Contemporary historians of the British military expedition to Abyssinia (hereafter called Ethiopia) generally ascribed the source of the Ethiopian conflict to the lack of a reply from Queen Victoria to a letter from Tewodros II, in which he requested military aid and the exchange of ambassadors. The victorious campaign enhanced the power and prestige of Britain in both Europe and the Middle East. In the extant literature, however, the role of the “specials,” George A. Henty and Henry M. Stanley, assigned to report on the conduct of the war, has yet to be examined.
This study was undertaken in an effort to better understand the history of war reporting by civilians. Why were war correspondents deemed necessary, and how could civilians understand and effectively convey the facts of the conflict? To what extent did the military commander accept or allow such intrusion, and how strictly enforce censorship? How influential were the correspondents’ descriptions of a virtually unknown people on the reading public? How willing were the correspondents to treat both sides fairly, and how would that accord with the editorial tone of the newspaper. Finally, while the presence of the correspondents may not have directly affected the outcome of the conflict, was it possible that correspondents, such as Henty and Stanley, exerted more influence on the newspaper readership than others because of their strong imperial views?
Inevitably, the correspondents’ reports on Ethiopia informed the views of their readership, and shaped their ideas on non-European peoples and imperial expansion. Significantly, as the Empire grew, Henty’s and Stanley’s imperialistic views gained in popularity, and Henty’s fictional boy heroes helped a generation envision the qualities necessary for the colonial administrator. Stanley’s African explorations in search of Dr. Livingstone captured the imagination of the world, and enhanced the idea of imperial expansion. Both correspondents made significant contributions to the history of war literature by writing books composed of their dispatches.
