By Dr. Richard Pankhurst:-
`We saw last week that the British Government, after several years’
inaction, had agreed to Emperor Tewodros’s request to obtain craftsmen
for him, but that his renewed detention of the Europeans at his court
had led, in the autumn of 1866, to a hardening of the British attitude.
The Emperor’s attempt to pressurise the British Government by
imprisoning its functionaries, though up to then surprisingly
successful, had miscarried. British policy was now reversed. Rassam’s
imprisonment, wrote Merewether on 25 September, 1866 was “so great an
outrage and insult” that adherence to the plan of despatching the
artisans to Tewodros was no longer possible. The British Government
therefore decided that the workmen should still be despatched to
Massawa, but not allowed inland until the prisoners were released ,and
sent down to the port.
Deadlock
The workmen duly left the British port of Southampton, on 4 November,
and arrived at Massawa on 10 December, but by then mistrust on both
sides was so great that no agreement could be reached. Tewodros declared
that he would not release the prisoners until the workmen arrived at
his camp, while the British refused to send up the latter until the
former reached the coast.
The Collapse of Tewodros’s Position
Tewodros, by this time, was no longer the powerful monarch he had
appeared to be at the beginning of the dispute with Britain. His
attempts at unification had entirely failed. Menilek, heir to the
kingdom of Shawa, had escaped from detention at Maqdala, and declared
his independence. Gobaze, son of the deposed ruler of Lasta, had seized
power in that province. Kasa, a nobleman of Endarta, had made himself
ruler of much of Tegray. Gojjam was also in revolt.
Tewodros, though still nominally Emperor of all Ethiopia , was in
fact in control only of part of Bagemder, and even there faced many
rebels.
Decision to Intervene
The British Government, fully aware of Tewodros’s declining strength,
and increasingly angered by the long protracted imprisonment of
Cameron, Rassam and their colleagues, at last decided, in July 1867, to
despatch a military expedition to force the Emperor’s hand. The task was
entrusted to a noted British officer, Sir Robert Napier, whose
expeditionary force landed at Annesley Bay, near Massawa, on 21 October,
before beginning the long march inland to the Emperor’s fortress at
Maqdala. Tewodros meanwhile was making desperate efforts to transport
the artillery made at Gafat and Dabra Tabor by his missionary craftsmen
to that same mountain. There he had decided to give battle to the
invaders.
The British expeditionary force, composed of 12,000 fighting men,
two-thirds of them Indian, advanced inland without encountering any
opposition. The British received considerable co-operation from Kasa of
Tegray, while the latter’s rivals, Gobaze and Menilek, both showed
themselves sympathetic to the expedition.
The first battle between Tewodros and the British took place at
Aroge, just below Maqdala, on 10 April 1868. The invading force, which
enjoyed overwhelming superiority of fire-power, inflicted massive
casualties on Tewodros’s men.
“Honourable Treatment”
On the following day, Napier wrote to the Emperor, declaring, “Your
Majesty has fought like a brave man, and has been overcome by the
superior power of the British Army. It is my desire that no more blood
may be shed. If, therefore, your Majesty will submit to the Queen of
England, and bring all the Europeans now in your Majesty’s hands, and
deliver them safely this day in the British Camp, I guarantee honourable
treatment for yourself and all the members of your Majesty’s family”.
The Emperor, an intensely proud man as Plowden had noted two decades
earlier, refused to accept such humiliation. He replied to Napier with a
remarkable letter which constitutes in a sense his last testament to
the Ethiopian people. Addressing the latter he declared: “My
compatriots, will you not stop running away unless I, by the power of
God, attack (lit. come down) with you”.
Later in the same epistle, he turned his attention to his victorious
adversaries, the British, he recalled the difficulties he had
encountered, as a reforming ruler, and observed: ‘When I used to tell my
compatriots, ‘submit to taxation and discipline’, they refused and
quarrelled with me”. Alluding to the superiority of the British army,
organised on modern lines, over his traditional-type forces, he added,
“you have defeated me through men obedient to discipline. The people who
loved me and followed me fled, abandoning me, because they were afraid
of a single bullet”.
Writing in a sense his own epitaph he added:
“My countrymen were giving me ten reasons (for opposing me) saying,
‘He has adopted the religion of the Europeans, or he has become a
Muslim..
“If God had allowed me, I had planned to rule all; if God prevented
me, (my intention was) to die… From when I was born until now, no man
knew (how to) take hold of my hand”.
Suicide
After dictating these heroic words Tewodros attempted to commit
suicide. He placed a pistol to his head, but his soldiers snatched the
weapon from his hand. Negotiations with the British were then resumed.
On 12 April the Emperor sent them a considerable gift of livestock,
according to one account 1,000 cattle and 500 sheep, and, on being
informed that they had been accepted, he released the prisoners.
Napier at first contemplated accepting the gift, which would have
been interpreted as agreeing to make peace, but, on learning of the
“magnitude and nature of the offering”, refused to accept it. On
learning of this development the Emperor attempted to flee the citadel,
but almost immediately afterwards changed his mind, and returned to
Maqdala.
The British then launched their final assault, on 13 April. Tewodros,
realising that resistance was useless, dismissed his followers, saying,
“It is finished! Sooner than fall into his hands I will kill myself”.
He then placed a pistol to his mouth and committed suicide, thereby
winning himself a permanent place in Ethiopian history and mythology.
Journey’s End
The British, having thus accomplished their mission, at once prepared
to leave. From the outset they had no intention of remaining in the
country, and had promised to withdraw as soon as the question of the
European prisoners had been solved. It was only on that understanding
that Kasa, the ruler of Tegray, had allowed them to pass through his
province without opposition. Before departing the British troops
destroyed virtually of Tewodros’s artillery (though one great mortar can
still be seen at the site), and put Maqdala to the flames. They took
with them the Emperor’s young son, Alamayehu, at the request of his
mother, and close on a thousand manuscripts. Some of the latter were
subsequently left behind in Tegray, but almost five hundred, including
many of the finest, were taken to Europe, the largest number ending up
in the British Museum (later the British Library).
The last act of the expedition was to reward Kasa for his cooperation
by presenting him with twelve heavy guns, 725 muskets, and a goodly
supply of ammunition.
Civil War
As a result of the expedition, the European captives were thus
successfully released. Tewodros’s attempts at unification and
modernisation had, however, largely come to naught, and the country was
once more faced with civil war.
Source: http://www.linkethiopia.org
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