23092008, week 04

Last year, I bought a book called Eyewitness to History, which are many accounts of certain events in the past thousands of years. I chose it as a summer book, but put it down because it was a little complicated. However, the other day, I found it and looked in the table of contents. I found out that there were a few eyewitness accounts of the history of Ethiopia. One that interested me was The Italian Campaign in Abyssinia: Retreat of the Emperor's Army to Korem, 4-5 April 1936 this account was written by Colonel Konovaloff, a Russian military advisor to the Ethiopian army.

I was already aware of the Italian occupation during World War II. But it was interesting to see it from this perspective. I think it was great to see the perspective of someone in support of Ethiopia. Even though they are not a true Ethiopian perse, they do have a different kind of perspective that is not often seen. I thought it was also interesting because this isn't just something that goes in a text book. It is very personal, so they do reflect on what they see. For example you can actually hear the thoughts racing through his mind as they are fighting. "As I go, I see again a face now no more than a pulp of bleeding flesh, over which a young boy hangs, sobbing, trying his best to help the wounded." This quote did really stick out to me, because it gave a more realistic view of the situation. Most of the research I did was neutral, and was just, "Mussolini invaded, in 1935, etc." This made it much more human. I did learn some facts too. I saw the technology being used such as the airplanes dropping bombs, and the ones in the roads.