![]() "Theodore, the new King of Kings of Ethiopia, was certainly the most remarkable man that has appeared in Africa for some centuries. Georg Wilhelm Schimper the German botanist had mentioned the following about Tewodros: His beard is very light and his thin lip." His forehead is high and almost domed his slightly aquiline nose is a common trait among Thoroughbred Amharas. Like almost all Ethiopians, he had a slender body and seemed to owe his great agility less to his muscles than to his powerful will. The French explorer, geographer, ethnologist, linguist and astronomer Antoine Thomson D'Abbadie describes the monarch during his stay in Ethiopia: His faith is signal: without Christ I am nothing." He has exercised the utmost clemency towards the vanquished, treating them more like friends than enemies. He is generous to excess, and free from all cupidity, regarding nothing with pleasure or desire but munitions of war for his soldiers. He salutes his meanest (poor) subjects with courtesy, is sincerely though often mistakenly religious, and will acknowledge a fault committed to his poorest follower in a moment of compassion with sincerity and grace. He is unsparing in punishment - necessary in a wilderness as Abyssinia (at that time). He is fond of splendour, and received in state even on a campaign. ![]() Indefatigable in business, he takes little repose night or day: his ideas and language are clear and precise hesitation is not known to him and has no counsellors or go-between. When aroused his wrath is terrible, and all tremble but at all moments he possesses a perfect self-control. He is persuaded that he is destined to restore the glories of the Ethiopian Empire and to achieve great conquests: of untiring energy, both mental and bodily, his personal and moral daring is boundless. "The King Theodorus is young in years, vigorous in all manly exercises, of a striking countenance, peculiarly polite and engaging when pleased, and mostly displaying great tact and delicacy. ![]() When being crowned as King, Plowden described him as such: The British Consul Walter Plowden knew well the political events of Ethiopia during the 1850s and had foretold the rising star of Kassa the freelance warrior from Qwara. Essentially, Tewodros was a talented military campaigner. His confiscation of these lands gained him enemies in the church and little support elsewhere. He also intended to reform the church but he was confronted by strong opposition when he tried to impose a tax on church lands to help finance government activities. He introduced the collection of books in the form of a library, tax codes, as well as a centralized political system with respective administrative districts. He also established a professional standing army, rather than depending on local lords to provide soldiers for his expeditions. He sought to establish the principle that governors and judges must be salaried appointees. Tewodros II never realized his dream of restoring a strong monarchy, although he took many important initial steps. In the first six years of his reign, the new ruler managed to put down these rebellions, and the empire was relatively peaceful from about 1861 to 1863, but the energy, wealth, and manpower necessary to deal with regional opposition limited the scope of Tewodros's other activities. He ultimately committed suicide at the Battle of Magdala, during the British Expedition to Abyssinia. Despite his success against Shewa, Tewodros faced constant rebellions by stiffnecked nobles in other regions not understanding the benefits of modernization. In the course of subduing the Shewans, Tewodros took with him a Shewan prince, Menelik II who he brought up as his own son, who would later become Emperor (or Atse) himself. ![]() During the Era of the Princes, Shewa was, even more than most provinces, an independent entity, its ruler even styling himself Negus (Neguece), the title for King. Tewodros II's first task after having reunited the other provinces was to bring Shewa under his control. He sought to restore Solomonic hegemony, and he considered himself the Elect of God. He sought to re-establish a cohesive Ethiopian state and to reform its administration and church. ![]() Tewodros II's origins were in the Era of the Princes, but his ambitions were not those of the regional nobility. His rule is often placed as the beginning of modern Ethiopia and brought an end to the decentralized Zemene Mesafint (Era of the Princes). 1818 – 13 April 1868) was Emperor of Ethiopia from 1855 until his death in 1868. Tewodros II ( Ge'ez: ዳግማዊ ቴዎድሮስ, baptized as Gebre Kidan c. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |