Word: emperor
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1930-1939
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Addis Ababa. No troops were in sight, the remnants of the Imperial Guard being encamped outside the open town. The little Emperor still had his famed beard, but now it was heavily streaked with grey...
Dropping back mile after mile before the relentless Italian advance, Haile Selassie took refuge for a day or two at Magdala, burned by the British in 1868, scene of the suicide of the Emperor's predecessor, Theodore. Magdala's peasants were heartily sick of the war. Many a glum-faced, kinky-polled native spat in the dust as the little imperial party passed. Some crept up to the imperial quarters. A volley of shots crashed through the windows. The Emperor's valet and his chamberlain, both of whom were standing talking to their master, dropped dead...
...north further defense of Addis Ababa was now impossible. It was best for the Empress and their two sons, Crown Prince Asfa-Wassan and round-eyed Prince Makonnen, 13, to leave the country. The Coptic monastery in British-protected Palestine was the first refuge that came to the Emperor's mind. But would the royal family be temporarily safe in French Djibouti, at the other end of the 494-mile Ethiopian railroad to the coast? Minister Bodard assured him that they would...
...walrus-mustached British General named Robert Cornells Napier landed on the coast of Eritrea with 32,000 men, six cannon and a herd of baggage elephants. Into Ethiopia they marched to punish Emperor Theodore for the torture and imprisonment of a group of British officers. Three months later the British column had fought its way some 400 miles inland and had defeated Theodore's tribesmen at Magdala. Emperor Theodore promptly blew his brains out with a revolver presented to him by Queen Victoria. By June 18, five months after the expedition had started, the last British soldier had left...
This week Italian troops were entering their eighth month of active warfare in Ethiopia. Addis Ababa was still 140 miles ahead of the nearest Italian column. Emperor Haile Selassie was neither killed nor captured. Crown Prince Asfa Wassan had returned to Addis Ababa to take over the Government under orders from his father. Remnants of the Imperial Guard drifting back to the Capital still had their rifles, bags of dried peas and the capacity to put up a fight. In the south things were different. The bloodiest battle of the entire War was raging last week around a collection...