East-African Confederation (unofficial title)Rooted in the political reorganization of post-war Africa, the political relationships between the three main power bases in East Africa are complicated. Somalia and Swahililand are nominally Ethiopian protectorates, but they enjoy differing levels of autonomy, appearing as an almost feudal relationship between Ethiopia and Somalia, and a loose defensive agreement between Ethiopia and the Swahili. So, to make it easier, I'll break this down by state.
Ethiopian Empire
Since its early contact with Ancient Greek merchants, Ethiopia has been a peripheral player in western history, converting to Christianity in the same generation as the Roman Empire, and maintaining a feudal state wedged into a corner of tribal Africa. In fits and starts they maintained a broken communication with the civilizations to the north, keeping the Muslim armies at bay, feeding European rumors of Prestor John, the beacon of Christianity beyond the known world, and attracting a post-medieval breed of Portuguese explorers.
Through all of this, the blistering deserts and difficult mountains kept the Kingdom isolated from the worst depredations of foreign contact. The Empire experienced its warring states period in the nineteenth century, the
Zemene Mesafint, or Era of Judges. This came to an end with the rise of Tewodros II, who reunified the country and through his madness brought into conflict with the rising west. His reign ended in a mountaintop siege, surrounded by a unified army of British expeditionaries and the Emperor's own subject. Britain did not annex the difficult Kingdom, but this brief contact introduced them to the modern world. A native Christian Kingdom made a useful ally for the Europeans, and Ethiopian armies fought alongside European ones in wars against the Sudanese Muslims. This contact brought modern weapons and tactics to the highlands.
At the end of the 19th century, Italy made a bid to colonize Ethiopia. This ended in disaster for Italy, whose devastated armies limped back to Eritrea barely alive. The victorious Emperor Menelik II returned to his freshly built capital in Addis Ababa and began the process of modernization. He died in 1913, leaving behind a profligate heir.
Iyasu was a young man of eighteen when his grandfather died and he came to the throne. By most, he was considered a profligate, disrespecting the holy rights and showing too much tolerance for the Muslims. His coronation was put off as the nobles plotted against him. His aunt, Zewidetu, was crowned. Civil War ensued in 1916.
Iyasu looked destined to lose, but he made a few political gambits that changed his fate. He made alliances with the Somali warlord Khalid al-Himyari and German colonial commander Paul von Letow-Vorbeck. With the Great War raging in Europe, these connections made his Civil War part of a wider conflict. With the help of Khalid, the rebellion was quashed, and Iyasu became Emperor Iyasu V.
As the war raged on, Africa felt the chaos. Colonial possessions were wrested from Allied control. Djibouti was annexed from the French, and while Iyasu sent his armies into Italian Eritrea, the Somalis gained their freedom. In the south, with the help of agitators from its borders, British East Africa fell into a chaotic and uncontrolled revolt. The post war world saw Ethiopia as the stabilizing force between a warlord-eaten Somalia and politically messy Swahililand. Khalid al-Himyari was awarded Ethiopia's Ogaden possessions and Imperial support in exchange for a relationship that made him a subject Governor. Khalid accepted.
As African nations shook their colonial past, Iyasu founded a Congress of Africa in an attempt to sew the embattled continent together as a community of nations to rival the Europeans.
Iyasu ruled until his death in 1958. After his death, his grandson ascended the throne to become Emperor Sahle.
Al-Himyari Somalia
Somalia was a loose territory of rival Emirs and Sheiks until the arrival of the Europeans. The scarcely populated desert land was split by the British and Italians, who ruled is divided parts as a protectorate. That was until the rise of Mohammed Abdullah Hassan, the Mad Mullah. Pronouncing the Dervish State, the Mad Mullah fought a War of Independence until his death in 1914. His movement fractures into a number of competing warlords and looked as if it would fizzle out altogether. The Great War changed this.
Leading an uprising in British Somaliland, an upstart Sheikh by the name of Khalid al-Himyari made a name for himself as an ally of the Mad Mulluh. He held on to his power base in Hargeisa during the violent first two years after the death of his commander, but a strange circumstance in Ethiopia gave him an opportunity to do more than hold on. He made an alliance with the embattled Emperor Iyasu and came to his aid, ensuring the Emperor's victory. This alliance paid off, bringing Khalid into a web of central power alliances. With this wind in his sails, Khalid battled Europeans and his own countrymen, making himself master of Somalia by the mid 1920's. The situation seemed impossibly fragile, and the Germans out of their powerbase in Tanganyika seemed to be eyeing Somalia hungrily. Khalid decided to dance with the devil he knew, and accepted a protectorship from Ethiopia in exchange for an expansion of his rule over the Ogaden. This was controversial among the Somalis, and would remain so until the present day
Khalid was an older man during the wars, and he lived to be 101, dying in 1952. He was succeeded by a successful grandson, Hassan al-Himyari, who accepted a continuance of the protectorship. His relationship with the aging Iyasu was a continuation of the policy of Khalid. The accession of Sahle has created tension between the entwined states, nod boding well for the future of East Africa.
Swahili Peoples Republic[Flag: Red field. A black tribal shield bordered in white in the center. Two black hoes, bent as if made with rough materials, are crossed behind the shield]
British East Africa was squeezed out, pressured from the south by the Germans in Tanganyika and from the north by the Ethiopians and Somalis. There was, however, nobody around ready to replace that colonial government. A weak white-settler government tried to grab power from Mombassa, but their small numbers made this attempt dubious. The Kingdom of Buganda also attempted to fill the void from the west, but this resulted in tribal warfare. Tanganyika favored the whites, Ethiopia the Bugandans, but neither power base wanted to threaten war with the other. As a result, the Swahili languished in confusion.
Inspired by China and frustrated by the Imperialism of the Europeans and the Tribalism of the Africans, a clique of bizarre leftists appeared in the jungles. They appealed to frustration of the smaller tribes and the wish for a unified peace. In the 1940's, an eccentric soldier of fortune named James Lutalo unified these leftists, and with aggressive daring, he began to score victories.
None of their neighbors liked the Communists, but Tanganyikan preparations to annex Swahililand scared Lutalo and Emperor Iyasu into the same camp. Lutalo accepted their nominal status as an Ethiopian protectorate. In return, he was largely left alone.
In the three-way politics of this strange confederation, Lutalo has evolved into a wild card that the other two fear to play.
Wilted Rose
