Battle of Madab | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Hailu Eshte | Ras Haliu Yosadiq Dejazmach Gebre Wolde Gabriel † |
The Battle of Madab was fought in June 1788 in Ethiopia between the forces of Emperor Tekle Giyorgis I, [1] Ras Ali, and Haliu Eshte against the forces Ras Haliu Yosadiq, Wolde Gabriel, and Dejazmach Gebre. Wolde Gabriel was killed in the battle and the allied forces won.
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. Ras Makonnen was commonly referred to as “the Napoleon of Africa”.
Tekle Giyorgis I, throne name Feqr Sagad, was Emperor of Ethiopia intermittently between 20 July 1779 and June 1800, and a member of the Solomonic dynasty. He was the youngest son of Yohannes II and Woizoro Sancheviyer, and the brother of Tekle Haymanot II.
Iyasu III was Emperor of Ethiopia from 16 February 1784 to 24 April 1788, and a member of the Solomonic dynasty. He was the son of Abeto Azequ, and the grandson of Iyasu II.
AtseBaeda Maryam was proclaimed Emperor of Ethiopia in Tigray and Gojjam by Dejazmach Wolde Gabriel, the son of Ras Mikael Sehul, who was opposed to Ras Ali of Begemder.
Hezqeyas was Emperor of Ethiopia from 26 July 1789 to January 1794, and a member of the Solomonic dynasty. He was the son of Iyasu III.
Baeda Maryam II was Emperor of Ethiopia from 15 April to December 1795. He may have been the son of Salomon II. Although E. A. Wallis Budge, in his book A History of Ethiopia: Nubia and Abyssinia, notes some authorities believe Baeda Maryam was the same person as Salomon III, Nathaniel Pearce, who met the former Emperor when he visited Ras Wolde Selassie 20 January 1813, states that he had been Emperor only once, for nine months.
Salomon III was Emperor of Ethiopia intermittently between 1796 and 1797, and a member of the Solomonic dynasty. He was the son of Tekle Haymanot II. He may be identical with the Emperor Solomon whom the traveler Henry Salt lists as one of the Emperors still alive at the time of his visit in 1809/1810. E. A. Wallis Budge notes some authorities believe he was the same person as Baeda Maryam II.
Egwale Seyon, throne name Newaya Sagad, was Emperor of Ethiopia from June 1801 to 12 June 1818, and a member of the Solomonic dynasty. He was the son of Hezqeyas.
Aligaz of Yejju was Ras of Begemder, and Inderase (regent) of the Emperor of Ethiopia. He was the son of Abba Seru Gwangul and brother of Ali I of Yejju; he became both Ras and Inderase following Ali's death. Aligaz had four sons: Dejazmach Birru, Dejazmach Gobeze, Dejazmach Faris, and Dejazmach Gojjee.
Ali I of Yejju was Ras of Begemder, and following the death of Ras Mikael Sehul, Regent of the Emperor of Ethiopia. He was the son of Abba Seru Gwangul, chieftain of the Yejju, and Woizero Gelebu Faris, daughter of Ras Faris of Lasta.
Mikael Sehul was a nobleman who ruled Ethiopia for a period of 25 years as regent of a series of weak emperors. He was also a Ras or governor of Tigray 1748–71 and again from 1772 until his death. He was a major political figure during the reign of Emperor Iyasu II and his successors until almost the time of his death.
Mentewab was Empress of Ethiopia, consort of Emperor Bakaffa, mother of Iyasu II and grandmother of Iyoas I. She was also known officially by her baptismal name of Walatta Giyorgis. Mentewab was a major political figure during the reigns of her son the Emperor Iyasu and grandson Iyoas. Empress Mentewab was also known by the honorific of Berhan Mogassa. This was to complement the honorific of her son Iyasu II, who was Berhan Seged.
Wolde Selassie was Ras of the Tigray province between 1788 and 1816, and Regent of the Ethiopian Empire between 1797 and 1800. John J. Halls, in his Life and Correspondence of Henry Salt, preserves a description of this powerful warlord, as "small in stature, and delicately formed, quick in his manner, with a shrewd expression, and considerable dignity in his deportment." Nathaniel Pearce also notes that Ras Wolde was an avid chess player, and "would play at from morning till night".
Sabagadis Woldu was a governor of Tigray Province of the Ethiopian Empire from 1822 to 1831. Sabagadis gained some notoriety in the first decade of the 19th century for rebelling a number of times against his overlord, Ras Wolde Selassie. But just before the death of Wolde Selassie it seems that he made up with his master and became one of his loyal lieutenants. Following Wolde Selassie's death in 1816, he defied the authority of Wolde Selassie's son, and became the most powerful warlord in Tigray. Making Adigrat his capital, he ruled Tigray and a small strip of the coastal plains of Eritrea by 1818. His rule also extended to the Eritrean highlands.
The Zemene Mesafint was a period in Ethiopian history between the mid-18th and mid-19th centuries when the country was ruled by a class of Oromo elite noblemen who replaced the Tigrayan and Amhara nobility in their courts, making the emperor merely a figurehead. For the most part, the regional lords were tightly related by marriage and constituted a stable ruling elite that prevailed until the mid 20th century. In short, during the Zemene Mesafint, the Emperors from the Solomonic dynasty were reduced to little more than figureheads confined to the capital city of Gondar.
RasMulugeta Yeggazu was an Ethiopian government official, who served in the first cabinet formed by Emperor Menelik II. He served as Imperial Fitawrari, Commander of the Mahel Sefari of the Ethiopian Army during the Second Italo-Ethiopian War.
Enderta or Inderta is a former historical province of Ethiopia; it is located in the eastern edge of the Tigray highlands. Enderta is bordered on the west by Tembien, on the south and southwest by Lasta and Wag, on the east by denkel, and on the north by Agame and Adwa. Mekelle was formerly the capital of the province. Enderta's local administration of Denkel/Afar up to the edges of Aseb under its jurisdiction seems to have been highly, interlinked with the operation of the salt trade and its taxation system; the entire tasks of salt caravan organization being the responsibility of the bäalgada, title assumed by the governor of Endärta, since at least the Medieval period.
Ayalew Birru, or Ayyalaw Birru, was an Ethiopian army commander, a patriot, and a cousin of Emperor Haile Selassie I.
During the Second Italo-Ethiopian War, the Italians captured and either imprisoned as prisoners of war or executed selected prominent Ethiopians. The majority of the public executions and mass incarcerations happened in the wake of the assassination attempt on Rodolfo Graziani. The Italian occupying force gave permission to the black shirts to murder educated Ethiopians, sparing only a few notables who were transported to various concentration camps maintained in the Harar region, Italian Somaliland, Eritrea and Italy. While the majority of prisoners who were kept at Asinara and other camps in Italy survived, tens of thousands of detainees perished under the severe conditions they were forced to live in. According to famous survivors like Ambassador Imru Zeleke, conditions were worse in Italian Somaliland camps due to the scarcity of food, water and medicine. According to Imru Zeleke, tens of thousands of Ethiopians died every year.
Gebre Tasfa better known as Gebre of Semien was the governor of Semien, Tsegede, Welkait and Wogera during the late 18th and early 19th century in Ethiopia. He held the title of Ras, and had an unusually long reign spanning 44 years during the tumultuous Zemene Mesafint when lords of each province and district continuously fought each other for supremacy. Ras Gebre was the primary backer of his son-in-law Emperor Tekle Giyorgis I claims to the throne.