| Battle of Dodota | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of Menelik's Expansions | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Shewa | Arsi Oromo | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Negus Menelik II | Leenjiso Diga Jatene Bultum WIA | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| Heavy | Minimal | ||||||
The Battle of Dodota, also known as the Battle of Doddota, was a military engagement fought on December 1883 [2] between a force of Arsi Oromo led by Leenjiso Diga and Jatene Bultum and a Shewan force led by Negus (King) Menelik II. This was during Negus Menelik II's second campaign against the Arsi.
During the December 1883 Arsi campaign, Menelik II had invaded with the goal of annexing the Arsi territory. [3] Karim ElAmin states that from the very beginning of their entry into Arussiland the Shawan troops were met with a stubborn resistance from Arussi fighters led by Gosa Dillamo. Academic sources agree that after Menelik and the Arsi cavalry fought at the Qalata River. After the battle, Menelik camped in Arussi for a few days. [4] [5]
As Negus Menelik II and his army was heading back to Shewa, they encountered Arsi cavalry at a short distance of 20 km to the south of the Awash River. The battle lasted for several hours and the Arsi cavalry defeated the Shewan troops. All sources also agree that Menelik's imperial drum "negarit" was captured during the fighting and many soldiers were killed and Negus Menelik II narrowly escaped death. [6] [7] Abbas Gnamo states Menelik's Shewan army and himself were pursued on horseback from Dodota to Modojo (present day Mojo) back to Shewa. [8] Karim ElAmin says that Menelik himself is said to have managed to escape only because of the speed of his war-horse. According to informants the pursuing Arussi fighters were obliged to turn back because one of their leaders, Jatené Bultum, was wounded by shots fired at him by the Shawan soldiers. [9]
After the battle, the Arsi warriors took the negarit home back to a place called Burqunte (present day Dera, Ethiopia), where the Sabiro clan reside. [10] [11]
Menelik II, baptised as Sahle Maryam was king of Shewa from 1866 to 1889 and Emperor of Ethiopia from 1889 to his death in 1913. At the height of his internal power and external prestige, the process of territorial expansion and creation of the modern empire-state was completed by 1898.
RasMakonnen Wolde Mikael Wolde Melekot, or simply Ras Makonnen, also known as Abba Qagnew, was an Ethiopian royal from Shewa, a military leader, the governor of Harar, and the father of future Emperor Haile Selassie. Described by Nikolai Gumilev as “one of the greatest leaders of Abyssinia”, he served in the First Italo-Ethiopian War, playing a key role at the Battle of Adwa.
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