{"id":219290,"date":"2026-02-14T20:36:41","date_gmt":"2026-02-15T02:36:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/?p=219290"},"modified":"2026-02-16T04:11:54","modified_gmt":"2026-02-16T10:11:54","slug":"haile-selassie-ethiopias-wise-wartime-emperor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/haile-selassie-ethiopias-wise-wartime-emperor\/","title":{"rendered":"Haile Selassie: Ethiopia\u2019s Wise Wartime Emperor"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

<\/path><\/svg><\/span><\/span>Estimated reading time: <\/span>11<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When SCCY Firearms introduced their inexpensive striker-fired handgun, they called it the DVG-1. What not just everybody knew was that DVG stood for \u201cDavis Versus Goliath.\u201d Israel\u2019s King David was one of the most compelling figures in human history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Ethiopian
This is Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie. Once turned out, he was quite the dashing figure. (Photo\/Public domain)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Most folks know at least the rudiments of the story. David was just a kid, likely barely even a teenager, when he faced down the nine-foot Philistine giant Goliath. Per the Biblical narrative, David used his shepherd\u2019s sling to brain the guy in the forehead with a rock before decapitating him with his own sword.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"David
The story of David and Goliath is a timeless tale that transcends both history and faith. (Photo\/Public domain)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

When David was preparing for this epic battle, he selected five smooth stones from a modest creek near the Valley of Elah, some 15 miles west of Bethlehem. I\u2019ve actually picked up a few similar rocks in that very spot myself. The joke at the time was that the Israeli government likely came out every couple of weeks with a front loader full of gravel just to keep the place stocked up for visitors. Tradition holds that David picked five stones because Goliath had four brothers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

David\u2019s life is a powerful example of redemption. David was a rock star. However, he had an affair with a married woman named Bathsheba, murdered her husband, and subsequently got caught. Their first son perished as a result.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

David subsequently repented before the Lord and was forgiven. Despite the grievous nature of his sin, he was nonetheless still described as a man after God\u2019s own heart. I take encouragement from that myself. The David and Bathsheba’s second son was named Solomon. Scripture claims Solomon was the wisest man who ever lived.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"painting
The Queen of Sheba was said to be quite the looker.(Photo\/Public domain)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Rulers came from all over the world to sit before Solomon and bask in his knowledge. One of those leaders was the Queen of Sheba. The Land of Sheba included modern-day Somalia, Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Yemen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of countless unsubstantiated legends to have spawned from the Biblical narrative holds that Solomon and this visiting queen exchanged more than just pleasantries. The book of I Kings reports that Solomon already had 700 wives and 300 concubines. I simply cannot imagine. Keeping just my one wife happy seems like a full-time job to me. Regardless, this extra-Biblical tale proposes that the queen became pregnant by Solomon and eventually gave birth to a son known as Menelik I. The queen then supposedly raised the boy back home as a pious Jew. Now, hold that thought\u2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Man<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In the mid-1930s, fascist Italy under Benito Mussolini harbored aspirations to resurrect the greatness of Imperial Rome. Mussolini subsequently had designs on most of the Mediterranean Sea. In 1935, his first major conquest was Ethiopia. Ethiopia was led at the time by Emperor Haile Selassie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Haile
Haile Selassie certainly had his fans around the world. (Photo\/Public domain)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Born in 1892, Selassie reigned over Ethiopia from 1930 through 1974. History recognizes Selassie as an enlightened reformer. Like all public figures, however, his actual legacy was mixed. While lauded for such stuff as a new freedom-centric Constitution in 1931 and the abolition of slavery eleven years later, he was nonetheless still criticized for the repression of human rights among certain ethnic groups and a failure to modernize quickly enough. Nobody\u2019s perfect, but he was Time Magazine\u2019s Man of the Year in 1935.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Desperation Nation<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Ethiopia had beaten Italy during the First Italo-Abyssinian War, which ran from 1895 through 1896. By the mid-1930s, Mussolini remained quite butthurt over that. In October of 1935, the fascist dictator set out to make things right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the time, Italy was a world-class military power, while Ethiopia remained fairly primitive. Overall troop strength was about the same, but the Italians had the Ethiopians lyrically outmatched in combat power. Ethiopia fielded four tanks and seven armored cars against some 700 modern Italian armored vehicles. Italy outnumbered Ethiopia ten-to-one in artillery. Ethiopia possessed thirteen military aircraft against 595 Italian combat planes. This was shaping up to be a proper bloodbath.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Emperor Responds<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

It is in moments of desperation that the true measure of a man\u2019s character is exposed. When things looked darkest for Volodymyr Zelensky and the Russians were pouring across his national borders, President Biden offered him the use of an American helicopter to whisk him and his family to safety. Zelensky famously responded with, \u201cThe fight is here; I need ammunition, not a ride.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"
This was Haile Selassie’s 1935 mobilization order. It is a study in succinct wartime administration. (Photo\/Public domain)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As the Italians mobilized to seize his nation, Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie had a similar defining moment. With his military teetering and the option of capitulation on the table, Selassie issued the following proclamation:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEveryone will now be mobilized…All men and boys able to carry a spear will be sent to Addis Ababa. Married men will take their wives to carry food and cook. Those without wives will take any woman without a husband. Women with small babies need not go. Those blind, those who cannot walk or for any other reason cannot carry a spear are exempted. Anyone found at home after receipt of this order will be hanged.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That sums things up nicely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How Goes the War?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Ethiopians never really had a chance. They nonetheless still fought like lions in the face of crushing opposition. There had been an arms embargo enacted by the major powers, including France and the UK. This disproportionately affected the Ethiopians, given their lack of indigenous manufacturing capability. Despite the relative parity in raw troop numbers, only about one in four Ethiopians had any formal military training. Many were armed with nothing more than a spear or bow. What rifles they did have were often antiquated, as were their few artillery pieces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"italian
Italian troops were both well-trained and well-equipped when compared to their Ethiopian adversaries. (Photo\/Public domain)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Selassie\u2019s forces fielded some 1,150 machine guns of various sorts. Curiously, in an effort to influence Anglo-Italian relations and cause a rift between the UK and France, the Germans sent the Ethiopians three combat planes, 10,000 Mauser rifles, and 10 million rounds of ammunition. It was only later that Mussolini and Hitler became BFFs. It was obviously a complicated time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As is so often the case, a well-funded but overmatched power leaned on mercenaries to flesh out its military machine. The Ethiopian Air Force was commanded by a Frenchman. Professional soldiers from the US, Nazi Germany, Sweden, Russia, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, and Trinidad all came together to advise and command Ethiopian troops. Italian commanders later attributed Ethiopia\u2019s battlefield successes to the influence of these soldiers for hire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Conflict Matures<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Italians attacked along several axes and made some modest early gains. Two weeks into the campaign, Italian troops seized Aksum and stole its historical obelisk. This they sent to Rome for display in front of the Ministry for Colonies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Frustrated by his troops\u2019 slow progress, Mussolini sacked his commander, Marshal Emilio De Bono, and replaced him with General Pietro Badoglio. Badoglio later became Prime Minister of Italy after the fall of the fascists in 1943.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"ethiopia's
The Ethiopians had no shortage of elan. However, that couldn’t make up for their lack of tanks and combat aircraft.(Photo\/Public domain)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Despite the enthusiasm of the Ethiopian forces, the technological superiority of the Italian Army gradually prevailed. In the absence of radios, the Ethiopians relied upon foot messengers for communication. In the face of a modern army, such stuff as this sealed their fate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Italians were absolutely barbarous in their prosecution of this war, something that served as a preview for what was to come in World War 2. In response to an assassination attempt against General Rodolfo Graziani, Italian forces massacred as many as 30,000 Ethiopian civilians. The primitive nature of the battlefield made verification of numbers unreliable. The Italians also deployed mustard gas against both military and civilian targets. Hundreds of thousands of Ethiopian civilians perished.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Christmas Offensive<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Around Christmas of 1935, Haile Selassie took personal command of his troops and launched an aggressive counteroffensive against Italian forces ground down by two months of heavy fighting. His objective was to split the Italian army, isolate their Corps commands, and lay a foundation for a follow-on operation to crush the invaders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"a
Emperor Selassie had a reputation as a competent military commander. (Photo\/Public domain)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It was a solid plan deftly executed. However, ground troops simply cannot maneuver in the face of enemy air superiority. Despite the overwhelming technological disparities, the Ethiopians nonetheless still gave a good accounting of themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At one point, an Italian Major named Criniti commanded a squadron of light tanks tasked to block the Ethiopian advance. One valiant Ethiopian soldier charged through withering machinegun fire to mount one of the compact Italian armored vehicles. He then banged on the turret to get the crew\u2019s attention. The two gunners popped their hatches to deal with this unexpected threat. In response, the Ethiopian soldier decapitated them both with his sword.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

READ MORE HERE: The 1980 Norco Shootout: A Tidy Little War<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Emperor Selassie Runs Out of Options<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Despite the success of the Christmas Offensive, the Italians\u2019 use of poison gas, to include both mustard and phosgene, ultimately turned the tide of the conflict. Emperor Selassie left Ethiopia to make an impassioned speech for support before the League of Nations in Geneva. World opinion was solidly against the Italians, but the League of Nations had no substantive power. Ethiopia fell, and the emperor spent the rest of the war in exile with his family in the UK.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"man
Selassie and his family were forced into exile in Britain following their war with the Italians. (Photo\/Public domain)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

You recall we began this discussion with King Solomon. Haile Selassie claimed to be the direct descendant of the Solomonic Dynasty. He posited that Menelik I, the purported son of the Queen of Sheba and Solomon, had sired a line of kings that led unbroken right up to his person in the 20th<\/sup> century. Considering this dynasty really gained a foothold in 1270 AD, that\u2019s most likely not true. However, it is thought-provoking to ponder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A group of Russian-backed Marxists called the Derg eventually removed Haile Selassie in a coup in 1975. Soon afterwards, Derg operatives strangled the deposed emperor to death in his bed. He was 83 years old. The sordid details were not uncovered for another two decades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"painting
A lot of folks viewed Emperor Haile Selassie as way more than just a regular guy. (Photo\/Public domain)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

There is much more to this story than we have space to explore. Many followers of the Rastafari movement venerated Haile Selassie as a god. That’s itself a most fascinating tale. Time Magazine rated Selassie as being among the \u201cTop 25 Political Icons of All Time.\u201d His legacy remains influential in the region to this day. It was a curious end to the line of wise men that just might have descended all the way from the Israelite King Solomon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*** Buy and Sell on GunsAmerica!<\/a> ***<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Born in 1892, Selassie reigned over Ethiopia from 1930 through 1974. History recognizes Selassie as an enlightened reformer. Like all public figures, however, his actual legacy was mixed. 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However, shooting guns and claiming it was work seemed like a pretty sweet hustle. As a result, Will serendipitously transformed an avocation into a vocation. Raised in the Mississippi Delta, Will flew UH1H, OH58A\\\/C, CH47D and AH1S helicopters operationally as an Army Aviator. He is SCUBA-qualified and has parachuted out of perfectly good airplanes at 3 o'clock in the morning. Will has summited Mount McKinley, Alaska, six times\u2026always at the controls of an Army helicopter, which is the only way sensible folk climb mountains. Will has delivered sixty babies and occasionally wrung human blood out of his socks. He is married to his high school sweetheart and has three awesome adult children. Turn-ons include vintage German machineguns, flying his sexy-cool RV6A airplane, Count Chocula cereal and the movie \u201cAliens.\u201d www.word-monkey.com Experience: -Professional Writer-thousands of publishing credits for dozens of titles -Mechanical Engineer\\\/Practicing Physician -Instrument-rated Commercial Pilot -Sunday School Teacher\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/www.word-monkey.com\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/will.dabbs.9\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.instagram.com\\\/drwildmanmd\\\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gunsamerica.com\\\/digest\\\/author\\\/willdabbs\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Will - Haile Selassie: Ethiopia\u2019s Wise Wartime Emperor","description":"Ethiopia\u2019s Emperor Haile Selassie led his nation through Italy\u2019s 1935 invasion, exile, and left a powerful legacy.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/haile-selassie-ethiopias-wise-wartime-emperor\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Haile Selassie: Ethiopia\u2019s Wise Wartime Emperor","og_description":"Born in 1892, Selassie reigned over Ethiopia from 1930 through 1974. 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