapsed alongside with their leadership, rebellious nobles often committing suicide to avoid being captured by the Imperial Guard. By May 10th, most regions and provinces held by the reactionaries had fallen to the government forces as the remaining reactionary forces turned towards guerrilla warfare and fled into the Ethiopian interior where the NEM conscripted them into the NLA. A last stand had been made in Gama Gofa's capital of Arba Minch where a total of 50,000 reactionary forces entrenched themselves in well-defended positions with more modern arms stolen from government stockpiles and prepared for the onslaught of government forces.

The Battle of Arba Minch saw the reactionary forces defend successfully initially as they repelled the assault by NREG forces with well-placed machine guns and even a few artillery pieces as they managed to suffer only a few hundred deaths. The Imperial Guard provided the NREG forces in Gama Gofa with reinforcements in the form of the 2nd Imperial Guardsmen Division, an overwhelmingly high amount of men being sent against the defenses of Arba Minch which were bombarded by airplanes and artillery. Using French and Italian tanks to their advantage, the soldiers of the 2nd Imperial Guardsmen Division steadily mowed over the reactionary positions as the reactionary forces eventually collapsed under the pressure but not without inflicting a total of 3,500 casualties on the Imperial Guard and 5,000 amongst the NREG. All that was left of the reactionary forces were bands of guerrillas and bandits spread throughout Ethiopia as it seemed the most efficient way of resisting without being completely slaughtered by the government forces as the Ethiopian Civil War transformed from a conventional one to a guerrilla war with the National Ethiopia Movement becoming the most active in the Arsi and Wollo provinces. Haile Selassie turned his attention towards Arsi where the National Ethiopian Movement had successfully occupied Asela, the provincial capital where the National Liberation Army expanded from and into the rest of the province as it took Core without much resistance. The Emperor recruited his Tigrayan mercenaries to blend into the general population of Wollo to inform the Imperial government of the NEM's activities as Imperial administration was re-established and an offensive was launched into Arsi. Iyasu had secretly relocated to the mountains of Wollo alongside the political leadership of the National Ethiopia Movement, the National Ethiopian Council which coordinated the organized guerrilla bands against the Ethiopian government. The Imperial government responded with instituting meritocracy more throughly as the Emperor personally handpicked nobles to rule over the province as Ras Imru was named the "King of Gojjam and Wollo" to take over administration. Alongside the elected nobles of Wollo, Emperor Haile Selassie oversaw the conscription of pro-Selassie volunteers from the Oromo populace - Oromo cavalry was infamous and widely renowned all over Ethiopia as Haile Selassie played on nationalist elements, reminding them of the role of Oromos in the First Italo-Ethiopian War. They bolstered the 3rd Imperial Cavalry Guardsmen with their numbers, knowledge of tactics regarding cavalry and military traditions as they rose through the ranks and even worked alongside the Polish Military Mission.

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(Oromo cavalry of the 3rd Imperial Cavalry Guardsmen Division on exercises, circa. 1929-30)

The international community had watched the Ethiopian Civil War with interest as Haile Selassie declared slavery illegal, allowing for him to join the League of Nations in 1929 with the help of Paris and Rome. Journalists, military advisors and diplomats arrived in Ethiopia to observe the conflict as the Imperial Guard and National Royalist Ethiopian Guard were mobilized in their entirety against revolutionary forces, many praising their performance. Britain, France, Italy, America, Belgium and Japan all sent observers to the Ethiopian Empire as Haile Selassie met with them personally as they arrived in Addis Ababa before being accompanied to the front by detachments of the NREG. The Japanese took the chance to establish better relations with the Ethiopians as a potential non-European ally against colonialism, having remained successfully independent and delivering a decisive blow to the Russian Empire in 1906 similarly to Ethiopia and Italy in 1896. Haile Selassie soon became interested in utilizing Japan as an example for modernization, hearing from the Japanizers - a faction of Ethiopians favoring Japanese-style modernization - that Japan was a good example for modernization and Westernization. The Emperor soon arranged to meet with the Emperor Hirohito in 1931, many Japanese favoring the Ethiopians as well in the face of European expansionism and colonialism that both powers had defended against successfully. The European colonial powers of the Horn of Africa became alarmed, immediately becoming suspicious of Japanese intentions in Africa while Tokyo and Addis Ababa attempted to reassure them after journalists accused the two of opium trade in the Ethiopian Empire. Despite this, Haile Selassie would actively attempt to forge closer links with Japan which Hirohito and other members of the Japanese government encouraged once there were plans made for Tokyo buying up tracts of Ethiopian land and investing in the African country. With the end of the Ethiopian Civil War, the Japanese sent military advisors to inspect the Imperial Guard and other European-trained forces under the command of the Imperial government while Haile Selassie and his Ministers wrote up the draft for the first Ethiopian Constitution.
 
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