page_title: Tewodros II
section_title: Conflict with Great Britain
hierarchical_section_title: Tewodros II / Conflict with Great Britain
caption_attribution_description: English: Prisoners of Tewodros II in Magdala, 1868 First row (standing), from left to right&#160;: Henry Stern (a missionary) and Mr Rosenthal. Middle row (seating), from left to right&#160;: Hormuzd Rassam (envoy sent to negotiate the release the prisoners), Mrs Rosenthal and her child, Blanc and Capitain Cameron (the British consul). Lower row (on the floor), from left to right&#160;: Kerans, Prideaux and Pietro. Français&#160;: Des prisonniers de Tewodros II à Meqdela, 1868. Rangée du haut, de gauche à droite&#160;: Henry Stern (un missionaire) et M. Rosenthal. Rangée du milieu, de gauche à droite&#160;: Hormuzd Kassam (l'envoyé venue négocier la libération des prisonniers), Mme Rosenthal et son enfant, Blanc et le Capitaine Cameron (le consul britannique). Rangée du bas, de gauche à droite&#160;: Kerans, Prideaux et Pietro.
context_page_description: Tewodros II was Emperor of Ethiopia from 1855 until his death in 1868. He was born Kassa Hailegiorgis. He was described as a 'romantic adventurer', a skillful and dauntless warrior, lion-like and an unselfish visionary. He had grown up fighting Ottoman-Egyptian invaders and was a Robin hood figure; while a bandit or Shifta against the tyrannical Royals, he would steal from the rich and give to the poor. His rule is often placed as the beginning of modern Ethiopia and brought an end to the decentralized Zemene Mesafint.
  Tewodros II's origins were in the Era of the Princes, but his ambitions were not those of the regional nobility. He sought to reestablish a cohesive Ethiopian state and to reform its administration and church. He sought to restore Solomonic hegemony, and he considered himself the Elect of God.
  Tewodros II's first task after having reunited the other provinces was to bring Shewa under his control. During the Era of the Princes, Shewa was, even more than most provinces, an independent entity, its ruler even styling himself Negus, the title for King.
context_section_description: The British sent a mission under an Assyrian-born British subject, Hormuzd Rassam, who bore a letter from the Queen (in response to Tewodros' now three-year-old letter requesting aid). He did not bring the skilled workers as Tewodros had requested. Deeply insulted by the British failure to do exactly as they were told, Tewodros had the members of the Rassam mission added to his other European prisoners. This last breach of diplomatic immunity was the catalyst to Britain launching the 1868 Expedition to Abyssinia under Robert Napier. He traveled from India, then a British colony, with more than 30,000 personnel (a force of 13,000 troops and 26,000 camp followers), which consisted of not only soldiers but also specialists such as engineers. Tewodros had become increasingly unpopular over the years due to his harsh methods, and many regional figures had rebelled against him. Several readily assisted the British by providing guides and food as the expeditionary force marched towards Magdala, where the Emperor had fortified the mountaintop.
  When the two sides met at Arogye, in the plain facing Magdala, on April 10, 1868, the British defeated the Abyssinian army. With Tewodros' army so decisively defeated, many of his men began to desert and the emperor was left with only 4,000 soldiers. Tewodros II attempted to make peace. Napier responded with a message thanking him for this peace offering and stating that he would treat the Emperor and his family with every dignity. Tewodros II furiously responded that he would never be taken prisoner. The British shelled Magdala, killing most of Tewodros II's remaining loyal men. Tewodros released all the Europeans unharmed but ordered 300 Ethiopian prisoners to be flung over the cliff. The emperor committed suicide on Easter Monday, April 13, 1868, as the British troops stormed the citadel of Magdala. He has been said to have used a pistol which he had used during fighting for unification during the era, though in reality he used a duelling pistol gifted to him by Queen Victoria and presented by Consul Cameron. Tewodros II was buried by the British troops at Magdala's Medhane Alem (Savior of the World) Orthodox Church under the name of Theodore II.  In 2019 the National Army Museum announced the return to Ethiopia of a lock of Tewodros' hair, taken after his death in battle.
  Magdala was in the territory of the Muslim (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. However, both Queens could not come to an arrangement and Napier ultimately decided that it would be best to destroy the fortress and consign it to flames. After a thorough medical examination which confirmed Tewodros' death as the result of suicide, the body was dressed and laid out in a hut. By the request of the Emperor's widow, the body was later buried in the Church of Magdala.
  The British proceeded to loot a vast amount of treasure from the citadel, including Tewodros II's crowns, a huge number of both royal and ecclesiastic robes, vestments, crosses, chalices, swords and shields, many embroidered or decorated with gold or silver, hundreds of tabots, the great Imperial silver negarit war drum, and a huge number of valuable manuscripts. Many of these continue to be held in various museums and libraries in Europe, as well as in private collections. In burning the mountaintop fortress, they also torched the two churches and town. With the Church of Medhane Alem burned, Tewodros II's family later moved the Emperor's remains to the Mahedere Selassie Monastery in his native Qwara, where they remain.
  Following some short squabbles for the throne after his death, Tewodros II was eventually succeeded by Yohannes IV as the next Emperor of Ethiopia.
caption: European prisoners in Magdala
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