Countries of the World/COUNTRYS.BIN/dp/0127/01274.txt

Text File | 1991-06-25 | 29KB | 467 lines

$Unique_ID{COW01274}
$Pretitle{228}
$Title{Ethiopia
Chapter 1B.   The Making of Modern Ethiopia}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Richard P. Stevens}
$Affiliation{HQ, Department of the Army}
$Subject{menelik
ras
ii
ethiopia
emperor
italian
rights
land
oromo
tigray}
$Date{1980}
$Log{Figure 4.*0127402.scf
}
Country:     Ethiopia
Book:        Ethiopia, A Country Study
Author:      Richard P. Stevens
Affiliation: HQ, Department of the Army
Date:        1980

Chapter 1B.   The Making of Modern Ethiopia

     At the beginning of the nineteenth century what has come to be called the
Gonderine state was constituted by the northern and central highlands and the
lower areas immediately adjacent to them (see fig. 3). As historian Sven
Rubenson has put it, "kings were enthroned and dethroned at the whims of
governors who fought among themselves for the position of ras of the kingdom
or ras bitwoded, literally, favorite duke ... The Ethiopian monarchy existed
only in name."

     The peoples who made up the state were the Amhara, the Tigray, and the
Cushitic-speaking peoples, such as the Oromo and those groups speaking Agew
languages, many of whom were Christian by this time. In some cases their
conversion had been accompanied by their assimilation to Amhara (or less
often, Tigray) language and culture; in others they had become Christians but
retained their language. Next to the Amhara the most important ethnic group in
the state was the Oromo, but Oromo were not a single bloc, politically or
culturally. Some were Christians, spoke Amharic, and were much intermarried
with the Amhara. Other Christian Oromo retained their language, although their
modes of life and social structure had changed radically from that of their
pastoral cousins. At the eastern edge of the highlands, many had been
converted to Islam. The Oromo, whether Christian and Amhara in culture or not,
played important political roles in the era of the princes-often as the allies
of Amhara aspirants for power but sometimes as rases and kingmakers.

     Meanwhile to the south of the Gonderine state, sections of the Oromo,
cultivators and suppliers of goods exportable to the Red Sea coast and beyond,
had developed kingdoms of substantial scope, stimulated in part by the example
of the Amhara to the north and that of the Sidamo-speaking kingdoms to the
south. The seventeenth through nineteenth centuries had been a period not only
of migration but of mixture, and those who experienced it borrowed usable
techniques and institutions from each other. In the south too, Islam had made
substantial inroads. Many Oromo chieftains found it could be a useful adjunct
to the process of centralization.

     By the second quarter of the nineteenth century, external forces were
having a renewed impact on the highlands and elsewhere in Ethiopia. Trade with
the Red Sea states had been revived; Egypt was making incursions along the
eastern border of the Gonderine state and sought at various times to control
the Red Sea ports. Europeans, chiefly British and French, were showing
interest in the Horn of Africa and beyond. The competition for trade,
differences over the response to Egypt's activities, and the availability of
arms contributed to the conflict-ridden politics of the time.

     As the mid-nineteenth century approached, one of the actors in the
Gonderine chaos was Lij Kassa Haylu, son of a chief from the western border
province of Qwara. From about 1840, Kassa alternated between life as a
highwayman and as a soldier of fortune for various nobles including Ras Ali, a
Christian of Oromo origin, who then controlled the emperor in Gonder. Kassa
became important and effective enough as an army commander to be offered a
daughter of Ras Ali in marriage and the governorship of a minor province.
Aspiring to something more, he eventually rebelled against Ali, won a series
of important battles, and could have become successor to the ras. He chose
instead to become negusa nagast (king of kings) and defeated the governor of
Tigray, who opposed the move. In February 1855 he was crowned by the head of
the church, choosing the throne name Tewodros.

From Tewodros to Menelik II

     Tewodros' background was in the era of the princes, but his ambitions
differed from that of the regional nobility. He sought to reestablish a
cohesive Ethiopian state and to reform its administration and its church.
He did not initially claim descent in the Solomonic line, but he did seek to
restore Habesha hegemony, and he saw himself as "the Elect of God." Later in
his reign (1855-68), reacting to his belief that foreigners considered him an
upstart, he included "son of David and Solomon" in his title.

     Tewodros' first task was to bring Shewa into the empire; in the course of
doing so he took prisoner the king's heir, Menelik. In the era of princes
Shewa was, even more than most regions, an independent entity; its ruler
styled himself negus (king). Despite his success against Shewa, Tewodros was
faced constantly with rebellions in the other provinces. The era of princes
was not easily terminated. In the first six years of his reign, Tewodros
managed to put down the rebellions, and the empire was relatively peaceful
from about 1861 to 1863; but the energies, wealth, and manpower necessary to
deal with regional opposition limited the scope of his other activities. By
1865 other rebels had emerged, including Menelik, who had escaped from prison
and returned to Shewa where he became king.

     In addition to his conflicts with rebels and rivals, Tewodros ran afoul
of the European powers. Seeking aid from the British government, he was
disappointed in the behavior of those British whom he had counted on to
further his request and took them hostage. Finally, in 1868 confronted by a
British expeditionary force that defeated his army, which was depleted after
a series of defeats by internal enemies, Tewodros committed suicide.

     Tewodros did not realize his aspirations although he took some important
initial steps. He sought to establish the principle that governors and judges
be his salaried appointees. He also established a professional standing army
instead of calling on local lords to provide soldiers for his expeditions. He
insisted upon drill and discipline, never before characteristic of Ethiopian
soldiers. He also intended to reform the church, believing the clergy ignorant
and immoral, but he was confronted by strong opposition when he tried to
impose a tax on church lands to help finance his government's military and
other activities. His confiscation of these lands gained him enemies in the
church and little support elsewhere. In general, as Rubenson has said,
Tewodros had great ambitions, considerable talent as a military campaigner,
and little or none as a politician. His solutions to problems tended to be
military ones. He had no talent for compromise or conciliation, whether with
his own people or foreigners. His attempt to realize his many intentions
simultaneously and by fiat led to his downfall, but not before his ambitions
for Ethiopia had changed the perspectives of others who survived him.

     The kingdom at Tewodros' death was disunited, but the contenders to
succeed him were not prepared to return to the Gonderine system. One of them,
crowned as Tekla Giyorgis, took over the central part of the highlands.
Another, the governor of Tigray, Dejazmatch Kassa Mercha, was offered the
title of ras in exchange for recognition of Tekla Giyorgis, but he refused.
The third, Menelik II of Shewa, came to terms with Tekla Giyorgis in return
for which the latter made no attempt to curtail Shewa's independence. Tekla
Giyorgis did, however, seek to bring Kassa Mercha under his rule, but was
defeated by a small Tigray army well equipped with more modern weapons than
the Gonderine forces. In 1872 Kassa Mercha was crowned king of kings in a
ceremony at the ancient capital of Aksum, taking the throne name of Yohannes
IV.

     Yohannes was unable to exercise control over the nearly independent
Shew