British Expedition to Abyssinia
en.wikipedia.org
British Expedition to Abyssinia
1–10 of 26 posts
Re: British Expedition to Abyssinia
#2Quite bonkers, and news to me. This must have been one of the more grandiose campaigns of the Victorians.
Re: British Expedition to Abyssinia
#3Quite bonkers, and news to me. This must have been one of the more grandiose campaigns of the Victorians.
There is — of course — a relevant Flashman book
Re: British Expedition to Abyssinia
#4[dumb joke redacted]
Re: British Expedition to Abyssinia
#5[dumb joke redacted]
It is pointed out right at the beginning of the wikipedia article that the country was already in a state of civil war.
"By October 1862 Emperor Tewodros's position as ruler had become precarious: much of Ethiopia was in revolt against him, except for a small area stretching from Lake Tana east to his fortress at Magdala. "
Re: British Expedition to Abyssinia
#6[dumb joke redacted]
I don't see how the issues were trumped up? And I don't see any foundation to the claim that the country was left in bloody civil war?
It seems to me that the expedition mainly succeeded because the country was already divided, and the British were able to barter cooperation from the vaious other fractions.
Re: British Expedition to Abyssinia
#7romantic glasses on. in today’s honorless world, these historical acts are incredible. reminds me of the terrible fights against Burma, as well as the more recent shackleton expedition during ww1, and defence of hong kong during ww2. romantic glasses off.
these kind of acts can only happen when life is cheap. ask 10,000 people today to go to mars knowing that at least a few, at most all, will die. i guarantee almost no one will sign up. because we value life now like in no other period in human history. for better or worse.
Re: British Expedition to Abyssinia
#8romantic glasses on. in today’s honorless world, these historical acts are incredible. reminds me of the terrible fights against Burma, as well as the more recent shackleton expedition during ww1, and defence of hong kong during ww2. romantic glasses off. these kind of acts can only happen when life is cheap. ask 10,000 people today to go to mars knowing that at least a few, at most all, will die. i guarantee almost…
As far as I can tell dangerous sports seem more popular than ever so I'm not sure that is true (I've known a few people who had died in motorbike accidents and in the mountains so I may be biased).
Also, I'd go to Mars!
Re: British Expedition to Abyssinia
#9romantic glasses on. in today’s honorless world, these historical acts are incredible. reminds me of the terrible fights against Burma, as well as the more recent shackleton expedition during ww1, and defence of hong kong during ww2. romantic glasses off. these kind of acts can only happen when life is cheap. ask 10,000 people today to go to mars knowing that at least a few, at most all, will die. i guarantee almost…
>i guarantee almost no one will sign up. because we value life now like in no other period in human history
Plenty of people will sign up.
That won't stop whoever floated the idea from being fired and dragged through the mud. The majority doesn't really care about this sort of thing. A subset of society thinks life is still cheap, or at least no so ungodly expensive that it must be protected at all costs. However, the people who think life is infinity expensive are loud, vocal and their viewpoint is a simple absolute that is easy to defend so the rest of society caters to them.
Edit: And before anyone implies otherwise, I am specifically not passing a value judgement on either side.
Re: British Expedition to Abyssinia
#10romantic glasses on. in today’s honorless world, these historical acts are incredible. reminds me of the terrible fights against Burma, as well as the more recent shackleton expedition during ww1, and defence of hong kong during ww2. romantic glasses off. these kind of acts can only happen when life is cheap. ask 10,000 people today to go to mars knowing that at least a few, at most all, will die. i guarantee almost…
TIL: Queen Victoria truly was a Lady (not unlike the obviously idealized character of the BBC movie - IIRC it's called hagiography), and what could've otherwise been a massacre actually turned into a remarkable war expedition against the Emperor of Ethiopia Tewodros, who apparently was a dick. As a side note, the last of his successors (though fortunately not his descendant) claiming to be nothing less than King Solomon's heirs, was the man Bob Marley sang about, Ras Tafari! Incredible.