Tewodros II

A provincial soldier of modest noble birth, Kassa Hailu fought his way to the throne of Ethiopia in 1855 and ruled as Tewodros II until 1868. By defeating the regional warlords who had dominated the country for generations, he ended the Zemene Mesafint, the "Era of the Princes", and is often treated as the founder of modern Ethiopia. His reign closed with a British invasion and his suicide at Magdala.

Kassa was born around 1818 in Qwara, west of Gondar, the son of an Amhara nobleman. His parents separated when he was small and his father died soon after. He was educated at a monastery near Lake Tana and later learned the art of war under his kinsman Kenfu Hailu. In 1837 he took part in fighting against Egyptian and Ottoman forces on the Sudanese border. After Kenfu's death in 1839 the family lost Qwara, and Kassa became a shifta, an outlaw leader, building his own band of followers.

Kassa grew strong enough that the court at Gondar tried to buy him off. In 1845 he was made governor of Qwara and married Tewabech, granddaughter of Empress Menen Liben Amede, mother of the powerful regent Ras Ali II. The alliance did not last. Kassa occupied Gondar in 1847 and suffered a heavy defeat by Egyptian troops at Dabarki in 1848, which led him to adopt firearms drill and artillery. From 1852 he turned on Ras Ali and over three years won a string of battles, capturing Empress Menen at Ayshal. After overcoming his last great rival, Wube Haile Maryam of Semien, he was crowned on 11 February 1855, taking the name Tewodros after a prophecy of a ruler who would restore the empire.

Tewodros brought Gojjam, Tigray, Wollo and the semi-independent kingdom of Shewa back under direct imperial rule. From Shewa he took the young prince Sahle Maryam, the future Menelik II, raising him at court and marrying him to his daughter. He tried to replace hereditary lords with salaried governors and judges, created a standing army instead of relying on noble levies, and moved his capital from Gondar to Debre Tabor and then to the mountain fortress of Magdala. His attempt to tax and seize church lands, however, turned the clergy against him.

Rebellions never stopped, and after the death of Empress Tewabech his rule grew harsher. Accounts record mass executions of prisoners, including some 7,000 captives killed after a victory over the rebel Tedla Gwalu in 1863. By late 1862 much of the country was in revolt and his effective control had shrunk to the area between Lake Tana and Magdala.

Looking for Christian allies against Egyptian and Ottoman pressure, Tewodros wrote to Queen Victoria asking for craftsmen to help make weapons. The letter went unanswered for years. In response he imprisoned the British consul, Charles Cameron, along with missionaries and other Europeans, and later the envoy Hormuzd Rassam. Britain answered by sending an expedition from India under Robert Napier, some 13,000 troops plus many camp followers. Regional rivals helped the invaders on their march.

The British defeated his army at Arogye on 10 April 1868. Tewodros released the Europeans, but had several hundred Ethiopian prisoners thrown from the cliffs. When the British stormed Magdala on 13 April 1868, he shot himself rather than be captured. The fortress was looted and its treasures dispersed across Europe; his young son Alemayehu was taken to Britain and died there in 1879. Tewodros was eventually succeeded by Yohannes IV, and in Ethiopia he is remembered as a symbol of national unity and defiance.

The nearest map years are 1815, before his rise, and 1878, a decade after his death. For the longer story of the state he reunified, see Ethiopia; the power that ended his reign appears as the British Empire.