WI - Fascist Ethiopia?

I don't think any major differences happen - Ethiopia still gets attacked by Italy, and still loses.
I proposed a scenario where Haile Selassie comes to power earlier so I don't think there wouldn't be any major differences - Ethiopia might have a chance in defeating Italy or at least ending up with a favorable stalemate where she remains mostly intact and independent.
 
This seems quite interesting and I can see why this branch of fascism would be enticing to the Ethiopian government under Haile Selassie. Do you have any other ideas?
The best model for this would be a larger version of Albania during WW2. The Albanian Kingdom went from a de facto Italian client state pre-1939 to a de jure personal union under Victor Emmanuel. On paper Albania was still an independent country, but the ruling Albanian Fascist Party was organized as a branch of the Italian fascist party. Strangely, the Italians didn't just keep Albania's pre-war borders, but employed a kind of vicarious revanchist policy of creating a "Greater Albania" by annexing albanian areas of Yugoslavia to the state.
 

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The best model for this would be a larger version of Albania during WW2. The Albanian Kingdom went from a de facto Italian client state pre-1939 to a de jure personal union under Victor Emmanuel. On paper Albania was still an independent country, but the ruling Albanian Fascist Party was organized as a branch of the Italian fascist party. Strangely, the Italians didn't just keep Albania's pre-war borders, but employed a kind of vicarious revanchist policy of creating a "Greater Albania" by annexing albanian areas of Yugoslavia to the state.
So what would this look like for a Fascist Ethiopia? While this seems like an interesting path, I was thinking that a Fascist Ethiopia would resemble Metaxas' Greece or Salazar's Portugal, perhaps having qualities from both as time progresses and Haile Selassie has more examples to take from. What you're proposing seems to be the end result of the Hoare-Laval Pact being implemented successfully and/or Fascist Italy organizing an underground "National Ethiopian Party" in an attempt to puppetize Ethiopia but I doubt Ethiopia would receive more territory, it would probably lose Tigray and the Ogaden.
 
It's possible he could get that elsewhere if Selassite Ethiopia started wooing/emulating him early on. The man WAS keen on getting his ego stroked, and if Ethiopia is also willing to do something to help Italy's raw material situation (something similar to the Molotov-Ribentrov pact, directly exchanging material for manufactures without Italy needing to tap into her limited currency reserves) I see no reason why he couldent see them as a junior partner.
What could a theoretical Italo-Ethiopian version of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact look like?
 
If HS (Haile Selassie) decides Fascism is the way to go, I cannot see him going the Italian route. AFAIK he was a devout Coptic Christian, so the Italian way wont work. If he tours the nations of Europe, and visits Portugal, Italy and Greece, his version of Fascism will be a mixture of Greek and Portugal, and possibly later Spanish influences. I expect a civil war to occur, between his govt and the Muslim citizens. There would be forced expulsions at the least. If they convert, fine. If not, they have a lesser status or are expelled. This will very possibly cause difficulties with nearby colonial states, but it will happen. Only Italy may find things burdensome enough to rattle sabers, and if this civil war happens early enough, they wont attack for many years. In the interim, banditry and a low grade guerilla war will occur.
What he can do to ameliorate the outcries is to outlaw slavery in the kingdom. Slavery was used by the Italians as a justification for invasion later, if he takes this action early (he may well do this and simply enact some form of legal indenturement to satisfy both sides) then one weapon is taken from the Italians and some public support is gained at home. If he blames the Muslims for continuing the practice and uses it as justification for his program against them and unification of the kingdom then it will silence much of the foreign outcry. The 1920's are not the same as 2018.
IOTL there was an oil lease between the US Standard Oil Company and Ethiopia. Unfortunately that was in 1935, and its implementation was too late for the US Govt. to allow it to proceed, the US Govt. not wanting to anger some of the business community and the many voting citizens of Italian descent. I am not sure when Standard Oil discovered oil in Ethiopia, but if its a few years before 1935, and they get stuck in there, then Ethiopia has both more income AND a sizable portion of people in the US and other Colonial powers who will be vocal about keeping the nations independent. Money talks, and if Standard Oil stands to possibly loose money, the US may enact sanctions all on its own.
Not having a crystal ball of foresight for possible AH outcomes, just how more foreign involvement in Ethiopia will turn out is hard to say. Does it cause Mussolini to turn more towards Albania, or to manufacturing a casus belli with Yugoslavia? Might it drive him to continue the Stresa Front in an effort to gain fame and notoriety? I don't know, but tend to believe it possible. It is also possible (simply based on being another Fascist state) that the Fascist countries (Italy if it doesn't try and invade Ethiopia) will form some type of diplomatic organization to further trade between themselves. Past this, I have no idea. My prognostications are done.:)
 
IOTL there was an oil lease between the US Standard Oil Company and Ethiopia. Unfortunately that was in 1935, and its implementation was too late for the US Govt. to allow it to proceed, the US Govt. not wanting to anger some of the business community and the many voting citizens of Italian descent. I am not sure when Standard Oil discovered oil in Ethiopia, but if its a few years before 1935, and they get stuck in there, then Ethiopia has both more income AND a sizable portion of people in the US and other Colonial powers who will be vocal about keeping the nations independent. Money talks, and if Standard Oil stands to possibly loose money, the US may enact sanctions all on its own.
IOTL, Standard Oil was the first to properly carry out exploration of oil in southern Ethiopia in 1920 where later exploration in the 70s found roughly 68 million cubic meters of oil in the Ogaden Basin so perhaps if Standard Oil strikes oil in the 20s, the US becomes more involved in Ethiopia.
 
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