| Tewodros II
Tewodros II was born Kassa Hailu
sometime around 1818. His father, Hailu Welde Giyorigis, was the
ruler of Qwara district, located on the Ethiopian-Sudanese border.
His military experience started when he served in his half brother’s
army (Prouty and Rosenfeld 1982, 71). His half brother died in 1839
and Qwara was lost to the family and claimed by Empress Menen of
Gondar. Kassa Hailu resorted to become a shifta, one who refuses to
recognize his feudal lord. Kassa Hailu organized his own army in the
plains of Qwara. When he became too powerful to ignore, as a way to
deal with him with out using force, he was named dajazmach of Qwara
and given the hand of Tawabach, the daughter of Ras Ali of Begemder,
in 1845. (Zewde 2001, 28)
Kassa was very
close to Tawabach and devoted to his marriage but his submission to
Empress Menen was short-lived. In October 1846, he attacked and
plundered Dembea, a city located due south of Gondar, and in January
1847 he went on to occupy Gondar. When Kassa unoccupied Gondar later
that year, Empress Menen sent an army after him into north of Lake
Tana. Kassa easily defeated the army and took the Empress as
prisoner (Marcus 2002, 60). Her son, Ras Ali of Begemder, chose to
negotiate with Kassa; he gave Kassa all lands west and north of Lake
Tana and Kassa in return released his mother (Prouty and Rosenfeld
1982, 60). The reconciled relationship with Empress Menen led him to
join up with Ras Ali and Ras Goshu Zewde of Gojam. However, when
conflict reemerged yet again in 1852, Kassa retreated back to Qwara
to re-strengthen his troops (Henze 2001, 134-5).
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Seal of
Tewodros II (Pankhurst
1998, 145) |
From that point on,
Kassa never looked back. On 27 November 1852, he defeated Ras
Goshu’s Gojami army. On 12 April 1853, Kassa defeated four armies
from Wallo, Yajju, Tigray, and Gojam that were formed by Ras Ali. On
29 June 1853 he defeated Ras Ali’s troops but Ras Ali and Empress
Menen were able to escape into the Yajju territory. On 9
February1855, Kassa defeated the last important ruler of the Zamana
Masafent, Dajazmach Webe Hayle Mariam of Tigray (Zewde 2001, 29-30)
Two days later, Kassa Hailu was crowned king of kings of Ethiopia at
Tewodros II at Webe’s church Deresge Mariam, by the Coptic
Metropolitan, Abuna Salama. (Marcus 2002, 64)
When he became
emperor, he set out to reunify and modernize Ethiopia. However, his
ideals never materialized because he spent all his time as king in
military expeditions. After he established Dabara Tabor as his
capital, located 60 miles south-east of Gondar, he went on to concur
Tigray, Wallo, and Shawa, but only for a short time. The appointed
leaders of those regions were either too weak or disloyal. When
unable to bring all of Ethiopia under his control, and fearing a
threat of an attack by the Egyptians from the north and Turks from
the Red Sea, Tewodros attempted to ally himself with England. In
October 1862, he sent a letter to Queen
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A painting
depicting Tewodros's suicide.
(Pankhurst 1998, 159) |
Victoria asking her to aide him oust
the Turks form the Red Sea. The letter was answered nearly two years
later only after Tewodros in anger had poisoned English subjects (Pankhusrt
1998, 147). By 1868, the British were in Ethiopia with an army of
32,000 content on destroying Tewodros. They got cooperation from Dejazmach Kassa Mercha of Tigray. Tewodros was well ahead prepared
for the British in Magdala, where the British subjects were being
held. The British began their assault on 10 April 1868. The next
day, Tewodros released the prisoners, but it was not enough to save
Tewodros. On 13 April, the British unleashed their final attack.
That evening, Tewodros committed suicide. Soon afterwards, the
British burned Magdala and duly left the country (Henze 2001,
139-142).
When the British
first entered Ethiopia, they had received cooperation from Kassa
Mercha and had promised that they would leave as soon as they dealt
with Tewodros. When they left, they rewarded “Kassa for his
cooperation by presenting him with six mortars, six howitzers, as
well as 850 muskets, and a goodly supply of ammunition.” (Pankhurst
2001, 160-1). This surprising gift from the British helped him to
overcome Wag Shum Gobaze of Lasta and Menelik of Shewa to become the
next emperor of Ethiopia. Upon his coronation, he became Yohannes IV
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