Menelik II: "Study Ethiopia" articles
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Based on the discourse given at the Institute of Ethiopian Studies in the University of Addis Abeba on October 17, 1995. and a public leenire I delivered at the National Library on January 16, 1996. as a prelude to the commemoration of the centennial celebration of the Victory of Adwa.
At the outset I wish to comment briefly on the general characteristic of the period we are about to discuss and the countries with which Menelik would be dealing during the period from 1865 to 1896.The scramble for African territories among the European powers was at its height during the latter half of the 19th century. The opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, which reduced the voyage from London to Bombay by 44 percent, even while it was in the process of being built, had attracted the colonial powers to establish coaling stations bordering the Red Sea and Indian Ocean.
Britain was the only one that had established itself in the area prior to the middle of the Nineteenth century. She acquired Aden as early as 1839, and took British Somaliland in 1885. By 1862 France was in possession of Obok and subsequently Tadjoura which later came to be known as the Cote Francaise des Somalis or French Protectorate of Djibouti. Father Giuseppe Sapeto, an Italian missionary, acquired a plot of land from the Sultan of Raheita in 1869 for the sum of 8,100 Maria Theresa Thalers on behalf of Rubattino shipping company. The company used it as a coaling station for twelve years after which it sold it to the Italian Government. On June 26, 1882, the Italian Government proclaimed Assab as its possession.
The other neighboring nation was Egypt which had occupied the Sudan since the 1820s, and was in those days the country which supplied the head of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahdo (Unitarian) Church. Moreover, Egypt under Mohammed Ali's dynasty, had virtually usurped the authority of the Sublime Porte over this part of the world. A Firaaan was granted by the Sultan of Turkey delegating his authority over Massawa to the Khedive of Egyptin 1865.
We may add to this list of neighboring states, the Mahdist State of the Sudan which existed during the period extending from the fall of Khartoum to the Mahdi in January 26, 1885, up to the fall of Khartoum to the Anglo-Egyptian forces in September 22,1898, when it was absorbed in the Anglo-Egyptian condominium.
The foreign relations of Menelik, therefore, revolved mostly with the powers close by, although he also approached both Russia and Germany, sparingly before 1896, and other nations afterwards.
During the period extending from 1865 to 1896 Menelik played different roles:
First, as ruler of Shoa and the adjacent territories over which he extended his control, he was virtually detached from the central government. During this period he assumed the title of King of Shoa and the Galla, and at times in his correspondence with foreign powers as in his letter to Queen Victoria, written in 1867, he referred to himself as Emperor of Ethiopia.
Second, as king of Shoa, a vassal of Yohannes.
Finally, as Emperor of Ethiopia.
Accordingly, Menelik's Foreign relations during this period can be discussed in three phases:
The first phase from June 1865 to March 1878,
The second phase from April 1878 to March 1889,
The third phase covering the years of his reign after he proclaimed his accession to the throne as Emperor of Ethiopia on the death of Yohannes in 1889. Although his reign extended up to December 1913 we will deal in this presentation only up to 1896.
During the first and second phase, starting from his assumption the control of the government of Shoa, after his escape from Magdalla in 1865, up to his accession to the throne of Ethiopia in 1889, the dommant factor in his foreign relation was his aspiration to gain the imperial crown. The difference in his foreign relations during the first and second phases is only a difference in style, not in substance.
During the first phase he acted more overtly as he was virtually detached from the central government, whereas during the second phase, his correspondence with foreign powers was shrouded with secrecy and skiliflil diplomacy: appearing faithflil to his sovereign while actually pursuing his aspiration to attain the supreme power and the imperial crown.
During the third phase, there was a discontinuation in the foreign policy which he had pursued hitherto. From 1889 onwards, the dominant factor was to defend his enlarged empire by taking all the necessary measures which in effect was a continuation of the policy pursued by his predecessors.
Constant features in all three phases were the acquisition of arms and ammunition through gift, credit or purchase; and acquiring the necessary finance by seeking loans and by expanding trade. Thus Menelik realized that without acquiring adequate arms and annnunition he could neither maintain Shoan independence nor reach his goal of possessing the supreme power over the whole empire.
(To be continued)
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