Background
The nobility of Ethiopia had grown contempt with the rule of Lij Iyasu. Following Iyasu's failure to observe the important religious holiday of Meskel in the capital Addis Ababa, and instead remained in the predominantly Muslim city of Harar, the nobility decided to strike. A number of nobles met 17 days later on 27 September, and convinced Abuna Mattewos to excommunicate Iyasu on the accusation that he converted to Islam, then announced on the steps of the Palace that Iyasu had been deposed in favor of Zewditu.
The plotters had sent orders to Harar that Iyasu would be arrested, which went astray. Sources dispute exactly what Lij Iyasu's did next. Bahru Zewde states that Iyasu started to march on Addis Ababa, but his advance was blocked at Mieso by 15,000 soldiers, and he fled into the Afar desert. [2] Historian Harold G. Marcus, drawing on the reports filed by the European diplomats, states that instead Lij Iyasu had sent one force towards the capital under Dejazmach Gebre, and another, raised from loyal Afars and Somalis, to secure Dire Dawa; the Dejazmach went over to the opposing army and the Afars and Somalis deserted before reaching the city, and Iyasu fled with his bodyguard to Jijiga. [3] Aleqa Gebre Igziabiher Elyas's narrative supports Marcus in that Iyasu fled to the desert where his Afar supporters helped him. [4] In either case, Harar failed him as a base of support and he took refuge in the desert.
Battle
His father and most important supporter, Negus Mikael of Wollo, was slow to march south upon the capital and restore Iyasu to the throne, not moving until the middle of October. Yet, when he did, the Negus crushed the troops sent against him. On 18 October, Negus Mikael's troops defeated an advance force of 11,000 men in Menz and killed their leader, Ras Lul Seged. [5] Under the command of the regent Ras Tafari (the future Emperor Haile Selassie) and Fitawrari Habte Giyorgis, a force estimated to number between 25,000 and 35,000 marched north to do battle and the two armies came to face each other at Segale on the 22nd.
Afterwards, the then Ras Tafari stated that because "bloodshed among Ethiopians themselves is extremely saddening, I arranged that monks from the monasteries of Debre Libanos and Zequala ... [should] come with their crosses to request Negus Mikael to go back to Wollo without making war." Negus Mikael is said to have simply arrested these emissaries, ignoring their message. [6]
Negus Mikael opened the battle early in the morning, but his artillery was put out of commission by his opponent and his machine-gunners ran out of ammunition. [7] Aleqa Gebre-Igziabiher Elyas, drawing from eyewitness accounts, describes the battle opening with a charge of Negus Mikael's infantry and cavalry. However, the Shewan troops had been trained to fire their rifles in rows and from the prone position, allowing them to fire in quick succession "and felled [them] like leaves." Then the Shewans attacked, "and they pursued the army of Wello and took captives. And particularly the Shewan cavalry went from valley to valley" and overran Negus Mikael's camp." [8] At 3:25 pm, one of the Shewan officers telephoned to the capital that they had won the battle. "The dead are very numerous on both sides." [9] Aleqa Gebre-Igziabiher Elyas explains one cause for this bloodshed was that the two sides did not differ in dress or insignia, and could only distinguish each other by their passwords, which were not always well known to the soldiers. [8] Bahru Zewde succinctly comments: "The Wallo forces were defeated. Negus Mikael was captured. The coup [of 27 September] was now sanctioned by blood." [2]
Aftermath
Negus Mikael defended himself in his corral until his defeat was undeniable, when he surrendered. [10] Amnesty was offered to the soldiers from the losing side, provided that they swear loyalty to the new Empress. [9] However, two of Negus Mikael's chief lieutenants escaped the battle unvanquished: Ras Yimer, who managed to rally some of the defeated army and lead them to Dessie; and Fitawrari Sirah Bizu, who discarded his weapons and battle-dress and slipped from the battlefield in the garb of a sick priest with a single servant, and met up with Ras Yimer in Dessie. Dejazmach Gebre Igziabiher who had been a lukewarm supporter of Negus Mikael sat out the battle, but when the Negus surrendered and he attempted to flee back to Welo, the peasants of Aliyu Amba ambushed and killed him. [10]
As for the deposed Lij Iyasu, he had just reached Ankober by the time the battle ended; he led his small army of 6,000 into the desert back to Dessie, arriving there 8 November and joining with Ras Yimer and Fitawrari Sirah Bizu. When the Imperial army reached that town 10 December, he fled further north to the old stronghold of Amba Mariam, further away from the center of power. "Iyasu could not even slow down the consolidation of the new government," notes Harold Marcus. [11]
Lij Iyasu was the designated Emperor of Ethiopia from 1913 to 1916. His baptismal name was Kifle Yaqob. Ethiopian emperors traditionally chose their regnal name on the day they were crowned, and since he was never crowned, he is usually referred to as Lij Iyasu, "Lij" meaning child, especially one born of royal blood.
Zewditu was Empress of Ethiopia from 1916 until her death in 1930. She was officially renamed Zewditu at the beginning of her reign as Empress of Ethiopia. Once she succeeded the throne after Lij Yasu in 1916, she was described as the first modern-era female head in the nation of Africa. Her official coronation was on February 11th, 1917,held in the Cathedral of St. George in Addis Ababa—a capital founded by her father. She was forty years old, and childless when she was crowned empress. The first female head of an internationally recognized country in Africa in the 19th and 20th centuries, and the first and only empress regnant of the Ethiopian Empire, her reign was noted for the reforms of her Regent and designated heir Ras Tafari Makonnen, about which she was at best ambivalent and often stridently opposed, due to her staunch conservatism and strong religious devotion. She is the most recent empress regnant, as well as the last female Ethiopian head of state until the 2018 election of Sahle-Work Zewde as president. It is heard that she patterned her reign close to the British Queen Victoria’s legacy.
Dessie is a town in north-central Ethiopia. Located in the South Wollo Zone of the Amhara Region, it sits at a latitude and longitude of 11°8′N39°38′E, with an elevation between 2,470 and 2,550 metres above sea level. Dessie is 400 km to the north of the capital Addis Ababa. It has a population of more than 200,000 people in over 30 wards.
Until the end of the Ethiopian monarchy in 1974, there were two categories of nobility in Ethiopia and Eritrea. The Mesafint, the hereditary royal nobility, formed the upper echelon of the ruling class. The Mekwanint were the appointed nobles, often of humble birth, who formed the bulk of the aristocracy. Until the 20th century, the most powerful people at court were generally members of the Mekwanint appointed by the monarch, while regionally, the Mesafint enjoyed greater influence and power. Emperor Haile Selassie greatly curtailed the power of the Mesafint to the benefit of the Mekwanint, who by then were essentially coterminous with the Ethiopian government.
Darge Sahle Selassie, also known by his horse name Abba Gersa, was a 19th-century Ethiopian nobleman, provincial governor, general, and a trusted councillor to his nephew, Emperor Menelik II.
RasDesta Damtew KBE was an Ethiopian noble, army commander and a son-in-law of Emperor Haile Selassie I. He is known for his leadership in the Ethiopian Army during the Second Italo-Ethiopian War. He was executed on 24 February 1937, by the Italian Armed Forces shortly after Ethiopia's loss in the war.
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.
Gugsa Welle, was an Ethiopian army commander and a member of the imperial family of the Ethiopian Empire. He represented a provincial ruling elite which was often at odds with the Ethiopian central government.
Tekle Hawariat Tekle Mariyam was an Ethiopian politician, an Amhara aristocrat and intellectual of the Japanizer school of thought. He was the primary author of the 16 July 1931 constitution of Ethiopia, which was influenced by the Japanese Meiji Constitution.
NegusMikael of Wollo, was an army commander and a member of the nobility of the Ethiopian Empire. He was the father of the "uncrowned" Emperor Lij Iyasu, and the grandfather of Empress Menen, wife of Emperor Haile Selassie. He changed his name to Mikael upon converting to Christianity.
Gugsa Araya Selassie was an army commander and a member of the royal family of the Ethiopian Empire.
The Battle of Anchem was fought between two factions of the Royal family in the Ethiopian Empire. The battle was fought to determine who would rule the empire, Empress Zewditu or King (Negus) Tafari Makonnen.
Hailu Tekle Haymanot, also named Hailu II of Gojjam, was an army commander and a member of the nobility of the Ethiopian Empire. He represented a provincial ruling elite who were often at odds with the Ethiopian central government. Hailu Tekle Haymanot was an independent-minded potentate who, throughout his life, was mistrustful of and mistrusted by the Emperor.
RasAraya Selassie Yohannes was a son of Emperor Yohannes IV from his wife Masitire Selassie, a daughter of a Muslim Afar chieftain whom he married after she was Christened. Araya was nominated Crown Prince.
Gugsa Wale's rebellion was a rebellion raised by Ras Gugsa Wale and by supporters of Empress Zewditu to rid her of the Crown Prince and heir apparent, Negus Tafari Makonnen. With Tafari gone, Zewditu would be the sole claimant to succession as the ruler of the Ethiopian Empire. As the husband of Empress Zewditu, Gugsa Wale expected to become Emperor.
FitawrariHabte Giyorgis Dinagde also known by his horse name Abba Mechal was an Ethiopian military commander and government official who, among several other posts, served as President of the Council of Ministers and as Minister of War during the reigns of Menelik II, Zewditu and Haile Selassie. He was also Shum or Governor of Borena, Ibat, and Mecha.
Leul Sagad Atnaf Sagad, also known by his horse name Abba Balay, was an Ethiopian courtier and army commander (Ras) under Emperor Menelik II. A key figure in late 19th and early 20th century, he was responsible for several successful military campaigns, but was killed in battle during the struggle over Menelik's succession.
LijSeifu Mikael was an Ethiopian royal, member of the Solomonic dynasty from the House of Solomon that descended from the ancient Kingdom of Aksum, belonging to the branch of the aristocratic Amhara family from Ankober Shewa. He was the great-grandson of King Sahle Selassie of Shewa and his wife Queen Bezabish Dejene of Gojjam through his grandfather, Dejazmatch Mekuria Tesfaye of Gerim Gabriel, a first cousin of Emperor Menelik II of Ethiopia.
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.
Welde Giyorgis Aboye was one of the most prominent Ethiopian generals who spearheaded Emperor Menelik's southward expansion at the close of the 19th century. His fame soared after leading the conquest on the Kingdom of Kaffa as a Ras, and was subsequently appointed as provincial governor of that fief by the Emperor. Welde Giyorgis later became the governor of Begemder. A few months before his death, he was elevated to Negus, of Gondar by Empress Zewditu in 1917, as recognition for his role in deposing Lij Iyasu.
