Yekatit 12
Yekatit 12 | |
---|---|
Part of the Second Italo–Ethiopian War | |
Location | Addis Ababa |
Date | 19–21 February 1937 |
Deaths | Estimates range from 1,400 to 30,000 Ethiopian civilians |
Victims | Ethiopian civilians, Ethiopian Arbegnoch |
Perpetrators | Italian soldiers |
Yekatit 12 (
Estimates vary on the number of people killed in the three days that followed the attempt on Graziani's life. Ethiopian sources claimed that 30,000 people were killed by the Italians, while other estimates typically range between 1,400 and 6,000 deaths;[2] a 2017 study of the massacre stated that approximately 19,200 people were killed, 20 percent of the population of Addis Ababa.[3] Over the following week, numerous Ethiopians suspected of opposing Italian rule were rounded up and executed, including members of the Black Lions and other members of the aristocracy. Emperor Haile Selassie had sent 125 men abroad to receive college education, but most of them were killed.[4] Many more were imprisoned, even collaborators such as Ras Gebre Haywot, the son of Ras Mikael of Wollo, Brehane Markos, and Ayale Gebre, who had helped the Italians identify the two men who made the attempt on Graziani's life.[5]
Background
Following the defeat of the Ethiopian forces under his personal command at the Battle of Maychew on 31 March 1936, Emperor Haile Selassie left Ethiopia to address the League of Nations to plead for their assistance against the Italians. He made his close friend and cousin Ras Imru Haile Selassie his regent during his absence, who attempted to set up a Provisional Government at Gore, in the southwestern part of the country. Gore, however, was located deep in the homeland of the Oromo people, who opposed his attempts to maintain imperial hegemony; some went as far as to approach the British to recognize their attempts to create a Western Galla Confederation.[6] When the Italians advanced on Nekemte on 24 October, Ras Imru found his position untenable and marched south in search of more welcoming surroundings. The two opponents maneuvered over southwestern Ethiopia, the Italians pursuing the Ethiopians, through the month of November until Ras Imru was caught on the banks of the Gojeb River, where after fierce fighting Ras Imru surrendered on 18 December.[7]
Meanwhile, loyalists made a poorly organized attempt to
Lastly, the remaining Ethiopian forces in the southeast were being run down. Ras
Attack on Graziani
Despite having unquestioned control over the new
In the crowd that formed that Friday morning were two young
The official ceremony began as might be expected. Graziani made a speech, a number of Ethiopian notables made their submission to the victors, Italian planes made a fly-over above the city, and at 11 o'clock officials began distributing the promised alms to priests and the poor.[7]
Abraha and Mogus managed to slip through the crowd to the bottom of the steps to the Little Gebbi, then began throwing grenades. According to one account, they managed to lob 10 of them before escaping in the resulting confusion.[7] According to Richard Pankhurst they were rushed from the scene by a third conspirator, a taxi driver named Simeyon Adefres. Pankhurst also credits him with providing the grenades that Abraha and Mogus threw.[8] It is said that Adefres had managed to procure the grenades from a soldier of the Ethiopian resistance to the Italian colonization whom he had befriended, and that this same soldier, a machine-gunner, taught Abraha and Mogus how to use the grenades.[8][9]
Behind them, the dead included Abuna Qerellos's umbrella-bearer. The wounded included the Abuna himself, the Vice-Governor General Armando Petretti, General Aurelio Liotta of the Air Force, and the Viceroy himself; one grenade exploded next to him, sending 365 fragments into his body. Graziani was rushed to the Italian hospital where he was operated on immediately, and saved. General Liotta lost his leg to the attack.[7]
For a while Abraha and Mogus hid at the ancient monastery of Debre Libanos but soon moved on, seeking sanctuary in the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan. Somewhere in Gojjam local inhabitants, always suspicious of strangers, murdered them. Adefris returned to Addis Ababa after having driven Abraha and Mogus to the monastery, their first destination, where he remained with them for a week; however, soon after his return to the capital he was arrested by Fascist authorities and tortured to death.[8]
Reprisals
The Italian response was immediate. According to Mockler, "Italian carabinieri had fired into the crowds of beggars and poor assembled for the distribution of alms; and it is said that the Federal Secretary, Guido Cortese, even fired his revolver into the group of Ethiopian dignitaries standing around him."[7] Hours later, Cortese gave the fatal order:
Comrades, today is the day when we should show our devotion to our Viceroy by reacting and destroying the Ethiopians for three days. For three days I give you carte blanche to destroy and kill and do what you want to the Ethiopians.[7]
For the rest of that day, through Saturday and Sunday, Italians killed Ethiopians with daggers and truncheons to the shouts of "Duce! Duce!" and "Civiltà Italiana!" They doused native houses with
The attempted murder provided the Italians with the reason to implement
Thousands of Ethiopians of all classes were sent to detention camps at
Conditions at Nokra were even worse than at Danan, according to Sbacchi. The detainees sent there joined 500 prisoners serving life sentences for serious political crimes, increasing the total number incarcerated to 1,500. The inmates suffered from lack of fresh water, sunstroke, marsh fever, and dysentery.[14]
The final reprisal struck in May. Investigators found that Abraha and Mogus had stayed a while at Debra Libanos, and slight circumstantial evidence suggested that the monks had foreknowledge of their plans. Graziani, mindful of his misadventure at
Casualties
Estimates vary on the number of people killed in the massacre. Ethiopian sources claimed that 30,000 people were killed, while French and American newspapers provided figures ranging between 1,400 and 6,000 deaths.[2] Historian Angelo Del Boca and British author Anthony Mockler estimated 3,000 deaths.[6][15] A 2017 history of the massacre by Ian L. Campbell estimated that 19,200 people were killed.[3]
Commemoration
Ethiopia annually commemorates the victims of Italian fascism.
See also
- Yekatit 12 Square
References
- ^ ISSN 0013-0613. Archived from the originalon 1 August 2017. Retrieved 21 July 2017.
- ^ ISBN 978-88-6559-178-9.
- ^ a b c Campbell 2017.
- ISBN 978-025320646-6.
- JSTOR 217347.
- ^ ISBN 9781902669533– via Google Books.
- ^ ISBN 9781902669533– via Google Books.
- ^ a b c d Richard Pankhurst, "Events during the Fascist Occupation: in February 1937: Who Was the Third Man?", Addis Ababa Tribune, published 27 February 2004 (Internet Archive mirror copy)
- ^ Bekele, Yilma (14 January 2018). Kifle, Elias; Wondimu, Elias (eds.). "My brother Abebe and his WMD". Ethiopian Review. Hailu Indashaw and Elias Kifle. Archived from the original on 24 May 2013. Retrieved 22 May 2021.
- S2CID 143812686. Archived from the originalon 8 February 2021. Retrieved 21 May 2021.
- JSTOR 219547.
- ^ Bahru, "The Ethiopian Intelligentsia", p. 283
- ^ Sbacchi, "Italy and the Treatment", p. 217
- ^ Sbacchi, "Italy and the Treatment", p. 218
- ISBN 978-88-6559-178-9.
- ^ "Patriot Reiterates Commitment to Repeal Western Intervention". 19 February 2022.
- ^ "Ethiopia commemorates 85th Yekatit 12 Martyrs' Day". 19 February 2022.
- ^ "U.S. Embassy Sponsors the Conservation of the "American Gibbi" Building in Merkato". U.S. Embassy in Ethiopia. 24 February 2023. Retrieved 3 March 2023.
- ISBN 978-88-07-11110-5.).
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Further reading
- Campbell, Ian (2019). Dwyer, Michael; May, Kathleen; Leitch, Daisy; Weisweiller-Wu, Lara; Arefin, Farhaana; Clarke, Alice (eds.). The Addis Ababa Massacre: Italy's National Shame (2nd ed.). London: Hurst Publishers (C Hurst & Co Publishers Ltd). ISBN 978-1-849-04692-3.
- Anthony, Mockler (2003). Portwood, Nigel; Richardson, Louise; Patten, Christopher Francis (eds.). Haile Selassie's War. Signal Bks (3rd ed.). Oxford, United Kingdom: Signal Books Limited/Oxford University Press – OUP. pp. 156–162. ISBN 978-1-902-66953-3– via Google Books.