"The Ethiopians Are Licked!"

In January a fleet white lieutenant general hurled his forces into Ethiopia. By April the capital had fallen, the Emperor had committed suicide. By June the last of the British troops had left Ethiopia, to the great satisfaction of their Sovereign, the late great Queen Victoria. The year: 1868.

The object of British Lieut. General Napier was to punish a bad Emperor for having tortured some Englishmen. Benito Mussolini began his road-building and colonizing invasion of Ethiopia last October. Three days later Aduwa fell, followed by the fall of the Holy City of Aksum a week later. The emotional advance was stupendous. The territorial advance was 75 miles. Nothing much except road-building happened for a month. Then the Italians pushed their advance 65 miles by taking Makale (TIME, Nov. 18). Nothing of a victorious nature continued to happen for three months. Then under newly appointed Marshal Pietro Badoglio came the Battle of Enderta and the capture of Amba Aradam (12 miles) with Italian boasts that the Ethiopians under Ras Mulugheta were "in headlong rout" (TIME, Feb. 24).

They still were last week. As Marshal Badoglio's war machine lumbered and built roads and climbed forward, Italy's crack troops scaled the terrific 11,000-ft. heights of grim Mount Alaji (25 miles farther on) and the flag of Italy was again fairly up on the great Ethiopian Plateau --as it was in 1895.

Marshall Badoglio still had no miles farther to advance before he would capture--as Lieut. General Napier did for Queen Victoria--malodorous Magdala, which was then the capital. Addis Ababa is 170 miles still farther on. The total advance last week was about 120 miles from the Eritrean border.

After seizing Amba Aradam, the Marshal threw every soldier he could spare into Tembien Province, to the west of his main advance. There his right flank was being menaced by two of Ethiopia's greatest generals, the wily Ras Seyoum and Ras Kassa. If they could be annihilated, the world would be in a mood to agree that "the Ethiopians are licked!" Politically such a world opinion would do Italy the most good if it coincided with this week's arrival in Geneva of Captain Anthony Eden of Great Britain and his League colleagues to decide whether it is best for humanity that more stringent sanctions be imposed on Italy.

So cataclysmic was Marshal Badoglio's perfectly timed triumph that New York Timesman Herbert L. Matthews, one of the clearest-headed correspondents at Italian Military Headquarters, was able to cable his paper as follows:

"Ras Kassa's army in the Tembien region of Ethiopia, northwest of Makale, has been destroyed. He himself is fleeing for his life with a few followers. Now between the Italian forces and Addis Ababa all Northern Ethiopia lies open and almost defenseless. Only Emperor Haile Selassie's private army can offer resistance, and it is not expected to be serious."

Agreed the United Press: "Using his entire northern army of 300,000, Badoglio shattered the armies of Ras Kassa and Ras Seyoum. . . . The Victory saw Fascist legions occupy strategic Golden Mountain, giving Badoglio control of northern Ethiopia."

Correspondent Matthews went on: "Perhaps the Italians are not too sorry Ras Kassa has slipped through their lines. They are not afraid of him any more, and his influence in Ethiopia may become enormous. He is regarded as the greatest figure within Ethiopia, although to the outer world it was the Negus, Haile Selassie, who stood for his country. This correspondent has talked to many natives, as well as to many excellently informed Italian and British officers and officials, and all agree that Ras Kassa is the most powerful man in Ethiopia. Hereditary priest, ruler and maker of Kings, power behind the throne, most respected leader, greatest general -- these are some of the phrases attached to Ras Kassa.

"Ras Kassa may now return to Addis Ababa, the Italians hope and believe, not as the Negus' supporter but as his superior and perhaps even his enemy. The Italians look for profound developments within the unoccupied parts of Ethiopia within the near future. . . . The enormously important Galla tribes are friendly to the Italians and bitterly hate the Shoas and the ruling Amharas. When news of the defeat of Ras Kassa and Ras Mulugheta spreads, as it must, through Ethiopia, it is expected there will be profound repercussions. For this and other reasons the world may expect startling developments within the next few weeks."

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