ABSTRACT
The young emperor broke the power of the regional nobility, laid the basis for a national army, and introduced a constitution which provided for a modern central government structure. The Italians inflicted severe damage on the northern parts of the country, where life was disrupted by fighting followed by acute shortage of food and outbreaks of disease. The natural human qualities of the Italian people served, however, as an antidote to the more oppressive features of fascist colonial policy and conduct. Both the resettlement and villagization programs had their origin in socialist and communist dogma, and both were originally undertaken under a cloak of idealism and humanitarianism in which, for a while at least, some of the implementing officials believed. The political conflicts among different Ethiopian ethnic groups are largely embedded in the expansion of the Ethiopian empire under Menelik by incorporating regional kingdoms in the southern and western parts of the country.
