page_title: Battle of Magdala
section_title: Aftermath
hierarchical_section_title: Battle of Magdala / Aftermath
caption_attribution_description: Scanned images of Face and obverse side of the 1868 Abyssinian Campaign Medal. Created from a medal in my private collection
context_page_description: The Battle of Magdala was the conclusion of the British Expedition to Abyssinia fought in April 1868 between British and Abyssinian forces at Magdala, 390 miles from the Red Sea coast. The British were led by Robert Napier, while the Abyssinians were led by Emperor Tewodros II.
  In March 1866 a British envoy had been dispatched to secure the release of a group of missionaries who had first been seized when a letter Tewodros II had sent to Queen Victoria requesting munitions and military experts from the British, delivered by an envoy, Captain Cameron, had gone unanswered. They were released; however Tewodros II changed his mind and sent a force after them and they were returned to the fortress and imprisoned again, along with Captain Cameron.
  The British won the battle, and Tewodros committed suicide as the fortress was finally seized.
context_section_description: Magdala was in the territory of the Muslim Gallas (Oromo) tribes, who had long ago taken it from the Amhara people; however Tewodros had won it back from them some years before. Two rival Galla queens, Werkait and Mostiat, who had both allied themselves with the British, claimed control of the conquered fortress as a reward. Napier much preferred to hand Magdala over to the Christian ruler of Lasta, Wagshum Gobeze, because if he were in control of the fortress, Gobeze would be able to halt the Muslim Gallas' advance and assume responsibility for over 30,000 Christian refugees from Tewodros' camp. Yet as Gobeze was unresponsive to these overtures, much preferring to acquire Tewodros' cannons, and the two Galla queens could not reach an arrangement, Napier decided to destroy the fortress.
  On 19 April, having first blown up the fortress and burned the city, Napier commenced the return march. According to historian Richard Pankhurst, fifteen elephants and almost two hundred mules were required to bear the loot across the Bashilo River to the nearby Dalanta Plain. A grand review was held, and then an auction of the loot; the money raised was distributed amongst the troops and no written list was made of who purchased the various items. 
  Many stolen objects, cultural artifacts and art objects found their way into state and private collections, family possessions, and the hands of ordinary soldiers. Most of the books and manuscripts went to the British Museum or the Bodleian Library in Oxford, while a few went to the Royal Library in Windsor Castle and to smaller British collections. Other stolen objects ended up in the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Museum of Mankind and the National Army Museum. All the scientific acquisitions and expropriated articles of the Magdala expedition stimulated and promoted an increased interest in the history and culture of Ethiopia among European researchers and the educated public. This laid the foundations for modern Ethiopian Studies, and also for the research on the ancient Kingdom of Aksum.
  From time to time some of the looted treasure has been returned to Ethiopia. For instance, an edition of the Kebra Nagast along with an icon of a picture of Christ wearing the crown of thorns were returned to Emperor Yohannes IV in the 1870s. 
  In 1902, Lady Valerie Meux bequeathed her collection of Ethiopian manuscripts to Emperor Menelik II, but her will was overturned shortly after her death in 1910.
  In 1924, the Empress Zawditu was given one of the two stolen crowns of Tewodros but the more valuable gold crown was retained by the Victoria and Albert Museum. In the 1960s, Queen Elizabeth II returned Tewodros' royal cap and seal to Emperor Haile Selassie while on a state visit to Ethiopia. In 2019 the National Army Museum announced the return of a lock of Tewodros' hair, taken after his death in battle.
  Since 1999 the AFROMET (Association For the Return Of the Madgala Ethiopian Treasures) campaign has been lobbying for the return of these objects to Ethiopia.
  For the victory in the campaign, Lieutenant-General Napier was ennobled by Queen Victoria, and became Baron Napier of Magdala.
  Officers and soldiers who took part in the campaign were awarded the Abyssinian War Medal.
  After the withdrawal of the English, fighting for the succession to Tewodros' throne raged in Ethiopia from 1868 to 1872. Eventually, it was Dajamach Kassai of Tigray, not least because of the British weapons that had been handed over to him by the withdrawing Magdala expedition, who was able to expand his power and prevail over his rivals. In July 1871, he won the Battle of Assam, near Adwa, even though he had far fewer troops, defeating his old rival Wagshum Gobeze of Lasta. Kassai had himself crowned Emperor of Ethiopia, taking the name Yohannes IV.
  Two subsequent casualties of the affair were the Ethiopian Prince Alemayehu and the British soldier John Kirkham.
  Tewodros had asked his wife, the Empress Tiruwork Wube, in the event of his death, to put his son, Prince Alemayehu, under the protection of the English. This decision was a
caption: Abyssinian War Medal
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